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| Sunday, 20 February 2005 |
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Features |  |
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The discovery of democracy? By Nora Bassiouni and David Reznik The growth of true democracy in Palestine has been stunted by a preoccupation with Western democratic technique. The recent election of Mahmoud Abbas in the occupied territories was hailed by the western world as a first step in the democratisation of the Palestinian people. Like Columbus' voyages to the New World, the west has characterised this event as a 'discovery' of democracy in the Arab world. However, the spirit of democracy has guided the practices of Islamic culture in this region for centuries. In fact at the foundation of Palestinian resistance to Israeli occupation is the principle of ijmah, a method of political deliberation with democratic roots. Ijmah originated as a way to ensure Islam evolved with history and consistently met the requirements of contemporary circumstances. Specifically, it represents a collective process for reasoning and interpreting the dynamics of social life in Islamic society. Like other Muslim practices. Ijmah is part of a deen, or conduct of life, stressing socio-economic equality and justice. Thus comprehensive social unity is recognised by Muslims as the foundational aim of existence and the impetus behind human action. Based on these fundamental principles, ijmah is the reaching of consensus through open critical, and non-coercive debate. Discussions are held until every party has reached consensus and feels thoroughly persuaded regarding a topic. A truly free 'marketplace' of ideas is the basis for ijmah, as there are no time limitations placed on the process and all interests are considered. No minority voice is left unheard as issues are analysed and critiqued from all angles. Despite all his faults and shortcomings as a leader, Yasser Arafat was an avowed practitioner of ijmah until his untimely death. Though vilified by the Western world as a terrorist, he continuously received the support of his Palestinian people primarily because of this loyalty to ijmah. His constant deliberations with various community activists and organisations indicated an understanding that democracy is not a zero-sum game. In other words, Arafat often sacrificed the convenience of hasty political decision-making for the assurance that the public backed his policies and that he represented as diverse an array of opinions as possible. Ironically, this fixation with democracy at the expense of expediency has often been criticised by Western leaders as corrupt and ineffectual leadership. Thus, democracy, in the form of ijmah, has existed in the Middle East from the earliest days of Islam to the present-day political leadership of the Palestinian people. The question naturally arises whether institutionalised suffrage and Western bureaucratic procedures represent the 'discovery' of democracy in this region. Significant problems If anything, a posthumous analysis of the election reveals several significant problems with this version of democracy. Demographic studies of voter turnout have revealed that a relatively small proportion of the overall Palestinian population actually participated. Along these lines, several election commission officials resigned the day of Abbas' inauguration citing various abuses and violations of the agreed-upon election protocol. And reports by activists, journalists, and scholars in the region have expressed concern over the lack of ijmah-based activity by the Abbas regime since the election, including the latest ceasefire agreement with Israel. In short, western ideals of democracy have been thought to be absolute, superior to the grassroots democracy that has existed for centuries in this part of the Arab world. The dynamic, ongoing, and diverse public opinion that informed Palestinian politics has been standardised, formalised and effectively undermined by a Western necessity to bureaucratise democracy. Lost in all of this 'discovering' of democracy is the egalitarian, creative, and liberating spirit of ijmah. The growth of true democracy in Palestine has been stunted, since the popular practice of ijmah has been effectively curtailed by preoccupation with Western democratic technique. First of all, ijmah's call for unity in thought and action is an understandably scary proposition to the West, which has colonised and exploited this region for centuries. Therefore, it is in the interests of Western powers to ridicule and belittle ijmah as an informal mode of social relations lacking the sophistication of bureaucratised democracy. By calling the elections a 'discovery' of democracy, the West was able to completely delegitimise the pre-existing, home grown democratic spirit of the Middle East. As Edward Said wrote in orientalism, western representations of the Arab world manage to define the Arab as inherently dogmatic, fundamentalist, and totalitarian. In the process of propagating these narratives about the Arab world, the occident disallows any possibility for the orient to construct its own identity. Western discourse about the 'discovery' of Middle Eastern democracy ultimately helps cover up the fact that these elections represent the west imposing its will in a subtle and devious fashion. Already suffering from economic subjugation, political isolation, and military occupation, Palestinians are now forced to follow the guidelines set forth by their oppressors in order to be recognised as a true democracy. Cover Up The supposed lack of democracy in the Middle East becomes an effective 'blame the victim' campaign perpetrated by the West: Western powers can shift attention away from their role in limiting freedoms in the Middle East by professing about the liberating aspects of certain parliamentary procedures.Ultimately, democracy, whether newly 'discovered' or not, simply cannot occur within a context of occupation. (Nora Bassiouni is a Palestinian activist studying medicine at the University of Southern California. David Reznik is a graduate sociology researcher at the University of Miami.) (Courtesy The Hindu) |
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