Dr. Yousef Mohamed Sadek
There is no doubt that there is a clear and significant setback in the democratic process in large parts of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). It must be recognized that the counter-revolutions were able to reverse the gains of the Arab Spring in most countries of the region, which their peoples were able to achieve by defeating authoritarian regimes.
When we talk about the challenges of democratization in this region, we are referring to two independent variables: the democratic process and the MENA region as a whole: The democratization process and the MENA region as a complex geographical area with common political, social, and economic characteristics.
First: The Struggle for Democracy
Regarding the struggle for democratic principles, we can make the following quick observations:
1. Democracy as a dynamic process:
Democracy is a dynamic process, not a static one. Even in the most democratic countries, it cannot be guaranteed that there will be no threat to democratic institutions, as happened in the United States in late 2020 and early 2021. In this regard, US Vice President Kamala Harris said in Joseph Biden’s victory speech for the US presidential election in November 2020: “Former Congressman John Lewis wrote before his death: “Democracy is not a state, it is a verb.”[i] He meant that it is only as strong as our willingness to fight for it, to protect it, and to never take it for granted. Protecting our democracy requires struggle and sacrifice. Therefore, the struggle to establish and protect democracy is a never-ending struggle.
2. Democratic development and inclusive development:
The path to democratic progress depends on progress and development on all political, social, economic, and cultural levels. For example, true democracy cannot be assumed without a market economy, or under a rentier economy. Therefore, the transition to true democracy requires change on all these levels.
3. Local struggle and international support:
The struggle for democracy must be seen as primarily a domestic struggle. Therefore, regardless of the size of our capacity and power and the degree of external support, our fate and the fate of our people at home and their sovereignty and independence abroad depend on the establishment of genuine and stable democratic systems. At the same time, the support of the international community can support and help accelerate the democratization process, but this does not seem to be a priority for democratic countries, especially for the United States.
II: The Complexities of the Middle East
It is no secret that the Middle East and North Africa a complex and important regions for the whole world, in which many regional and global players and variables, in addition to local variables, are constantly interacting. About the situation of democracy, rights, and freedoms in many countries of the region, we can record the following observations:
1. The return of counter-revolutions to power:
The dominance of a certain ideological spectrum over the results of the Arab Spring due to the division and weakness of liberal and civil movements, the entanglement of the struggle for power with regional and international geostrategic intersections, the outbreak of bloody conflicts, and the spread of chaos, not to mention the rise of terrorism represented by ISIS, and the weak support of democratic countries for the emerging regimes, led to the ability of counter-revolutions to regain power and suppress freedoms and rights more severely and horribly than before under the pretext of imposing stability and avoiding chaos and terrorism.
2. The effects of wars and bloody conflicts:
Many countries in the MENA region are currently going through an atmosphere of conflict and war. The impact of these conflicts on the democratization process in the region cannot be ignored. On the one hand, authoritarian regimes exploit these conflicts to restrict freedoms under the pretext of external threats. At the same time, the enormity of the tragedy and humanitarian genocide in Gaza encourages hatred and extremism, disgust with the West, and equating democratic values with disgusting phenomena, especially given the negative attitude of most Western governments towards the Gaza war and the rise of racism and populist and right-wing movements in the West. Some international powers are also trying to reinforce this image of Western countries to expand their influence, promote their model of governance, and strengthen their geostrategic projects in Asia and Africa.
3. Challenges and hopes:
The struggle for democracy in the region faces many challenges, but when studying the struggle of nations to realize their rights, it is clear that this is normal, and the struggle of nations in this regard has gone through many ups and downs, and gains have been accumulated over time. At the same time, there is no other way but for all democratic forces in the region to come together and support each other. There are many supporting variables as well, such as the rising proportion of educated youth who are aware of global shifts due to expanded access to knowledge. This is in addition to the continued failure of authoritarian regimes to govern and suppress dissenting voices.
