13 May 2010 By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashid During
one of the joint-Arab meetings, the majority of
participants wanted to add a sentence to the founding
charter emphasizing the importance of the role of Arab
nationalism. I could not keep quiet, and I objected to
this however the others in the meeting looked at me as
if I had committed a grave taboo. After
around a month I met a figure whose opinion and
political activities I greatly respect, and I consider
this figure to be a symbol of moderation and
objectivity in a country that has no place for
objectivity. He said, do you not see that we in the
Arab world are confronting a dangerous vacuum; we are
living without an ideology to bind us together; all
countries are proud of nationalism except us, and this
vacuum has made it easy for religious extremism to
emerge, along with the spread of sectarian strife, and
this has also constricted the majority of groups to
being concerned with small local issue. I told him
that this was good analysis, and I asked him "What
then is the solution?" He answered quickly, Arab
nationalism. I quickly objected to this, saying that
nationalism is the source of all the problems that we
are experiencing today. The figure did not contradict
me, and he acknowledged that the previous experience
was full of mistakes. I
asked, firstly can you even revive dead ideas, like
the pharaohs or the Ottoman Empire or Arab
nationalism? Can you clean up contaminated ideas? And
what kind of nationalism are we talking about?
Nasserite or Baathist nationalism or a special
nationalism such as Syrian nationalism in the Levant?
The
truth that is known to everybody who experienced any
popular ideology, from nationalism to communism to
Islamism, is that these are raised as slogans in order
to seize power. Abdul Nasser's nationalism found the
greatest resonance throughout the Arab world, however
it did not find any such resonance in his own
character, and his sole nationalist project, a union
between Egypt and Syria [United Arab Republic]
transformed Syria into a mere extension of his empire,
which resulted in the Syrians rebelling against him
and taking to the streets demanding a divorce.
As for
the Baathist party, its evil and horrific actions in
Iraq have harmed Arabs everywhere, and it will not be
easy to market Baathism after this, regardless of any
propaganda. The idea of Arab Baathism is resonant, and
it declared an eternal Arab nation. However this
proved to be nothing more than a façade for
destructive authoritarian rule and geographical
expansion that aimed to seize the rest of Arab land.
As for Arab Communism, this was an alien ideology and
has been rejected, and it was only ever applied in
South Yemen. Despite the slogan, "workers of the world
unite" this idea soon died out due to Marxist and
Leninist power struggles resulting in wars that killed
thousands of Yemenis. Now it is the era of the
Islamists, who have raised the slogan of "According to
the Prophet…" and "God said…" however they are no
different than the Arab nationalists, Baathists, or
Communists, whether we are talking about the Sunnis in
Gaza or the Shiites in southern Lebanon, or the
resistance groups in the Afghan caves – they all aim
to seize power. The
experiences of Arab countries over the past seven
decades have made them indifferent towards any
ideological bond, new or old. Despite this
instantaneous rejection, one must admit that the idea
of Arab nationalism remains attractive, after it is
repaired. This does not mean the Arab race, because
some "Arabs" are not Arab at all, but are Berbers,
Kurds, Turkmen, or African. The race connection is
something that is rejected by modern society where
race is mixed and where there is increased migration.
While the religious connection has created disputes
over history, worship, and [religious] marjas, and
ultimately caused more fragmentation than nationalism.
In the name of the Sunni – Shiite conflict, rivers of
blood have been shed, cities have been split in half,
and mosques have been destroyed. Splits have even
emerged within sects themselves, and we are facing an
imminent dispute within the Sunni sect between the
Salafists, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Sufis. This
will see several decades of conflict unless this
rivalry can be extinguished by the wise. The
simple idea is based upon a broad Arab nationalism
away from chauvinism and blind fanaticism, and which
puts forward the interests of the people, and which
benefits from the close geographic and linguistic
ties, as well as multiple common interests.
It may
be too early to put forward Arab nationalism for
discussion nonce more, but the small states are
becoming smaller in a world where only the strong
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