Barbara Walters chats with Forward Syria
Swaying between art and seduction
Discussing monetary policy with the man in charge
Where the earth screams in horror
02/12/2011 - Issue 48
Lesson from Egypt: West is not Best
Mubarak's fall from grace reflects fickle US allegiancesby Sami Moubayed
When Husni Mubarak was appointed Vice-President of Egypt in 1975, nobody expected him to last this long. Nor did anyone expect him - after 30 years of autocratic rule - to collapse in such a fashion. Next October would mark Mubarak's 30th year in power. The 84-year-old Egyptian President came to office neither by election nor by coup. He happened to be vice president at the right time - when Anwar al-Sadat was killed by Islamists on that fateful day in Egypt; October 6, 1981. A “president-by-accident,” he has survived longer than all his predecessors - double the time of Gamal Abdul Nasser.
The dramatic events in Egypt forced me to change my editorial; I had written about Tunis and the toppling of President Zein al-Abidin Ben Ali. All of a sudden, in three swift days, Tunisia became old news as Mubarak’s regime hung on a thread.
Syrian reaction to the Mubarak collapse is very different to the events in Tunis two weeks earlier. Apart from those who have lived there, most Syrians knew very little about Tunisia or its 75-year-old president. Egypt is a different matter.
Watching the drama unfold via Al Jazeera with a mix of curiosity and fear, many are thrilled to see the end of Mubarak, whose relationship with Syria has been cold - to say the least - since 2000. On the street level, Syrians hate him because of his positions vis-à-vis the Palestinians in Gaza, the resistance in Lebanon, and his firm commitment to Egyptian-Israeli peace. Regardless of Mubarak, however, on a street level as in people-to-people, relations are very strong; our modern histories are interwoven.
The two countries merged to form the United Arab Republic in 1958. For over three years, they had one passport, one army, one parliament, and one president. In 1967 and 1973, Syria and Egypt jointly went to war against Israel. Egypt has been a haven for Syrian artists, many of whom shot to international stardom in Egypt, while Syrian writers and intellectuals have for years written and published in Cairo. Syrian popular culture is filled with Egyptian figures, icons like Um Kalthoum and Abdul Halim, Gamal Abdul Nasser, Adel Imam, and so on. Hence why Syrians are gloating over Mubarak, they sympathise with Egypt.
There are two kinds of leaders in this region: those who rely on their people for support, and those who rely on the West. Ben Ali, Farouk the Shah, and Mubarak all relied on the West, but the West abandoned them without blinking when it was clear that their regimes were no longer useful.
The Shah of Iran was an ardent supporter of the US. For years, as his ruthless SAVAK forces crushed dissent in Tehran, while consecutive US presidents looked the other way. When he was toppled in February 1979 neither the US nor Great Britain agreed to grant him or his family political asylum. The same thing happened to Zein al-Abidin Ben Ali, whose plane drifted from one country to another, seeking asylum for the ex-president of Tunisia, in the UAE, Italy, and Malta.
The other kinds of leaders are those like President Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt, and Bashar al-Assad of Syria. When Nasser faced the Suez war of 1956, the people of Egypt came out in his defense. When he stepped down in 1967, the people of Egypt came out in their millions, asking him to stay in power. The same applied to Syria's Assad, whose people rallied around him during the difficult years of the George W Bush’s presidency. The overnight generation of Egypt fans reflects the dreams and ambitions of young Arabs who desperately want similar street revolts against their own aged and ailing despots. These Arab leaders, many being friends of both Ben Ali and Mubarak, have terrorized their own people with a stick - given to them by the West - for over 20 years. Let’s not forget that stick and where it came from. If there is one lesson to be learned from all of this, it’s that the West is a false friend indeed.
For eight years, Ben Ali and Mubarak have been hailed by both the White House and State Department as loyal and unwavering allies in America’s “war against terrorism.” Both the US and France knew exactly what kind of rule Ben Ali was applying in Tunisia, or the autocratic one imposed by Mubarak in Egypt.
What is also remarkable in both cases is that today, one month after the Tunisian leader’s downfall and while Mubarak is on the verge of collapse, not a single demonstration has been staged in their favor in all of Tunisia or Egypt. Apart from Muammar al-Qaddafi, not a single voice in their support was heard throughout the Arab world. As we go to print we don’t know yet how Mubarak will leave Egypt. Will he be ejected with last-minute dignity provided by the Egyptian Army? Will officers escort him out with 21-gun salutes as they did with King Farouk 59 years ago? Or will he be forced to flee in secret like a bandit, like Ben Ali?
What is so beautiful about the Tunisian and Egyptian stories is that this time, it wasn’t flamboyant and inexperienced young officers toppling an equally flamboyant and inexperienced young king – as was the case in Egypt 1952. Nor was it turbaned clerics toppling an autocratic and aging royal, like Iran 1979. It was also not US tanks rumbling into Tunisia, as was the case with Baghdad 2003. It was the people of Tunisia - the young and old, the intellectual, and the unemployed. It was the glorious people of Egypt, who said “enough is enough.”.
