A Middle-East Democracy; The Perfect Oxymoron!

What is really ‘The Arab Spring,’ their hope or ours?

“… democracy is a product of western culture, and it cannot be applied to the Middle East which has a different cultural, religious, sociological and historical background.”

- Tayyip Erdogan,PM of Turkey, 2003-present

Cultures are wrought over centuries. A culture evolves, develops and calcifies slowly over generations with rote reinforcement of a set of tangible and intangible values. In fact, what you continuously choose, eventually metastasizes into your genes. This hypothesis was explored by John Cloud in a 2010 article for the TIME magazine, titled: “Why your DNA isn’t your destiny: The new science of Epigenetics reveal how the choices you make can change your genes.” The Nabataens – the secular pre-Islamic Arabs, the Dutch, and the Venetians didn’t become great merchants overnight. Their enterpreneurial spirit and innovation, and their business accumen took generations to shape, involving trade with various cultures. Similarly, the unshackling creative culture of the renaissance, in Italy, sowed the seeds of a highly evolved humanistic arts and crafts culture that continues today, in the form of all their luxury brands. Italy is the home of the most coveted luxury brands in the world, and is the center for design and craftsmansip of luxury experience.

In incidental similitude, the American business-consumer culture, forged in the heat of the industrial revolution, for almost three centuries, is a system that delivers and nurtures enterpreneurs with big ideas – creative titans are born in the most unassuming circumstances, on a regular basis, to revolutionize our lifestyles, through their ideas and products. The cultures of Macedonia and Sparta bred indefatigable warriors, as neccessiated by their geo-politics. Similarly, Islam’s tribal culture of intolernce had been bred into the population of the middle-east for almost 1,400 years. This DNA of tribal intolerence, is unfortunately the nucleus of their operating procedure, towards non-Muslims, and Muslims of differnent sects. There is no quick turnaround from such vicious inundation. Such an ancient culture of intolerance, just doesn’t turnaround on a dime, to become abruptly tolerent and spring democratic impulses. The “Arab Spring” is a hallucinatory revolution that has induced the western media into smoking the pipes of hope, nothing can be more hopeless.

Believe what you may about the Arab Spring, in your unbridled optimism, and irrational exuberance. For me, it is as simple as recognizing the manifest fact that people, bred under such absolutist decrees of intolerance, gender discrimination (misogyny), and hate of the non adherents, for a thousand plus years straight, cannot develop the emotional-mental or the intellectual faculty, to understand the concept of compromise, let alone that of tolerance. Democracy is an utterly flawed and messy process, but is the ultimate expression of compromise and individual freedom, and it is unfortunately, the most alien concept for the followers of Islam, who have, through the course of history “solved” their differences with others through bloodshed, than restraint and peace.

Arab Spring was all about economic regression, and a burgeoning intolerance against the ruling rich minorities. It was more about the freedom of the majority, to inflict their will, on the minorities, followed by an inexorable descent into economic chaos. And, even the most optimistic impulse I may develop for the Arab Spring is tempered by the reality of what is taking place in Egypt, Libya and Syria. Getting rid of these dictators might just turn out to be “throwing the baby out with the bath water” they provided a security, however perverse it was. Nearly eighty percent of Egypt’s tourism trade is dead, and so is Tunisia’s and Libya’s… so, the one million dollar question still is: What are they going to do with this freedom, when they have no idea what it really means?

“As a politician who cherishes religious conviction in his personal sphere, but regards politics as a domain belonging outside religion, I believe that this view is seriously flawed.”

- Tayyip Erdogan, PM of Turkey, 2003-present

I heard this small clip of a truncated interview, by an unidentified and brave reporter from the west, after the violence in Sirte, Libya, that ended Gaddafi’s life and his regime. She was interviewing a panting and excited rebel, with an AK-47. The first 21 lines of the interview below are verbatim from the interview, but the rest of the interview, is my speculation and extension, based on where the Q&A session was headed. Unfortunately this clip was taken off the Youtube and cannot be found again. Do you think the Islamic authorities in Libya gagged this interview, which was revelatory of their intent? This link below shows the latest from Libya.

http://news.yahoo.com/sharia-law-declaration-raises-concerns-libya-174347939.htmlÂ

“Allahu-Akbar! Allahu-Akbar… Allahu-Akbar!!

… they murrdererr is ded… Allahu-Akbar!

Reporter: “Murderer… you mean Gaddafi?”

“yeas… they dictaatorr, murrdererr… thieef und infidel is ded… we killd forre frreedom!

Reporter: “Why is he an infidel… wasn’t he a Muslim?”

“He wass frriends of Italii – Eurrop… of Chrristeans… hees infidel… ded! Ded… we’rrr frree!”