At the same time, democratization represents a common interest for the peoples of the region with other democratic countries in many areas such as controlling illegal immigration and combating extremism and violence. Democratic regimes should support civil movements rather than forming alliances with undemocratic, centralized, authoritarian regimes that tend to be similar to their counterparts.
III: 3 days of solution-finding workshops:
Some of the above was discussed in a series of meetings and workshops held late last month and early this month in Sarajevo by the Bosnian organization Zašto[ii] Ne and the World Movement for Democracy[iii] in cooperation with the National Endowment for Democracy[iv]. The event was attended by 110 civil society leaders and democracy activists from the Middle East and North Africa and 40 experts on democracy and civil society organizations from around the world. I would like to mention some relevant aspects of the forum for your information.
As mentioned above, the democratization process in the Middle East and North Africa has faced significant challenges in recent years. On the one hand, counter-revolutions in all the countries covered by the Arab Spring have reproduced another form of authoritarianism and imposed severe restrictions on public freedoms and rights of citizens. At the same time, the intensification of international conflicts and the outbreak of bloody wars such as the wars in Ukraine and Gaza have given these regimes the opportunity to play among global powers and escape accountability. Therefore, the convening of this international forum at this sensitive time in the history of the region and the world was important to discuss the issues and challenges and how to deal with them, and to plan to organize and network the work of civil and democratic movements in the region.
The workshops and meetings began by remembering and honoring several martyrs of freedom, pen, and prisoners in the field of rights and freedoms, and at our request, the names of some of the pen martyrs and prisoners of conscience in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq were included in the list, such as Sardasht Osman, Kawa Karmiani and Sherwan Sherwani.
During the three days of the workshops, there were extensive discussions on How to achieve achievement despite setbacks, returning to politics in the midst of the ongoing struggle with repressive regimes, strategies for defending public freedoms in times of surveillance, harassment, and imprisonment, strategies for democratic actors to deal with government institutions (how to get civil society a seat at the decision-making and agenda-setting table?) (I co-facilitated this workshop with two other Yemeni and Afghan figures), winning the narrative war, strengthening cooperation between independent media and civil society organizations, the role of women and youth in all these issues and how the new generation can benefit from new technologies in the civic sphere, the relationship between economy and politics, the importance of economic reform and the fight against corruption, and many other topics.
The forum was held in Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina. In addition to its important location in the heart of the Baltic States, Bosnia is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, mainly Muslim, Croatian Catholic, and Serbian Orthodox. Between 1992 and 1995, Bosnia suffered a bloody civil war that led to the genocide of Bosnian Muslims. The 1995 Dayton Agreement ended the civil war and established a federal system in which the three components govern the country by consensus.
Unfortunately, the federal system and consensual governance have also turned into quotas, and as a result, corruption is squandering some of Bosnia’s wealth. Nevertheless, Bosnia has been rebuilt, and although bullet marks are still visible in some buildings, the old city of Sarajevo has been rebuilt in the most beautiful way. Bosnians are now trying to overcome the pain of the past and deepen their coexistence. As a result, they are gaining international support and are now on the road to European Union membership. However, they have tried to document the crimes of the civil war at the end of the last millennium. Part of the agenda was to visit some local organizations and museums in Sarajevo at the request of the participants. We visited the Children’s Museum[v] of War, and as simple as the idea of the museum was, it was very touching. For example, one child donated his father’s ski equipment to the museum and wrote next to it: “Before my father was kidnapped and killed, he always took me skiing because we both love skiing so much.”
Finally, I must point out that Zasto Ni (Why Not!?), a local Bosnian organization, with the help of the Global Movement for Democracy and the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED), showed a very high level of organization, which we have not seen anywhere. We will take advantage of that in any work we do in the future.
[i] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/07/kamala-harris-victory-speech-transcript/
[ii] https://zastone.ba
[iii] https://www.movedemocracy.org
[iv] https://www.ned.org
[v] https://warchildhood.org