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Friedman on the Middle East Democracy Movements
August 3, 2011
By: Carlos Aramayo and Robert LaGamma | Printer Friendly

In a New York Times August 3 opinion editorial entitled “The New Hama Rules,” columnist Thomas Friedman writes about recent developments in the Arab world and the long road these new democracies have to travel to find stability. Friedman goes on to describe how in 1982 former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad brutally crushed a rebellion in the city of Hama and notes that certain Arab governments adopted the policy of ruling with an iron fist to exert near to absolute control over the vast majority of their populations.

He observes that following the Hama model, the governments of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and Syria systematically instilled fear by resorting to violence to nurture voluntary compliance with their authoritarian rule.

However Friedman notes, now that the Arab people have “awakened” the shouts for democracy are heard defiantly across the region despite the physical or psychological violence inflicted by governments in their attempt to quell the opposition movements. He goes on to question how the democratic movements in the region will pan out noting that authoritarian rule made sure it eradicate any traces of democratic values, institutions or civil society leaving the new movements with little to build on. For that reason he predicts that positive results will take time and the shape of democracy in the region remains to be seen.

Friedman concludes quoting a former Foreign Minister of Jordan, Marwan Muasher, who chooses to call what others have named the “Arab Spring” the “Arab Awakening.” Marwan predicts that Arab Awakening “is going to play out over the next 10 to 15 years before it settles down. We are going to see all four seasons multiple times. These people are going to make mistakes on the political and economic fronts. But I remain optimistic in the long run, because people have stopped feeling powerless.”  

Source:
New York Times Opinion Pages – The New Hama Rules