Syria: An Ethical Uprising

The news on the uprising in Syria has been difficult for me and Syrians around the world to absorb. It has been even more difficult for me, as a Syrian, to write about. But these words by Ilyas Khoury must be shared. They describe Syria's role in shining the spotlight on the ethical aspect of the Arab World's revolutions. You can find the original Arabic article here. What follows is my translation of a few select paragraphs of his work.

Tunisia gave birth to the now famous slogan: “the people want to overthrow the regime.” Egypt set the foundation of “Liberation Square,” balancing the powers of the army with that of the January 25^th revolutionaries. Syria, where the people’s revolution is bursting amidst blood and fear, added a new slogan to the streets of revolution: “the Syrian people cannot be humiliated” …

The people cannot be humiliated, and they reject humiliation …

The use of the word “humiliation” means that people are crying out against the deepest of wounds. The word “humiliation” is one of the most savage and chaotic words in the Arabic language, to the extent that Ibn Manthour found no synonym for it in the most complete Arabic dictionary, Lisan al-Arab. The definition he offered was this: “humiliation is the opposite of respect and honor … humiliation is raggedness, subjugation.”

Ibn Manthour could not explain the meaning of humiliation except by citing its opposite. This is because “humiliation” in Arabic brings together “subjugation” and “shame,” includes the abuse of honor, and leads to the feeling of a loss of humanity.

The Tunisians and Egyptians raised political slogans in their revolutions. Syrians, however, fashioned the ethical slogan for the revolutions sweeping across the Arab World. This uprising is, at its core, an ethical uprising: it is a call for regaining individual and national honor.

Not a Failure: Saudi Arabia Before and #AfterMarch11

Originally published on KabobFest.

They called it a failure. But the white robes that filled the streets of the Saudi capital yesterday show another side of the story. Two days after the March 11 Day of Rage that no one but police officers attended, small protests sparked in Riyadh. These developments suggest that despite analysts’ claims that March 11 was a “non-event,” there is evidence that proves otherwise. Taking a closer look at the event reveals that, rather than being a failure, March 11 was in fact a success.

But this begs the question: how can a protest that no one showed up for be considered successful? To answer that we must look at what happened not on March 11 itself, but on the days before and after it.

March 11’s first stroke of success before the actual Day of Rage was with its online media campaign. In the days leading up to the event, the Facebook page calling for the protest had over 35,000 members, with hundreds of comments on some of the posts put up by the administrator. Twitter was abuzz with tweets marked by the #march11 hashtag. Bloggers and online journalists published article after article on the event, wondering if this could really be the beginning of a revolution in the Kingdom. By the evening of March 10, the whole Kingdom knew about the protests planned for the next morning.

The movement’s second success lay in the extreme measures the government took against it before the so-called Day of Rage. After hearing about the planned protest, the government put out a statement indicating that protesting was illegal, and that all means necessary would be used to stop protesters from gathering outdoors: police force, lashes, and heavy jail sentences included. Soon afterward, the highest level of Saudi sheikhs issued a fatwa claiming that protesting is haraam, or religiously forbidden.

And on top of these formal measures, the Saudi populace was bombarded with text messages that the government is believed to be the source of: text messages claiming that the movement was Shi’i and that the government was going to deport any protester, among other things.

Although there was no turnout when March 11 finally came, the Saudi people had been watching and learning. They saw how a message could be spread through the whole country almost instantaneously. They saw that the government, despite King Abdullah’s amiable public character, was willing to use force against them. Most importantly, perhaps, they also saw that the government was afraid of them. The Kingdom’s heavy-handed reaction to the protests indicated how powerful the government itself believed these popular movements could become. Saudis took note. With anger over government corruption and the lack of freedom rising, these aren’t lessons that the Saudi people will soon forget.

And they didn’t. Yesterday, just two days after the so-called “failed revolution,” several protests began in the capital. One was outside the Interior Ministry building, with protesters calling for the release of political prisoners. Another was a general strike by the employees of STC, Saudi Arabia’s largest (and most corrupt) telecom company. STC employees put together a Facebook page demanding the ousting of CEO Saud al Duwaysh, who they have labeled “the number one man in violating employees’ material rights.” They also asked for increased employee benefits, and an increase in pay to match the rising prices due to inflation. Instead of listening to their demands, however, the Kingdom responded by sending out security forces to restore order.

The Saudi government must be careful. While it may seem that they were the victors on March 11, what happened on the days bookending the event seems to tell a different story. With the Saudi populace becoming increasingly literate in online civil society, the days of sam’an wa ta’a – listen and obey – are over. And with new research from Palo Alto-based Inside Network indicating that over 418,900 Saudi users have joined the 3.5 million Saudis already on Facebook in the past month (just under Egypt’s 455,160 addition to its 5 million Facebook users), the number of people no longer willing to listen and obey, as stressed in last week’s Friday sermon, is rising.

