Two photos from the last 2 days in Jordan. You choose what Jordan you want to live in..
The youth of the March 24 movement. (via 7iber)
The so-called “loyalists” with knifes.
Am I over-simplifying here? Aren’t there a million shades of grey between these two pictures?
At a very basic level, the choice is simple, even if the situation is complex.
There is freedom of expression on one hand, and insults, stones, sticks and concrete blocks on the other.
There are youth who want reform and democracy and youth who think that blood-thirsty slogans and flag waving are patriotism.
There are thinking men and women from all walks of life who want to push the country forward and those living in their bubbles of comfort afraid of any change in status quo.
There are those who believe that we, the people are guarantee of Jordan’s stability and those who believe that stability means business-as-usual even as our institutions crumble, societal/tribal violence flares up and corruption eat away at the soul of the country.
Friday 25 March was Jordan’s most depressing day in decades. But it also clarified stances, put the cards on the table and made choices clear.
And no, I don’t think this is time to just be “nice” and say “let’s all come together in harmony”.
There is no harmony between people who want to express themselves and people who insult and harm.
There is no harmony between people who are open to debate and talk in a civilized manner and the people who want to shut you up and insult you on Twitter and Facebook.
To those who tell reformers “if you don’t like Jordan, go find another country to live in!” reformers should say: “we’re staying here and will create a more just future and you’re welcome to join after you stop your insults.”
If we want to save the country, INCLUDING those who attempted to murder our youth with concrete blocks thrown from high building, the only way is walk the difficult road of democratic reform.
The reform movement should be consolidated, emboldened, strengthened. It needs to grow teeth and grow in numbers.
It should speak loudly to gain more momentum and it should speak clearly to break through the propaganda and ignorance that turns the so-called “loyalty” youth into monsters and thugs, bent on harming the democracy protesters who they think are “Shia-Palestinian-Traitor-AntiMonrachist-MuslimBrotherhood-Agents”.
The picture is clear. The region has changed. Jordan has changed. Red lines have fallen. The painful march toward people-based democracy has finally started. We’d better get on board.
It should have been easy for Jordan. We had relative freedom and the room to participate and be creative for two decades. We should have achieved our democratic jump into the 21st Century.
But the culture of fear, divisions, narrow tribalism and holding on to privileges will not simply leave the stage without a fight. Yesterday we saw the ugly face of Jordanian fascism. But we also started to see the courage of the youth of March 24.
The reform movement has no weapons but the voice of the people. Let’s not kid ourselves, the reform movement is probably a minority in Jordan. But not an insignificant minority. And as more and more people wake up from “pretending to sleep” they too will see that the future of Jordan is better guaranteed with real democracy that allows all of us to participate in building a better future for this country.
This is not about agreeing on everything or agreeing with everything the March 24 people said. But It is about taking a moral stance against fascism and violence and taking a political stance for reform.
Comments
10 responses to “Jordan’s choice: democracy & unity, vs. fascist thuggery”
Couldn’t agree with you more. This is the bottom line. Clinging to these disgraceful relics of past decades is the main reason for where we are today. We will never pass above this threshold without leaving all of this behind.
The day will come. The world has shed away its tribalism and it happened overnight for some nations. Only in Jordan it has been fueled and encouraged by the state. Perhaps it was necessary to build the nation, but it’s clear it doesn’t work anymore and represent an obstacle between Jordan and being a modern 21st century country.
It’s only about time, but do we have what it takes to ride this wave and emerge modern and prosperous or are we going to continue to rely on Zo3ran to maintain the statuesque.
Respect
morning!
thank you for sharing ahmad, I am mainly concerned about the now even bigger divide. Last night police cars were roaming between 2nd and 1st circles with big flags and load music, army songs, the works. THE POLICE!
We need numbers anyone who has an interest needs to participate in their own capacity, and be more forceful, but also more tactful.
I am very conscious of the labels – of either ‘team’- loosely, we cannot fall into the same trap of simplifying the differences if we want to change the game. If I want to refuse being labeled Palestinian, IB etc, then I also think we cannot just say ‘thugs’.
morning ramble….
but thank you
Ahmad, this was my immediate response and thinking – that this should make us only stronger and grow louder and bigger. My shock is that we are a smaller minority than we think we know, I genuinely thought that people wanted reform but wanted someone to fight the battle for them. The more I talk with people, the more I go online, the more coverage, public statements and “celebrations” I see, the more I think that people are so afraid of change disrupting their lives that they not only do not want it, but they are willing to go out of their way and boldly say we don’t want reforms.
@Samah, I do see your opinion, but excuse me, what we need now is strong leadership to bring about the country and unite us all under the banner of reforms. This unity cannot be achieved on a micro level.
A million questions/thoughts go through my head: maybe we were too ambitious? Maybe it shouldn’t have been Dakhliyyeh? What do we do now? Where do we go from here? Maybe they do not know better and need to be educated? Needless to say, I am more lost and confused and disappointed and frustrated than ever!!
