OPINION: The revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt are a greatawakening for Arabs led to believe they were incapable of change
THE ARAB awakening, for that is what it is, which began inTunisia and is now gripping Egypt, has taken the world by surprise.
Yet it is the Arab people themselves, myself included, men andwomen of all ages, who have been most surprised by what is happening- perhaps even more than the region's dictators and regimes.
Until now it has been accepted and tacitly taught in Arab societythat Arabs are weak, incapable of change, of holding their destinyin their own hands.
It is said that since the great Arab conquests of the firstmillennium and Saladin's victories, Arabs have known only defeats,decline and degeneration, a fate doomed to persist. What ishappening today has great political significance: in one form oranother there will be political change in Egypt which will affectthe whole region. But this revolution is also cultural: bringing anincredible shift in Arabs' perception of themselves and what they'recapable of achieving.
I am a Lebanese descendant of the generation that has seen therise and fall of Arab nationalism. Carried by the idealism of the1960s, we saw Nasser as the personification of those values offreedom, justice and dignity that spread across the world, from Cubato Vietnam. But after his fall, and the defeat inflicted by Israelin the 1967 six-day war, the dreams of unity, self-determination andnationalism slowly disappeared.
Not until the late 1990s did a powerful figure appear to Arabs inHassan Nasrallah, leader of the Lebanese Shia resistance groupHezbollah. Through Hezbollah's ending of the 25-year Israelioccupation of south Lebanon, he became the Middle East's mostpopular figure. However, perhaps due to its Shia nature, its closerelationship to Iran and Lebanon's complex politics, Hezbollah'svictories failed to lift the morale of Arabs.
This, combined with the autocratic leaders, monarchs anddictators, created a lack of belief in us Arabs that we could aspireto belong to countries in which justice and democracy prevail.
We have been led to believe that these are not Arab attributes.Instead we are mostly known for our dictators, oil, conservatism,religious fundamentalism, illiteracy rate and ultra-consumerism(that old Gucci outfit under the burqa).
This is the "Arab malaise", to use the expression of the lateLebanese journalist Samir Kassir in his essay Being Arab. Itpenetrates to our core, to our history, eating away at our pride,even to our relation with Arabic.
In Lebanon, more and more people take pride in not being able tospeakFusha(classical Arabic) properly - because the degree of one'sinability corresponds to how westernised (ie non-Arab) one is, whichis seen as the aspirational goal.
Parents address their children in English or French, leavingArabic for school. For many young Lebanese Arabic is not a languageof the heart but a formal language - only for TV news and old booksno one reads.
So the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt - the most populous Arabcountry and one-time leader of pan-Arabism - are an incredibleawakening for every Arab, a seismic shift in the way we perceiveourselves.
How wrong I was to think that Mohamed Bouazizi, the youngTunisian who set himself on fire, was just another victim of BenAli's cruel regime. Little did I know he was a hero in therevolution to come.
Gripped by my Arab malaise, my mind could not see that realchange was happening until the day Ben Ali fled the country.
The Egyptian revolution, though not yet over, has also taught ussomething about the Arabs that Kassir had clearly foreseen: "Whilethe internet may be the prerogative of a new, albeit growing, elite,satellite channels, whatever their orientation, give the majorityaccess to a visual and information culture which thereby situatesthe Arab world in a composite global geography. This shows how,contrary to a fearful vision of Arab identity, culturalglobalisation could be Arab culture's great chance."
And so it has been. It feels good all of sudden to be Arab thesedays. -The Guardian
Goufrane Mansour is a Lebanese philosopher
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