Politics

L'Occident doit s'impliquer au Moyen-Orient

Jul 11, 2013 Tony Blair

LONDRES – Avant de destituer le président Morsi, l'armée égyptienne était confrontée à un choix très simple : intervenir ou laisser le chaos s'installer. Dix-sept millions de personnes dans les rues, ce n'est pas l'équivalent d'une élection, mais c'est une manifestation impressionnante du pouvoir du peuple.

Les Frères musulmans auxquels appartenait Morsi ont échoué dans leur transformation de mouvement d'opposition en parti de gouvernement. Certes, un gouvernement réussit plus ou moins bien, mais il s'agit ici de bien autre chose. L'économie égyptienne est en chute libre, le désordre règne et les services publics fonctionnent mal.

Certains ministres ont fait de leur mieux. Il y a quelques semaines, j'ai rencontré le ministre du tourisme, un homme très compétent qui avait un projet efficace pour redonner vie à ce secteur. Il a démissionné quelques jours plus tard, Morsi ayant pris l'initiative ahurissante de nommer gouverneur de la province de Luxor (une importante destination touristique) un membre d'un groupe lié à un attentat qui a coûté la vie à plus de 60 touristes en 1997 à Luxor.

To continue reading, register now.

Subscribe now for unlimited access to everything PS has to offer.

As a registered user, you can enjoy more PS content every month – for free.

Already have an account? Log in

Introductory Offer: Save 30% on PS Digital

Subscribe now to gain greater access to Project Syndicate – including every commentary and our entire On Point suite of subscriber-exclusive content – starting at less than $5 per month.

Subscribe Now

new comment has been posted. new comments have been posted.

0 Comments on this paragraph, 15 Comments on this article

Ahmed Hasanein Alhasania Sep 20, 2013

I am against Muslim Brotherhood as I am against 30-June-2013 & 3rd of July 2013.
I wrote this in a twitter account on 17 September 2013, and I put it in the beginning to be clear before to write my brief comment on the article of Mr. Tony Blair.
My comment is very short: 30-June-2013 is not a real revolution.

I do not write this for first time now, I wrote this opinion in many articles in Arabic before, in July 2013.

https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!topic/allegyptparty/D4cOYBfHPKc
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Faruk Timuroglu Jul 19, 2013

It’s impossible not to agree with Mr. Blair when he says, “Society can be deeply imbued with religious observance; but people are starting to recognize that democracy works only as a pluralistic concept, requiring equal respect for different faiths and allowing a voice, but not a veto, for religion.” However right after he stars talking about, “What should the West do?” for Egypt in which he focuses more on West's – thus Israel's – interests rather than Egyptian people’s.
Whatever the West has been doing in the region intrinsically aimed at self-interest, which mostly, don’t coincide the interest of the peoples. West supported Islamist Morsi with the expectation; he could keep the status-quos and mollify anger of the people with religion, and didn't work. Same for Turkey; West – even for much bigger projects – vested in PM Erdogan. Now same Western commentators who were praising Erdogan few months ago label him as dictator, tyrant… as if they grasped just now.
West should admit that they could no longer continue with despots, dictators, tyrants and start supporting genuine democrats in the region. It would be more suitable with their democracy rhetoric and more honest!
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
María Eugenia Sáez Jul 18, 2013

"No role for religion running a M.E. country", says Blair, who supported Bush's evangelical & criminal attack ("an immoral war" said the Pope) on Iraq, thus destroying that region's prosperity, peace and sovereignty. Tony means to apply the rule to Muslim countries only, and to Iran most pressingly (a peaceful, prosperous and sovereign alternative, a country that has not invaded or attacked any other country in 3 centuries, unlike those 2 countries of the Anglo "Axis of Good"). Tony, Bush' boy, means to make an exception for Israel: a Jewish state.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Allan G. Bleiken, Ec.D. Jul 17, 2013

Spoken like the descendent of a colonial nation. Who gave anyone the right to interfere with the internal political situation in Egypt? It is up to the Egyptians to decide who their government will be and it is no business of former colonial nations to dictate and interfere with this democratic process. How would Britain like it if Egyptians were to decide who their Prime Minister would be? I used to admire Tony Blair, now he is just a lackey for the gun boat diplomacy of the West/
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Hamid Rizvi Jul 17, 2013

