Viva Tunisia
By Nadir Khan, PhD
Alta Loma, CA
Finally, self-immolation by an unemployed graduate, trying to sell vegetables and harassed by the police (sounds familiar !!) has led to the overthrow of a corrupt and despotic ruler from North Africa. Tunisia, a former French colony nestled between Algeria and Libya, two other dictatorships, and a population of 10 million which received its independence from France in 1958, was for years ruled by Bouraqiba who had lead the independence movement. A Francophile, by temperament and outlook, he wanted Muslims not to fast and simply give money to charity instead. He stayed in power too long and was replaced by Zain al-Abedin bin Ali, the ousted dictator.
It is such an exhilarating feeling to see a dictator flee. All of them are megalomaniacs, consider themselves invincible, and usually overstay their welcome. Despite their unfounded feeling of invincibility, they all fall. They are surrounded by sycophants and toadies who selfishly enrich themselves and drop the dictator like a hot potato when the times get tough. It is the same pattern repeated over and over again, but every dictator thinks his fate is going to be different. What fools they are!
There is an old saying that ultimately there will only be five kings left; four from the deck of playing cards and the king of England. If that is true, then there is good reason for those dictators and kings to be worried. In the Middle East, we have kings and then we have the “non-royal” royalty, like in Egypt, Libya, and Syria, where sons are groomed to replace their aging and ailing fathers. Kaddafi is probably the longest surviving of self- appointed rulers. He seized power in September 1969 from King Idriss. Hosni Mubarak has been there since 1980. These people could have done so much for their countries, but did not.
One can only imagine the pent-up frustrations of the Tunisian people that a single self-immolation can explode into the toppling of a 23-year dictatorship. Right now, all over the Middle East meetings are taking place to map out strategies to fool the people once again. Promises of political and social reforms will be made to pacify people who are encouraged by what happened in Tunisia. But it is just a matter of time. It may not come today or tomorrow, but it will come. It is inevitable because this is the march of history and time and no one can stop it.
These changes are presenting a dilemma for American policy makers. Just last week Secretary Clinton, in a meeting in Qatar, gave an important speech about changes which need to come to the Middle East. But the issue is not whether the Middle East will change -- because it will -- the issue is whether America will accept and live with a changed and new Middle East. A democratic Middle East will not be a protector of American interests and will not have obedient and subservient servants of American masters. If truth be told, a democratic Middle East will not be in Western interests. As recently as two weeks ago, France was behind Ben Ali and then when he was fleeing, refused to allow him to get refuge. `Few years ago when the Islamic Front in Algeria won the elections, fair and square, the armed forces with French blessings took over. Hamas was declared a terrorist organization when it defeated Fatah handily in the Gaza elections. Latin America, once a hotbed of dictators, is finally becoming more democratic, but to the chagrin of the West more left leaning also. Some Latin American countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Peru have even recognized Palestine as an independent state. . The West wants democracy on its own terms, not what the people of the region want.
There is some good news from different quarters though. The Yemenis want their president for the last 32 years to leave. The Egyptians, in Alexandria and Cairo, were on the streets today, waving the Tunisian flags. The prompt action by the corrupt, inefficient, and incompetent Government of Pakistan to the plight of the 4,500 dismissed employees of the Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), was done in the shadows of the Tunisian uprising. It is gratifying to see some sleepless nights in the opulent palaces of the rich.
Revolutions, by their very nature, are messy resulting in bloodshed, carnage, pain, and suffering, mostly for the innocents. As a biologist, I believe in evolution, which is a slow tedious process and requires lots of patience. Sometimes things need to be shaken up a little, because only a squeaky wheel gets the oil.
