Quest for liberty will never cease

Nearly 250 years ago, the erudite and immensely gifted Thomas Jefferson, a president who honoured his nation far more than most realised then as now, clarified the difference between tyranny and liberty when he famously declared: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

Variations of this quotation circulated over the years, all trying to clarify what the “Man from Monticello” said regarding citizens fearing their governments, which would be akin to tyranny. Of course, the opposite of this putative quotation could imply that when governments fear their citizens, liberty might ensue. To be sure, Americans fought for their liberty and created a solid system that survived until 2001, when catastrophic events led the frightened to envelop themselves in the poorly thought out “Patriot Act”, which gradually stripped — and is continuing to emasculate — Jefferson’s unique work. Luckily, the Virginian’s torch has now been picked-up by young men and women who mobilised within the 99 per cent movement, though the greatest contributions were most visible in such places as Cairo and Homs.

For centuries, Arabs were habituated to fear their governments in what were tyrannical empires that imposed harsh rules over hapless masses, often with disastrous consequences for all. Umayyads, Abbasids, Fatimids, not to mention the Persian Qajar dynasty as well as the mighty Ottomans and several smaller kingdoms all collapsed, victims of internecine fighting or under the weight of Western colonial rule, which further divided surviving entities into the 22 contemporary nation-states that make-up the region today. What seldom changed throughout the centuries was the universal tyranny that only changed clothes — never its true colours — and that abused hundred of millions into full and complete submission.

Until December 17, 2010, that is, when Mohammad Bu Azizi set himself on fire in the town of Sidi Bouzid (Tunisia) and literally changed history. Few amongst us understood the impact that a single immolation has had, although everyone saw its spillover effects throughout 2011 in every Arab city, town, village, and hamlet. In reality, not a single Arab regime was immune to the consequences of various uprisings that literally brought down several dictators, and promised to accelerate fresh departures over the weeks and months to come in Yemen, Syria, Egypt and Iraq, among others).

Truth be told, every Arab regime adopted specific policies to buttress shaky legitimacies, proposed new laws, invested in sorely needed socio-economic programmes, and otherwise reassessed the policy of tyranny that was practised with impunity. That, all agreed, was no longer a viable option and governments that believed that they could impose tyrannical rules were probably on life-support, ready to expire before long. In less than a year, mighty Arab rulers who displayed little compunction to condemn friend and foe alike, who seldom considered the need for transparency, who used the treasury as a personal purse, who practised one set of laws for the privileged and another for the masses, and who literally forgot the precepts of Sharia law that called on the ruler to be just, were now fearful of their own peoples. Happily, and as Jefferson brilliantly concluded, such fear was the precept for liberty.

Liberty, of course, did not grow on trees or could not be manufactured on an industrial scale. It was earned by those who believed that their lives were worthy of sacrifice, as every human being was empowered to fulfil his dreams, to live in dignity and to become a productive member of society. In 2011, Arabs sought the power to choose, to think and to act for themselves. They craved for the choice to live their lives free from “control” even when most accepted legal restrictions that ensured those liberties.

In other words, while most welcomed limitations, they insisted that those be authorised by just legal entities and in fully transparent mechanisms, so that arbitrary decisions no longer became “law.” They wanted good government and as John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton wrote in 1877, “Liberty and good government do not exclude each other; and there are excellent reasons why they should go together.” For Lord Acton as for every Mohammad Bu Azizi, “Liberty was not a means to a higher political end, … [but] the highest political end” itself.

For liberty is a potent aphrodisiac. Its uses, even in moderation, are so powerful that no one and nothing can stop its spread. Legends are made of its application and nations rise on its strength. Liberty leads to freedom and the latter, from Sidi Bouzid to Jisr Al Shughur, from Cairo to Damascus, and from one end of the Arab World to the other, creates strong nations that preserve basic human rights.

Though few young Arabs may be aware of the impact that the “Man from Monticello” has had on their lives, Jefferson was the inspiration that awakened the American colonies — and may yet reawaken in the post-2001 era his disenchanted countrymen who wallow in utter confusion over their basic liberties — as well as many other nations.

If the year that just elapsed changed the Arab World forever, and it has, 2012 might introduce similar upheavals that will unsettle most. We should get ready for political Tsunamis, and while both great powers and local acolytes prefer to put the brakes on ongoing uprisings, it will be difficult to ridicule young Arab men and women or hijack their revolution, which was not a mere “Spring,” but a life-long quest for what truly mattered — Liberty.
 

Dr Joseph A. Kechichian is a commentator and author of several books on Gulf affairs.