So Mr. Ex-PM, another way of you saying that democracy is good if it is to your liking. You and your countrymen are responsible for turning Egypt into a Militant state back when you were on a colonizing spree around the World. At that time your intolerance for dissent led to placing your puppets like Nasser at the helm who in turn busied himself doing your dirty work. Democracy is and should be for everyone and inclusive even if they live on Mars like you do. Unless, you allow these Islamist the space to feed on true democracy you will continue to have militants like Syed Qutb, who will then export this ideology to countries like Pakistan and the vicious cycle continues thanks to your brilliance and inability to accommodate dissent.
What do you means when you say “A long transition in the Middle East is underway. It is difficult, time-consuming, and expensive”? Democracy Mr. Middle East expert is time consuming. Just ask the longest running democracy in the World; The great United States and they will tell you it is still WIP!
I am not sure who appoints people like you in delicate jobs of being a “Middle East Envoy” ? but, no one in the Middle East in their right mind would trust a man who is responsible for the massacres in Iraq!
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
captainjohann Samuhanand Jul 17, 2013

Sir, You say """I am a strong supporter of democracy. But democratic government alone does not guarantee effective government. Today, efficacy is the challenge. When governments do not deliver, people protest. They don’t want to wait for an election.
Read more at http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-west-s-stake-in-egypt-and-the-wider-middle-east-by-tony-blair#qmOjLG8Xc9bFyUlL.99 "". It is the people of Egypt who should decide and not some street blocking demonstration in Cairo.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
captainjohann Samuhanand Jul 17, 2013

iro.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Carlos Rodriguez Jul 16, 2013

"for the first time"

This guy knows nothing of Arab culture.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Gunnar Eriksson Jul 14, 2013

We cannot leave out the basic drivers in Egypt for the developments. The Military is basically in control of the economy, and Mubarak was removed because he aimed to make the holdings into a family business.
Mursi challenged the military economic power and was removed. Mismanagement - maybe? To a considerable degree the lines for gasoline etc. vanished overnight and was at least to some degree created by those controlling the economy.
The above shall in no way be interpreted as a support for putting religion before the duty to govern a country, but to keep the Islamic parties out of government in the Middle East is not realistic.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Paul A. Myers Jul 14, 2013

Egypt presents the U.S. and the West the opportunity to buy their way to something better. The U.S. currently spends $1.5 billion a year on Egyptian aid; this amount should be doubled and tripled as an inducement towards a more pluralistic and representative government in Egypt.

The U.S. has spent hundreds of billions on failed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; now thee is an opportunity to spend tens of billions and possibly really achieve something, a better future for tens of millions of people. Will the political establishments of the West be able to seize the opportunity? The world waits.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
A C Jul 13, 2013

Tahreer square can not accommodate more that half million people... where do we get seventeen million from? than in Nasr city pro Morsi protest they had billions... :)
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Edward Ponderer Jul 12, 2013

On the outermost layer, there is a uniquely Egyptian struggle taking place here. On a deeper layer, there is a struggle within the Arab/Muslim world. But deeper still, it is the universal one of trying to reach true globalization -- which will require not just as an ideal of its soul, but for the very functioning of its body -- true democracy.

The problem is that such true democracy has never existed before, because in purely selfishness driven human relations, it was impossible. It would require the perfect marriage of the ideals of both Capitalism and Communism -- Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness AND Bestowing According to Your Abilities and Receiving According to Your Needs. This cannot happen until the later actions are in exact accord with the former perceptions. To think that you could effect both without somehow modifying human relations is called Socialism, something that the proponent of the other systems can honestly laugh at. When you just laugh at everyone, you establish Fascism, and this possibility remains the greatest of dangers. [Had Morsi had the brains that Hitler did, he would have successfully pulled off this Islamist & Baathist "ideal."]

The only thing that has ever come close to this is the family unit. The family is perceived--to a greater extent by parents who chose it and generally live more up to it, and to a lesser extent by the children who didn't and are perhaps too immature to appreciate it--as the grater self.

The key is to see the whole of Humanity (though naturally those more immediate and similar, to a larger extent), as the greater self.

While Capitalism really afforded its ideal to the fortunate ones with the right nature and nurture to rise to the top of the pyramid, with those below under the gun of putting food on the table, and when there was some financial leeway, placed under continuous media pressure to spend it on things they didn't need, some harmful. [A 1950s Soda Pop Board of America campaign advises mothers to start their children on coca cola during infancy to help them with "healthy" socialization skills. Things have become more subtle, but have if anything, gotten worse.] The slide towards oligarchy of combined financial and political power in, for example the United States, becomes rather blatant regrading the steep upward climb of the average Congress Person's (Republican or Democrat) income percentile within the general American public. -- Might call it "the House of Lords" effect.

Of course, Communism showed itself to be even worse and more blatant in its enforcement of its ideals, the Commissars holding actual guns to the heads of the general public. And as to those "ideals," add Orwell's Animal Farm observation that "some are more equal than others."

In globalization, Nature itself holds the gun to us. We will discover interdependence the same way roped mountain climbers find out what happens when they let one of their number just fall off the cliff. And like the interdependence of cells, tissues, and organs in a body, individuals, communities, and nations will come to learn of the greater self.

