How
can individual rights be secured in the Mideast’s new reality?
The Arab World has gone through a tempestuous period
where regimes have been toppled and new social orders were established. What some
observers advanced is the idea of the emergence of a new Arab World Order built
upon ideals and values of democracy, liberalism and social solidarity. This new
Arab World order, which rightly has been pinpointed as the catalyst of several
world uprisings taking place in settings as different as the US, Spain, Kuwait
and Greece, has shown to be a philosophy expanding beyond physical borders and
cultural boundaries. It is indeed a mindset for people to adopt In order to
make their voices heard, and bring about a change they see as necessary not
only for social prosperity and political survival, but most importantly for
justice and equity in rights and duties attribution. This essay attempts to
draw and define the typical political, social, economic and religious features
of this new Arab World Order, features which are critical for the development
of an entrenched and efficient understanding and protection for individual
rights of the citizen in the Arab World.
1. Political
Politics is undeniably one of the main factors without
which an Arab Spring couldn’t have seen light. Political dictatorship and
totalitarianism has made it possible for a small elite of privileged politicians
and businessmen to form an oligarchy of hidden actors who enjoyed pulling the
strings of the political scene in the Arab world. Making it a personal fantasy or an enjoyable
chess game, these oligarchs not only drowned in their pleasure for power and
control, but also forgot to dress an efficient strategy to sustain their grip
on power when dark clouds pop from above. Decades of rule can be seen as a
triumph for the political elite, but the servile subjects of yesterday are no
more among the masses, instead giving place for a new social power to emerge
with unconventional thoughts and defying opinions. The Youth has indeed been
the unexpected factor in the equation of the Arab spring, a youth who managed
to turn political consciousness and intellectual assiduity into an organized movement.
The precedent generations, crumbling under illiteracy and poverty, have been unable
to discern the blessings of an alternative system of power with just and fair
attitude towards its people, yet the fully knowledgeable generation Y of today,
geared up with liberalistic, democratic and socialist thoughts, made the
unprecedented step of thinking outside what is available. “If it ain’t break,
don’t fix it” was not good enough for High school and college graduates who
wanted to construct a society striving for the best and asking nothing but
social justice and advance. Now that it is clear for the Arab citizen and the
world that the new rising power is the generation Y, it is big time to invest
in it as the prominent agent of change. Youth have the potential to get involved
in the political management of their respective nations now that the barriers
of the deceased regimes are gone. Youth involvement or influence in politics
can be a paradigm shift in our understanding of the role of the young
generation in the socio-political spectrum. This can be achieve through various
means ranging from political affiliation and activism among pre-constructed
organisms such as parties, or through a more efficient engagement in the civil
society which is a key player in sculpting the public opinion and the political
arena of the country. Think tanks, though still not flourishing in the Arab
World, can be the conciliatory bridge the youth have been looking forward to
during the time of repression and autocracy. Being in the heart of decision
making doesn’t necessarily require being part of the political game; it can
instead be feasible through influence and through the power of suggestions and
recommendations. Think tanks not only offer a platform for the young generation
from where to have an impact on how the country is run, but also a template to
stand on as the forefront of a social defense mechanism preventing the citizens’
rights to be coerced or alienated.
Youth have been side lined in favor of a
closed and elitist branch of the Arab society, thus having no say in how the
country operates or what the government priorities should be in the different
social, economic and political domains. It is time for youth, however young and
inexperienced they are, to expose their ideas and ideals on an open forum, and
make from these opinion and recommendations a raw material able to be processed
by the authorities in such a way that it becomes politically, socially and financially
applicable. This way, the political individual rights of the youth are duly
considered and the civil liberties of the citizen in the field of cooperative
management of the nations’ affairs is taken care of.
2. Socio-Economic
No one can disregard the power of the socio-economic
conditions of a certain nation in influencing the observance of individual
rights of the citizen. Not to fall in the trap of the economic determinism of
the thinker Karl Marx, the socio-economic state of the Arab world have had a
partial role in reversing the course of history in this part of the world. How
can individual liberties be respected when people cannot provide for their keen
and for themselves the resources to survive and live with dignity. A life without
dignity is a life whose owner has nothing to lose, thus being prone in acting
immorally toward society as a whole. Governments can turn the people servile
through degrading socio-political conditions, yet it has always proven to be a
short term policy as demonstrated by world regimes throughout history. Turning
tough socio-economic conditions into a governance tool for decades is foolish
strategy for regimes which aspire to eternal existence. A win-win situation
imposes itself under the realm of the famous kingdom of Realpolitik: Let the
government enrich itself, yet making sure that the people gain enough to not question
the authority of the state. As bad as it may seem, it is unthinkable under the premises
of the system of politics to imagine a government ideal enough to sacrifice its
privileges for the sake of its people, especially that in the Arab political
scene, as it is for the world political scene, most government officials are
graduates of the economic university of life rather than matured products of
strong political currents.
As Henry A. Wallace wisely stated: “Their final
objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political
power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market
simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection.”
This is in conventional politics, yet, what we are
seeing in the Arab world may turn out to be a redefinition of the principle of
governance, and a way to sustain a vision of a government concerned with social
welfare must be a process which involves the social spectrum side by side with
the state. Here comes the economic and social vision for the Arab world: Social
Entrepreneurship.
Social Entrepreneurship is the fuel for social advance
and individual as well as social flourishing of the citizen. Allowing your
subjects to locate and identify the problem, cure it and monetize it while benefiting
the society alleviates the hardship the state has to face in order to solve the
nations’ issues. Startups and businesses owned and operated by creative and
brilliant youth in the Arab world can not only provide employment for society,
but as well secures the individual rights of the citizen in owning properties,
making money and generating revenue well spent and well invested for the sake
of the individual and its social circle.
This strategy prevents the catastrophic emergence and creation of
monopolies managed by the state or state empowered agents, thus preventing the
economic welfare of the citizen from being targeted and sold for parties
concerned by profit more than by the citizen satisfaction and well-being.
3. Religion
What the Arab spring has shown to the entire world
audience is that religion can indeed be the cement to consolidate society’s
ranks rather than the fire which burns the social order down. Religion can be a
tool for individual rights advance if approached strategically as it ought to.
Structuring a political and social system which secures the religious rights of
all its components can add credibility and trust to the usually strained
relations between the state and its citizen. Youth come in the frame again as
the torch bearers for religious understanding and interfaith respect. The Arab
world, though mostly Muslim in essence, has been through the Arab uprising due
to the engagement of all its religious constituents in one single vision: A
future Arab world where rights protection prevail. There is nothing that can
install cohesion and mutual respect in a society better than common
difficulties which align everyone for a shared goal and conviction. The safety
of the society, of the nation and of the individual far outweighs the religious
differences that might arise, and thanks to the enlightened youth engagement in
constructive cooperation regardless of religion affiliation, a new mindset has
been conceived, a mindset that the new Arab reality ought to consolidate
through the prioritization of individual rights protection mechanisms set and
operated by progressive youth who believe in the appreciation of differences
and the celebration of variances without which a dynamic society is doomed to
collapse.
Mohamed Amine Belarbi
Cofounder: Arab Institute for Youth Policy Making Founder:
Moroccan Institute for Youth Policy Making
(Morocco)
