Sunday, January 03, 2010
Arab world - President of the European Parliament accused of racism by liberal Arab website, by Francis Chartrand
During his visit of December 20, 2009 in Oman, the President of European Parliament Hans-Gert Poettering said that democracy in the Middle East evolved from within, it must reflect the traditions and local values and that the West should not exert pressure on countries in the region for them to accept a democratic system of European style. This statement has raised the criticism of Arab intellectuals and the next day, Omran Salman, Director of Arab Reform Aafaq.org site, published an article castigating statements Poettering.
Western officials prefer to preserve the Western dictatorships
"(...) What do statements [like Poettering]? That the European democratic system is suitable for all kinds of countries around the world, but not to Arab countries?
Such statements are obviously not harmless, and they do not serve these alleged exceptions [Arab] and they would rather the manifestation of racist tendencies and selfish goals.
These people [the attitude Poettering] believe that the Arabs deserve nothing better than their current government, they do not deserve democracy enjoyed by civilized nations. It follows that it is better not to put pressure on the dictatorial regimes, but rather to fulfill their wishes, [and receive] in exchange agreements, money and profits, while people may well go devil.
In reality, the president of the European Parliament, who should be ashamed, is not the only villain of this batch [of Western statesmen]. Unfortunately, many European officials and Americans share his views, some even competing to turn a new page [in their relations with] the dictatorial governments, that of [Syrian President] Bashar Assad or [Libyan leader Moammar] Gaddafi or more.
Their positions are based on the following assumptions:
- People are not equal in their ways to achieve democracy, there would be nations first class and second class nations. The "first class" - Europe and the West - deserve the highest level of democracy, while Arab nations belong to the second class are [intrinsically] different constraints to accept the authority of their governments [ respectively].
- The best way to defend Western interests is to preserve the existence of tyrannical regimes and not to provide [these] nations can adopt democracy as such a change could affect those interests [Western].
- The democratic experience is inherently scalable, so it is not useful to promote and facilitate [the way] to democracy, particularly in Arab countries. This however is not true for Eastern Europe, South America or Asia [where democracy was introduced quickly].
- All nations of the region have their own characteristics and cultural traditions, which must be respected and this would be a mistake to impose democracy or push them to adopt [democracy].
As I said before, these are only excuses advanced by some Western politicians to justify their relationship with the corrupt and tyrannical governments in the Arab world. They reveal their contempt for the nations of the region, treated as inferior species.
The Arab people also want freedom and democracy
The truth is - even if these opportunistic [Western] does not see things eye to this - that all nations have also [right] to freedom and democracy. There is no nation that can fight and not fighting for freedom - and the Arab nations are no exception.
Moreover, democracy is not a habit that one has for honoring its traditions, or that it adapts to the climate. It is a universal human value that transcends continents and cultures.
The supremacy of law, a government elected by the people, accountable to [its people], the separation of powers, pluralism, the transfer of power by peaceful means, all these things are not dependent on regional customs . If they are good for the West, they are also the East and all regions of the world whatsoever.
The only thing left to say is that all the Reformers, those who defend democracy and freedom in Arab countries should condemn racism and opportunism of politicians like - the President of the European Parliament included (...)
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Labels: Arab World, Europe, Francis Chartrand, Oman
# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 9:46 PM 
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