Teachers Association Islamists’ latest ‘political weapon’


17-04-2012 12:00 AM

Ammon News - By Taylor Luck

AMMAN — With a landslide victory in the first-ever Teachers Association elections, the Islamist movement did more than add to its growing list of professional associations.

By sweeping polls for the association’s council, the Muslim Brotherhood secured its influence over the Kingdom’s largest professional association and a potential political force observers say can propel Islamists to its strongest parliamentary election showing in years.

When the results of the country’s first–ever teachers’ elections came in, the Islamist “teachers union” bloc snared all 14 association council seats and the post of association vice president, an “unsurprising” victory observers attribute to the Muslim Brotherhood’s historic connection to the education sector .

“The education sector has always been the domain of the Muslim Brotherhood; movement leaders have been teachers, principals and even education minister,” said Omar Kullab, political observer and Ad Dustour columnist.

He added that over two years of protests and campaigns to secure educators’ right to professional assembly have resulted in an Islamist-dominated association, the very prospect that drove decision makers’ decades-old policy opposing the founding of a teacher’s syndicate.

“It was only natural for teachers to support the Islamists, and now the state is confronted with one of its worse nightmares,” Kullab said.

With Friday’s elections, the Muslim Brotherhood added to its arsenal a 120,000-strong movement that has proved its worth as a potential political force with a weeks-long work stoppage earlier this year that nearly brought daily life in the Kingdom’s schools to a grinding halt.

“Out of all the new forces that has emerged in Jordan since the start of the Arab Spring, the teachers’ movement has proven to be the strongest and most organised, and now the Islamists have it in their back pocket,” said political observer and columnist Hussein Rawashdeh.

Last week’s victory couldn’t have come at a more critical time for Islamists, observers say, as the Kingdom’s largest opposition movement settles in for a protracted dispute with authorities over the draft elections law and pushes for constitutional reforms.

“The Islamists are holding out for concessions from decision makers and will use every tool available to pressure authorities to meet their demands,” said political observer Helmi Asmar.

“For the Islamist movement, there can be no greater tool than the Teachers Association.”

Islamist leaders deny any intentions to convert the teachers’ movement into a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, claiming that the Islamist bloc’s victory is due to their commitment to the educators’ cause.

“The Islamist bloc will work with all sides within the teacher’s movement to secure their basic rights and will have no ties to our movement,” vowed Rheil Gharaibeh, chief of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political bureau.

Despite Islamist leaders’ denial, observers say the Muslim Brotherhood will likely rely on the association’s organisational strength to garner logistical and even financial support for candidates as it gears up for a potential elections bid.

“Any political party would play every card it has to improve its election chances,” said Asmar.

“If they participate, we can expect the Muslim Brotherhood to rely heavily on the Teachers Association,” he added.

The opposition group is also likely to exercise its influence over the association to advance its positions on various local and international issues, as it has long done with the engineers, doctors and lawyers associations, observers said.

Analysts say educators will soon change the slogans urging for demands for a raise in professional allowances and the right to assembly into calls for constitutional amendments, a crackdown on corruption and the annulment of the Kingdom’s peace treaty with Israel.

“The association’s leadership should not focus on political activities at the expense of enhancing the status of teachers and the country’s education sector,” Samih Maaytah, Al Arab Al Yawm columnist, stressed.

“But if recent history serves as any guide, this will probably be the case.”

‘Weak’ opposition

Analysts say little stands in the way of the Muslim Brotherhood’s attempts to convert the two-year-old movement from a popular campaign to improve the living conditions of educators to an organised political force.

Islamists are likely to use their majority to override Teachers Association President Mustafa Rawashdeh, founding member and leader of the teachers’ movement who has long opposed the entry of educators into political life.

“Rawashdeh is in a weak position; Islamists can use the democratic process to push through their agenda and there is little he can do to stop them,” said Mussa Shteiwi, director of the University of Jordan’s Centre for Strategic Studies.

Observers also trace the Islamists’ dominance to Rawashdeh himself, claiming that the independent activist’s decision to align with the Islamist bloc in order to secure the association’s top post will likely limit his role to a “ceremonial figurehead”.

“Rawashdeh relied on the Islamists’ support, and for better or for worse he will be beholden to their will until the next elections,” Kullab said.

Analysts point to the void of non-Islamist forces within the teachers’ movement, with the establishment of the association taking away the one cause that united the fragile coalition of independents, leftists and nationalists.

“With their main demands met, many teacher activists go their separate ways, and this has left a huge opening for Islamists,” Shteiwi added.

As educators continue to celebrate what Mustafa Rawashdeh hailed as a “historic day” for teachers, observers say the weeks and months to come will determine whether the movement will remain as an independent force or little more than the Muslim Brotherhood’s latest political tool.

“These elections marked a turning point in Jordan’s political history,” Hussein Rawashdeh said.

“The only question now is which direction it will turn.”


* Jordan Times




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