Speaches |
Presentation by Mohamed Nagui El Ghatrifi at the Liberal International Conference on Human Rights Tapei, Taiwan, December 7-10, 2007 Conference Theme: Institutional Approaches to Human Rights Ladies and Gentlemen
The Network of Arab Liberals with the encouraging support of the Freidrich Naumann Foundation held several meetings in various countries of the Arab region, to bring forth a network whose headquarters will soon be established in Egypt. This is a ground breaking move providing a forum for Arab liberals to stand united against the totalitarian regimes and their oppressive ideologies prevalent in the Arab region. Let me remind you that the Arab region continues to be plagued by the scars of colonialism, an alienating sense of marginalization, and systems infested with corruption and nepotism. Its peoples disillusioned by memories of a glorious past and mystified by the misrepresentation of their deeply cherished religion, its people hunger for their human rights. This then is the pivotal cause for the formation of the Network of Arab Liberals: to ensure that human rights are re-established and fully protected. For, as you will all surely agree, the essence of liberalism is the presence of human rights. And here I speak of human rights for ALL, not dependent on a particular social class as with socialists, nor pertaining to a particular geographic entity as with nationalism, nor even restricted to followers of a particular religion. For, along the Network of Arab Liberals, we maintain that Human Rights are indivisible and universal. You well realize that some have raised questions as to the suitability of liberal ideas for the Arab Region, going so far as wondering whether democratization, globalization and a human based development are beyond the Arabs. To answer them we need to turn to history. Without the Lutheran reform of the church in the 14th century, it was inconceivable for the French revolution to break out. It took France one hundred years of turbulence before it could actually establish a democracy. And in Europe, deep-seated religious beliefs, governing institutions, and traditional hierarchies of power continued to form persistent obstacles to the actual spread of democracy across Europe. Then let us also remember that the process of democratization has only recently taken hold in Latin America beginning in the late 80’s and early 90’s yet continues to meet with resistance in some of its countries. As we turn to the Arab World, we come to realize that Islam is the dominant factor in the culture of this area. Some people believe that reformed Islam is not an obstacle to promote liberalization. Others believe the separation of religion from state or politics is the way to reach that goal. To deal properly with this issue we must take note that Islam like many other religions, upholds ethics, morals and values that form the basis of socio-politico-economic justice and the respect of human rights. Islam’s holy book, the Quran, contains verses that form the basis of Islamic Jurisprudence as applied by the prophet Mohamed while he established the Islamic State fourteen centuries ago. Islamic jurisprudence was a response to the socio-political realities of that era. Thereafter, the Islamic State, or Khalifate as it was called, became a cover for a monarchic system of rulership that violated the dignity and respect of humans and their rights. It continued until the Turkish Ottoman Empire that ruled the Arab countries. With the fall of the Ottoman Empire, at the hands of the European colonialists, the last remnants of the so-called Islamic khalifate State fell. The colonial rulership continued the brutal suppression of liberation movements, but also added the extortion of national wealth and the desecration of religious sites and symbols to their violations of human rights for the citizens of the nations they occupied. Unfortunately, the repetition of such atrocities continues to be committed in Iraq, Palestine and Somalia and again such violations continue to generate among the oppressed the same feelings of resentment, humiliation, bitterness and despair which lead to socially disruptive feelings of anger if not rage. In the Arab countries the military played a role in ousting the colonial powers and thereby, the military filled the governing power vacuum with themselves. Military juntas ruled dictatorially, wherever despotic monarchies were absent. Naturally the injustices, humiliation and violations of citizen human rights continued. Today, after almost 70 decades of such human rights abusive rulerships, we witness that many of the Arab nations’ national resources have been squandered by their corrupt regimes so that inflation reached its highest rates ever along with increasing unemployment and illiteracy, and the deterioration of basic services such as education, health care, transportation and communications. The United Nations’ Annual Human Development Reports have adequately documented this unfortunate situation and have pinpointed the dangers it constitutes for national stability, thereby adding more fuel to the mounting call for urgent internal reform. However, it took the atrocities of 9/11 to drive home the negative implications