A League of ‘Democratic’ Arab Oligarchies, Making a Case Against Freedom………
“The pattern of elections is well-established: the opposition is allowed to run candidates, but Ben Ali (who came to power in November 1987 after declaring his successor and the modern state's founder, Habib Bourguiba, infirm) always wins a landslide victory; in 2004 he officially received 94.5% of the votes, in 1999 it was 99.5%. The concentration of power extends to the economy. Tunisia has undergone a programme of privatisation since the late 1980s, but only those who are close to the regime enjoy control of the assets. The reality of the country exposes the hollowness of the president's official slogans, which celebrate "change" and declare "together we meet challenges"…………….” OpenDemocracy
“Why Ben Ali? Tunisia's success in development does not just focus on what has been achieved, but also on the way forward, says Haitham El-Zobaidi. "With Ben Ali, we weathered all storms." That was a statement made by one female Tunisian intellectual, who supports the candidacy of Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali for a new term………” Middle East Online
“Elections alone do not mean democracy……….”Asharq Alawsat
"World political and security crisis, playing with fire, playing with democracy…..As the Pakistani foreign minister says American intelligence services are the ones who planted the seeds of terrorism when they established terrorist training camps and the (Mujahideen) and trained them t fight the Soviet Union…..This is all documented….. In our Arab region there has been a coup that has made building a ‘correct democracy” one of its five principles….,,but one pill does not cure everything and is not the right medicine for every case…....” Asharq Alawsat
Yes, well, this last one is right one some points here. But let’s not forget that Saudi Arabia also provided all that money for training and arming the Mujahideen, and even supplied many of the said Mujahideen, including one Osama Bin laden among many who later became known s the “Afghan Arabs”, then metamorphed into “al-Qaeda”.
And all this love affair of absolute monarchies’ media with sham democracy makes me suspicious, nay not just suspicious, for I know the game. In sham democracies Arab incumbents “win” 90%+ of the vote (Mubarak “won” only 89% last time, therefore he is deemed more democratic by the Arab oligarchy media who pretend that actually 89% of the people love the guy). Hypocritical visiting Western dignitaries cluck about “improvements’ and about the uniqueness of local customs and participation. Last year he European Union even allowed a clause in an agreement with the GCC mentioning “local” definitions of Human Rights. Some silly Westerners now even talk about “local” definitions of democracy, adaptations to local customs. Sure there is a local Middle East definition for democracy: it is called lifetime rule by a corrupt oligarchy with no accountability.
They already manage to remain in power for life. The next logical step may be to introduce some “social” uniformity among the regional elites. I predict that the next step will be to make all Arab presidents-for-life polygamists. They will all take several wives and start having a passel of kids, some of them are already doing this. That way they will be equal to all the others. Then the Arab league will finally take its true expressive name: The League of Polygamist Eternal Oligarchies.
It is not as silly and far-fetched as it seems: I wish it were. It is closer to realization that most think.
Cheers
mhg
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