The revolution is essentially Syrian rather than a foreign induced one - Former Director General of Al-Jazeera

'' Trying to shape the results of the revolution, does not mean hijack the revolution''!

'' Some world powers are trying to interfere in Syria because they have an interest. The Americans or whoever wants to find a place for them in the revolution are trying to shape the results. This does not mean that they want to hijack the revolution. Ninety percent of what is happening on the ground is determined by the people.''

Wadah Khanfar, former Director General of Al-Jazeera now heads of the As-Sharq think-tank

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People power for lasting peace
By Ameen Izzadeen

* Former al-Jazeera chief calls for empowerment of civil society

* A world renowned journalist who promotes the ideals of democratic participation, an informed citizenry, multi-stakeholder dialogue and social justice, has warned that wealth and power, when they are in one hand, are scary and dangerous.

Wadah Khanfar, former Director General of Al-Jazeera now heads of the As-Sharq think-tank,
said in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Times that power needed to be diversified and the
marginalised must be brought to the centre so that the common people would be empowered to
promote genuine democracy.

Mr. Khanfar who was in Sri Lanka to deliver the Bakeer Markar memorial lecture gave a in-depth
analysis of the Arab Spring and expressed optimism that the people-power revolution and the
election of true representatives of the people would help bring about lasting peace in the Middle
East and the world.

Excerpts:

The Arab awakening was initially spontaneous, but now it is being directed from various capitals. Has it been hijacked?

 I don’t think anyone can hijack the Arab Spring. It is going in the right direction. However,
certain negativities are normal after the revolution. It cannot be hijacked because it is built on the
people’s power. The Arab masses cannot be deceived. They are politically well informed now. So
no capital can hijack the people’s power.

May be the West had hijacked our land, resources and political will during the past three decades
because of puppet regimes. But those who try to hijack people’s power will not succeed.


Like in Libya last year, various foreign forces are at play in Syria. The rebels are being helped by the US, Saudi Arabia and other countries. They are being armed and trained by western
intelligence groups. There are also foreign fighters among the rebels. In this sense, has not the
revolution been hijacked or is it being directed by outsiders?

We have been monitoring the Syrian revolution since the beginning. It started as a peaceful
revolution. The people of Syria did not resort to violence, although the regime did. This was the
situation for some eight months. But when the death toll climbed to unbelievable levels, sections
of the Syrian army deserted their posts and came forward to protect the civilians. This was how
the revolution turned into an armed resistance.

Some world powers are trying to interfere in Syria because they have an interest. The Americans
or whoever wants to find a place for them in the revolution are trying to shape the results. This
does not mean that they want to hijack the revolution. Ninety percent of what is happening on the
ground is determined by the people.

When we talk about the American support, I want to know what kind of support the US extends
to the people of Syria. I think they are blocking quality weapons such as anti-tank weapons and
anti-aircraft missiles reaching the rebels because they fear that these weapons may end up in the
wrong hands — al Qaeda or those who fight Israel.

The presence of foreign fighters in the Syrian resistance is minimal. I don’t think the Syrian
people are naive or can be deceived by al-Qaeda extremists. The revolution is essentially Syrian
rather than a foreign induced one.

Sectarianism

The Syrian revolution has also taken a sectarian turn. Are we witnessing a Salafi-Shiite conflict in the Middle East? (Salafism is a fundamentalist version of Sunni Islam and is widely practised in and promoted by Saudi Arabia)

Sectarianism is a cause of worry for all of us, because it serves neither the Sunnis nor the Shiites.
However, Iran’s decision to support the tyrannical regime in Syria in spite of the massacre of
civilians has inflamed a lot of sectarian feelings in the region. I hope the Iranians will eventually
reach the conclusion that the regime which is about to collapse is not worthy of their support
which comes at the cost of worsening relations with their neighbours – the Sunni majority in the
Middle East.

The Syrian people have been suffering at the hands of a dictatorship that depends on a minority –
the Alawites. But the Syrian people are not against the Alawites, though we may see some angry
people attacking the Alawites. Overall, the revolution is not against the Alawites or sectarian in
nature. But there are disturbing signs that sectarianism is raising its ugly head in the region. This
needs to be checked by finding a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis.

I hope that Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi’s suggestion that a quartet comprising Egypt,
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran be formed to negotiate Bashar al-Assad’s removal from power and
a peaceful transfer makes headway.

Resistance

If the Assad regime falls it will only serve Israel because it will weaken the anti-Israeli axis of
resistance comprising Iran, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Your
comments.

