Every one of the peoples of the Middle-East today is asking himself or herself, who is carrying the banner of Arab and Muslim leadership today. I am not even sure anyone can answer it, because we see very little of this banner in anyone country in the Middle-East. In fact we see the opposite, none one is actually trying to carry this banner.
One wants to ask himself or herself; if no one wants to carry the banner of Arab Nationalism or identify himself with any such banner, then who do the Arab people look to?
Has the Arab identity disappeared or have the people grown tired of the many, like the old national figures of the 19th and 20th century who led the willing in the wrong direction, and has this been the sole reason for the distrust that has permeated into the minds and hearts of the Arab people?
Or is this why the young and even the elderly are gravitating towards anyone or group who will pick up a banner of Arab nationalism whether it is on the right or wrong track today, because they are sick of being pushed around by outside entities in their own lands?
To tell you all the truth, I am not even sure of anything myself. However; I am sure of one thing, NO one country or person in the Middle-East is doing much of anything. When something goes wrong in the Middle-East or if the countries cannot get along or if any dispute arises, where do they go for resolution? It seems they run immediately to the West.
One wants to ask; does the West actually have the Middle-East best interest at heart, and if they do, do you think they are doing any favors out of sincere charity? If you do, then I am afraid you have not reasoned this very well.
I would state unequivocally, that nothing ever comes for free. Why would it? One cannot ask someone to bankroll something or lay down their blood for nothing. We pay for services rendered don’t we, why wouldn’t we pay for these?
I tell you all, the Middle-East needs to stop running to everyone else, including the United Nations to get hand-outs or assistance, when things go wrong. The entire area is wealthy beyond many others in the world, but unfortunately it seems to have seen a lot more turmoil than any other area. No wonder the people are giving up on their leaders and governments.
They see them as weak and moreover incompetent to lead. Just look at the Arab League; is their one? Does it function in a coordinated manner? I personally don’t think so!
The governments as a whole have also exhibited lack luster performance since their creation and inception. They appear to all of their constituents to be weak and moreover incompetent in their leadership. One country seems to always be pitted against the other. Where they seem to be competing as to who can out do the other, only to find themselves relying on outsiders for assistance against each other, or worse, to actually topple each other. This doesn’t bode well for the people, who not only want leadership but harmonious relations with their brethren throughout the Middle-East.
Where they see the Europeans and the United States vast continents able to form unions, they see the Arabs cannot even manage a simple system of border crossing between states.
Why is this the state of affairs of today, it surely is NOT because of the Wests imperialistic and colonialist ways of the past alone. It is because our leaderships seem to be in it for themselves. They see the relationship between the people and their masses as Masters to Slaves, where only the hangers-on and those who prostrate before them can get ahead.
That is bad enough, however it would pale in comparison to the people’s feelings of shame and dejection every time they see their leaders genuflecting before the alters of the West, scared even to bring up issues that they hold dear and sacrosanct to their culture, traditions and faith. Or when they do, it is merely a weak request that will not be taken seriously by the offending party or others.
Why are they not taken seriously? Mostly because everyone looking in sees their division and weakness! No one will take seriously a region that they see as divided and whose people are demoralized, dejected, and who cannot wait to have the yoke of repression and weakness removed.
Unless, the Middle-East leaderships and region make some drastic changes in the coming few years, I believe we will see even more turmoil. The West cannot continue to prop up a region with more arms and more hegemonic tactics taught and forced upon these leaderships as interest payments for their assistance against the people of the region forever, and they won’t when they see that the price is too high for the return.
It’s high time our region gets its act together, even if this means getting together and forcing each other to open up each other’s borders.
Remember it’s better to have the people happy then continuously quelling uprising after uprising. At the same time ideas, education and economic trade between countries and people can flourish. Only then will we see a resurgence of the region.
It won’t be easy in these times, but it must be done nonetheless. The more the people can see progress the less they are willing start or tolerate upheavals, and actually start believing that they live in a region that will be respected by others, thereby respecting and protecting it themselves. Instead of asking themselves why should I fight and die for some entity that doesn’t respect me.
The people themselves are also not immune to criticism either. They need to stop whining about everything. Want to make things better, learn to clean your house of disrespect as well. Stop blaming the governments of whom you’re being led by for dirty streets, while you continuously throw your filth outside not taking care of it. Stop wondering why traffic and infrastructure is falling apart, when you don’t follow the laws and take care of it. Stop whining about not being able to find a job, when you yourself are looking to get paid for doing as little as possible.
One problem cannot be solved without the other. Leadership can only be as good as the people it leads. For it to gain its peoples respect the people have to be respected. But it has to start somewhere and that means it starts with leadership.
May Allah/God bless Jordan and its People
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