Arab Carpetbaggers: from Optimism and Pride to Despair and Fundamentalism…….
“Modernity, if not ever completely defeated, seems to have been put on hold throughout much of the Arab world. A worn-out, 82-year-old pharaoh still reigns in Egypt. Royalty still rules in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Islamists still seem to be winning hearts and minds in a political vacuum. The Egypt of my adolescence in the 1960s was a more democratic and secular society than today. The fact is that the Egypt of my adolescence in the 1960s was a more democratic and secular society than today. My father was an American Foreign Service officer stationed in Cairo from 1965-67. An army colonel, Gamal Abdel Nasser, was Egypt's virtual dictator. But Nasser had at least been elected president in 1956. He was a wildly popular and populist politician throughout Egypt….. Nasser became an autocrat, but at least he offered the Arabs a secular vision. Even today, Nasser remains emblematic of a lost era when hope still existed among Arabs of all classes and tribes for a modern, secular and progressive Arab nation……”
The idea of a modern, secular and progressive Arab nation probably died with Nasser. After that it was like Gone with the Wind without Rhett Butler, just a bunch or Ashley Wilkeses and cutthroats and carpetbaggers. Nasser had three things going for him: charisma, vision, and timing.
The timing was perfect: the Arabs were hopeful in those days; most were just gaining their independence and looking forward. They are not hopeful anymore; most have lost their independence, and are definitely looking backward. Their leaders have no charisma whatsoever, and they have no vision whatsoever.
The Arab world has changed from a hotbed of pride and optimism to a stagnant swamp of despotism and corruption where power is effectively shared between oligarchic families, their retainers, and Islamic fundamentalists. The masses of people, those who could afford it, are fed huge doses of controlled satellite television entertainment and propaganda, and told to count their blessings and toe the line.
Cheers
mhg
Mon Email
Comments