Immediately after the grand turnout of zero on March 11, Saudi Arabia’s tweeters created an #AfterMarch11 hashtag. Using that tag as their starting point, they shared what they learned from the protests, and discussed new ways to push the revolution forward using other hashtags, including #saudimataleb.

It is not certain which direction Saudi Arabia will move in. What is certain, though, is that the Saudi people are learning to mobilize, and after years of corruption and social repression, the government must start to seriously consider the protesters’ demands. The country #AfterMarch11 is not the same country they knew before March 11.

Two Flags, One Hope

I turned and saw it at just the right moment.

My TV screen was showing Al Jazeera Mubashar, where a recording of Al Jazeera cameraman Ali Hassan Al Jaber's funeral was playing. Al Jaber was on his way back to Benghazi yesterday when he was shot and killed by forces believed to be backed by Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi. Analysts believe this is part of a wider campaign Qaddafi is waging against Al Jazeera, which has put the spotlight on his brutal suppression of the Libyan people.

Al Jaber, one of the Al Jazeera employees working to help the world witness Qaddafi's iron-fisted dictatorship, was Qatari. He had no connection to Libya, other than the common hope of ending tyranny and establishing justice, freedom, and democracy. His way to work towards that hope was to show the world the truth about Libya, and for doing that, he was killed.

This was not lost on the Libyan people. At his funeral procession, they came out in droves, calling Al Jaber a hero. And then, the moment that stopped me in my tracks as I was cleaning the living room table after breakfast:

A man was hoisted up onto the shoulders of the crowd, waving the new Libyan flag as expected - but beside it, waving the flag of Qatar.

The Libyan people, through this act, were acknowledging the ultimate sacrifice of a man not from their country, an Arab who crossed the lands known in our imagination as al-Watan al-Arabi - the Arab Nation - to support them in their quest for freedom and justice.

The Libyans were also recognizing the Qatari government's support of Al Jazeera, a truly pan-Arab network uniting Arabs across the region in these days of revolution by being the voice and vision of the oppressed and downtrodden.

I stood there, sponge still in hand, watching the Libyan and Qatari flags flutter together in the night's wind. A shiver ran down my spine as the reality of what I'd been reading about for the past two months hit me: these protests were the beginning of a new Arab experience, a new Arab unity based on the values of freedom, justice, and openness.

Just a few months ago, we Arabs were butchering each other over the results of a regional football game. Now, we are willing to die to help each other overcome the shackles of dictatorship and reach out to a future bright with freedom and progress.

With those thoughts still floating in my head, I went back to cleaning my breakfast table, wondering which flags will rise together in the winds of tomorrow's Arab night.

Libya: Learning from a Rhyme

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." This children's rhyme rings particularly true as we watch Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi massacre his people en masse in the dusty streets of his North African country.

Over the last few days, the international community witnessed an outpour of words against the news of foreign mercenaries shooting and raping the Libyan populace, the wholesale bombing of civilian neighborhoods, and Gaddafi's outright threats to burn the whole country down. As the Libyan government's violence against its people escalates, it is clear that these words have not ended Gaddafi's massacres or pushed him out of power. The power of words against Gaddafi has faded. Recognizing this, the international community must now move from words to action.

Although the U.S. finally stated today that it will impose some form of sanctions on the current Libyan government (even though what these sanctions will actually mean is unclear), most of the international community is hesitating to take similar or stronger stances. Sadly, this is because of one major reason: Libya is the first major oil-producing country to be swept by the last two months' waves of Arab pro-democracy protests. Since Libya sends 85% of its oil to Europe, unrest threatens European countries' current access to this fossil fuel.

But as Libya represents only 2% of world production, Western nations with oil interests in the region are more afraid of the domino affect Libya could start in Arab oil-producing nations. Unrest in the Middle East has pushed oil prices to two-and-a-half year highs, and oil-consuming nations fear further unrest could send those prices even higher.

But is international paralysis towards Libya warranted? The winds of change are blowing in the Middle East, whether the region's dictators or their interest-driven supporters like it or not. Eighties-style dictatorship is simply not sustainable anymore, and the Arab people will push to set up democracy in this outdated political system's place.

The international community can either help speed up this process so that political and economic relations with the region improve sooner than later, or it can stall the process through inaction. If it chooses the latter, it will ensure that instability will fester longer than necessary in the region. And it will have Arab democracies run by populaces furious with the international community's backing of brutal dictatorships that deprived them of their most basic rights for decades. Try having good political and economic relations with these states then.

International leaders must recognize the above reality. That recognition, coupled with their own admissions of horror at the atrocities taking place in Libya, must lead them to act against Gaddafi.

