Tag Archives: democratic protests

Syrian security forces fire on protests

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The widespread discontent with governments throughout the Middle East and North Africa continues, as troops in Yemen, Bahrain, and now Syria use lethal force against its citizens in an effort to stop the organization of dissent that has toppled governments in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya.

Get used to seeing this map, too. The Middle East is undergoing a prolonged titantic shift as democratic protests topple governments after years of repression and stagnation.

The use of lethal force has become the fulcrum on which U.S. diplomacy and military intervention turns, and in an interesting development about  the brute fact that events are moving too quickly for our comfortable categories to keep up with, the U.S. is dropping the ball. Once again, U.S. intelligence, and therefore policies of diplomacy and military intervention, are lagging in ways that reveal deep inconsistencies about the way we define self-interest and sovereignty in relation to ourselves and in relation to other peoples and states. Our assumptions about the Muslim world and its people, and our willful ignorance of the diversity of economic, social, and political dynamics in different countries, have literally exploded in the last two months as the Middle East experiences a sudden seismic shift in a direction that, like it or not, we cannot ultimately control.

Two questions. Why are we continuing to support some dictatorships in countries that either collaborate with us in the war on terror, or provide us with oil, or both? The governments in both Bahrain and Yemen have been firing on protests and using violent suppression to stop protesters from regrouping, but the U.S. ignores the pleas of those people while barely condemning the actions of their governments with strong language. Yet in the case of Libya the situation apparently warrants military action? Perhaps the economies of scale warrant the change in policy, if the systematic use of indiscriminate military force against civilian populations changes the equation.

How many countries will the U.S. have to intervene in before there is stability? The scene is worrisome in the Middle East because as governments topple and fragile democracies are formed, there is an explicit conservative element of religious fundamentalism (not unlike the religious-right in this country) that will fill that void and use the state for its own puritanical and tyrannical ends, and this would be a dangerous turn for our war on terror. The more there is instability, the more imperatives arise for military intervention, and the more military intervention, the more resistance to U.S. military presence will grow throughout the Middle East. The U.S. position in the Middle East is growing weaker, and expanding the use of force is probably to make its position even worse off in the long run, unless our policies of engagement in this region are reformed from the ground up.

Middle East protests revive democratic spirit

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In the wake of the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia, the nearly peaceful overthrow of Egypt’s President Mubarak, and now Libya’s brutal crackdown on opposition protests, hundreds of thousands of protesters have turned out in the streets of major cities across the Middle East from Iran and Iraq to Yemen and Bahrain. Opposition leaders and religious figures are calling everywhere for people to demand more accountability from their governments, and the democratic consequences will be far reaching for years to come.

Thousands of protesters choked Pearl Square on Friday in Bahrain's capital.

Many Arab governments including monarchies in these oil-rich but desperately poor states are now calculating whether to engage the opposition in an effort to bring economic and political reform to the region, or whether to hold onto power with all the desperation and violence that has marked the upending of Col. Muammar Qaddafi’s regime in Libya. The country continued descending into chaos as opposition forces, now well-organized, have armed themselves, taken much of eastern Libya, and are marching on the capital Tripoli, where Qaddafi has hired hundreds of mercenaries from nearby Chad and other countries to do much of his fighting. The scene in Libya is sure to get more bloody as the opposition works to unseat the Libyan dictator, who has come under international condemnation for using tanks and planes to kill hundreds of his own people.

In Bahrain, where an earlier crackdown by government forces cleared Pearl Square in that countries capital city Manama, and led to the deaths of dozens of protesters, there is a renewed effort by the country’s Shiite majority to push the Sunni minority out of power. Thousands of protesters throng in Pearl Square, setting up camps, staging demonstrations, and calling for the removal of the country’s long-entrenched monarchy.

In Iraq, America’s difficult democratic experiment is now suffering from “shock and awe” as thousands of protesters there poured into the streets demanding more reform, an end to corruption, and a withdrawal of U.S. military presence. Despite calls by the government for people not to take to the streets, and a security ban on vehicles in the streets, thousands of people are protesting in Iraq’s major cities, and there is information coming in that government troops and police have fired on crowds, killing some protesters.

Libyan dictator escalates violence against civilians

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Falling like dominos...

The cycle of violence in the Middle East escalates daily as democratic protesters confront dictators and authoritarian regimes demanding reform. In Libya, the situation is getting especially ugly as the world’s longest-reigning dictator, Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, promises never to bow out of the conflict in spite of hundreds of people who have been killed in recent violence and thousands who are demanding he leave. The cycle is starkest where military forces and police fire on mourners marching in funeral processions honoring the dead, creating more funerals, more marches, and more anger.

