http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/02/201121115231647934.html
The resurrection of pan-Arabism
The Egyptian revolution has resurrected a new type of pan-Arabism, based on
social justice not empty slogans.
Lamis Andoni Last Modified: 11 Feb 2011 18:51 GMT
The Egyptian revolution has resurrected pan-Arabism but this is not the
pan-Arabism of previous generations [GALLO/GETTY]
The Egyptian revolution, itself influenced by the Tunisian uprising, has
resurrected a new sense of pan-Arabism based on the struggle for social justice
and freedom. The overwhelming support for the Egyptian revolutionaries across
the Arab world reflects a sense of unity in the rejection of tyrannical, or at
least authoritarian, leaders, corruption and the rule of a small financial and
political elite.
Arab protests in solidarity with the Egyptian people also suggest that there is
a strong yearning for the revival of Egypt as a pan-Arab unifier and leader.
Photographs of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the former Egyptian president, have been
raised in Cairo and across Arab capitals by people who were not even alive when
Nasser died in 1970. The scenes are reminiscent of those that swept Arab
streets in the 1950s and 1960s.
But this is not an exact replica of the pan-Arab nationalism of those days.
Then, pan-Arabism was a direct response to Western domination and the 1948
establishment of the state of Israel. Today, it is a reaction to the absence of
democratic freedoms and the inequitable distribution of wealth across the Arab
world.
We are now witnessing the emergence of a movement for democracy that transcends
narrow nationalism or even pan-Arab nationalism and which embraces universal
human values that echo from north to south and east to west.
This is not to say that there is no anti-imperialist element within the current
movement. But the protests in Egypt and elsewhere promote a deeper
understanding of human emancipation, which forms the real basis for freedom
from both repression and foreign domination.
Unlike the pan-Arabism of the past, the new movement represents an intrinsic
belief that it is freedom from fear and human dignity that enables people to
build better societies and to create a future of hope and prosperity. The old
"wisdom" of past revolutionaries that liberation from foreign domination
precedes the struggle for democracy has fallen.
The revolutionaries of Egypt, and before them Tunisia, have exposed through
deeds - not merely words - the leaders who are tyrants towards their own
people, while humiliatingly subservient to foreign powers. They have shown the
impotence of empty slogans that manipulate animosity towards Israel to justify
a fake Arab unity, which in turn serves only to mask sustained oppression and
the betrayal of Arab societies and the aspirations of the Palestinian people.
The Palestinian pretext
The era of using the Palestinian cause as a pretext for maintaining martial
laws and silencing dissent is over. The Palestinians have been betrayed, not
helped, by leaders who practice repression against their own people. It is no
longer sufficient for regimes in Syria and Iran to claim support for
Palestinian resistance in order to stifle freedom of expression and to
shamelessly tread on human rights in their own countries.
Equally, it is no longer acceptable for the Palestinian Fatah and Hamas to cite
their record in resisting Israel when justifying their suppression of each
other and the rest of the Palestinian people. Young Palestinians are responding
to the message of the movement and embracing the idea that combatting internal
injustice - whether practised by Fatah or Hamas - is a prerequisite for the
struggle to end Israeli occupation and not something to be endured for the sake
of that struggle.
Events in Egypt and Tunisia have revealed that Arab unity against internal
repression is stronger than that against a foreign threat - neither the
American occupation of Iraq nor the Israeli occupation galvanised the Arab
people in the way that a single act by a young Tunisian who chose to set
himself alight rather than live in humiliation and poverty has.
This does not mean that Arabs do not care about the occupied people of Iraq or
Palestine - tens, sometimes hundreds, of thousands have taken to the streets
across Arab countries at various times to show solidarity with Iraqis and
Palestinians - but it does reflect the realisation that the absence of
democratic freedoms has contributed to the continued occupation of those
countries.
The Arab failure to defend Iraq or liberate Palestine has come to symbolise an
Arab impotence that has been perpetuated by the state of fear and paralysis in
which the ordinary Arab citizen, marginalised by social injustice and crushed
by security apparatus oppression, has existed.
When they were allowed to rally in support of Iraqis or Palestinians it was
mainly so that their anger might be deflected from their own governments and
towards a foreign threat. For so long, they put their own socio-economic
grievances aside to voice their support for the occupied, only to wake up the
next day shackled by the same chains of repression.
All the while, both pro-Western and anti-Western governments continued with
business as usual - the first camp relying on US support to consolidate their
authoritarian rule and the second on anti-Israel slogans to give legitimacy to
their repression of their people.
But now people across the region - not only in Egypt and Tunisia - have lost
faith in their governments. For make no mistake, when protesters have gathered
in Amman or Damascus to express their solidarity with the Egyptian
revolutionaries in Tahrir Square, they are actually objecting to their own
rulers.
In Ramallah, the protesters repeated a slogan calling for the end of internal
Palestinian divisions (which, in Arabic, rhymes with the Egyptian call for the
end to the regime), as well as demanding an end to negotiations with Israel -
sending a clear message that there will be no room left for the Palestinian
Authority if it continues to rely on such negotiations.
In the 1950s and 1960s, millions of Arabs poured onto the streets determined to
continue the liberation of the Arab world from the remnants of colonial
domination and the creeping American hegemony. In 2011, millions have poured
onto the streets determined not only to ensure their freedom but also to ensure
that the mistakes of previous generations are not repeated. Slogans against a
foreign enemy - no matter how legitimate - ring hollow if the struggle for
democratic freedoms is set aside.
The protesters in Cairo and beyond may raise photographs of Gamal Abdel Nasser,
because they see him as a symbol of Arab dignity. But, unlike Nasser, the
demonstrators are invoking a sense of pan-Arab nationalism that understands
that national liberation cannot go hand-in-hand with the suppression of
political dissent. For this is a genuine Arab unity galvanised by the common
yearning for democratic freedoms.
Lamis Andoni is an analyst and commentator on Middle Eastern and Palestinian
affairs.
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily
reflect Al Jazeera's editorial policy.
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