Scratch my Back, and I might Scratch yours, A Contract with The Ruler " by Jamil Shawwa

Tip O'Neill, the former speaker of the United Sates House of Representatives once said and since then has been quoted numerous times that all politics is local. In the Arab countries, all politics is foreign. O'Neill was referring that during elections, no matter what happens around the world, the American people will make the final choice or judgment based on how they feel their government is doing internally. Not in The Arab countries, in the Arab countries, it is all  about how they are perceived outside their borders. The Arab countries right now are the presidents and the kings and the princess, and noting else. There are no people there, over 350 million human beings count to nothing. Therefore, when you talk about the Arab World, or the twenty-five Arab countries in the Middle East, and North Africa, you really talk about twenty-five persons that you need to deal with and you must ignore the rest, which is the 350 millions; imagine.  I have few examples- maybe because these have the potential in leading a change- that highlight this tragedy in the Arab countries, and by the way, many of these millions of ignored humans like it that way, they like to be ignored domestically, and they like their leaders to focus on foreign policy. In short, it is as if I will ignore you out side the country and you ignore me-to a certain degree of course- inside. I have Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Morocco, there are peace treaties with Israel- Jordan and Egypt officially and the Palestinian authority- the king and the president are all over the place, very popular and regular guests on world-class programs, domestically, its another story, you have a very primitive political process that boils down to few parties including the Muslim Brotherhood that talk about fighting and boycotting those that deal with Israel and in the same time their king and president meet and have lunches and dinners with Shimon Peres, and Ehud Barak and Bibi Netanyahu. The locals separate between the king, the president, and the rest of the country including the government. What is allowed to the king and the president is not allowed to the masses. It is ok for the king and the president to deal with the Israelis, to make peace with them, to have lunches and dinners, but it is not ok for anyone else in the country. The ultimate hypocrisy and the ultimate lack of civility that has engulfed the Arab world since the Turks, the Ottoman Empire, drilled inside its conscious the art of pretentious and the art of self-deceit and the art of self deceive. In Jordan and Egypt, in Morocco and Syria they say, the king and the president know better, they know politics and that Jordan and Egypt have to do this or that, to survive, that Jordan is surrounded by Syria, Iraq and Israel and the worst, a Palestinian population that consists of 70% of the population and that population in big chunks does not like the Hashemite. In Jordan, the biggest fear is none but the Palestinians. Domestically, immature political parties quarrel, talk about the price of gas, the winter and the price of bread, and the ruler loves it that way. They talk about boycotting this or that, they burn flags of this country or that; no creativity, no leadership, just ghosts in the streets with long fake beards and pretentious personalities. In the Arab countries, there are just two layers of humans, the ruling party and the masses, and they are not connected, but they both like it. Again, the ruler says, let me handle the outside, and I will let you play around domestically, I will give you enough room to talk, to scream, to yell, to accuse, to terrorize the rest, that is verbally only of course, and in exchange, let me handle the foreign policy, let me make peace with Israel, I know better. The ruler in the Arab world is blackmailing the masses and the masses are ok with it. Egypt with over 79 millions has been just talking about Mubarak’s successor for the past ten years. In the mid 80s, Egypt did not recognize its great writer- Naguib Mahfouz- until Noble prize awarded him its prize for the literature, only then, the Egyptian president met him at the presidential palace and bestowed upon him the Nile Medal, Egypt’s highest honor for civilians. See, the Arabs are not naive, the people know everything but they have developed this sense of acceptance since the biggest oppressors, the Turks, injected them with sense of humiliation and defeat, that is in order for you to survive you have to teach your kids to stay away from politics, to leave politics to those that understand it, that there is a ruling class that knows better how to deal with the outside world. Do not feel sorry for the Arab masses, they accepted this contract, and they signed it and they put their stamp on it. The observers from outside wonder about the contradictions between the king and the president and the masses. In Egypt, over 79 million Egyptians might be trying to do something else, there might be a movement in Egypt, that is a popular movement that is starting to question the ruler, his perceived wisdom, and maybe they are questioning as  why the leaders are fine outside their countries and they are terrible inside. Morocco is the same, here is another Arab country that has it's people wondering the streets of America and Europe aimlessly, why... they are running out, why, there is a very elegant monarchy, the resources are abundant, beautiful landscape, but the people are running, they are fleeing the country as if there is a plague. Let us not go to Yemen, and other countries; just duplicate what I just said and change the name of the country. The same applies to the 25 Arab countries and over 350 million people. In the 1950s 1960s of the last century, the ultimate face of the Arab defeat, Gamal Abdel Nasser, told the Arabs to wake up, to reject humiliation and to be proud. Abdel Nasser actually was the one that complimented the Turks job, and suppressed every sense of creativity the Arabs might had, he destroyed a nation that was thriving, Egypt, and he destroyed other nations, Syria, the Palestinians and Lebanon. Abdel Nasser, if there were justice and if he were still alive, he would stand trial for such crimes. But he is not the only one, every Arab president, king or prince has contributed to the demise of the Arab countries. Now, I must say, that there is no other choice but democracy, no more excuses; the Arab rulers love Israel, you know why, because they have Israel to hang on and to explain all their failures, anything that does not go well, the Arabs say, because of Israel. No respect to their people whatsoever. No dignity. But again, the masses are doing the same; they also are hanging their failures in everything on the rulers. See, it is a marriage between the ruler and the masses that both hate and love in the same time but no one wants to get a divorce...