The 7th and last session of FIKR10 dealt with the aftermath of the Arab Spring. All five speakers, moderated by Fatima Zahra Daoui -Moroccan senior presenter at Al Arabiya- moderated the talk. The audience was highly interested and kept asking more questions during a very long Q&A session.
Abdulelah Belqaziz, professor of philosophy at Hassan II University in Casablanca opened the discussion with an argument about the importance of having a competition between the different political powers. He also added that the population and the civil society should collaborate and work together.
The most important moment in the history of a political regime is the voting phase, which makes the establishment of the new voting systems, in some Arab countries, some of the greatest achievements of the past few months’ events. However, this is just one element of democracy, and that is not enough. Democracy is more than establishing electoral boxes. It is also about respecting the outcome of an election, educating, learning, developing civil societies.
Young Egyptian activist, Raghda Abdel Hady took the floor, with her personal experience in Tahrir. She stated that the only changes seen, at least for now, are at the head of the states, and not the regimes. The Egyptians are just at the beginning of what will become a long journey.
She also shared her pride of having the newly formed political parties receive some votes. Democracy is a long process, and the street can’t transform their work in the political arena in only one year of time.
Hamood Abutalib, a Saudi writer said that the expression “Arab Spring” is very easily romanticized. But we should focus on the new generation’s huge victory over fear, especially when many generations before had given up. It is still premature to talk about the movement’s long term positive impact. It is unrealistic to expect a whole country to transform overnight.
It is normal that the political parties try their best to take credit for outcomes of revolutions. However, he added that with all the credit they took, the youth did not let anyone take over the revolution. The new generation is very aware of their surrounding and the game that could take place in the political arena.
Fahad Al Orabi Al Harthi, president of Asbar Centre for Studies, Research and Communication, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was the fourth speaker. He asked the audience whether anyone ever thought they might live through seeing Gaddafi, Mubarak, Ben Ali and Ali Abdalla Saleh fall. He is hopeful to add Assad’s name to the list. One of the most important outcomes is that Arabs started believing in democracy and the rule of law. The youth is very aware and cautious of this success. It is essential however, to have a clear cut from the past. Let this generation start a new story.
“We created a dictatorship, the youth revolution. We chose our past but we made them choose the future”. The youth will not accept to go backwards.
In only 10 years, the Arab Spring was able to achieve way more than many others tried to do in 40. The previous generations were not capable of moving or doing anything, while those between 20 and 30, and are very active. Indeed, they do everything they can for their future, even for the coming 50 years.
The last speaker, Ahmed Obeid Al Mansoori, member of the Federal National Council in the UAE was last to talk. He said that nowadays people understood their rights, which makes them talk more about the role of the individual in a society. The biggest problem was, and in some places still is, the huge gap between the regimes and their people. There were no tools to communicate with the youth. The regime’s only belief was to ban people from thinking by themselves, despite the fact that the community could have contributed with the development of the country with its different skills.
All speakers agreed to say that, unlike what is said everywhere, the Egyptian revolution is not just a revolution of the youth. It is true that the younger generation was very active, and started it, but it would not have been the same if it wasn’t for everyone, from all backgrounds and ages. Changes in societies cannot be made by just one generation.