Solomonia Archive: Ripples

Monday, January 31, 2005

Here are some of the ripples beginning to hit the shore in other Arab nations.

King "What? Me Worry?" Abdullah of Jordan on CNN:

CNN.com - Jordan's Abdullah: Iraq election sets 'good tone'

...Abdullah said that when Bush pushed his initiative last year, "it had a negative impact because people felt that this was something from the outside that was being forced on them. But since then there's been a lot of maturing in the Middle East and in the Arab world. And I think that reform, political reform, has now become an open subject in societies throughout the Middle East."

He added, "Once you open the door of reform and it's allowed to be discussed in societies, as it is throughout the Middle East, it's very difficult to close again. So I think that people are waking up, leaders are understanding that they have to push reform forward. And don't think there's any looking back."

One year ago, the subject "was taboo," he said. "It's now being talked about in all circles of life throughout the Arab world."...

This kind of thing always gets a chuckle out of me:

Jordan is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. It is considered one of the most progressive governments in the Arab world.

"Most progressive" includes having a King and a country where Jews are allowed neither to be citizens nor own land.

Some of those ripples in Amman can be read in this doubly-interesting paragraph at Healing Iraq (read it all, though):

...Jordanians were wishing Iraqis luck these few days everywhere on the streets. One young man at a mall, on recognising my Iraqi accent, asked me who I would be voting for. I politely told him that I would vote for who I believe is sincere. Strangely, he said that he personally preferred Allawi and hoped most Iraqis would be voting for him. I wished his country luck as well since the King had promised direct elections for municipal councils as a first step. He dismissed that as nothing much and said that "One should start from the 'Head' down, not the other way around". This last remark played on my survival instincts, even though the fellow looked far from being a Jordanian Mukhabarat agent, so I left the man in peace...

Catch two things of interest, here. First, those ripples that pose so much of a threat to so many tyrants all over the region, and second, the fear and survival instincts of a man who's lived his entire life in a death-trap for inquiring minds kicking in. I'm sure that there's a lot of that all over the Middle East, and it stunts the growth of societies and stifles the spread and testing of new ideas. Compare that to your own way of life, your own ability to share and test ideas, and is it any wonder that politically repressive regimes always lag behind the developement of the Free?

Posted by Solomon at 1:13 PM on Monday, Jan 31, 2005
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