Without citizenship and a developed national consciousness, what has happened to Iran would explode Arab societies if the West chose to bring such intense meddling there
Another Good Analysis
By Azmi Bishara
Al-Ahram Weekly
I posted the Arabic version of this article on June 28.
"There is a difference between the outlook of a secular generation of Iranian youth, yearning for a life in which religion (in the form of a clergy directing a theological state) refrains from meddling in their personal lives and individual fates as citizens, and the foreign and domestic policy considerations of the reformist trend. A larger distance separates the premises of both of these groups from the calculations of the band of conservatives whose interests were harmed under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency and who now take issue with his domestic and foreign policies. As different as their interests are domestically, all three have converged against Ahmadinejad and in favour of reducing the power of the supreme guide. At the same time, their calculations converge in a national vision of Iran as a state that, in their opinion, should have matured beyond the founding principles of the Islamic Revolution. Arab causes, in particular, do not figure high in their priorities, especially if supporting them conflicts with the aim of ending the international isolation and blockade of Iran. If they are not opposed or reluctant to support Arab causes, they see such support primarily from an instrumental perspective......
While an organised nation state such as Iran can weather such a massive assault, shielding itself behind its national project and institutions, imagine what affect it would have on a pre-state region such as the Arab world. Everything in this region screams the absence of the nation and citizenship in equal measure. This absence produces only various configurations of rulers and subjects: tribal, sectarian and dynastic leaders and followers. Here, one still speaks in terms of family, kin, religious and regional origin and affiliations, not in terms of substance.
In their partial to total absence of a national and civic life, the Arabs are more than vulnerable to media winds: the slightest media breeze sweeps them up and scatters them like leaves. So you get reactions that vary from parroting The New York Times and even Twitter, and the translation into Arabic and dissemination of the most outrageous Israeli lies and rumours, to the deafening of ears to any piece of information or opinion, the only common denominator between them all being lack of scrutiny and critical thought."
Another Good Analysis
By Azmi Bishara
Al-Ahram Weekly
I posted the Arabic version of this article on June 28.
"There is a difference between the outlook of a secular generation of Iranian youth, yearning for a life in which religion (in the form of a clergy directing a theological state) refrains from meddling in their personal lives and individual fates as citizens, and the foreign and domestic policy considerations of the reformist trend. A larger distance separates the premises of both of these groups from the calculations of the band of conservatives whose interests were harmed under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency and who now take issue with his domestic and foreign policies. As different as their interests are domestically, all three have converged against Ahmadinejad and in favour of reducing the power of the supreme guide. At the same time, their calculations converge in a national vision of Iran as a state that, in their opinion, should have matured beyond the founding principles of the Islamic Revolution. Arab causes, in particular, do not figure high in their priorities, especially if supporting them conflicts with the aim of ending the international isolation and blockade of Iran. If they are not opposed or reluctant to support Arab causes, they see such support primarily from an instrumental perspective......
While an organised nation state such as Iran can weather such a massive assault, shielding itself behind its national project and institutions, imagine what affect it would have on a pre-state region such as the Arab world. Everything in this region screams the absence of the nation and citizenship in equal measure. This absence produces only various configurations of rulers and subjects: tribal, sectarian and dynastic leaders and followers. Here, one still speaks in terms of family, kin, religious and regional origin and affiliations, not in terms of substance.
In their partial to total absence of a national and civic life, the Arabs are more than vulnerable to media winds: the slightest media breeze sweeps them up and scatters them like leaves. So you get reactions that vary from parroting The New York Times and even Twitter, and the translation into Arabic and dissemination of the most outrageous Israeli lies and rumours, to the deafening of ears to any piece of information or opinion, the only common denominator between them all being lack of scrutiny and critical thought."
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