Dunsmore: Coping with Freedom

Print More
MP3

(Host) This morning commentator and veteran ABC News foreign
correspondent Barrie Dunsmore explains that the current turmoil in the
Middle East should come as no surprise. That’s because much of the
region is still in the throes of revolution.

(Dunsmore) If we
look at the outcome of significant revolutions in modern history –
American, French, Russian – it is obvious that political turmoil
continued long after the rule of the kings or the tsar had been brought
to an end.

For Americans, six years of fierce debate and
political uncertainty passed between the end of the Revolutionary War
and the implementation of the new U.S. Constitution. After beheading
King Louis the XVI the French eventually made Napoleon Emperor and it
would be decades before a democratic French Republic would become a
reality. In Russia the overthrow of the Tsar was followed by five years
of civil war ending with Lenin and his Bolsheviks turning Russia into a
communist dictatorship.

These may be different times in terms of speed of communication – but in the human struggle for power not much has changed

Egypt,
Libya and Tunisia overthrew dictators who had been in power for forty
years – during which the United States supported or tolerated these
dictators in the interests of stability and Arab oil. European colonial
powers had controlled the Middle East in the decades after World War I.
And in the three centuries before that, the region was subject to the
harsh Turkish rulers of the Ottoman Empire. So throughout the centuries,
in most of the Middle East there have been few if any opportunities for
institutions of self-governance to develop – much less democratic ones.

But the one societal structure common throughout the Middle
East that has survived the centuries is Islam. And I believe what we are
seeing today in places like Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Yemen is a battle
of competing Islamic factions – between somewhat moderate Muslims and
the often violent, ultra conservative Salafis.

Conditions vary
in each Arab country. But in these still early days of the revolutions,
the more moderate factions have emerged with the most popular support.
That’s why the violent reaction to the highly offensive American film
about the Prophet Mohammed isn’t just about injured religious
sensibilities. More likely the film has been used as a pretext for
extremist Salafis to stage violent protests to undermine the power of
the moderates. If, for example, President Mohammed Morsi, who is a
former leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, harshly suppressed Egyptian
protesters, he risked being seen as an American lackey. If he allowed
the threat to American and other Western Embassies to continue, he was
in danger of losing not just U.S. economic aid, but the international
investments that Egypt so desperately needs. Either way, the Salafis
stood to make political gains.

These are times that need a
steady hand in Washington. President Barack Obama cannot fail to demand
protection for American diplomats. But the president must also recognize
the huge challenges these shaky new Arab governments are being forced
to cope with. After all, their alternatives could well be religious
fanatics who want to return the Arab world to the 7th century.

Comments are closed.