Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Arab politics and society: A generation's passing brings opportunity
Mona Eltahawy International Herald Tribune
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
NEW YORK A few years ago, I stood in a public square in an Arab capital and watched the funeral procession of an Arab leader. Women fainted and were carried away for resuscitation, men pushed to get closer, and police officers pushed them back in an attempt to maintain control.
.
The country's youthful population had known no other leader. "It's like eclipse of the sun," one man told me. "This is a black day. It's a catastrophe for the country."
.
It doesn't matter what country this was or which leader, because the scenario is likely to be played out several times over the next few years in most Arab countries as one by one, the old men who have ruled us succumb to the vagaries of time and age. And we will hear others call each death a catastrophe. But is it a catastrophe or the dawn of a welcome new era?
.
It is customary in obituaries to list achievements. But often, the only achievement in an Arab leader's obituary is how long he managed to stay in power. It is as if they are in a competition to see who can stay the longest. It matters little what good they achieved, whether their people have jobs, comfortable lives, the freedom and ability to express themselves politically or artistically, or if the people simply are optimistic about the future.
.
Most Arab leaders are in their 70s or 80s. Their years in power have straddled momentous inventions and world change: The Internet was invented, Communism died and new countries have come into being. And yet the Arab political world has survived intact, and our leaders continue as if nothing has changed.
.
So complete is their grip that when discussing the legacy of many Arab leaders, instead of complaining that they have stood in the way of a functioning democracy, we complain that they have not named a successor. Not only have we accepted their unchecked power, but we also want them to tell us who should continue tyrannizing us after they go.
.
Isn't it time to hold the Arab citizen in higher regard than the Arab leader? Leaders will come and go, but we must not be held hostage to their health or their age. In an irony that bodes well for the future, the older Arab leaders become, the younger their subjects are. A majority of the Arab world is under 30. While this leaves the leaders hopelessly out of touch with their citizens, it also means that over the next few years the Arab world can consider a new way of being and thinking that was never possible while our aging leaders clung to power.
.
If they truly cared about their citizens and wished to be remembered well, Arab leaders would long ago have stepped aside and made way for a younger generation of leaders. And by that I don't mean their sons. Arab civil society is full of educated, dynamic men and women who are truly driven by a wish to serve their respective countries.
.
Instead, leaders of our republics behave like monarchs and groom their sons to take over, others stage referendums that waste public time and money to boast that close to 100 percent of their public wants them to stay, and in those countries with term limits, parliaments rubber stamp a change to the constitution to keep presidents in power.
.
But the one thing our leaders cannot cheat or change is death. And when their day comes, there will not be an eclipse of the sun nor will blackness enshroud the people just because a human being has returned to his maker. If we see darkness, it is not an eclipse but the sun setting in preparation to rise and herald a new day tomorrow.
.
(Mona Eltahawy is a columnist in New York for Asharq al-Awsat, the London-based Arabic newspaper.)
.
See more of the world that matters - click here for home delivery of the International Herald Tribune.
< < Back to Start of Article NEW YORK A few years ago, I stood in a public square in an Arab capital and watched the funeral procession of an Arab leader. Women fainted and were carried away for resuscitation, men pushed to get closer, and police officers pushed them back in an attempt to maintain control.
.
The country's youthful population had known no other leader. "It's like eclipse of the sun," one man told me. "This is a black day. It's a catastrophe for the country."
.
It doesn't matter what country this was or which leader, because the scenario is likely to be played out several times over the next few years in most Arab countries as one by one, the old men who have ruled us succumb to the vagaries of time and age. And we will hear others call each death a catastrophe. But is it a catastrophe or the dawn of a welcome new era?
.
It is customary in obituaries to list achievements. But often, the only achievement in an Arab leader's obituary is how long he managed to stay in power. It is as if they are in a competition to see who can stay the longest. It matters little what good they achieved, whether their people have jobs, comfortable lives, the freedom and ability to express themselves politically or artistically, or if the people simply are optimistic about the future.
.
Most Arab leaders are in their 70s or 80s. Their years in power have straddled momentous inventions and world change: The Internet was invented, Communism died and new countries have come into being. And yet the Arab political world has survived intact, and our leaders continue as if nothing has changed.
.
So complete is their grip that when discussing the legacy of many Arab leaders, instead of complaining that they have stood in the way of a functioning democracy, we complain that they have not named a successor. Not only have we accepted their unchecked power, but we also want them to tell us who should continue tyrannizing us after they go.
.
Isn't it time to hold the Arab citizen in higher regard than the Arab leader? Leaders will come and go, but we must not be held hostage to their health or their age. In an irony that bodes well for the future, the older Arab leaders become, the younger their subjects are. A majority of the Arab world is under 30. While this leaves the leaders hopelessly out of touch with their citizens, it also means that over the next few years the Arab world can consider a new way of being and thinking that was never possible while our aging leaders clung to power.
.
If they truly cared about their citizens and wished to be remembered well, Arab leaders would long ago have stepped aside and made way for a younger generation of leaders. And by that I don't mean their sons. Arab civil society is full of educated, dynamic men and women who are truly driven by a wish to serve their respective countries.
.
Instead, leaders of our republics behave like monarchs and groom their sons to take over, others stage referendums that waste public time and money to boast that close to 100 percent of their public wants them to stay, and in those countries with term limits, parliaments rubber stamp a change to the constitution to keep presidents in power.
.
But the one thing our leaders cannot cheat or change is death. And when their day comes, there will not be an eclipse of the sun nor will blackness enshroud the people just because a human being has returned to his maker. If we see darkness, it is not an eclipse but the sun setting in preparation to rise and herald a new day tomorrow.
.
(Mona Eltahawy is a columnist in New York for Asharq al-Awsat, the London-based Arabic newspaper.)