Yesterday the son of Qaddafi, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, went on public television to inform Libyans that there would be no concessions and that they would never cede power, setting up a conflict that will surely cripple the nation and inevitably lead to the downfall of this regime. He also warned of civil war and occupation, and defiantly said that the regime would fight until the last man.

“Libya is made up of tribes and clans and loyalties,” Qaddafi claimed. “There will be civil war.” He also warned, “The West and Europe and the United States will not accept the establishment of an Islamic emirate in Libya.”

The people of Libya are angry, and the more the dictatorship turns its guns on them the more of them will turn out into the streets demanding change, the more will be shot, the more people will march in funeral processions, the more people will be shot. This cycle of violence and the stubborn insistence of the regime will lead to an all out insurgency, revolution, and possibly civil war. This is the ultimate price that must be paid for political transformation in countries that are deeply authoritarian and long overdue for substantive change.

State Democrats shut down WI government

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Protestors pack the rafters of the State Capitol in Madison, WI.

In a brave move of solidarity with public employee unions the Democratic state senators of Wisconsin walked out of the chamber yesterday in Madison to stall the efforts of Governor Scott Walker to vote on a bill that would effectively end collective bargaining rights of unions. The Wisconsin State Senate requires at least 20 senators to call a vote on fiscal matters, and with a majority of 19 senators the Republican controlled chamber was unable to conduct business. Madison has become a battleground over the last week as protesters, students, unions, teachers, and other progressive forces have descended on it to stage rallies and sit-ins, drawing attention to the anti-union austerity measures introduced by the governor. GO DEMOCRACY!

Bahrain protests turn violent

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The effects of the successful democratic protests in Tunisia and Egypt have inspired thousands, perhaps millions, of ordinary Muslims to turn out the streets in an effort to draw attention to the authoritarian and often brutal regimes under which they live. Protesters in North Africa and the throughout the Persian Gulf are demanding political reform and elections in an inspiring show of solidarity against oppression. This is good news.

The bad news is this. People in countries like Iran, Bahrain, and Yemen face entrenched governments desperate to hold onto power, governments armed with U.S. made weapons once used to prop up governments against Islamic fundamentalism now  used to beat and murder peaceful protesters. How did the U.S. become complicit in the deaths of foreign nationals seeking democratic reform? Easy. The enemy of my enemy is my friend has long been the hallmark of American foreign policy. The U.S. government in its insistence that it is protecting the national security of its people has armed one dictator to depose another, and now those arms are being used to suppress the swell of democracy that is growing throughout the Middle East.

American foreign policy has proceeded on such short-sighted terms before. In Egypt the U.S. propped up the sham Presidency of Mubarak with arms and foreign aid that would later be used (responsibly, thanks to the patience and professionalism of the Egyptian military) against the democratic protesters. This also happened in Iraq and Tunisia and many other places where the mantra “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” amounts to a schizophrenic interpretation of who are enemies and friends actually are.

Now the people of Bahrain who want political reform and elections are paying the price for our foreign policy schizophrenia. American citizens must be embarrassed that its government purports to promote democracy around the world, even while its tax-funded, American-made weapons are now being used to suppress the spirit of democracy with deadly force.

Egyptian protests topple dictatorship

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The world’s major news wires are now reporting that Egyptian President Hasni Mubarak has stepped down. The announcement was made in a speech by Vice President Omar Suleiman. Mubarak ceded power to the military, most of whose officers have been trained in the U.S., and which as recently as yesterday announced it would protect the security of the country until political elections are held in the next several months.

Congratulations to the people of Egypt, who are proving once again that the human spirit cannot be shackled!

Forecast calls for Arab spring in the Middle East

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Acts speak louder than words.

After several days of peaceful democratic protests, the scene in Cairo has turned ugly as pro-Mubarak forces clash with anti-government demonstrators in a feign attempt to discredit the democratic uprising there. Although the military and police have taken the official position not to use force against protesters, it is clear that the gloves are now coming on both sides.

However, in a positive sign that this uprising is having a positive effect throughout the Muslim World, which mostly lives under the rule of authoritarian and deeply anti-democratic regimes, Yemen’s President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced he would not run for reelection. He made the following announcement that shows the region’s leaders are paying attention to the demands of citizens:

“He ordered the creation of a fund to employ university graduates and to extend social security coverage, increased wages and reduced income taxes and offered to resume a political dialogue that collapsed last October over elections. In answer to opposition complaints that voter records are rife with fraud, he said he would delay the April parliamentary elections until better records could be compiled.”

Even more surprisingly, Saleh announced his son would not run as well, raising many eye brows because his son was widely believed to be successor to this 32 year old dictatorship. The future leads to peace.