The events of the past two weeks have shown beyond any doubt, that the American elite still view Arabs as an immature people who cannot be trusted with their own governance. In their frenzy to rescue what remained of the now defunct Egyptian regime, the Obama administration and the American media have forgone the tradition of feigning interest in a democratic Middle East. Hence, it is now safe to say that the masks have fallen.
Suffice it to say that when Dick Cheney and Chris Matthews agree that Obama should remain loyal to America’s despotic “friends” in the face of popular uprisings, there remains little doubt that their earlier talk of democracy and human rights was nothing but hooey. But at least Cheney and Matthews are more honest than those who claim to care about the Egyptian people and their interests, while simultaneously stressing the need for an “orderly” transition which preserves Mubarak’s “dignity”. And it doesn’t take much to realize that an “orderly” transition to them means the maintaining of the status quo in regards to Israel.
I cannot express the outrage I feel, when I see the same people who’ve regaled us with talk of democratization for years, standing today in the way of Egyptian democracy.
This proves the common belief among people in the Middle East that when “the west” speaks of democracy and human rights, they are merely lying to themselves. Because it’s far easier to blame the Arab people for their misery than to admit that your country is a chief enabler of said misery. And Americans would be remiss to think that this is the first time their country has stood in the face of reform in the Middle East.
From Iran’s Musaddeq to Palestine’s Heniyeh, the US has a disgraceful history of sabotaging and crippling any democratically elected government which does not kneel before the alter of American/Israeli interests in the Middle East. This is why the Arab people no longer look westward but inward for freedom. This is why the success of Tunisian revolution was not due to western intervention, but in spite of it. This is why the Egyptian people are no longer silenced by Mubarak’s fear mongering of a potential Muslim Brotherhood government. And this is why, God willing, the Egyptian revolution will reach its goals of obtaining freedom and dignity for the Egyptian people, despite the best efforts and Frank Wisner and his ilk. Especially since it has now succeeded in dethroning Mubarak in hald the time it took Ben Ali to fall.
One of the greatest lessons of the Egyptian revolution is that the old lies no longer work. The traditional media has failed in its attempts to frame the revolution as a choice between a “liberal dictatorship” and “Islamic extremism”. It’s been amusing to watch pro-Mubarak media outlets move from headlines such as Alsharq Alawsat’s: “Mubarak fulfills the demands of the people!” to coverage which feigns sympathy and support for the demonstrators. And if there is one thing that is certain, it’s that the rules of the game have changed. The long oppressed peoples of the Middle East are standing up to their oppressors and unless the American government wakes up to this fact, it will find itself once again on the wrong side of history.
Ammar Al Marzouqi is an international student at UW-Madison. He blogs here.
