Slipping into the Fourth World

Gone are the days when Arab states were classified as Third World countries. I wish we still belonged to that category. Sadly enough, we have fallen behind even many developing nations. The Arab people no longer want their ruling regimes to emulate the developed democracies of Europe and the US, as this seems to be an impossible task, beyond their dreams. In other words, our high aspirations have almost completely turned into total disappointment. We are dreaming now of catching up with Iran, Afghanistan and African countries, which are making very good progress down the road to democracy. It is true that such countries are still suffering from ballot rigging, but at least their civil societies and opposition parties are fighting back vehemently, which may eventually usher in a new era of real democracy and good governance.

Countries such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Iran and Afghanistan have lately witnessed democratic intifadas against the ruling regimes there. Many of us still remember the great events that shook Kenya in the wake of the presidential elections. The opposition party moved very quickly to dispute the results, and to accuse the incumbent of rigging the ballots to remain in power. And when the president did not take heed of the opposition's reaction, the latter mobilised the Kenyan people, who proved to be resilient freedom fighters. They took to the streets in their tens of thousands, which drew the attention of the world's media. It is true that this event sadly led to bloodshed and chaos in certain areas, but as we have been taught by history, change has a price. One cannot make omelettes without breaking eggs.

The Kenyan people's uprising turned things topsy-turvy. The US, for instance, made an instant U-turn. At the beginning, the White House accepted the election results, but when US officials saw the Kenyan people's reaction, they had to change their minds. They called for a re-run as a face-saving manoeuvre. In the meantime, demonstrations continued robustly, which made the whole world pay heed to what was happening in Kenya.

And later in Zimbabwe a similar situation ensued. The incumbent, Robert Mugabe, who has ruled the country for over 28 years, did not accept the fact that the opposition had scored about 60 per cent of the votes. He funnily enough doubted the results, and called for a re-run of the election, which sounded really comic, as we all know it is the incumbent who usually rigs the results. However, the Zimbabwean opposition did not let him get away with it. It exposed his flagrant attempt to stay in power by hook or by crook and brought scorn upon him from every nook and cranny.

The Iranian opposition candidates have, in their turn, stood firmly against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's attempts to falsify election results. Thousands of their supporters took to the streets, and almost brought the country to a standstill. The whole world was witness to the aftermath of the Iranian presidential elections, and the establishment could not but decree a recount of the votes in many constituencies as a result of grass roots pressure.

And not so long ago, even the Afghan opposition, which is not in a very comfortable position politically and socially, refused to accept the results of the latest presidential elections. Candidate Abdullah Abdullah accused the incumbent Hamid Karzai of rigging the ballots, and called for a rerun of the elections amid local and international support. He managed later to force Karzai to agree to a second round of voting, but subsequently withdrew. Abdullah preferred to stay out of office rather than bless rigged elections.

In contrast, most Arab incumbents score about 99.99 per cent of the people's votes in farcical ‘elections'. They even choose which candidates will run against them. And funnily enough, Arab people are usually seen on television celebrating their presidents' totally fabricated victories, whereas the Iranians or the Kenyans refuse to accept vote-rigging amounting to just two or three per cent. Nobody dares challenge Arab presidents, because anyone who dares to do so is speedily incarcerated for tens of years.

Never have the Arab people risen up against fabricated election results. They tend to accept the phony elections very meekly, which means we are never going to achieve real democracy. The great thinker Abdur Rahman Al Kawakibi was right when he said about 100 years ago that "tyrants would never have practised tyranny had they seen the downtrodden brandishing swords against their oppressors".

Lagging behind even Third World countries such as Afghanistan and Kenya, the Arab states should then be reclassified in terms of democracy. They should no longer be classified under the Third World, as they have slipped very deeply into what one might rightly call the ‘Fourth World'.

Dr Faisal Al Qasim is a Syrian journalist based in Doha.