There are two issues here. One is the axis of resistance against Israel and the other is the people’
uprising against tyranny. The regime of Syria is using the excuse of resistance to oppress the
people. Hamas which is fighting for the Palestinian liberation has realised this and moved out of
Syria. The real resistance to Israel is found in the will of the people.

I believe the new regimes in Egypt and elsewhere understand this. It is not morally right to link
any resistance with the oppression of your own people. Resistance derives its moral power from
its commitment to fight injustice. Therefore those who claim to represent resistance should be
committed to justice and democracy.

Bahrain

Why is the struggle for democracy in Bahrain not getting the same sympathy or the attention of
the Arab media that the Syrian conflict is getting?

The Bahraini situation is different from most of the other revolutions in the region.
Unfortunately, the sectarian nature of Bahraini society, which is half Sunni and half Shiite, is a
stumbling block for the progress of the revolution. The revolution in Egypt was inclusive of all
segments of society.

People from across the spectrum — the Muslims and the Christians — took part in the movement
that eventually overthrew the Hosni Mubarak regime. It was same in Libya and Yemen. But in
Bahrain the dichotomy has created some kind of a stalemate with half the population supporting
the regime and the other half opposing.

But in Bahrain, the Shiites are in the majority, aren’t they?

It is not a huge majority. We are talking about a considerable split within society. I want to deal
with the second part of your previous question. Revolutions succeed not because of the media.
They succeed because of the dynamics on the ground — both social and political. It is not the
media coverage that made the Egyptian revolution a success. Neither did the lack of media
coverage make the Bahraini uprising a failure. It is the ground situation that determines the
success or failure of a people’s movement.

Palestinian struggle

We see the United States’ continued and unstinted support for Israel as one of the stumbling
blocks for peace and justice for the oppressed Palestinian people. Yet most Arab rulers are pro-
US, though the Arab masses are not. How do you view this contradiction?

Simply our leaders in the past few decades were not representative of the will of the people. That
was one of the major reasons why the people in the Arab world revolted. The revolution was not
only because of immediate socio-economic issues, but also because of the accumulation of
frustration and anger against regimes that were seen as puppets of the West. The new regimes are
much more aware of the people’s aspirations. They would not engage in international politics
against the will of the people.

The Americans have to realise there is a paradigm shift in the region. If they try to meddle with it,
the consequences would be very risky. They must realise that the Arab Spring has created new
dynamics. They do not have a Hosni Mubarak or an Omar Sulaiman on whom they could depend
on to continue their agendas. They have to deal with the true people’s representatives. If they
don’t try to accommodate this new reality, they will make a lot of misjudgments. They must
understand the new rules of the game in the region. The Palestinians, the Arabs and the Israelis
must all learn to play the game according to the new rules to achieve peace.

Does this mean the Muslim Brotherhood-led regime in Egypt could give hopes to the Palestinian people?

 One of the major shortcomings in the previous relationship between the Arabs and the Israelis is
that the Arabs did not have leaders truly representative of the people. Now we have leaders
representing the people in Egypt, Tunisia and other countries. It is indeed great news for the
Palestinians and the Arabs because the hope for peace will be based on a sound condition that
there are leaders who are truly representative of their nations instead of fake leaders who are
puppets for foreign powers. So yes, I agree with you. Now we have a much better chance of
achieving peace in the Middle East because those who are truly representative of the people will
not take decisions that go against the aspirations of the people.

Iranian-Arab relations
Some analysts say the rise of Iran as a regional power is not to the liking of pro-US Arab states
and Turkey although Iran is standing up to Israel and the US and winning the applause of the Arab street? Do you agree?

The Arabs’ relations with Iran need to be differentiated at two levels. The fact that Iran is building
nuclear capabilities is not a major source of worry for the Arabs. But the Arab people have
serious worries about Israel’s nuclear weapons. We know Israel has at least 300 nuclear
warheads. We believe that Iran is a rationalist state and, therefore, will not go ahead and make
nuclear weapons.

But the major concern for Arabs as far as its relationship with Iran is concerned is Iran’s
hegemonic designs. It is expanding its influence in the region beyond reasonable boundaries. The
way the Iranians manipulated events in Iraq and supported the Shiites to form a so-called national
unity government, the way they have been supporting the regime in Damascus and the way they
have been developing their relations with some groups in the Gulf states are not actually very
promising. Iran’s sectarian approach has a negative impact in the region. This is creating some
kind of restlessness in the region. This is why the West and Israel have worries about Iran. This
does not mean that we share the same foundations of worries. The Arabs have their own worries
about Iran.

But I would say the Iranian nuclear issue and its rise as a regional military power are still a major concern for some Arab states. Didn’t the Saudis ask the Americans to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities as a leaked US embassy cable posted on the WikiLeaks website claims?

