The issues and perspectives that have emerged from the phenomenon dubbed the Arab Spring should be re-evaluated from the enlightened vantage point of Arabism, nationalism and Islamism, Mapungubwe Institute director of operations Yacoob Abba Omar said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Centre for Indian Studies in Africa, at the University of the Witwatersrand, Omar said that, although engagement on the Middle East occupies much scholarly and media attention, it needed to be viewed within the context of the post-colonial imperialist process, where historical events brought about the build up of disapproval from citizens.

He mentioned that while there was a substantial framework to deal with power structures, which included the State, culture and society, the debates have been framed largely around attitudes and approaches, which do not necessarily always contribute to the understanding of the overall results of the Arab Spring, and how its repercussions can be dealt with.

He added that reform in those countries would also be distinctly different as contradictions and internal conflicts in each country are fuelled by distinct agendas, particularly with regard to the relations to external forces such as the US, the willingness to take on secularism, as well thinking regarding policy reform.

Centre for Indian Studies in Africa chairperson Professor Dilip Menon added that because the situation in the affected regions was a result of evolving movements that do not have structures of power to effect the desired changes, “it doesn’t seem very clear that the process will be a quick surgical operation.”

The premise of the ‘Holy Trinity’

In the process to uncover, relate and consolidate the post-colonial experiences that provide the undercurrent of the Middle East, Omar notes that the Arabism element, especially the language, notwithstanding its multiple dialects, which is shared between people in a specific geographic region, is a key connection in the bedrock of the Middle East, as it raises questions of Pan Arabism, a concept that helps identify the cultural and political movement among Arabs.

He added that this concept could be considered rather as an ‘Arab ethnos’ by reason of shared histories, cultures and the fact that it is broader than an individual tribe, but can’t necessarily be considered a nation, as some scholars suggest.

The second element of the ‘Holy Trinity’

It is from this ethnos that the curious link to Islamism stems and has spread, most notably through the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. Hence, Arabic is understood as the language of Islam, as seen in the reading of the Quran.

It is from these dynasties that the strongest elements of Arabism and Islamism formed.

Nationalism as the third leg of the Holy Trinity, emerged in society as the dynasties grew, evolved, and became more established and started tuning into new ways to govern. This has led some scholars to argued that Arab nationalism is an un–Islamic movement.

Reform

The situation in the Middle East since the eruption of the anger from citizens that manifested in widespread dissent and protest in 2011, has consequently resulted in unstable and unpredictable countries, as questions of leadership and authority remain key challenges in the transition process.

Omar said that although the revolutions in countries such as Bahrain, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Iran, Israel and Palestine, besides others, have similar characteristics such as a strong resentment of corrupt and autocratic regimes, and a collapse of economic structures, they should not be generalised.

Menon, added that it would also be myopic to simply see the Arab Spring as merely a result of only religious conflicts, as revolutionary movements such as Occupy Wall Street, which were reconstituted after being buried for a while, teach us that unexpected strides might emerge from the current state of affairs.

Omar noted that Egypt is still where South Africa was politically in the period 1990 to 1994, with regard to contestation and third force’s elements, and that the next elections would bring more clarity to the situation, and the role Egypt plays in Africa.

Omar also noted that the country, while under Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak’s regime, had no interest in African unity, and how the new leadership might foster a renewed connection with the continent.

Overall, the prospects of accountable, transparent, credible, and non-autocratic regimes in most of these countries is still unclear.

However, parties such as Tunisia’s Ennahda party, would put that country top of the list for possible democratic reform, as a result of the sheer impact of its leader Rashid Al-Ghannush who is enlightened and takes a liberated and secular approach to gender issues and politics, while tribalism and religious Puritanism in other parts of the region are still a big issue, Omar said.