The Stagnant States of Arabia: On Democracy, Islam, Oppression, Economics, Among Other Things
“They have, for a start, failed to make their people free: six Arab countries have an outright ban on political parties and the rest restrict them slyly. They have failed to make their people rich: despite their oil, the UN reports that about two out of five people in the Arab world live on $2 or less a day. They have failed to keep their people safe: the report argues that overpowerful internal security forces often turn the Arab state into a menace to its own people……
“For this reason, you can bet that if the regimes have their way, Arabs will not get the chance. Arab rulers hold on to power through a cynical combination of coercion, intimidation and co-option. From time to time they let hollow parties fight bogus elections, which then return them to power……
“Democracy is more than just elections. It is about education, tolerance and building independent institutions such as a judiciary and a free press. The hard question is how much ordinary Arabs want all this. There have been precious few Tehran-style protests on the streets of Cairo. Most Arabs still seem unwilling to pay the price of change………”
“Detainees in Saudi Arabia- An awful lot: Quite a number of them, says Amnesty, are civil-rights campaigners who have plainly had nothing to do with terrorism or jihad…….
“Before the present trials began, the Saudi foreign minister said they would be in public, defendants would have “full guarantees” (presumed to include their own lawyers) and local human-rights outfits would monitor the proceedings. None of this has happened. The trials have been in secret. No defendant has even been publicly named. Human Rights Watch, a New York-based lobby that has had marginally better access to the Saudi authorities, was refused permission to attend. Amnesty has never been allowed into the country. At this rate it never will be.” The Economist
Cheers
mhg
Mon Email
Comments