.
Mona Eltahawy International Herald Tribune
Tuesday, November 23, 2004
NEW YORK A few years ago, I stood in a public square in an Arab capital and watched the funeral procession of an Arab leader. Women fainted and were carried away for resuscitation, men pushed to get closer, and police officers pushed them back in an attempt to maintain control.
.
The country's youthful population had known no other leader. "It's like eclipse of the sun," one man told me. "This is a black day. It's a catastrophe for the country."
.
It doesn't matter what country this was or which leader, because the scenario is likely to be played out several times over the next few years in most Arab countries as one by one, the old men who have ruled us succumb to the vagaries of time and age. And we will hear others call each death a catastrophe. But is it a catastrophe or the dawn of a welcome new era?
.
It is customary in obituaries to list achievements. But often, the only achievement in an Arab leader's obituary is how long he managed to stay in power. It is as if they are in a competition to see who can stay the longest. It matters little what good they achieved, whether their people have jobs, comfortable lives, the freedom and ability to express themselves politically or artistically, or if the people simply are optimistic about the future.
.
Most Arab leaders are in their 70s or 80s. Their years in power have straddled momentous inventions and world change: The Internet was invented, Communism died and new countries have come into being. And yet the Arab political world has survived intact, and our leaders continue as if nothing has changed.
.
So complete is their grip that when discussing the legacy of many Arab leaders, instead of complaining that they have stood in the way of a functioning democracy, we complain that they have not named a successor. Not only have we accepted their unchecked power, but we also want them to tell us who should continue tyrannizing us after they go.
.
Isn't it time to hold the Arab citizen in higher regard than the Arab leader? Leaders will come and go, but we must not be held hostage to their health or their age. In an irony that bodes well for the future, the older Arab leaders become, the younger their subjects are. A majority of the Arab world is under 30. While this leaves the leaders hopelessly out of touch with their citizens, it also means that over the next few years the Arab world can consider a new way of being and thinking that was never possible while our aging leaders clung to power.
.
If they truly cared about their citizens and wished to be remembered well, Arab leaders would long ago have stepped aside and made way for a younger generation of leaders. And by that I don't mean their sons. Arab civil society is full of educated, dynamic men and women who are truly driven by a wish to serve their respective countries.
.
Instead, leaders of our republics behave like monarchs and groom their sons to take over, others stage referendums that waste public time and money to boast that close to 100 percent of their public wants them to stay, and in those countries with term limits, parliaments rubber stamp a change to the constitution to keep presidents in power.
.
But the one thing our leaders cannot cheat or change is death. And when their day comes, there will not be an eclipse of the sun nor will blackness enshroud the people just because a human being has returned to his maker. If we see darkness, it is not an eclipse but the sun setting in preparation to rise and herald a new day tomorrow.
.
(Mona Eltahawy is a columnist in New York for Asharq al-Awsat, the London-based Arabic newspaper.)
.
See more of the world that matters - click here for home delivery of the International Herald Tribune.
< < Back to Start of Article NEW YORK A few years ago, I stood in a public square in an Arab capital and watched the funeral procession of an Arab leader. Women fainted and were carried away for resuscitation, men pushed to get closer, and police officers pushed them back in an attempt to maintain control.
.
The country's youthful population had known no other leader. "It's like eclipse of the sun," one man told me. "This is a black day. It's a catastrophe for the country."
.
It doesn't matter what country this was or which leader, because the scenario is likely to be played out several times over the next few years in most Arab countries as one by one, the old men who have ruled us succumb to the vagaries of time and age. And we will hear others call each death a catastrophe. But is it a catastrophe or the dawn of a welcome new era?
.
It is customary in obituaries to list achievements. But often, the only achievement in an Arab leader's obituary is how long he managed to stay in power. It is as if they are in a competition to see who can stay the longest. It matters little what good they achieved, whether their people have jobs, comfortable lives, the freedom and ability to express themselves politically or artistically, or if the people simply are optimistic about the future.
.
Most Arab leaders are in their 70s or 80s. Their years in power have straddled momentous inventions and world change: The Internet was invented, Communism died and new countries have come into being. And yet the Arab political world has survived intact, and our leaders continue as if nothing has changed.
.
So complete is their grip that when discussing the legacy of many Arab leaders, instead of complaining that they have stood in the way of a functioning democracy, we complain that they have not named a successor. Not only have we accepted their unchecked power, but we also want them to tell us who should continue tyrannizing us after they go.
.
Isn't it time to hold the Arab citizen in higher regard than the Arab leader? Leaders will come and go, but we must not be held hostage to their health or their age. In an irony that bodes well for the future, the older Arab leaders become, the younger their subjects are. A majority of the Arab world is under 30. While this leaves the leaders hopelessly out of touch with their citizens, it also means that over the next few years the Arab world can consider a new way of being and thinking that was never possible while our aging leaders clung to power.
.
If they truly cared about their citizens and wished to be remembered well, Arab leaders would long ago have stepped aside and made way for a younger generation of leaders. And by that I don't mean their sons. Arab civil society is full of educated, dynamic men and women who are truly driven by a wish to serve their respective countries.
.
Instead, leaders of our republics behave like monarchs and groom their sons to take over, others stage referendums that waste public time and money to boast that close to 100 percent of their public wants them to stay, and in those countries with term limits, parliaments rubber stamp a change to the constitution to keep presidents in power.
.
But the one thing our leaders cannot cheat or change is death. And when their day comes, there will not be an eclipse of the sun nor will blackness enshroud the people just because a human being has returned to his maker. If we see darkness, it is not an eclipse but the sun setting in preparation to rise and herald a new day tomorrow.
.
(Mona Eltahawy is a columnist in New York for Asharq al-Awsat, the London-based Arabic newspaper.)
.
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