Feb 23, 2011
The wave of liberation revolutions sweeping the Arab world has shown the world that the Arabs are alive and deserve freedom and are prepared to fight and die for it. But the strangest thing about it is that the neo-conservatives are popping up their heads, which have been crowned by the shame of wars and torture, to claim that they "have been right" all along.
The occupation and despotism guru Elliott Abrams wrote more than once claiming that "democratic transformation started in Iraq", which was left devastated with millions of its people carrying the scars of civil strife, division and massacres.
Former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice also wrote and claimed that she was vindicated, not in terms of what she said, but in terms of what she did, including support of Israeli occupation, the war on Iraq and Lebanon, torture in Abu Ghraib and paying lip service to the rulers who supported Israel's war against Lebanon and Gaza.
Rice took part in making decisions which perpetuate Israeli oppression of millions of Palestinians. She took part in destroying Palestinian democracy. Today, she and the creators of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, the symbols of war on Iraq and Afghanistan, the supporters of despotism and corruption, shamelessly claim that they supported "the spread of democracy in the Arab world".
These people don't want to understand that the democratic revolution in the Arab world is, at heart, a response to American suppression of Arab freedom in Palestine and Iraq and the unlimited support they have been giving to the ugliest form of racist occupation in human history.
Only days ago, Hillary Clinton, Rice's successor in the fight against Arab liberation from Israeli oppression, said that "Security Council resolutions are not the right way to make progress towards the two state solution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict".
The next day Clinton discovered that the "solution" she is promoting lies in "vetoing" a resolution, a mere unbinding resolution at the Security Council to denounce colony building.
The conscience of the Arab revolutionaries for freedom, in Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere, has been formed in campaigns of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for salvation from Israeli brutality, and in the movement opposed to the American invasion of Iraq and the brutal Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Real story
American politicians should realise that these revolutions are against western support of despotism, occupation, corruption and submission to foreign dictates. Pro-western regimes have started to crumble under the hammer of the forces of freedom, democracy and human rights.
The West will again be surprised at the will, determination and ability of the Arab people to change their future and steer it away from those who forced occupation and humiliation on them and made up racist theories of the Arabs as 'terrorists', unfit for democracy and "in need of despots to rule them".
The importance of what is happening today in the Arab world is the fall of the colonial dimension of the official regime which has ignored the crimes against humanity in Palestine while the American Administration was drafting its 39th veto against the Arabs to prevent a mere condemnation of Israeli colony-building which is an eternal shame for western 'democracies'.
Now, Arab young people, in their different countries, are paying in blood in order to liberate themselves from the oppression and corruption which have been associated with western influence.
The only thing Arabs know about this influence is the brutality of its wars, the massacres of its occupation and the humiliation of Arab dignity. They only know its support of Jewish colonies, Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people and depriving them, for over sixty years, of freedom and preventing them from having their national state.
They only know America's friendship with regimes known for their humiliating submission to Washington's dictates against their own people and in support of Israel's crimes and wars.
They only know the stark hypocrisy and double standards: western societies enjoy democracy and prosperity, while American influence is preventing our people from having their freedom by the force of weapons and oppression. They are forcing poverty on our people by squandering their wealth and laundering the money of their friends, the corrupt dictators.
They turn a blind eye to the use of donkeys, camels and live bullets against young people yearning for freedom only to maintain the rule of those who keep silence about Israel's crimes.
The most recent American veto, like tens of other vetoes against the Arabs, contributed to the perpetuation of Israeli suppression of the Palestinian people, colonising their land, expelling and condemning them to life in refugee camps.
This will not be the last American veto as long as American political will is hostage to Zionism and to supporting despotism, oppression, colonies and racism in the Middle East.
For hundreds of millions of Arabs, the only thing they see in the US is this veto against their freedom. Millions of young Arabs also see that this veto is targeted at the simplest rights of the Palestinian people. They will only see it as a declaration of flagrant American hostility to the freedom of Arabs and to all those who fight for it.
The dawn of Arab democracy, created by Arab masses according to their own vision, has come; and Israeli crimes and wars against Arabs have been the catalysts of the local dimension of these revolutions. The West should not be surprised when hundreds of millions, from the Atlantic to the Gulf, chant that "the people want an end to colonies in Palestine".
What would Abrams, Rice and Clinton say then? Would they also claim that their American support to occupation and colony-building aim at bringing about the two-state solution?
This new Middle East is different from that envisioned by Rice and the neo-conservatives known for their love of war, torture, shedding Arab blood and absolute support for Israel and colony-building. It will be made by the people of the Middle East and for them in order to insure their freedom and dignity.
