Points of View
Call for revolution in reporting of events
Arab endeavours win praise as western hypocrisy exposed by WikiLeaks
Dubai: The lack of transparency highlighted by the release of thousands of diplomatic cables by whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks to the international press, was raised as a major issue at a discussion of the site's use at the Arab Media Forum on Tuesday.
"Wikileaks has become a source of information in the Arab world, because of a lack of transparency," Hasni Abidi, director, Centre for Studies and Research on the Arab and Mediterranean World (Cermam), Switzerland, said.
« Le monde arabe vit un tournant historique »
Algérie News : Quelle lecture faites-vous actuellement de la situation en Libye ?
H. Abidi : Le régime de Kadhafi est sur le départ. Quelle que soit l'évolution immédiate
de la situation en Libye, c'est une donnée avec laquelle il va falloir compter. Car il
a perdu le socle sur lequel il était construit. Ce ne sera pas facile en raison de la complexité
du terrain et d'un pays où l'insurrection ne semble pas avoir le moyen de le renverser
rapidement. Mais c'est une donnée sérieuse que les Occidentaux veulent accélérer
pour éviter l'enlisement et que le «guide» tire profit d'une situation où les «dommages collatéraux» comme on dit peuvent retourner leurs opinions. Kadhafi qui veut gagner du temps, table sur le pourrissement et la
partition du pays. S'il parvient à rester dans son bunker de Tripoli, il peut toujours accuser
l'insurrection d'être responsable du démembrement du pays.
Tribes' support 'legitimises' uprising
In Libya, several tribal chiefs have lent support to the anti-government movement. France24.com spoke to Hasni Abidi, director of the Study and Research Centre for the Arab and Mediterranean World in Geneva, about the role of tribes in the events.
By FRANCE 24 (text)
"Unlike Egypt and Tunisia, Libya is made up of tribes, clans and alliances," said Saif al-Islam, the son of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, in a televised address on Sunday evening during which he warned Libyans of the threat of civil war.
Though the importance of tribal affiliation has eroded as work and education have drawn Libyans away from their native regions, a significant portion of the country’s population still claim some identification with a specific tribe.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi himself, despite maintaining an anti-tribalism stance for most of his political career, has relied on simmering tribal rivalries to tighten his grip on power. This has been particularly true within the military, where all major tribes are represented.
Tribal ties are also said to influence whether or not Libyans succeed in securing certain jobs.
But tribalism has little concrete impact on the Libyan political system. Gaddafi’s government is, for example, composed of people from various tribes.
MAIN TRIBES OF LIBYA
Warfallah – Libya’s main tribe; said to count 1 million people.
Magariha – Second largest tribe; close to Warfallah; tribe of Lockerbie bomber, Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi.
Al Zintan – Close to Warfallah; from the town of Zintan, south of Tripoli.
Qadhadfa – Muammar Gaddafi’s tribe; controls the air force.
Analysis
Swiss focus on “democratic transition” policy
The Swiss foreign ministry is organising a conference in Tunisia for all its ambassadors in the Arab world, with a view to adapting its foreign policy.
From May 1-3, in a hotel in a chic area of the capital, Tunis, the foreign ministry will work out a “global support strategy for democratic transition”, an aim adopted by the government last month.
This is essential and not before time, according to Hasni Abidi, director of the Geneva-based Study and Research Center for the Arab and Mediterranean World.
“Western democracies must urgently review their strategies for countries south of the Mediterranean,” Abidi told swissinfo.ch.
“Like its neighbours, Switzerland supported the majority of authoritarian regimes in the region in the name of the fight against terrorism and stemming streams of migrants. This line has been shown to be weak, not to say counterproductive.”
Arab world braces for possible domino effect
Anxious Arab leaders are scrambling to offer concessions to prevent a so-called domino effect of unrest spreading, says Middle East expert Hasni Abidi.
There were violent clashes in Cairo on Wednesday between opponents and supporters of President Hosni Mubarak as the Egyptian government rejected international calls for the leader to end his 30-year-rule immediately.
The army did not intervene, other than to fire shots into the air, and no uniformed police were in sight. However, government opponents say the Mubarak supporters were mainly either policemen out of uniform, or people who had been paid to demonstrate for the president.
The violence was the worst in the nine-day uprising against Mubarak, leaving several hundred injured, apparently by stones. A soldier was reported dead after falling from a flyover.
Mubarak went on national television on Tuesday night to say he would not stand in elections scheduled for September, but this was not good enough for the protesters, who demanded he leave the country immediately.
The protests broke out last week as public frustration with corruption, oppression and economic hardship under Mubarak boiled over.
Strike "April 6" in Egypt: Abortion of a rising labor movement?
Introduction :
During the last years, and in a context of an increasing number of social protestation movements, Egypt has witnessed one of the largest social movements since 1975: The “Mahala EL Kobra” labor’s movement. Since the great strike of December 2006, a "spillover effect" occurred with an increase of the workers' strikes in Egypt. However, the 6th of April 2008 strike, had witnessed a transposition of the "Mahala" workers strike into the national level. The political opposition has based on this strike to declare a general strike in whole Egypt, a strike that never happened unless virtually. The workers' strike, for it, was aborted. Paradoxically, a huge popular uprising, the largest since 1975 has ignited.
In this context, our objective is to present the dynamics of the day April 6 in order to demonstrate: 1 - The limits of the political opposition. 2 – The obstacles that prevent the “Mahala” labor movement from being transformed into a political reality.