A Poem and a Prayer: One day in Jerusalem

A Poem and a Prayer: One day in Jerusalem

We are born close to God’s thoughts, seeing the unity of all behind the reality of now. So much time adults waste on religious doctrine that tries to capture God within comprehensions that he could not make for himself. We are close to God; every move to give ourselves for peace, every attempt to walk in another’s shoes, every act to cooperate to clothe and feed ourselves and others in all that body and soul needs, every word that plans for a future with space for all people strong and weak as well as God’s vast natural creation,  every prayer for unity in the face of the disjointed essence of reality that always surprises us …. All these and much more have a multiplicity of explanations, the least of all these is that every thought or feeling or soul or bending figure strung out over years and over unreadable bundles of cells all touch at one point. None can flinch in mind or body without touching this point, the least and the most utterly existential. You know what this is called, and where our true allegiance and reality lies.

Why Assad's Regime Is Over.

Look at this face carefully and remember it, because he is one of thousands of reasons why Bashar al-Assad's regime is over, and why "Russia, China and India" must allow the UN to take action. This is an extract from an Aljazeera article of the 31st May 2011....

" Hamza al-Khateeb used to love it when the rains came to his small corner of southern Syria, filling up the farmers' irrigation channels enough so that he and the other children could jump in and swim. But the drought of the last few years had left the 13-year-old without the fun of his favourite pool.

Instead, he'd taken to raising homing pigeons, standing on the roof of his family's simple breeze-block home, craning his neck back to see the birds circling above the wide horizon of fields, where wheat and tomatoes were grown from the tough, scrubby soils. "

He was arrested during a protest near Daraa on the 29th April. The scars on his body showed that the Syrian "security" forces attacked this thirteen year old boy during the month he was in their care, with electric shocks and by whipping him with wire cables. Even in his death they degraded themselves by shooting him through the arms into his stomach, breaking his neck, and cutting off his genitals. His mother was only allowed to see his face, while his father looked on his son's body and fainted.

According to Ricken Patel of Avaaz (the international rights and advocacy group) " This is a campaign of mass terrorism and intimidation: Horribly tortured people sent back to communities by a regime not trying to cover up its crimes, but to advertise them. "

The treatment of Hamza al-Khateeb is not an isolated incident but part of a campaign. The aim is to intimidate some of the Syrian population. While others will be driven to such rage that they will try to take revenge against the armed forces, the security forces or the Alawite minority. This would then allow Assad to claim he was fighting a civil war.

The unrest started in Deraa on the 6th March, when 15 boys between the ages of 10 and 15 were arrested by the security forces for painting "The people want to topple the regime!" on the walls. They were beaten, burned with cigarette ends and then had their fingernails removed. Only after two weeks of protests were the boys released. By this time three people had been shot dead by the security forces, and many others wounded. After this there was a spiral of violence with each protest by the people of Deraa being met with increasing violence by the security forces. The city has now been under siege by the army since the 25th April.

According to the Humans Rights Watch report “We’ve Never Seen Such Horror, Crimes against Humanity by Syrian Security Forces." published on the 1st June 2011. " The security forces have killed at least 418 people in the Daraa governorate alone, and more than 887 across Syria.... "

There have also been around 10,000 people arrested in Syria by the security forces since the protests began, with all the terrible suffering that this involves.

See: "We are all Hamza al-Khateeb."  https://www.facebook.com/hamza.alshaheed?sk=wall

Saudi Arabia a badge of shame for the Arab world.

Saudi Arabia has little to do with Islam, apart from custodianship of the holy sites at Mecca and Medina. Indeed Saudi Arabia is a symptom of the defeat of Islam.

The Saud monarchy have wasted billions of dollars of oil wealth, to fund the lavish and often decadent lifestyles of thousands belonging to the extended royal family, while the hypocritical Wahhabi (or Salafi if you prefer this name) religious establishment supports the monarchy by imposing a fundamentalist puritanical version of Islam on everyone apart from the royals cocooned in their countless palaces. They then have the gall to invert Islam and claim obedience to royal authority as an Islamic virtue.

The huge wealth of the country comes from beneath the Earth and therefore in Islam belongs to no one, and should be used for God's purposes. It should have been used to develop the Arab world. Instead it has mostly funded hypocrisy at home, and the export of fundamentalist versions of Sunni Islam abroad. This is partly responsible for conflict with Shia Islam, and giving an excuse to racists in the West to indulge in Islamophobia.

