The Facebook Revolution in Tunisia and Egypt
triggered the Arab Spring last year, which has overthrown autocrats to pave the
way for long pursued democracy in the Middle East.
However, the Freedom House has released a warning report that democracy is in
decline worldwide, particularly in Asia, Latin America, and Southern
Africa (“Democracy declined worldwide in 2011, Arab Spring nations
at risk: report”; Reuters; September 17, 2012).
In view of the rise of autocratic powers,
this is a critical problem. China
shows no hesitation for expansionism in the East Asian sphere. In Russia, Vladimir Putin denounced American “manipulation”
to sponsor civil movement against Kremlin (“Russia
says U.S.
aid mission sought to sway elections”; Reuters; September 19, 2012). And also, Iran is
acquiring nuclear weapons.
Let me review the report briefly. “Freedom
in the World 2012” states that despite progress in Tunisia,
Egypt, and Libya, repressive responses against civic
movements are rampant in Syria,
Bahrain, and Yemen.
Therefore, Middle East democratization, which
is a key global security agenda since the out break of the War on Terror, is
seriously curtailed. Also, governmental propaganda in China and Russia agitates fears against civic
protests, in order to prevent the spread of the Jasmine Revolution in their
countries. China
boasts their most sophisticated system of media repression to control news
reports and censor information. Other authoritarian regimes like Russia, Iran,
and Venezuela
develop various techniques to control the media and blogs.
Currently, the Western alliance just sits still
and watches such gloomy trends. It is established democracies, notably the United States, Europe, and Japan, that can
take leadership to overturn global trend of moving back toward autocracy. Freedom
activists against authoritarian regimes are disappointed with the Western alliance
for petty realism and appeasement policies at the expense of their hope. They are
right, in view of the trend stated in the Freedom House report.
While the Freedom House evaluates the
transition in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, democracy in those countries
are still fragile. Also, some conservatives in the United
States and Europe are
afraid of the rise of Islamism as typically shown in the enforcement of Sharia
law. However, Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki comments that the Arab Spring
is neither anti-West nor pro-West. Nor is it a matter of religion or Sharia Law,
but of social justice. Marzouki admits that democratization allowed some extremists
to free ride liberal political system. However, he stresses that the real objective
of religious extremists is not political participation, but creating chaos. They
attacked Tunisian symbols like national flag and anthem, before attacking American
symbols, according to Marzouki (“The Arab Spring Still Blooms”; New York Times;
September 27, 2012).
To be continued