The voice of the bien-pensant class can聮t believe Arabs want freedom
Whose side is the New York Times on?
聯Syria聮s Chaos A Test for U.S.,聰 reads a front-page headline from yesterday聮s Times (online, the headline ,
聯Unrest in Syria and Jordan Poses New Test for U.S. Policy聰). The
headline聮s implication is that Syria used to be a well run state and
that now it is afflicted by 聯chaos.聰 It聮s the equivalent of a headline
the day after the fall of the Berlin Wall stating, 聯East Germany聮s Chaos
a Test for U.S.聰
The 聯news analysis聰 by Mark Landler worries
that 聯deepening chaos聰 in Syria 聯could dash any remaining hopes for a
Middle East peace agreement, several analysts say.聰 It聮s unclear who
those unnamed analysts are, since the only pundits quoted, Andrew Tabler
and Martin Indyk, actually are supportive of the Syrian protests and
skeptical of Mr. Assad聮s usefulness to the US. Mr. Indyk sees 聯an
unusual confluence of our values and interests聰 while Mr. Tabler states
that Syria聮s brutish but slick-appearing leader, Bashar al-Assad, has
聯given us nothing, even though we聮ve engaged him on the peace process.聰
In a reported on Syria by Michael Slackman and Liam Stack, we are told that, 聯In
Syria, there have been no widespread calls for President Assad聮s
departure.聰 It聮s pretty obvious that by the time protesters burn Baath
party offices and take to the streets with machetes, knives, and clubs,
as the article states, they are not exactly giving him a vote of
confidence. And the article reports that 聯pro-government demonstrators
were also out in Damascus, where about 200 people drove around the city
on Saturday evening.聰 I saw a similar 聯demonstration聰 on Syrian state
television early on Friday morning (their time); such 聯spontaneous聰
events are a feature of dictatorships like Mr. Assad聮s. The cars had
neatly arranged Syrian flags on their hoods and official photos of Mr.
Asssad in their windows聴nothing improvised about it. Reporting this
event as though it were of the same nature as the uprising of more than
ten thousand anti-Baath protestors plays into the hands of Mr. Assad and
his thugs.
Meanwhile, on the op-ed page of the same newspaper, Thomas Friedman for the emergence of 聯Arab Mandelas.聰 Would he hope for the emergence
of 聯Portuguese Mandelas聰 or 聯Greek Mandelas聰 to help those countries
negotiate their economic crises?聯Japanese Mandelas聰 to
substitute for the weak leadership of Japan聮s prime minister in
recovering from the recent disasters there? Of course not. But in Mr.
Friedman聮s universe, Arabs need leaders to get them to do the right
thing, the daily evidence to the contrary of the Arab revolt
notwithstanding. True, the Arab states are less mature politically than
Portugal and Greece, among the more feckless European powers. But the
emphasis on leaders rather than civil society is what has kept the Arab
states less mature. And to some extent, the US has played into this
unfortunate trend by backing dictators who suppress peaceful opponents.
I
don聮t want to be naive about the Arab revolt. The region has a long way
to go to developing civil society. In Egypt, which has a more robust
sense of citizenry than most Arab states, and historically has lead the
Arab world in literary and artistic culture, the military has sought to
criminalize the very sorts of protests that ousted Hosni Mubarak.
Recently the Egyptian Army has reinforced the local macho, misogynist
culture, strip-searching women democracy activists and protestors and
jailing and torturing men. A well-known local activist-musician who was a
star of the earlier protests, Ramy Esam, was brutally after a March 9th Tahrir Square protest.
But
the way the American newspaper of record is reporting on the Arab
revolts, one would never guess that they were restoring the self-respect
and hope of millions of people who have just as much a right to freedom
as we do.