As to our primitive ego that still fights this, our greater ego which will seek life, liberty and happiness in this new reality has the integral educational and media environmental means to deal with it. Like the Olympic gold medalist born of the portly little child -- the greater adult self will in the end win out.

And this will hopefully be the ultimate outcome after the Egyptian struggle, and the universal one beyond.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
John Brian Shannon Jul 12, 2013

Hi Tony,

It's a well thought out argument and I was pleased to have the opportunity to read your fine article.

If ever a country had the gift of being placed in the best position on the world map, it is Egypt.

There they are, with the Mediterranean on the North, the Suez Canal and the Red Sea to the North and East, and all of Africa to the South and West of them. It is literally, the crossroads between Asia, Europe and Africa.

Not to mention the Nile River, unimaginable agricultural and hydro-electric power opportunities -- and 'beyond unimaginable' solar and wind power opportunities.

And they have more than 80 million people to help bring all those opportunities to fruition.

It should be the richest nation per capita, on the Earth.

But it's not.

Which can only mean one thing.

Bad management.

Of course in previous centuries, excessive looting by colonial powers didn't help, nor did Egypt's own ill-advised military adventures in more recent decades.

All those things are now far removed from the scene, so why isn't Egypt rich?

There is no good reason, or no reason good enough, that Egypt's people shouldn't be enjoying their lives, to the same per capita income levels as, say, the fortunate citizens of Norway or Sweden, who have a very good standard of living, without the geological placement of Egypt!

If Egypt's people are demonstrating against anything at all, they are demonstrating against poverty -- in what should obviously be one of the richest, per capita, nations on the planet.

There is no reason for them to live in poverty, nor should they feel like second-class citizens of the world.

It's their country! They have the right to make the most of their resources -- and they sense that something is wrong, because the least has been made with that nations great resources and geopolitical placement. The political cycle that we have seen over the past months attests to that sentiment.

The cycle we have seen, will repeat endlessly, until the people are satisfied that the wealth of their country, is being utilized to its maximum and utilized properly. Not only that, but shared equally, or at the very least, with a minimum of inequality between citizens.

The present demonstrations are not to be confused with political advantage, or politics at all. These demonstrations are fundamentally, about 'bread and butter' issues.

When a government arrives in power, in Egypt, and can attract the necessary foreign investment to build the country's infrastructure, especially, the agriculture and (renewable) energy sectors and a massive transmission network North to Europe, South and West to the rest of Africa, ONLY THEN, will we see an end to the downward spiral of politics, nascent democracy, and faith in government institutions in Egypt.

Egypt's next ten, or twenty, leaders should take a page out of former President Bill Clinton's book, and place a sign on their desk, saying; "It's the economy, stupid!"

When they get that right, the rest will fall into place...

As always, very best regards to you Tony. JBS
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Leo Arouet Jul 12, 2013

El pueblo de Egipto busca sobre todo un estado laico que defienda sus derechos, separe la religión y contenta a los fundamentalistas.

Sin embargo pese a todo ello, parece que el país está dividido tal y como sucedió con Venezuela en las pasadas elecciones. La división es algo que puede darse en este Egipto que lucha por la libertad.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.
Zsolt Hermann Jul 11, 2013

Tony Blair writes:
"...What is happening in Egypt is the latest example of the interplay, visible the world over, between democracy, protest, and government efficacy..."
I agree with him that what we witness in Egypt, Brazil, Turkey or other regions is not country, religion, or culture specific, but it is a general crossroad involving the whole of humanity.
But I do not agree that it is about government efficacy.
Our whole modern socio-economic system has become dysfunctional.
There is no country in the world where we could talk about real democracy.
Democracy is a system of equals. There is no equality in the world today, and the greatest social inequality is actually found in the most "free and democratic" western countries.
I have watched a brilliant movie recently titled "Cloud Atlas" which is basically debating the "truth", whether human society should be based on "the strong feasting on the weak" as being the natural order, or there exist a possibility for true equality among human beings.
Today's human society is still based on the old truth, there is still very clear social layering, classes, castes, strong and weak. Humanity is working in a pyramid model.
But as humanity evolved into a round, global, integral system where everybody depends on everybody else such separation, polarization has become self-destructive.
This is a catch 22 nobody can solve or win unless we manage to build a truly equal, mutually responsible and complementing global human society.
And since such a change is against our inherent, self centered egoistic human nature the whole process starts with changing the human being, developing a new creature that can consciously rise above his own nature.
No government, social structure or change can be successful until the human being itself is changed.
A new reply to this comment has been posted.

https://prosyn.org/EhPzta5fr

L'Occident doit s'impliquer au Moyen-Orient

Introductory Offer: Save 30% on PS Digital

New Comment

Contact us

Log in/Register

L'Occident doit s'impliquer au Moyen-Orient

Introductory Offer: Save 30% on PS Digital

Edit Newsletter Preferences

Set up Notification