In the span of five days last week, I had the pleasure of participating in five different events that brought together concerned civil society activists, assorted professionals, academics, and a few public figures from across the Arab world.
These gatherings are routine nowadays, but are also noteworthy because they mirror a wider determination among Arab men and women to chart a new path out of the mediocrity, violence and despair that define many aspects of Arab society these days. This trend stands in sharp contrast to two other main dynamics that define the region, and that we witnessed last weekend: the American government meeting with “moderate Arab regimes to forge plans that have no realistic hope of success, because they do not have the support of public opinion; and the reaction of Islamist forces that enjoy large support among the Arab public, but have no clear answers to the challenges that face Middle Eastern countries, such as employment, democracy and dealing with foreign powers, including Israel and the United States. Briefly, here are the five events that I participated in last week: First, a public panel discussion at the American University of Beirut on the role of civil society and think tanks in promoting change in this region, with two leading Arab activists and intellectuals: Paul Salem, a Lebanese who heads the new Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Center, and Saadeddine Ibrahim, an Egyptian who founded and heads the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development in Cairo. Second, a brainstorming session with a group of 20 students, civil society activists and journalists from the Arab World, Europe and US, who came to Beirut as part of a trip to Jordan and Palestine to learn of developments on the ground and to explore how to promote joint work with colleagues from those countries. Most of them were affiliated with the Ibn Khaldoun Center or the American University of Cairo. Third, an evening panel discussion at Al-Burj bookshop in downtown Beirut to honor the late Samir Kassir, on the occasion of the Arabic-language publication of his book on Beirut. Kassir was assassinated in June 2005, though his work continues to inspire many people who share his commitment to an Arab modernity wedding the best of universalist democratic values with the riches of Arab history and identity. Fourth, I flew to Amman, Jordan, the next day for the first of a series of regional seminars organized by the Beirut-based Arab Center for the Development of the Rule of Law and Integrity, a Beirut-based non-governmental organization working to analyze and improve the state of the judiciary, mass media and political participation in the Arab region. And fifth, back in Beirut, I attended a full-day seminar last Saturday exploring the positive and negative aspects of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 that stopped the Israel-Hezbollah war last August. Organized by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation of Germany and the local Cultural Movement of Antelias, the gathering brought together scholars, lawyers, activists, UN officials, diplomats and politicians of all shades. I mention these events not because they are especially noteworthy or unusual, but precisely because they are so routine. Similar gatherings take place in scores of Arab cities every week. Committed individuals and concerned organizations come together like this on the basis of a shared focus and aim: to analyze why the Middle East suffers such low-quality politics and wasted national potential, while our societies are characterized by a wealth of talent, and human dignity and integrity. Such gatherings bring together ordinary men and women and elite members alike who have seen their societies and lives degraded, yet who remain determined to chart a path to a better future. They refuse both subservience to American hegemony and the imprecise final destination of Islamist mass mobilization. They are neither deterred by being jailed, beaten or intimidated, nor are they impressed by invitations to meet with Arab kings, emirs and presidents for life, or with their sons. They meet, talk, research, and publish on crucial public issues, spark wider debates through the mass media, and challenge but also engage with authority. Tens of thousands of determined, honest, and loyal Arabs demand to responsibly exercise their rights as citizens, rather than to retreat into the passivity of helpless subjects. One day they will generate enough momentum to break through the barriers that have confined them and their societies to their current state of mediocrity and immobility. This is why I remain confident that the Arab world will see better days ahead, while autocrats and incompetent leaders, along with their guards and sycophants, will face a moment of reckoning.
Rami G. Khouri writes a regular commentary for THE DAILY STAR