The country was only founded in 1932 after tribal wars, that received foreign backing! It would have been part of a larger pan-Arab country long ago, without the support of the US. I am sickened to hear apologists for Saudi Arabia in the West describing it as a proud desert kingdom, while obviously indulging their own private interests, while claiming to be doing so in the name of the pubic in western democracies. It is time to describe Saudi Arabia for what it is, a badge of shame for the Arab world.

Winning the battle of Libya After Gaddafi.

Now at the start of June the chances of the survival of Gaddafi's regime appear to be close to zero. The rebels are holding the line at Brega in the East, while the perimeter around Misrata has been extended to 30km. In the Western mountains there is still fierce fighting based around Zintan, although the rebels here are now in dire needs of Nato air support. Meanwhile the oil minister and three more generals have recently joined the stream of top people abandoning Gaddafi. The rebels now await the arrival of Nato Apache ground attack helicopters which can give close aerial support. They may well be the decisive factor that tips the balance and allows the rebels to roll up Gaddafi's army.

Clearly Libyans have a natural interest in ending forty years of dictatorship by Gaddafi. The success of this revolution is also important to the whole of the Arab Democratic Uprising. It shows that Tunisia and Egypt are not special cases, and democracy can succeed even against large scale state violence.

Indeed UN war crimes investigator Cherif Bassiouni of Egypt, has recently produced a report accusing Gaddafi of "crimes against humanity". Although he also found the rebels guilty of far fewer incidences of "war crimes" against government loyalists and suspected mercenaries.

The ordinary people in Western countries (not their self interested elites) have an interest in the Libyan revolution succeeding, because democracy abroad is crucial to democracy at home. The ultimate success of the Arab Democratic Uprising and the Libyan revolution in particular, is for ordinary people in Western countries, in our direct interest.

So we have a right to ask what will happen after Gaddafi is gone.

Back in March the National Transitional Council released "A vision of a democratic Libya" statement. The contents can be summarized as:

1. Create a constitution, balancing legislative, executive and judicial powers.
2. Form political parties and civil society.
3. Peaceful transfer of power, to allow political participation without
    discrimination.
4. Right to vote in free elections, and run for office for all citizens.
5. Freedom of media and for peaceful protest.
6. State based on strong religious beliefs in peace, truth, justice and equality.
7. (a) Prosperous economy to get rid of poverty and unemployment.
    (b) Strong public and private sectors, without corruption.
    (c) Invest in education and science. Guarantee rights of women.
    (d) Get rid of religious and ethnic intolerance and discrimination.
8. (a) Respect neighbouring nations and join the international community.
    (b) Condemn authoritarian and despotic regimes. Respect foreign companies.
    (c) State will strongly support peace, democracy and freedom.

Also on the 7th May a road map was produced, whose contents can be summarized as follows:

1. Declare Interim Government within 2 days of withdrawal by Gaddafi forces.
    Agree members of this government in advance.
    Interim Government to maintain security and order.
    Members of government from National Transition Council,
    technocrats, military and security (not involved in past crimes),
    judge and civil and religious society.
    Also three members from Gaddafi's government.
2. National Conference within two weeks of Gaddafi regime going.
    Members from all over the country. Representation
    depending on population size of regions or cities.
3. National Conference and National Transitional Council join together.
    Committee creates draft constitution within 45 days.
4. Draft constitution shown to Libyan people, who vote in referendum
    under UN supervision.
5. Parliamentary elections four months after constitution adopted,
    voting under UN supervision.
6. Presidential elections two months after first Parliament created.
7. President selects Prime Minister, who then selects cabinet.
8. If Parliament approves, the Interim Government is dissolved.
9. As a "dry run" the UN will oversee municipal elections in rebel
    held areas as soon as possible.

Will the road map lead to the fulfillment of the vision? So far the experience of the Transitional National Council gives genuine reasons for concern, inspite of the incredible odds that it has overcome. It is a purely practical body, that has tried to be inclusive, whose purpose is to bring to an end more than 40 years of brutal dictatorship.

Radek Sikorski the foreign minister of Poland after a trip in May to Benghazi said:

"Poland learned the hard way that demanding change and defying oppression are much less difficult than formulating and delivering a clear, reasonable programme for a better future. Not all popular demands for freedom succeed: in the confusion, reactionary forces can make their move."

He then cited Belarus as an example, of what can go wrong.