Reporter: “… but he was still a Muslim…?’

“Yeas… he wass ay Muslim brother… hees infidel, we killd oown brrotherr… oor honorr… wee arr frree!

Reporter: “… if it means freedom… congratulations… mubarak to you…”

“Taank yuu… thaank yuu… Alllaahu-Akbar!!

Reporter: “with this freedom… you will have a new government, a new constitution?”

“We bild Islamic democraaci… ay, wit Sharia…”

Reporter: Islam-sharia law and democracy… isn’t that a paradox?

“Para… aah, yeas paradese! Islamic paradese… every Muslim will ave frreedom thes way…”

Reporter: “What about non-Muslims?”

“noon-Muslims… ay infidels? No… nooo, democracy for Muslims onlii, notte infidels!”

Reporter: “Democracy without…”

“Alllaahu-Akbar… Allahu-Akbar… deeth to Ammerica… Eoorope, kill all infidels!”

Reporter: “Democracy includes and protects everyone… minorities have rights… that is a true democracy… isn’t it?

“Wher aare yoo frrom… Americann… Englisss? Yoo ave no frreedom… no democraaci, Obamaa-Sarkossi-Broun-Markill arrr dickatorrs… terrorists… Islam giv truu frreedom to Muslim… Sharia si bestt for us, notte democraaci from infidels… yoo tell to news… Allah giv us frreedom from infidels!

Reporter: “So, you don’t agree with equal rights for Christians and others, in Libya, Egypt, and Iraq?”

“Luk… thare is one goad… Allah… Q’uran is onlii god… evvriting… ay, rst is all not god… is liies… wait, Yousef, ay Yousef Qadr… telle this wat I’m sayying to hrr…”

Reporter: “Hello Yousef… do you speak English?”

“Yes I do… how can we help you… you have questions?”

Reporter: “Your English sounds American… where are you from?”

“This is not a good place for you… and your cameraman, you should get back to your hotel…”

Reporter: “Thanks for your suggestion… but, we have a job to do… this is a momentous occasion…”

“It may be, but…

Reporter: “We have to record this… for history, and the world is curious about how you all feel… but first, where are you from?”

“I am from Detroit… came here for the liberation…”

Reporter: “How long have you been here?”

“…almost three weeks… and counting.”

Reporter: “This gentleman here, called you by your name… looks like they know you here…?”

“Yes… I’m one of the soldiers and an organizer…”

Reporter: “What will become of Libya… can you give us an idea?”

“Well, the future of Libya is still up in the air… there is a small faction that desires western democracy, but the majority want a good Islamic democracy… a republic.”

Reporter: “…don’t they want a western style democracy… with equal rights for everyone?”

“…there are equal rights for all Muslims… what do you mean?”

Reporter: “Equal rights for minorities….”

“…if they don’t believe in Islam… they have no rights, we Muslims cannot live under any other law except our own Sharia laws…”

Reporter: “Didn’t you grow up in the U.S… you lived there under the constitutional democratic laws…?”

“Hehehehe… what makes you think I live in the U.S. under the constitutional laws… every Muslim in Detroit and America lives under the Sharia law… we have our own courts, our own schools, our own economy… it’s an Islamic nation in Detroit… which will be the future of the U.S…. maybe in 30-40 years… living amongst infidels… you either convert them, or force them out…”

Reporter: “So, what is this they call ‘the Arab Spring’ all over the world… isn’t it a growing desire for freedom and democracy in the middle east?”

“It’s not what the media writes and shows… the Arab Spring is about economics, it is an economic revolution… not political. It’s about jobs, economic security, and lack of opportunities for the exploding populations here… the leaders had mismanaged and stole from their people… and they want to get rid of them, and establish pure and uncorrupt Islamic republics… for the followers… can’t you feel it?”

Reporter: “Is that why the Christians and other minorities in Iraq, Egypt, Syria and Libya are on the edge?”

“That’s it… you hit the nail on the head… the infidels here can tell you more about the real nature of the Arab Spring than the ‘experts’… non-Muslims are like the monkeys, dogs, pigs and birds that can sense and know an earthquake, or a tsunami is coming, before the humans… do you understand?”

Reporter: “You are saying that no Muslim will adopt a system that governs everybody with equality?”

“Right… we cannot be governed by anything non Islamic… look, can we move on?”

Reporter: “So, it is OK to discriminate against non-Muslims?”

“Absolutely… aren’t we being discriminated against in the U.S. and Europe?”

Reporter: “Not exactly… anyway, thanks so much for your time… and good luck.”

“What do you mean “not exactly?”

Reporter: “Yousef… we’ve run out of time… thanks so much for your time, gentlemen…”