Few things now concern us more in northwestern Europe than our hope for more democratic development in Arab-Muslim countries.
We want to help. But in order to give our political,
economic, and moral support in a better way, we also need help
from the people of the Arab-Muslim world.
You need to show us the moderate voices of your region. This is a challenge for the Arab media, intellectuals and the public at large.
If you do this, I am certain that we in Western
Europe will commit ourselves much more directly to supporting a
democratic Middle East, in accordance with Islam.
And our European support for the Palestinian cause can be even more effective than today.
 |
|
"It would help immensely if all could find a middle ground and be tolerant and respectful of all faiths"
Mike Bell, US
More comments...
|
If
you fail to take that step, I see two possible outcomes: We
support unpopular regimes or undemocratic forces - as we sometimes do
today - often because of our lack of knowledge.
Or worse, we give up on the Arab world altogether, and in fear close our borders, societies and mentalities.
That would be a tragic result for us all.
We live in a time when we in the European-Arabian world, or "Eurabia", need each other more than ever.
We need to be inspired by Baghdad Caliphs such as
al-Mamun (786-833), who hired Christian Syrians to translate Greek
classics into Arabic.
We need to remember King Roger II of Sicily
(1093-1154), who invited the Arab geographer al-Idrisi (1100-1166) to
draw him the best map of the world.
The present situation suppresses the memory of these titans of human history.
The terror in Madrid and the killing of film maker
Theo van Gogh in the Netherlands have made even Scandinavians fearful
of their Muslim minorities.
Democratic reform in the Arab-Muslim world would be a
great relief for the Muslim minorities of Europe, since such a
development would more easily prove to Europeans at large that peace
and freedom is our common goal.
The more undemocratic regimes there are in the Arab-Muslim world, the more problems we have in Europe.
We in "Eurabia" are packed together in a lifeboat in troubled waters, and we all suffer when someone tries to rock it.
The Mali solution
There is not only one route to sail. Turkey and the dedicated Muslim [Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip] Erdogan have gradually moved towards the doorstep of the European Union.
Indonesians carried out a democratic revolution in the late 1990s by toppling dictator Suharto.
Mali has given Arab countries a third alternative:
With respect for Islam, democratic Mali has made impressive progress
when it comes to freedom of speech and religion as well as women's
rights.
Developments like these in the Arab-Muslim world would sharply decrease current tensions in Western Europe as well.
|
Mali has
given Arab countries a third alternative: With respect for Islam,
democratic Mali has made impressive progress when it comes to freedom
of speech and religion as well as women's rights
|
The demonstrations in Ukraine since 22 November prove that there is no power like people power.
The Ukrainian Orange Revolution is taking place exactly 15 years after the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia, in which student demonstrators helped dissident Vaclav Havel get elected president on 29 December 1989.
The decisive moment for Eastern European revolutions
was when the Berlin Wall was torn down by Berliners' bare hands on
9 November 1989.
The destruction ended the 44-year division of Europe and the Cold War between the US and the Soviet Union.
In a matter of months, democracy replaced the
communist dictatorships. It all began because of the actions of
ordinary civilians, like you and me.
This democratic revolution concluded on 1 May this
year, when eight former communist countries were admitted into the
25-member-strong EU. Only 15 years ago this would have been regarded as impossible.
Now, there are enormous differences between Eastern
Europe in the 1980s and Arab-Muslim countries today, so of course it is
difficult to compare the two situations.
But at the same time there is a similarity in that
ordinary people of both regions generally want peace, justice, and
a say in governing themselves.
I have been asked by people from Iran and Arab
countries: Why are we in Western Europe supporting regimes that the
people themselves oppose?
Why are we demanding democracy from Arabs one moment and making deals with their undemocratic leaders the next?
There are no easy answers to those questions. But if
we look at how we acted towards the communist regimes in Eastern
Europe, our present challenge might be easier to understand.
A look back
The fact is that Western Europeans also had a hard
time connecting with the suppressed people in countries such as Poland
and East Germany.
Even though they were our neighbours and we shared
the same language and religion with many of them, there was a
widespread misunderstanding among us that people on the other side of
the "Iron Curtain" actually wanted their communist system.
It was a general feeling that their undemocratic system was part of their "culture", their eastern tradition.
Sound familiar?
There were, of course, important exceptions. In
Norway, the leading newspaper Aftenposten, the PEN-leader Johan Vogt
and the author Tore Stubberud did a tremendous job in bringing forth
the views of Eastern European dissidents such as Havel or the Soviet
critic Solzhenitsyn.
|
In
1989 we witnessed the Velvet Revolution in Eastern Europe, in 1999 the
Red Revolution in Indonesia and in 2004 the unfolding of the Orange
Revolution in Ukraine. Our next hope is a democratic and colourful revolution in the Arab-Muslim world
|
But
energies in Scandinavia were directed towards other issues - the
fight against apartheid in South Africa or against fascist
dictatorships in Latin America.
These were all fights that were just, but at the
same time we did not pay as much attention to dictators suppressing our
own neighbours.
While the Norwegian King Olav V in 1980 gave the
Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu the Grand Cross of St Olav and
invited him to sleep over at the castle in Oslo, dissidents such as
Havel were never invited to Oslo to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
The only East European to receive that honour was the Polish Solidarity leader Lech Walesa in 1983.
Andrei Sakharov was the only dissident from the Soviet Union who became a Nobel Peace Prize laureate in 1975.
Many would say it was impossible for us in Western
Europe to do more - we were all trapped in big politics under a
dangerous nuclear umbrella.
That may be, but still, it was not a European but an
American president, Ronald Reagan, who during the important Glasnost
period in 1987 went to the Berlin Wall and asked Gorbachev to "tear
down this wall".
No wonder that leading Eastern Europeans now do not look upon the general Western European attitude as of any great help.
Democratic revolution
There are many lessons to be learned from these Cold War dilemmas.
First, people in the Arab-Muslim world cannot
count on a better understanding from Western Europe than we showed
towards our own neighbours.
You have to take the first step yourselves.
Second, Western Europeans in general are
interested in giving a hand - we just need to be better informed
about the will of the people.
And the moderate voices from your region need to be
supported - if possible more than Havel - so they can also be
heard in northern Europe.
Third, Western European countries in several respects
are doing better at supporting democracy in the Middle East now than we
did with Eastern Europe before.
Sure, oil-companies such as Statoil deal with Tehran
without guarantees of human rights - against the will of the
Iranian people.
But at the same time the Norwegian Nobel committee
last year boldly awarded the Peace Prize to female lawyer Shirin Ebadi,
an important symbolic support for the freedom-loving Iranian people.
Fourth, that it does not help to blame others for not unlocking the gates, when it is oneself who holds the key to change.
We cannot help more effectively until you have tried harder yourselves.
In 1989 we witnessed the Velvet Revolution in Eastern
Europe, in 1999 the Red Revolution in Indonesia and in 2004 the
unfolding of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine.
Our next hope is a democratic and colourful revolution in the Arab-Muslim world.
Dag Herbjornsrud is a Norwegian author, journalist and historian of ideas
The opinions expressed here are the author's
and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position or have the
endorsement of Aljazeera