The well known disputes between General Abdul Fatah Younis and General Khalifa Hifter in the rebel army are worrying. This is an army which is not well trained or equipped. It's members could well have stronger ties to individuals within the ruling council (or later on the government), than they do to the nation. The danger is then of real civil war, if tensions within the newly liberated country are not dealt with, when the unifying opposition to the tyrant Gaddafi has gone. In addition a poorly equipped army will not be able to provide protection against break away groups. Foreign governments should have been quicker to help develop the professionalism of the rebel army with training and equipment, especially after the terrible disaster of the security vacuum in Iraq.

The wiki leak US cables about Libya display an almost racist attitude that ordinary Libyans are not really interested in democracy, and are wholly concerned with money. This inspite of the existence of the "National Conference of the Libyan Opposition" ( www.libya-nclo.com ), and the thirty year history of the "National Front For The Salvation Of Libya" ( www.libyanfsl.com ). What the wiki leak cables say about the Gaddafi regime may still be true "....country where personalities and relationships often play more important roles than official titles".

There has been criticism that within the National Transitional Council "there is little transparency about the process or criteria of portfolio allocation". However it has to be understood that security concerns mean that some people cannot be even named, and there is a natural tendency to depend on people you know and trust.

It seems unlikely that a new government that is democratic and stable is just going to appear in Libya. Will political parties be formed around regions, who will then make alliances in Parliament to secure a disproportionate percentage of the country's resources for their regions? Given a weak army that has a tendency to fragment, the resulting frustrations could then lead to uncontrollable armed conflicts within the country. How can this be resolved in advance? Surely waiting till after the constitution has been adopted will be too late.

A centralized federal structure for the country could be adopted in the constitution, which would give people freedom to organize their own local activities.

More importantly there has to be a way to guarantee, within the constitution and so at the very core of the national government , that both regions and groups within the country are not discriminated against in wealth distribution or in any other way. Especially as this technique was used by Gaddafi and other dictators, to punish rebellious regions.

Obviously since 95% of exports and 40% of GDP depend on the one source, that is oil, the problem of wealth distribution is critical. If there were guarantees in the constitution of economic equality for regions and ethnic or religious groups within society, then people could take their grievances to court rather than having to resort to violence. It would also discourage political parties from forming on regional lines, and trying to win elections by promising to obtain unfair economic advantage for their voters, as this technique could not succeed in the long run.

Given the possibility critical nature of the constitution for the future of Libyan democracy, is four or six months really long enough to discuss the options, and allow people to arrive at a considered decision in a referendum? Holland for example has a very clear guarantee of equality within it's constitution, which gives the concept of equality a power that normal legislation cannot give it.

Surely given the experiences in the region there needs to be detailed discussions about the length that any president can serve, and the limit of his powers.

Note that many of the problems of US democracy stem from representatives going to Washington to secure unfair economic advantages for their state. Although this process can be contained as America now has a strong central government, and regional identities are relatively weak with a very mobile population. In the nineteenth century it was economic conflicts between regions, that discriminated between North and South, that eventually led to the American Civil War. The factor of slavery was really of subsidiary importance.
(See: "The Roots Of The Modern American Empire" by William Appleman Williams, Anthony Blond Ltd, 1969 )

Just as importantly and aside from the constitution, there needs to be agreement on how loyalists to Gaddafi are to be treated in the new Libya. There needs to a South African style truth and reconciliation process.

Given that Qatar and the excellent Aljazeera have been so supportive of the revolution, where is the new vibrant free Libyan media? Surely it is needed to contrast with the absurd propaganda of the Gaddafi era, to hold the rebel administration to account by communicating successes and failures to the public and to provide a central space for discussion about rebuilding Libya and the options for a new constitution. Surely the resources and expertise exist to make this happen now.

Success in Libya would have a big effect on democratic uprisings elsewhere in the region. This could be the crucial link to bridge the gap between success in Tunisia and Egypt, to success in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Iran and even Bahrain. Leaving Saudi Arabia isolated and ready to negotiate and adopt a progressive role.

There are many countries and regimes that cling to the old style of doing things, which has impoverished and humiliated the people of the region for so long. Activists in Yemen have said that Saudi Arabia have been undermining their attempts to create a successful federal structure for Yemen after Saleh. In the same way Israel has recently been signaling that a new conflict with Hezbollah, that would indirectly aid the Syrian Assad regime, is in the pipeline. The Libyan revolution has many enemies, from Tehran to Riyadh To Washington, who are looking for weaknesses to exploit. So in mechanical terms, this is a time for an over engineered solution to rebuilding Libya with large margins for safety.