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Bouthaina Shaaban
Bouthaina Shaaban is Political and Media Advisor at the Syrian Presidency, and former Minister of Expatriates. She was the spokesperson for Syria and nominated for Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. She can be reached at bouthaina@bouthainashaaban.com
The wave of liberation revolutions sweeping the Arab world has shown the world that the Arabs are alive and deserve freedom and are prepared to fight and die for it. But the strangest thing about it is that the neo-conservatives are popping up their heads, which have been crowned by the shame of wars and torture, to claim that they "have been right" all along.
The occupation and despotism guru Elliott Abrams wrote more than once claiming that "democratic transformation started in Iraq", which was left devastated with millions of its people carrying the scars of civil strife, division and massacres.
Former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice also wrote and claimed that she was vindicated, not in terms of what she said, but in terms of what she did, including support of Israeli occupation, the war on Iraq and Lebanon, torture in Abu Ghraib and paying lip service to the rulers who supported Israel's war against Lebanon and Gaza.
Rice took part in making decisions which perpetuate Israeli oppression of millions of Palestinians. She took part in destroying Palestinian democracy. Today, she and the creators of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, the symbols of war on Iraq and Afghanistan, the supporters of despotism and corruption, shamelessly claim that they supported "the spread of democracy in the Arab world".
These people don't want to understand that the democratic revolution in the Arab world is, at heart, a response to American suppression of Arab freedom in Palestine and Iraq and the unlimited support they have been giving to the ugliest form of racist occupation in human history.
Only days ago, Hillary Clinton, Rice's successor in the fight against Arab liberation from Israeli oppression, said that "Security Council resolutions are not the right way to make progress towards the two state solution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict".
The next day Clinton discovered that the "solution" she is promoting lies in "vetoing" a resolution, a mere unbinding resolution at the Security Council to denounce colony building.
The conscience of the Arab revolutionaries for freedom, in Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere, has been formed in campaigns of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for salvation from Israeli brutality, and in the movement opposed to the American invasion of Iraq and the brutal Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Real story
American politicians should realise that these revolutions are against western support of despotism, occupation, corruption and submission to foreign dictates. Pro-western regimes have started to crumble under the hammer of the forces of freedom, democracy and human rights.
The West will again be surprised at the will, determination and ability of the Arab people to change their future and steer it away from those who forced occupation and humiliation on them and made up racist theories of the Arabs as 'terrorists', unfit for democracy and "in need of despots to rule them".
The importance of what is happening today in the Arab world is the fall of the colonial dimension of the official regime which has ignored the crimes against humanity in Palestine while the American Administration was drafting its 39th veto against the Arabs to prevent a mere condemnation of Israeli colony-building which is an eternal shame for western 'democracies'.
Now, Arab young people, in their different countries, are paying in blood in order to liberate themselves from the oppression and corruption which have been associated with western influence.
The only thing Arabs know about this influence is the brutality of its wars, the massacres of its occupation and the humiliation of Arab dignity. They only know its support of Jewish colonies, Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people and depriving them, for over sixty years, of freedom and preventing them from having their national state.
They only know America's friendship with regimes known for their humiliating submission to Washington's dictates against their own people and in support of Israel's crimes and wars.
They only know the stark hypocrisy and double standards: western societies enjoy democracy and prosperity, while American influence is preventing our people from having their freedom by the force of weapons and oppression. They are forcing poverty on our people by squandering their wealth and laundering the money of their friends, the corrupt dictators.
They turn a blind eye to the use of donkeys, camels and live bullets against young people yearning for freedom only to maintain the rule of those who keep silence about Israel's crimes.
The most recent American veto, like tens of other vetoes against the Arabs, contributed to the perpetuation of Israeli suppression of the Palestinian people, colonising their land, expelling and condemning them to life in refugee camps.
This will not be the last American veto as long as American political will is hostage to Zionism and to supporting despotism, oppression, colonies and racism in the Middle East.
For hundreds of millions of Arabs, the only thing they see in the US is this veto against their freedom. Millions of young Arabs also see that this veto is targeted at the simplest rights of the Palestinian people. They will only see it as a declaration of flagrant American hostility to the freedom of Arabs and to all those who fight for it.
The dawn of Arab democracy, created by Arab masses according to their own vision, has come; and Israeli crimes and wars against Arabs have been the catalysts of the local dimension of these revolutions. The West should not be surprised when hundreds of millions, from the Atlantic to the Gulf, chant that "the people want an end to colonies in Palestine".
What would Abrams, Rice and Clinton say then? Would they also claim that their American support to occupation and colony-building aim at bringing about the two-state solution?
This new Middle East is different from that envisioned by Rice and the neo-conservatives known for their love of war, torture, shedding Arab blood and absolute support for Israel and colony-building. It will be made by the people of the Middle East and for them in order to insure their freedom and dignity.
