Soon after a certain Arab country achieved independence, the president called for a cabinet meeting to discuss a new security apparatus for the new republic. He asked the ministers to put forth their proposals. Surprisingly enough, many of them suggested that the new national police force should very much resemble the British constabulary, as it is well-known for its friendliness and good behaviour with the general public.
Some of them went even further to lavish praise on the British police force, which is respected, not feared or hated. But no sooner had the ministers finished putting in their suggestions, that the president pounded the table and said loudly: “You want a kind and well-mannered police force? Damn you all. You are very naive and out of touch with the real world. Damn the respectable and friendly police force. It is good for nothing. In actual fact, we need a tough and probably a savage security apparatus, as it suits us best. It is my favourite. And so, it should be made of thugs, goons, and [expletive]. They are sure to frighten the people and keep them at bay. Our new system can’t be protected by well-meaning security officers.”
The cabinet meeting ended, and the president went forth to set up his new ‘national’ police force. Historians recall the country was ruled from then with iron and fire, and the people suffered a lot at the hands of police goons for such a long time, as was always the case with all dictatorships.
The above-mentioned president was, in no way, an exception. Most Arab presidents followed suit. They all opted for monstrous security apparatus, which managed to keep a lot of Arab people in a state of total submission. Reports issued by human rights organisations have always been full of horrible examples of torture, as some Arab police forces managed by human monsters were given free rein to practice the worst types of savagery and barbarity.
The beastly behaviour of security forces was evident during some of the Arab uprisings. Some Arab dictators gave orders to prison authorities to release dangerous criminals in order to help the police and the army in putting down peaceful demonstrations. In a certain Arab republic, more than 60,000 dangerous prisoners such as thieves, burglars, and smugglers were set free to join the security services to quell the revolution, as they were seen by the ruling dictators as being even more effective than the monstrous police force in dealing with demonstrators.
We have all seen the havoc wreaked by some Arab armies and police during certain uprisings. Whole cities have been flattened. And hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced due to army and police barbarity. Add to that the fact that the goons, who were praised by the above-mentioned president as being the backbone of the security services, had no problem raping their kith and kin, robbing houses and killing livestock. Scenes from some war-plagued Arab cities remind one of the destruction wreaked by the Nazis on European towns during the Second World War.
Glorifying barbarity
Arab generals have, no doubt, the right to brag about their courage and even barbarity with the external enemy, but it is rotten of them to brag about their savageness and bestiality with their kith and kin who have come out onto the streets clamouring against tyranny. How very shameful to see some Arab television stations glorifying certain generals and security officers just for storming some neighbourhoods and killing the revolutionaries inside.
The security thugs who helped the police and army quell social unrest in some Arab countries have nothing to do with human beings at all. They are horrible beasts with sick minds. I was very disgusted when I listened to some of them bragging about using fatal electric sticks ever so mercilessly with peaceful demonstrators. It is very shameful to hear some army generals admit that they have been trained more to combat local uprisings than to fight the enemies.
It is an established fact in Arab dictatorships that if security official tortures or kills more anti-state activists, he will be rewarded with influential positions. I was personally told by an influential Arab official that he got his job as a reward for killing dissenters, who rebelled against his president.
The first kind of reform that should be carried out by the new Arab governments emerging after the Arab Spring must be in the army and security services. We are very much in need of officers and soldiers who are made of human stuff rather than bestial. The modern world no longer depends on brute force to rule societies. Modern democracies are now ruled by the law and the mass media rather than by the police or the army, for that matter. Therefore, we want our new rulers to emulate the civilised world rather than the above-mentioned president who insisted on setting up a police force comprised of goons. In other words, the new Arab police and security apparatus should be, from now on, at the service of the people rather than at the service of the enemies of the people, i.e. the dictators.
Dr Faisal Al Qasim is a Syrian journalist based in Doha.
