Revolutions 'prove Arab people are all intertwined'

Dubai: The Arab Spring, which arrived just in time, will cause a chain reaction of change in the entire Middle East, according to Former Egyptian foreign minister and former Arab League secretary-general Amr Mousa.

Speaking yesterday in Dubai at the third session of the Arab Thought Foundation Conference Fikr 10 titled ‘The State', Mousa said dictatorships have survived long enough, and they did not achieve success in any aspect, which caused concern, rejection, anger and the need for change among Arab citizens.

"The revolution proved two things, first is the failure of dictatorships in ruling Arab countries and the second, it proved that Arab people in all countries are intertwined," he said.

It took a spark in Tunisia to cause a chain reaction all over the Arab world, which really proves that it was Arab regimes that did not get along, not Arab people, he added.

The next state in Egypt will not be a continuation of the old one, but will be based on electing rulers, with a constitution as a reference, with each government having a specified length of term.

‘Outcome of democracy'

"We have to relaunch Egypt, which is possible, and consider our political stands because no matter how many reforms we carry out, we still have commitments to co-existence with our Arab world countries, as well as African and Mediterranean countries," he added.

Commenting on the recent elections in Egypt in which Islamist parties emerged victorious, Mousa said this is the outcome of democracy, which must be accepted if we want democracy.

Tariq Metri, professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, said most dictatorships built oppressing powers but not states, which relied on ethnic, tribal and sectarian considerations.

Revolution is also against these considerations, and not replacing them with similar ones should be the first priority of a revolution that wants to build a state of justice, he added.

"Dictatorships created a clash between nationalism and democracy and between national dignity and personal dignity, and I believe those who revolted were demanding personal dignity as well," Metri said.

International intervention

In the following session entitled ‘Arabs, Neighbours and the World', Prince Turki Al Faisal, chairman of the Board of King Faisal Centre for Research and Islamic Studies, said the movements in several Arab countries will have an impact on relations between the Arabs themselves and those abroad, and will also have an impact on their status.

"I hope this impact will be a positive one, but we are not done yet with the description process," he said.

Asked whether the developments will lead to foreign or international intervention in Arab affairs, including from Iran and Turkey, Prince Turki, former intelligence chief, said such intervention accompanied the Arabs for so long because of several factors, such as the natural resources the region enjoys, the shipping lanes, oil, and the religious factor.

"We can't change the geography," he said. As for Iran, he added: "We have to differentiate between Iran as people, country and entity, and a leadership that seeks to take advantage from developments in the region."

The situation is different with Turkey, he said, while this ‘big country' has interests in the region, "we shouldn't look at it as a threat to our existence."

— With additional inputs from Jumana Al Tamimi, Associate Editor