of despair, of unchecked poverty and unplanned demographic growth. Unrepresentative Arab regimes had no choice but to reform. Nonetheless, we notice that these reforms are supposedly being adopted “according to each nation’s momentum and rules”. In short, any real change of power is being deflected. Furthermore, totalitarian regimes put forth the threat of Islamists and their potential destabilization of international security, particularly to oil supplies as well as Israel’s safety, as a powerful mechanism to deflect international pressures for measurable reforms. Meanwhile, they continue to weaken all existing parties, save their own, while turning a blind eye to the Islamists thereby offering them up to their citizens and the world as the only available alternative to the governing status quo. Now the Islamists, as some of you may already know, can bypass the restrictions and limitations other secular political forces are subjected to, such as the freedom of establishing political parties, the right of existing parties to communicate with the public, or the right to promote their leaders and their ideas through mass media. Furthermore, unlike established parties, Islamists are very difficult to infiltrate and sabotage from within. Additionally, Islamists receive financial support from local businesses and from abroad and they offer services sorely needed in their societies. For example, they established a wide network of charitable social welfare societies and Islamic healthcare and educational establishments, which they generally attached to mosques for further protection. They also communicate to the public and deliver their message through various Islamic satellite television stations. You may wonder how the Middle East dictators tolerated the politicization of Islam. Well they had two powerful reasons to do just that. The first was to let them hang their own selves by exposing themselves to the security and intelligence authorities. The second was that they could be readily and legally detained once they crossed any red line. And this, the dictators were shrewd enough to ensure, by simply forbidding the legal establishment of any Islamic political organization! So the first tactic to evade real reform used by totalitarian regimes in the Arab Region was a phenomenon they actually manipulated and that was the presence of Islamists. A second tactic to deflect the actualization of reform was the manipulation of privatization under the banner of economic reform. The Arab dictators parceled out the privatization of state businesses to their families and their cronies, thereby creating their own community of private businesses totally indebted and dependent upon them. In short, under the banner of economic reform, in particular the privatization and liberalization of the economy, we find that political authoritarianism is further entrenched, enforced and sustained A third tactic used by these regimes was the co-opting of young technocrats, professionals and young businessmen aspiring for a liberal environment to promote their businesses by enrolling them into the regimes established political forum, which they then call a party, and thereby contain any threat or danger they may have constituted to the governing status quo. Worse yet, all these tactics and internal maneouverings are implemented under the protection and watchful eye of the military establishment. Since it is only by gaining the approval of the military’s highest ranking figures that the dictators can ensure their security and grip on power. So how long will it take to eradicate dictatorships in the Arab World and the ideologies of oppression with their disregard of human rights? I assert nobody can tell for sure. However, we need to remember that European forces of freedom had to undergo a world war to defeat fascism and another 70 years of constant vigilance and resistance to combat communism. We realize that the liberals in the Arab Middle East have a daunting road ahead of them. Meanwhile, the members of the Arab Network firmly believe, as I do, that only those qualified to change the fate of their fellowmen are those, who like themselves, have faith in the indivisible inalienable rights of each fellow individual and, are ready to struggle to board the train of modernity before it is too late. |
On Behalf of the newly established Network of Arab Liberals, it is an honor to be with you today. Indeed it is always a privilege when like-minded people sharing a common cause have the opportunity to come together. My presence in your midst holds special significance for the Arab Liberals Network and myself, for it reassures us all that liberalism is growing, gaining ground and charting new areas on our planet earth. And it further indicates that we all have a stake in each others growing strength, because the triumph of responsible liberty and human dignity necessitates the existence of free and self-respecting persons. Persons that can ensure the spread of stable, just and peaceful co-existence based upon human and humane rights. This is what the world citizenry are seeking and what we liberals are particularly qualified to provide, and what we especially need to spread in our Arab region.