FYI
Shawgi Tell
Graduate School of Education
University at Buffalo
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 1997 10:36:15 -0700
From: MID-EAST REALITIES <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Jordanian "Democracy"? -- MER LIE of the WEEK
M I D - E A S T R E A L I T I E S - LIE of the Week
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"News, Analysis & Commentary They Don't Want You to Know"
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JORDANIAN "DEMOCRACY"? AND JOURNALIST RAMI KHOURI
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Web: WWW.MiddleEast.Org Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
LIE OF THE WEEK:
THE MYTH OF JORDANIAN "DEMOCRACY"
AND THE CASE OF RAMI KHOURI
MER - Washington - 7/28/97:
Sadly, journalists are often used by the political
establishment, rewarded for playing along, punished
for speaking up honestly and independently. This happens
in many places of course, including in the West; but it
happens far more severely in today's Arab world where the
two words "independent" and "journalism" can hardly ever
be used together without considerable hesitation and doubt.
Rami Khouri is a talented writer, and a smart man;
and he has managed to spread his regular column far and
wide going back many years when he was Editor of the
English-language Jordan Times in Amman. Khouri is also
among the darlings of the Washington establishment,
often appearing on PBS "News Hour" (think of this nightly
staple of American television as "State Department TV"
when it comes to matters Middle Eastern); flying here
and there to speak at this conference and that.
Unfortunately, Khouri is also a perfect example of
those who lend their capable pens and mouths to those in
political and financial control. Indeed, Khouri is
far more useful to the Jordanian Hashemite regime
kept and controlled as he is; than being appointed to
officially represent it.
If Jordan were anything close to a State that could
be called a "democracy" King Hussein would never have
been able to collude so openly with Israel for so long;
and to sign the very unpopular peace treaty with Israel.
The story of early Hashemite collaboration with the Israelis
is well told in Prof. Avi Schlaim's COLLUSION ACROSS THE
JORDAN (Oxford University Press). The regimes close
connections with and "subsidies" from the CIA are also
matters of historical record, admittedly not usually
remembered these days.
What Jordan is in reality is a somewhat disguised
police state run by the monarchy, the army, and the vast
intelligence apparatus. This "Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan"
uses a variety of sophisticated tactics to co-opt,
neutralize, and repress all serious opposition -- political
or intellectual.
Another "election" is ahead in Jordan later this year.
After rigging everything both economically and politically,
and after new "press regulations" that make just about any
serious criticism of the regime or the "peace process" a
criminal offense, those in control in Jordan use the "election"
terminology to try to give a veneer of legitimacy to their
rule. Of course if you're among the small upper elite that
share in this rule and wealth, all is OK. It's just that
for everyone else -- especially those who wish to speak up
against what is happening and most of all the majority
population of Palestinian origins -- the infamous secret
police, the Muhabarat, is watching and waiting.
In view of this overall situation the most important "legal"
opposition in Jordan has announced that it is not going to
participate in this "election" sham. And here's where people
like Rami Khouri come in.
"If the boycott is implemented in November, it will damage
the state's claim that our democratization process is credible
and sustainable," Khouri recently wrote in a widely distributed
column. "How the state responds to this challenge will reveal
much about whether we are experiencing genuine democratization
or merely cosmetic changes that retain major decision-making
power in the hands of a narrow power elite. This is a question
being asked about, and in, many Arab countries that are also
trying to move away from autocracy and towards more democratic
politics," so Khouri has recently written in a widely
distributed column.
"The Muslim Brotherhood and the Jordanian state are now both
challenged before the court of public opinion," Khouri continues.
"I suspect that the Brotherhood has made a mistake in deciding to
boycott the elections, because the Islamists have always achieved
their gains in Jordan by working within the national political
consensus. They should not quit the democratic game, but rather
learn how to play the game better, even if they feel that the rules
have been bent. Painful as it is for them, they must learn to
operate as a minority..."
Khouri knows very well that what has happened in Jordan in
recent years is indeed a series of "cosmetic changes", not
anything even close to "genuine democracy". He also knows very
well that no serious opposition will be tolerated in Jordan by
either the monarchy or the army; and that "elections" are a mere
facade and palliative.
But Khouri chooses to use his pen and his mouth on behalf of
the regime -- mostly for Western audiences in English -- because
he is part of that "narrow elite" that benefits from the way
things are. He just forgets to mention this last crucial bit of
information.
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