My decision is to step back and try to examine the whole situation, but surely, this was a battle we lost, but to every detractor who told me to leave the country, I tell them I am not going anywhere until Jordan becomes the country I want my children to grow up in!
Hello, please do not get the following the wrong way but I really want clarification…
I realize that is pathetic of me that I am out of touch with the Jordanian street but I am a youth that does not understand what is going on, I’m not loyalist or March24 (I still have not taken a stance).
What I don’t understand is: The King and the PM promised reform and they are “supposedly” working on it… So the question is, what are people protesting about? No, really? Is there an agenda that was declared and I missed it? Or are the protests for the sake of having a protest? (Yes its trendy in the Arab world these days).
All I see people protesting the right to protest? And both sides are for reform, so what am I missing?
Oh and I am definitely against “People who don’t like it should leave” that’s not a way to reform a country.
Thanks.
Thank u Ahmad…that is creative and responsible thinking…but by the way, as an older observer, allow me to say there is also a good face to tribalism that can evolve to meet the demands of our time..
let us avoid labels in describing different parts of our society…
may no Jordanian hand ever be raised against another with such ugly violence…whatever its origin…the violence unleashed last Friday is the beginning of the end…not the beginning of the future…
beware….the dynamics are getting worse by the day…as is evident from the comments above
not that i don’t like a good patriotic song…but lets learn to treat each other with unity…
what we saw on Friday was a return to the aboriginal man….your two pictures illustrate well but are actually prettier than the reality of what could happen…
protect our country
Spagetti monster: reforms have been promised for years and years. Almost nothing real delivered. The young people of march 24 want more reforms. Want fast reform. Don’t want security agents scaring them at university.
In any case.. You don’t have to agree with what they say or where they held their sit-in.
But I cannot morally standby while people are being insulted, stoned and then also hit by security forces, just because the peacefully expressed an opinion.
Read black-iris.com for a full report on what happened.
Diala.. No way will I resort to dividing people based on origins. In fact it is the violent thugs who are loaded with this ideology.
Notice I said narrow tribalism. I understand the social solidarity of tribalism. But when it is instrumentalized for hate and violence, we have to draw a line.
Two things need to happen now.. A show of leadership by the leadership. And the building of a wider and wider reform front that is not easy to mess with.
Reformers should stay peaceful but not weak and “just nice”.
what I actually see in these images is : one that represent a political move and another representing a public one,
in the first image : a guy that been TOLD what he should do he have been trained or is imitating another one who have been trained, ( does it look like something a government would say, well guess what its true this time ), Did you hear or have a relative or a friend who have been in a meeting in a closed rooms recently? do you actually think that the lines that have been raised present any one except the parties who have been involved ? did you see the video of that guy who started yelling as soon as he though that the camera is running now, while it as running long ago, look for it and listen to what he yelled,
.
.
.
Please, enough being so naive, just open your ears once only once to the other side of the story. imagine it might be true
.
am absolutely with u Ahmad….but a country is like a glass full of water…one has to carry it carefully…
Allah yikathir min amthalak…
re Jordan & Egypt…i don’t think we can enjoy the luxury of comparison…even they do not have it easy yet but in Egypt u have a civilization thousands of years old that is known to rise like the Nile when very wronged…we don’t have that cohesiveness..
am heartbroken by what happened at the Dakhliyah Circle…
the whole vastness of Tahrir square in Egypt was like one…at all levels of education and wealth, with Christian pouring water for Muslim to wash before prayer…it was not started by the brotherhood…they came in later to support in number…and their leaders went from Christian camps to hospital camps…they showed social cohesion and loyalty to an Egyptian identity that goes back beyond the Pharoahs…Mubarak is not essential to Egyptian identity…
We live with a Hashemite identity here… and King Hussein survived murder attempts by many and tried everything from Arabism to pacifism to keep Jordan alive and open its borders to every refugee..almost every family knew him personally when Jordan was small…
Jordan is no longer that smalll and this new mixture is showing itself to be a Molotov cocktail. Please read Aluf Benn in Haaretz last Friday…he was quite frank…Israel and the US profit from Arab chaos…and it will take more than a visit from Gates to make me feel secure after this Friday…and i did not appreciate equal front page showing in the papers the next day…Gates on one side…the horror of Al Dakhliyah on the other…
One circle split into the most horrific display of a total lack of cohesion..and i did not appreciate ‘loyalists’ driving up in BMWs (as i have seen in pictures – even if i am a loyalist…but few of us are blind, deaf and dumb) to ‘defend the throne’ by assaulting others – mostly a lower income level or liberal crowd -and then rampage around town with loud macho gear changes and engine revs…
stoning unarmed police is not all right but stoning and being violent to a fellow citizen is HELL itself opening its gates….
WHY do we keep differentiating between Jordanians?? 24 or 25 both are Jordanians
BOTH were lead by misunderstanding and misconceiving the others social and political objectives
WHY do we look at the differences between 24 and 25?? and not the similarities: pro king, pro reform
WHY do we allow POLITICAL meetings and press conferences in PROFESSIONAL unions?? since when both mixed??
WHY do professional unions/associations (engineers, etc) imply muslim brotherhood