Arab political power [Archives:2005/867/Opinion]
By Ibrahim M. Habash
[email protected]
The Arabs number now (2005) about 300 million people living in 23 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Many of those countries are very rich in mineral resources and all are rich in human resources. Saudi Arabia, one of the Arab countries, has the world's largest known oil deposits in the World; Egypt has seventy million industrious people; Sudan has a million square miles of mostly very fertile land, etc. With this huge population, which is larger than that of the United States, and strategic geographical location, straddling two continents, along with its natural wealth you would expect this Nation to be at least among the super powers. Instead it is fragmented into a large number of weak and backward entities. For them to have a fairly strong political power in the world's arena, they must speak with one tongue. Remember the oil embargo while it lasted? The people of the different states have the same dreams, hopes and aspirations and therefore they do not contradict each other's policies as their rulers do now.
Many of the Arab rulers are more or less dictators who serve for life and now they are passing their jobs on to their children as if it were a family heirloom. The rulers do not implement the wishes of the people where and when it really counts and that is why the public dissatisfaction with them. Furthermore, some rulers prefer their vertical relations with the United States, Europe and even Israel to their horizontal relations with their sister Arab states. Hence the contradictions in their policies; some support normalization with Israel, others do not, some support the war on Iraq others do not, some are enthusiastic about Globalization others are not. Strong and effective policies need full backing of the people. This is not happening now. The ideal solution would be democratic institutions that truly represent the wishes of the people. This does not seem very likely in the foreseeable future and therefore an interim solution needs to be found.
Non government organizations (NGO), such as professional unions, labor unions, human rights groups, women rights groups, etc. need to play advisory role for those who are in positions of power to formulate foreign policies. Those organizations represent the wishes of the people and need to be represented by experienced and tested wise people who are trusted and respected by both the ruler and the ruled. Those representatives are to be permanent advisors to the Chairman of the Arab League. He will submit to the Arab League meetings the will of the people as relayed to him by the NGO representatives. Then the Arab League must be creative in levying painful penalties that are made to order for the regimes that go against the will of their people. Here is where ingenuity should play a big part. Sometimes simply publishing the minutes of League's meetings would be enough to dissuade a ruler from putting his petty selfish interests above the supreme interests of the Arab Nation. The Arabs need to realize that they are in the same boat and they will float together or sink one after the other in rapid succession. Their survival as well as their strength depends on the unity of their hearts and ranks.
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