The Hypocrisy of (some) Arab Liberals Posted by Shadi Hamid

Yes, it is a harsh title for a post. But I'm a bit perturbed. Jordan's most popular bar/cafe - Books@Cafe - was shut down last week, essentially because it continued to serve alcohol during the holy month of Ramadan. Books@Cafe has a liquor license from the relevant government ministries, so it appears that the government's move to close it down isn't exactly legal. Moreover, I will readily agree it is an attack on freedom of expression (people should be allowed to drink alcohol if they want to) and the government should reverse its decision immediately. I just got back from Jordan two weeks ago. I was there for about 5 months. I went to Books quite a few times. I like the place a lot, in part because it boasts an amazing view of East Amman. Many of my friends were Books regulars. This is a direct attack on them.

But I'd like to bring up a caveat. I find it ironic that the co-owner of Books@Cafe wrote this blistering post criticizing the government for an attack of freedom and individual rights. Many others, including bloggers and online activists, are incensed. It appears that there may be an effort to organize a response, protesting the government's measures, which apparently include the closing down of more than 60 other establishments throughout Jordan. This outrage among Jordanian liberals is - what is the right word? - interesting. We hear them speaking the weightly language of rights and freedoms and democracy. The ownder of Books writes: "Do we just close up and leave the country and lose all our love and loyalty to Jordan? I prefer to fight for a better Jordan and I think everyone should do the same."

It's strange that they have waited this long to fight for "a better Jordan." While nonviolent Islamist groups, including the Muslim Brotherhood, were being repressed by the government, we did not hear from them this talk of rights and freedoms. When Jordan witnessed the most blatantly rigged elections in its history (in 2007), we did not hear this outrage. We heard mostly a silent acquiescence, in part because Arab liberals have long feared that if there were, in fact, free and fair elections in Jordan and elsewhere, Islamists would win. Their attachment to freedom and democracy is obviously contextual, and is only raised when it is their rights - rather than the rights of others - that are being trampled. For too long, too many Arab liberals have stood by silently, and have cast their lot with Arab autocrats because the devil they knew was better than the devil they didn't.

And so, time and time again, democracy has been sacrificed in the name of democracy. This is a tragic hypocrisy. Arab liberals have a vital role to play in futhering demoracy in the Middle East. Some have played this role courageously - people, for instance, like Saad Eddin Ibrahim and Ayman Nour, who have spoken out against the repression moderate Islamists. But, unfortunately, many have not.

Comments

[Subroutine]

Hmmm, I think you've confused a liberal with a standard issue capitalist. This guy doesn't give a tinker's damn about freedom....as long as the cash register is going "Ca-chingggg."

[David Billington]

Shadi - I appreciate your insight here. One question I have is whether Internet use and liberal attitudes correlate. How would you assess the customers of Internet cafes in Jordan?

[Omar]

Hello I would like to invite you to visit our website : http://www.ikhwanweb.com/

IKhwanweb is the Muslim Brotherhood"s only official English web site. The Main office is located in London, although Ikhwanweb has correspondents in most countries. Our staff is exclusively made of volunteers and stretched over the five continents.
The Muslim Brotherhood opinions and views can be found under the sections of MB statements and MB opinions, in addition to the Editorial Message.
Items posted under "other views" are usually different from these of the Muslim Brotherhood.
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Ikhwanweb is not a news website, although we report news that matter to the Muslim Brotherhood"s cause. Our main misson is to present the Muslim Brotherhood vision right from the source and rebut misonceptions about the movement in western societies. We value debate on the issues and we welcome constructive criticism.

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[Lowen]

I'm in Jordan right now and reading "Closed for maintenance" at Books last week was pretty disappointing. As myself and a friend wondered where we would get a drink, a co-owner exited the building and informed us that they refused to pay a 15,000JD "fee" to keep the place open. The specific complaint the government said it received was that young men and women were mixing inappropriately on some upper level. There was a happy ending since Le Calle (sp) was open and right around the corner. Ah, a happy oasis.

The bit I know about the Muslim Brotherhood doesn't inspire me to chastise local liberals for failing to demand voting rights for these political parties. From what I understand, their ideas about democracy are rather narrow since they would go even further in limiting certain rights and freedoms.

The sad reality may be that the devil they know is better than the alternative. Eventually the Muslim Brotherhood has to be brought into the process, but to demand it now and all it once doesn't seem in the interests of anyone but the Muslim Brotherhood.

Religiously driven political parties can be even more dangerous than anyone else since clearly God is on their side....look at the Republicans.

[Annie Shinbach]

Shadi, I understand the broader point you are trying to make, but I don't think it really fits this situation. You imply that this is the first issue that Median or his supporters have taking up arms for. No one is innocent here. We could all be doing much more and we all have different ideas as to what is worth fighting for. You can't say that since someone decides to fight for one thing that they are a hypocrite because they didn't fight for a laundry list of other things as well. Moreover, the truth is that this is not the first time Books or Median has faced adversity and not the most serious. This just happens to be the first time he has blogged about it. Can you really say with certainty that this is the only cause he has championed? Just because people aren't blogging about their troubles or the actions they take in response to them does not mean they don't exist. As a citizen who believes his rights have been violated and who has not only his own welfare to think about, Median was doing the responsible thing by trying to attract attention to the closure in the hopes that this would lead to change. I wonder would you or many of the other people who posted comments or wrote on this issue (overwhelmingly in English) know Median's side of the story if it were not for his article. For those regulars who have expressed outrage it is less about their schedule being disturbed and more out of solidarity with their friend Median, his family and the large number or people out of work, not just at Books, but at a number of other establishments as well. Finally, while this is an excellent example of the importance of the rule of law and perhaps even how people pick and choose the causes they decide to fight for, we should not forget that there are actual people who are affected by this. Of all the postings I have read on this issue, Median's is the only one to emphasize that roughly fifty of his employees are unexpectedly without income and to them this is hardly trivial.

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