On taking on my brief as shadow minister for Africa and the Middle East last October, I had anticipated that events would often be unpredictable and fast-moving. Few, however, would have anticipated the scenes that have unfolded in 2011 across the Arab world.
Whether or not the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia on 17 December 2010 was the catalyst for Arab democratic movements will be debated by historians. One thing is certain: the legitimate grievances of a suppressed people are being realised and the world must come to terms with the new political landscape of the region. This means considering our own position and determining the role for the UK in supporting the extension of freedoms across the Arab world.
I can recall few occasions in my lifetime that parallel events in recent months. Reports and footage brought to the world’s attention through the means of online social networks and media outlets take me back to the scenes of young people scaling the Berlin wall in November 1989. As then, today’s shifting paradigm inspires us. It also opens a new chapter in which uncertainties present new challenges for foreign policy in the region. All this must be considered in the context of an Iran seeking to develop nuclear capabilities, a stalled Middle East peace process, and a fragile political situation in Lebanon.
The changing political landscape is welcome. This provides an opportunity for the UK and Europe to engage with new partners. Recent events have offered scope for a new approach to democratic reform in UK and EU foreign policy. Building the foundations for enhanced freedoms in countries such as Egypt will not be an overnight job. However, the UK’s foreign policy should seek to offer support, both diplomatic and political, in furthering such an aim. People in the region will be understandably suspicious of our motives – after all, we have supported most of the regimes that are so despised by their people. We need to show some humility. However, humility should not mean sitting on the sidelines.
Arab states differ in many key respects. There is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ model for deepening and sustaining enhanced freedoms across the region. Rushed elections and hurried institution building could fail to deliver lasting democracy and thereby undermine the formation of the fundamentals that determine democratic societies. Here in the UK, the Westminster Foundation for Democracy has done excellent work in supporting the development of democracy in central and eastern Europe, Africa and elsewhere. Potentially, the Foundation has an important role to play in supporting the institutions needed for sustainable democracy across the Arab world.
While I welcome the foreign secretary’s condemnation of the repressive response to protesters across the Arab region, I call on the government to demonstrate leadership within the European Union in driving forward a programme of measures that will offer practical and substantive assistance to building the institutions that are crucial for democracy- political parties, free media, thriving and independent universities and an active NGO sector. The people of the Arab world have spoken. It is time we listen to them.
The test of this government’s foreign policy ambitions has been set; it is time to demonstrate that it has the political will to match it. The European Union itself rose out of the ashes of a Europe of dictatorships which brought the Holocaust and the second world war – and the profound desire of the European people to forge peace, democracy and prosperity. Europe now has the opportunity to return to those fundamental principles and support our Arab neighbours in the Middle East and north Africa to achieve the very same goals; ones that we take for granted and for which hundreds have given their lives in the past two months.
Read also…
Coalition must help north African transitions writes Paul Richards
Bob Glaberson on Egypt’s empowered people
Tunisia needs solidarity from progressives everywhere said Luke Bozier before the first domino fell
I pretty much agree with you Stephen, though would emphasise that it must be for the Libyan, Egyptian, Tunisian etc people to ASK for assistance of this sort. It is a delicate balancing act with the Arab world because of the paranoia that exists there about “the West”. We must be very careful about that. So, yes, we can offer such assistance – and those measures you suggest are spot on, and also through the EU is essential – but it must be for their representatives to decide what will happen and, crucially, be seen to decide. Otherwise we will once again start to hear all this guff about the West seeking to control the Arab world. Indeed we will almost certainly hear it anyway, but we must minimise the potential for a new wave of anti-western feeling. It is going to take a long time for many people in these countries to shed their prejudices about us and we shouldn’t add any fuel to the fire with gung-ho talk about how we are going to do this and that, even if it is to just send a few advisers over.
Not paranoia surely but rightly being wary,and directed at America not Europe? in which so many Arab people are given a home. Quite clear to all that Britain’s days of “control over the Arabs” or anything else for that matter are long gone ? If we cease aid to 16 countries but keep aid budget the same ,much will then be diverted where there is a real humanitarian crisis,Afghanistan etc ? If military intervention should be required in North Africa I think it should be Nato only.
Excellent article Stephen. You are right to say we need a dose of humility – western hypocrisy and double-dealing in the Middle East goes back a long way. That’s why we should not see suspicions towards our intentions as paranoia – people in the region have good reasons to doubt the motives of western governments. But what we need to overcome is prejudice against people in the west, as opposed to hostility towards what our governments have done in the past. An honest re-appraisal of history would be a very good start, including a fair look at interpretations other than our own – this is something that we should examine from the perspective of education policy. And it’s time to consign the ‘clash of civilizations’ paradigm to the bin, where it belongs, and has always belonged. Because the peoples of the Middle East have had such a tortured relationship with individual governments, you are also right to suggest that the EU play a key role. Moreover there is a great deal of experience in managing transitions within EU institutions. But I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for the government to ‘demonstrate leadership within the European Union’. We would be better off working with Catherine Ashton, who seems to be thinking along the same lines anyway…
“The people of the Arab world have spoken. It is time we listen to them.” Your article, Stephen, reads like a compendium of glib, meaningless yet reassuring sound bites – all ‘warm and positive’ but shedding little insight on why events have happened in these Arab states. It is easy and populist to say that our Western democracies (particularly European) should be “humble”, if not apologetic, for our recent historical interventions in most of these countries but that would be to ignore the REAL reasons why so many of them are now crumbling. The first reason is to be placed at the door of the Ottoman Empire. For hundreds of years the Middle East was governed by despotic dictators so it should come as no surprise to see modern variants on a traditional theme. Rather than eating humble pie the Brits, the French and the USA etc should be proud of the positive contributions they have made in attempting to bring stability to a volatile region. The second reason for the unrest is the ‘global crisis’. Dictatorships, by definition, have no concern for the welfare of the people hence the abject poverty most endure despite the immense oil revenues many of these tribal tyrants enjoy. As unemployment, the cost of living increases and living standards decrease there comes a tipping point when even the most frightened will revolt. Do not apologise for Blair’s incredibly successful efforts to divert Gaddafi from international sponsor of terrorism to benign dictator. Do not feel obliged to be ‘fashionable’ when assessing past Labour actions. It is bad enough when Cameron (and Corbyn) denegrate Blair and Brown: it is beyond the pale when the same cheap jibes are uttered by shadow ministers.