Arab uprising breaks barrier against autocrats
Says US university professor
Participants at a talk on “Tahrir: Before & After -- Making Sense of the Recent Arab Protest” at The Daily Star Centre in the city yesterday.Photo: STAR
The uprising in the Arab world clearly indicates that a psychological and historical barrier has been broken against the autocratic and dictatorial regimes, many of whom used power through illegitimate means, said Ussama Makdisi, professor of history at Rice University, USA. “The salient point of the uprising is that the people are saying ‘enough is enough’ and demanding their democratic rights today,” he noted while giving a talk on “Tahrir: Before & After -- Making Sense of the Recent Arab Protest” at The Daily Star Centre yesterday afternoon. He said the second most important point is that people across the region are rejecting the domination by the US and Israel. They are also rejecting the idea that they do not have any power to change situation. The protest in each country was different but the commonality is that the Arabs are mobilising a major popular protest against regimes that have lost legitimacy, regardless of whether the regime is pro- or anti-American, pointed out Makdisi. Through the protest, they are demanding immediate change not just of the leaders, but of the system, he mentioned adding that one cannot, however, predict what is actually going to happen there. He said the Arab people want democratic rule to take root but was not sure whether democracy will be established in the region through this uprising. “But in this part of the world, the problem is people face Arab regimes which are reactionary, they also face Israel and US which have been consistently for decades anti-democratic in the Arab world,” added Makdisi. Of Lebanese and Palestinian descent, Makdisi was born in the US, grew up in Lebanon during the civil war and returned to the US for higher studies. He is the first holder of the Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair of Arab Studies at Rice University. He has authored a number of books on the history and politics of the Middle East. One of his famous books is “Faith Misplaced: The Broken Promise of US-Arab Relations, 1820-2001.” Makdisi is the nephew of the late literary scholar and Palestinian rights advocate Edward Said. In his lecture, he briefly explained the historical perspective of the Arab world, the regimes and the role of the US, Britain and France. He also talked about the US-Arab relations, sectarianism in the Middle East and the presence of Israel in the region. In the early 20th century, the British and the French divided the Arab countries on the basis of religion to gain control of their natural resources. The US followed the same policy later on, he observed. He said the Arab struggle for freedom and self-determination is going on for nearly a century in different forms. Columnist Syed Abul Moksud, Dr Hamida Hossain, former ambassadors Harun-or Rashid and Ashfaqur Rahman, BNP leader ZA Khan, Associate Editor of The Daily Star Shah Husain Imam, Maj Gen (retd) Nuruzzaman and former inspector general of police Nurul Huda attended the function, among others. Senior journalists of The Daily Star were also present. The lecture was followed by a lively question and answer session. Editor and Publisher of The Daily Star Mahfuz Anam moderated the discussion.
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