Most of us are aware that the pro-democracy movement that has gained power in Tunisia spread a contagion of passion to a growing number of countries. As out attention shifts from one crisis of violence to the next it is very difficult to hold a perspective on the complete and ongoing picture. This is an attempt to look at that larger picture.
The first question is whether we can really define this as some sort geographical region in which the parts make up a rational whole. If we include all of the countries that are presently experiencing protest and revolt, they spread from Morocco in the west to at least Iran in the east. As we all know, things are not exactly all sweetness and light in Afghanistan and Pakistan either.
North Africa at least means a particular section of a continent. The Middle East is really a term that reflects western political interest more than it does the relationships of the people who live there. We are really talking about North Africa and much of Southwest Asia. Can we find any characteristics that unite this large section of the planet? The religion of Islam is one such feature. With the exception of Israel, some form of Islam is the predominate religion of all of these countries. Is this really important? We will come back to that.
Historically much of this area has been an important geographic crossroads between the continents of the eastern hemisphere. This has always made it a great prize for empires. These empires stretch back to the beginning of recorded history. Egypt, Assyria, Alexander the Great and the Mauryan Empire all controlled parts of it at various times. The Romans controlled the entire Mediterranean basin. The Arabs swept over much of the territory bringing Islam with them. Then came the Ottomans and the Europeans. There has really never been a time when people were not struggling over control of this vast area. That history of imperialism and colonialism has left a strong imprint on the political and economic realities of today.
The transition from colonialism to independence that began following WWII was a very bumpy process for many of these countries. The former colonial powers attempted to install puppet regimes that they could control. In many places these were expelled by military coups that morphed into long established authoritarian regimes. Suddenly large numbers of people are experiencing the feeling that the conditions that have prevailed for a long time are no longer endurable. This sort of contagion bears at least a superficial resemblance to the revolutions in 1989-1991 that swept the countries of Eastern Europe that had been under the control of the USSR.
As of right now Tunisia and Egypt have experienced a partial regime change. The long term strongmen have been removed and bodies which present themselves as transitional governments are in place. In both countries there is an officially stated aim of moving toward a democratic system of government. They still have a long and likely bumpy road in front of them.
The following countries are experiencing ongoing demonstrations with the pre-existing government still in power.
Morocco
Algeria
Libya
Yemen
Jordan
Bahrain
The situation in Israel and the occupied territories which is always tense seems to be feeling pressure from the events in surrounding areas.
Iraq which still has 50K US occupation troops has had several demonstrations. As always the question of who is demonstrating against whom for what gets complicated.
Iran which has ongoing upheavals between the regime in power and dissenters has experienced new demonstrations which have been met with violence.
There have been efforts to organize demonstrations in Syria that have so far been suppressed.
It seems fairly obvious that all of these national movements are to some extent stimulating and impacting each other. Is there anymore linkage than that? Some conservatives in the US are raising the spectra of what they delight in calling Islamo-fascism. These movements seem to reflect some combination of planned organization and fairly spontaneous uprising. Just who is involved in this seems to vary considerably from one country to another. Youth movements using social media appear to be a recurring feature. The Muslim Brotherhood has some prominence in Egypt and to be less visible in other countries. In Bahrain and Iraq the political difference related to the religions divisions between Sunni and Shia sects of Islam are playing a role. Any notion of some sort of transnational unifying plot seems to qualify as a full blown conspiracy theory.
We need an understanding of the history, politics and culture of each of these countries in order to understand the processes that are underway and to follow the developments toward new forms of government. Most of us participating on Daily Kos are Americans with limited knowledge of the rest of the world. The people participating in the Eyes on Egypt and the Region group at least have an interest in expanding their knowledge. The name that we gave the group is of course turning out to be a bit restricted. We were forced to make a choice by the conversion to DK4 and are left to live with it. We wish to be clear that our focus as a group is an effort to be as fully inclusive of developments in the greater region as possible.
In addition to the daily functions of providing news summaries and liveblog discussions, we are also undertaking an effort to provide background and resource material. We are making a definite attempt to recruit the participation of Daily Kos users who have direct personal experience of countries in the region in developing this material. We plan to do a series of diaries providing background reports on the countries where political upheavals are occurring. Anyone who would like to contribute to these diaries please contact me by sending a message through the internal message system.