Over the past few days, the UN's high commissioner for human rights declared that widespread and systematic attacks against civilians "may amount to crimes against humanity." German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that Gaddafi's speech was "very, very appalling" and "amounted to him declaring war on his own people." And finally, the UN human rights head publicly stated that reports of thousands of people killed in the violence in Libya are highly likely.

What more do we need to know before acting against Colonel Gaddafi? His speeches over the last several days gave the green light for more massacres to occur, and rumors say that he is considering blowing up Libya's oil pipelines.

As the classic nursery rhyme tells us, words against this man are useless. The whole international community must take direct action against Gaddafi in the form of sanctions, the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya to end the bombing of civilians, and the severing of all ties with his regime. These are the sticks and stones that can break the bones of one of the Middle East's most notorious dictatorships and establish the beginning of a democracy there, benefiting both Libyans and the world at large.

The Vocabulary of Freedom

Sometimes, it's hard to look past the corruption and injustice facing people here in the Arab World. Especially since these two adjectives, "corruption" and "injustice," describe almost a century of this region's history.

But now, Arabs are writing a new history for themselves, with a whole new vocabulary. First in Tunisia, then in Egypt, then who knows where tomorrow, the words surrounding "defeat" and "oppression" are making way for "freedom," "equality," "prosperity" - and finally, "happiness."

The number of people pouring out into the streets of the Arab World, speaking the vocabulary of freedom, is rising. The new words they learned to say out loud in the streets of Tunisia and Egypt are echoing everywhere between Morocco and Bahrain. These words have more power than any found in the old vocabulary of defeat. That is why rulers' calls to end protests in the name of "security" and "stability" are falling on deaf ears. These words and phrases have long been the shackles used to keep a corrupt elite in power. They've been much too overused, and so, like any over-played song on the radio, have lost their effect.

Blogger Osama Romoh's amused surprise at Arab leaders' thoughtless parroting of this old vocabulary, even after the uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, brought a smile to many a reader's face. "It looks like 'some' Arab leaders learned nothing," he wrote humorously, describing how these leaders are acting in a way that is making the new wave of Arab protests across the region follow the footsteps of their Tunisian and Egyptian predecessors. "I'm starting to doubt their mental abilities," he ended, thinking that perhaps their inability to comprehend the changes sweeping the Arab World signals that they should all go in for I.Q. tests.

It looks like the vocabulary piecing together today's new Arab history is incomprehensible only to some leaders whose interests lie in the old order. Everyone else not only understands the new vocabulary, but uses it too. And not just on the streets in protests. This new vocabulary is getting into the very heart of Arab culture, making itself heard at the dinner table, at the office, and in the songs celebrating the newfound sense of Arab freedom.

In fact, Arabic music probably shows one of the clearest examples of this shift in vocabulary. Once infamous for it's shallow "habibi, habibi" pop, Arabic music is now addressing peoples' hopes, fears, and questions about the future - like real art should.

I leave you with a song composed, performed, and produced by a group of young Egyptians who were in Tahrir Square. It is called "The Sound of Freedom."

Enjoy the sweet ring of this new vocabulary.

The Revolutions Continue

It's hard to be all the way out here in Dubai while pro-reform and pro-democracy demonstrations are taking place just about everywhere else in the Arab World. Like Wael Ghonim said, we're living an ideal life here. We've got the nicest houses, the nicest cars. All the world's greatest restaurants and hotels are just a short drive away. In a lot of ways, living here is like living in a dream.

But the protests and the demonstrations in the rest of this region are still going on. Reports of 84 dead in Libya and at least 5 dead in Yemen show that the autocratic authorities in the Middle East will not let their hold on power loosen easily.

And in the midst of all this, I was on vacation in Oman for the last two days, enjoying the view of pastel-colored mountains and ocean set against the sky. Is that fair?

Revolution is brewing, revolution is brewing. And I find myself here, sitting helpless at my computer.

From Egypt to Bahrain

As Egypt tries to return to daily life, protests in the rest of the Middle East are bubbling up. The protests in Iran and Yemen over the last few days are getting lots of media attention. Let's hope that media spotlight keeps the protesters safer than they would be otherwise.

Bahrain, however, is given less air time. The protests that took place on February 13th and 14th, the second of which was called the Gulf state's "Day of Rage," have left at least 3 people in critical condition and 1 man dead. A video of the protests is spreading through Twitter. Watch it here:

To quote @JustAmira, "Look at how they shoot at close range. Please spread this video."

This is a protest that needs to get more media attention - at least to keep the security forces marginally more timid about attacking demonstrators.

Take a look at the pictures below, courtesy of Al Jazeea English.

Please share, and start talking about the protests in Bahrain. That is the first step towards a global discussion on the issue. And by starting this global discussion, we can keep the people of Bahrain safer than they would be otherwise.