Arab countries: closed spaces and lost freedoms

The current Arab freedoms situation is one of the worst in the world. This situation may last for some time, but its arrival in 2020 at an advanced stage may be the basis of the coming struggle for the opening of the Arab spaces of freedom. Intellectual and political repression cannot be sustained without threatening stability and deepening the fractures. Freedoms are a necessity for responsibility and for dealing with different types of injustice, with a sick economy and widespread corruption leading to dependency abroad. And freedoms are necessary to guarantee opportunities for stability, amendment and reform.
The position of rejection of freedoms is expressed by the controlling elites who possess the means of power and authority, these elites believe in the ability to do everything and believe in their ownership of the state, society, people , individuals and the economy. This vision of man knew history and was not merciful to it. The Shah of Iran is a model for what we hear, but Ceausescu in Czechoslovakia is another example. In such systems, sudden vibrations will occur. This is why the current Arab model will experience many sudden fluctuations.
A key aspect, therefore, of the current Arab weakness is linked to the negative position of freedoms, and therefore to the status of Arab intellectuals in their various countries. There is a group of Arab intellectuals who feel responsible for expressing their opinion even if it contradicts the mainstream opinion and the dominant authorities. These type of marginalized intellectuals and politicians find themselves in a state of disproportionate attrition with those with power and influence who have narrow views on the status of freedoms, human beings and participation.
At the same time, we see that one of the positive cases that happened recently was the acquittal by the Kuwait court on 10/4/2020. Abdullah Al-Nafisi, an Arab and Kuwaiti thinker, accused of insulting the UAE. This decision is difficult to fall in our Arab world, which prompted Dr. Abdullah Al-Nafisi to praise the reign of innocence and the Kuwaiti justice system. On the other hand, the case against my recent book “The Nakba and the Emergence of the Palestinian Diaspora in Kuwait”, published by the Arab Research Center in Beirut and Doha, reflects the same trend in the Kuwaiti judicial system. With the preservation of the case in 2019 by the Kuwaiti Attorney General, Advisor, Professor Dirar Al-Asousi, an explanation of up to 41 pages came to explain that the book is an academic work and adopts the scientific method, and that for that he is neither pursued nor pursued. This decision on the freedom of academic research is the first of its kind in Kuwait.
But optimism in one place and in one or more decisions does not deny the depth of the rights and freedoms crisis in Arab countries … and this reflects a state of continuation of an existing conflict over rights and freedoms. In many Arab countries, a university professor is not allowed to present an article at an academic scientific or political conference outside his country, except after obtaining permission from the Ministry of Higher Education and the highest authorities in the country, and the case often reaches the intelligence service which makes the final decision whether or not to go. Many countries watch every article and opinion without appreciating its scientific or free meaning.

In the absence of a model of open expression and Arab guarantees of human rights, the model of violence, exclusion and disappearance of prisoners and their liquidation in prisons is prevalent in many Arab regimes.

On the other hand, what happened with the leader of the “Strong Egypt” party and former Egyptian presidential candidate, Abdel Moneim Abul-Fotouh, after having criticized him during an interview during a conference, confirms this. that I’m aiming for. Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh was imprisoned in February 2018 upon his return to Cairo. If we read what he said: we will find that he was balanced in his speech and that he called for open space and reconciliations. Abdel Moneim Abul-Fotouh, the reformist, is still in prison despite his advanced age and deteriorating health. At the same time, thousands of prisoners suffer the same fate.
In the absence of a model of open expression and Arab guarantees of human rights, the model of violence, exclusion and disappearance of prisoners and their liquidation in prisons is prevalent in many Arab regimes. If we were taken out of Arab prisons, we would find that tens of thousands of opinion leaders were serving sentences because of an opinion, an article or a political position, or even because of a book, d ‘a play, a poem and a song.
I don’t know if the Arab regimes have a real interest in spreading the culture of violence and exclusion, for such narrow-minded behavior will haunt them for years and decades and be the cause of their crises and the end of their lives. role. The methods of official violence, exclusion and uprooting have developed due to the closure of the space for rights, freedoms and civil society and its independence.
The elimination of other opinions, popular opinion and enlightened critical opinion fights for loyalty, citizenship and national unity. Seeking to liquidate the other opinion is a sign of helplessness and weakness in the Arab system, which at the same time blinds the decision-maker controlling the authority of truth, listening and humility, making him the victim of a small group of influential people speaking on his behalf. In such societies, it would be natural for freedoms, rights and culture to migrate out of the country of origin, as opposition migrates to other places where protection is granted. But companies that suffer from these problems find it difficult to witness long-term stability. Tremors will strike and it will come.
The question remains: when will the spaces of free expression in the Arab world be an essential means of protecting society, the individual, the public, politicians and thinkers against abuse of power?
Should we then wait for new revolutions similar to what happened in 2011, before the Arab regime wakes up from its authoritarian slumber? Or will we live with the continuing nightmare against human rights and freedoms until the homelands fall into the hands of outside forces, as has happened in Syria and elsewhere? The most important resistance in the Arab world is nonviolent resistance which leads us to freedom of expression and fundamental rights. This resistance is essential to reinforce responsibility, then move towards the trade of power in all the sense of quantity.

Professor of political science at the University of Kuwait