Bouthaina Shaaban
Bouthaina Shaaban is Political and Media Advisor at the Syrian Presidency, and former Minister of Expatriates. She was the spokesperson for Syria and nominated for Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. She can be reached at bouthaina@bouthainashaaban.com
The wave of liberation revolutions sweeping the Arab world has shown the world that the Arabs are alive and deserve freedom and are prepared to fight and die for it. But the strangest thing about it is that the neo-conservatives are popping up their heads, which have been crowned by the shame of wars and torture, to claim that they "have been right" all along.
The occupation and despotism guru Elliott Abrams wrote more than once claiming that "democratic transformation started in Iraq", which was left devastated with millions of its people carrying the scars of civil strife, division and massacres.
Former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice also wrote and claimed that she was vindicated, not in terms of what she said, but in terms of what she did, including support of Israeli occupation, the war on Iraq and Lebanon, torture in Abu Ghraib and paying lip service to the rulers who supported Israel's war against Lebanon and Gaza.
Rice took part in making decisions which perpetuate Israeli oppression of millions of Palestinians. She took part in destroying Palestinian democracy. Today, she and the creators of Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, the symbols of war on Iraq and Afghanistan, the supporters of despotism and corruption, shamelessly claim that they supported "the spread of democracy in the Arab world".
These people don't want to understand that the democratic revolution in the Arab world is, at heart, a response to American suppression of Arab freedom in Palestine and Iraq and the unlimited support they have been giving to the ugliest form of racist occupation in human history.
Only days ago, Hillary Clinton, Rice's successor in the fight against Arab liberation from Israeli oppression, said that "Security Council resolutions are not the right way to make progress towards the two state solution of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict".
The next day Clinton discovered that the "solution" she is promoting lies in "vetoing" a resolution, a mere unbinding resolution at the Security Council to denounce colony building.
The conscience of the Arab revolutionaries for freedom, in Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and elsewhere, has been formed in campaigns of solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for salvation from Israeli brutality, and in the movement opposed to the American invasion of Iraq and the brutal Israeli blockade of Gaza.
Real story
American politicians should realise that these revolutions are against western support of despotism, occupation, corruption and submission to foreign dictates. Pro-western regimes have started to crumble under the hammer of the forces of freedom, democracy and human rights.
The West will again be surprised at the will, determination and ability of the Arab people to change their future and steer it away from those who forced occupation and humiliation on them and made up racist theories of the Arabs as 'terrorists', unfit for democracy and "in need of despots to rule them".
The importance of what is happening today in the Arab world is the fall of the colonial dimension of the official regime which has ignored the crimes against humanity in Palestine while the American Administration was drafting its 39th veto against the Arabs to prevent a mere condemnation of Israeli colony-building which is an eternal shame for western 'democracies'.
Now, Arab young people, in their different countries, are paying in blood in order to liberate themselves from the oppression and corruption which have been associated with western influence.
The only thing Arabs know about this influence is the brutality of its wars, the massacres of its occupation and the humiliation of Arab dignity. They only know its support of Jewish colonies, Israeli oppression of the Palestinian people and depriving them, for over sixty years, of freedom and preventing them from having their national state.
They only know America's friendship with regimes known for their humiliating submission to Washington's dictates against their own people and in support of Israel's crimes and wars.
They only know the stark hypocrisy and double standards: western societies enjoy democracy and prosperity, while American influence is preventing our people from having their freedom by the force of weapons and oppression. They are forcing poverty on our people by squandering their wealth and laundering the money of their friends, the corrupt dictators.
They turn a blind eye to the use of donkeys, camels and live bullets against young people yearning for freedom only to maintain the rule of those who keep silence about Israel's crimes.
The most recent American veto, like tens of other vetoes against the Arabs, contributed to the perpetuation of Israeli suppression of the Palestinian people, colonising their land, expelling and condemning them to life in refugee camps.
This will not be the last American veto as long as American political will is hostage to Zionism and to supporting despotism, oppression, colonies and racism in the Middle East.
For hundreds of millions of Arabs, the only thing they see in the US is this veto against their freedom. Millions of young Arabs also see that this veto is targeted at the simplest rights of the Palestinian people. They will only see it as a declaration of flagrant American hostility to the freedom of Arabs and to all those who fight for it.
The dawn of Arab democracy, created by Arab masses according to their own vision, has come; and Israeli crimes and wars against Arabs have been the catalysts of the local dimension of these revolutions. The West should not be surprised when hundreds of millions, from the Atlantic to the Gulf, chant that "the people want an end to colonies in Palestine".
What would Abrams, Rice and Clinton say then? Would they also claim that their American support to occupation and colony-building aim at bringing about the two-state solution?
This new Middle East is different from that envisioned by Rice and the neo-conservatives known for their love of war, torture, shedding Arab blood and absolute support for Israel and colony-building. It will be made by the people of the Middle East and for them in order to insure their freedom and dignity.
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