A Neoconservative ‘Shock and Awe’: The Rise of the Arabs (Ramzy Baroud)

[Tace]

Ramzy Baroud -- World News Trust

Mar. 10, 2011 -- A pervading sense of awe seems to be engulfing Arab societies everywhere. What is underway in the Arab world is greater than simply revolution in a political or economic sense -- it is, in fact, shifting the very self-definition of what it means to be Arab, both individually and collectively.

Hollywood has long caricatured and humiliated Arabs. American foreign policy in the Middle East has been aided by simplistic, degrading, and at times racist depictions of Arabs in the mass media. A whole generation of pseudo-intellectuals have built their careers on the notion that they have a key understanding of Arabs and the seemingly predictable pattern of their behavior.

Now we see Libya -- a society that had nothing by way of a civil society and which was under a protracted stage of siege -- literally making history. The collective strength displayed by Libyan society is awe-inspiring to say the least. Equally praiseworthy is the way in which Libyans have responded to growing dangers and challenges. But most important is the spontaneous nature of their actions. Diplomatic efforts, political organization, structured revolutionary efforts and media outreach simply followed the path and demands of the people. Libyans led the fight, and everyone else either obliged or played the role of spectator.

There is something new and fascinating underway here -- a phenomena of popular action that renders any historical comparisons inadequate. Western stereotypes have long served an important (and often violent) purpose: reducing the Arab, while propping up Israeli, British and American invasions in the name of "democracy," "freedom" and "liberation." Those who held the "torch of civilization" and allegedly commanded uncontested moral superiority gave themselves unhindered access to the lands of the Arabs, their resources, their history, and, most of all, their very dignity.

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[Demeter]

1. And Long Overdue

[felix_numinous]

2. Good article

but I have known many Middle Eastern people that do not consider themselves Arab, that is just one family.

[loudsue]

3. Western bigwig powers have used their resources to degrade and demonize

Arabs, Africans, South Americans, and the lower classes in our own society. They have this constant flow of self-serving (to the wealthiest class) condescending rhetoric to hold down whomever they decide to hold down.

The war that has been waged on decent people everywhere by those who are misusing their power has got to stop. It is going to stop.

[bemildred]

4. About the map: Iran and Turkey are not Arab. nt