Whatever the WikiLeaks cables have said, I must say Iran has been our neighbour for the past
3,000 years and most likely this would not change. We will not wake up one day and see Iran’s
border extending upto Africa or Central Asia. Iran is, essentially, an integral component of the
Middle East. Without reaching some kind of agreement with Iran, the Arabs cannot balance their
interests. In the absence of such cooperation, the region will continue to suffer a lot of
consequences.

 I don’t promote political tension with Iran; Iran should realise the boundaries of its powers and
should moderate its ambitions if they contradict the profound interests of the people and the
region. If Iran realises this, then I think having an agreement with Iran is not difficult for the
Arabs. This is the only way forward.

Islam and modern state

Some promote Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey as a model for post-revolution Arab states such
as Egypt – a model that blends liberal values with Islam. But the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
and the Salafi-led rebels in Syria are much more inclined to strict Shariah-based governance.
Your comments.

I think political Islam as a phenomenon is not an accomplished one. It is not something you could
say that this is political Islam with specific criteria and definition. Political Islam is a living
project, an evolving project. At this stage we have witnessed the arrival of Islamists into power in
Egypt and Tunisia. But with it has come a major debate within Islamic circles as to what form of
political Islam we are going to implement.

The Turks started this discussion may be some 20 years ago. So they have developed paradigms
of thinking about the relationship between Islam and modern state much earlier than the
Egyptians or the Tunisians.

The Erdogan government could represent the final quest for a balance between the modern state
and Islam. In this balance, you believe in a democratic process, you work for a prosperous
economy and you do not interfere in the personal preferences or commitment of the public. This
is quite in contrast to the Taliban and other Islamic models. This might be the way the Islamic
movements are heading both in Egypt and other places. The state will be different from what the
Islamic tradition might dictate to the public. Islam itself is dynamic and could grow inside society
but the state has its own interests with many other agendas. The modern state cannot be Islamised.
But could inject to it universal values based on Islam such as social justice. But to say that the
state could be Islamised in a way that brings to us historical models that we had in the Ottoman,
the Abbasid and the Umayyad civiliastions, I am not sure that this could happen.

But the values one finds in Islam and the liberal modern states are sometimes contradictory.
There are areas of conflict. But there are areas of cooperation like social justice, redistribution of
wealth and individual freedom. There are ways of transcending contradictions. I don’t believe that
any ideology or any philosophy if it forces itself on the people would do a lot of good for itself.
Using the state to dictate religious values on the people is very scary. Because once the state
owns this mammoth weapon in its hand it might use it against the people. I do believe in the
separation of the state and religion for the sake of religion. Do not allow the state to use the
religion. It might become a huge dictatorship that could be anti-freedom.

Do you mean that the early caliphates which are based on Islam were against freedom?

No, not at all. The khilafah (the Islamic caliphate system that existed after the death of Prophet
Muhammad) is different from the modern state. Within the khilafah there were checks and
balances between civil society and the centres of power. The caliph and his court did not
monopolise power. The judiciary and the scholars who were independent from the state checked
the caliph’s power.

But the modern state has the tendency to control. It wants to be in control of society much more
than any other previous governmental model. I have never seen in history more centralised model
of governance than the modern nation state. So what I am calling for is empowerment of civil
society. Dismantle or redefine centres that have monopolised power in democracies for the past
several decades. Wealth and power are scary when they are in one hand. So we need to diversify
power and spread it around and bring the marginalised into the centre to create the balance.

Al-Jazeera

I wonder whether it is morally right to ask you a question regarding Al-Jazeera because you have left the station. Al-Jazeera is run by funds from the Qatari government, an ally of the West. The Orwellian question is: Is Aljazeera real?

 Yes, Al-Jazeera is real. It is performing a balancing act between the aspirations of the people and
the necessities of the institution within the framework of independent journalism. We are
enjoying great independence that no other network in the region enjoys.

The type of journalism al-Jazeera practises has created a new phenomenon in the Middle East. Al
-Jazeera is a trailblazer. When the region was witnessing the public uprising against tyrannical
regimes, al-Jazeera was there in the moment of history. Public interest is its priority. You may
call its role as activism-based journalism. We are balancing the professional standards in
journalism with activism. We have paid a huge price. The type of journalism we practise has led
to our bureaux being bombed in Afghanistan and Iraq and our journalists being killed, wounded
or jailed.

I don’t dispute it. But I believe of late the channel has compromised its independence and is
practising what is widely called in the media circles as ‘embedded journalism’ whereby you
discreetly serve the rulers and their cause.

No. I do still believe my former channel is maintaining the highest professional standards in
journalism.

Credit: Sunday Times LK