Is Jordan the next Middle East
conflagration of political and social instability?
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| Chryssy |
The recent protests that swept
through Jordan in response to the governments decision to cut fuel subsidies
has now turned into calls for overthrowing the Monarchy of King Abdullah II.
Some of the extreme slogans included chants from the “Arab Spring” favoring
“democracy, justice, and freedom.” However, the Middle East has been known for
not particularly being engaged in democratic reforms, especially intervention
from the West, such as the United States, has caused further American
hostility. Jordan has been politically unstable in the last few years, and many
argue that the hopes and chants for “democracy, justice, and freedom” are
another set of extreme slogans used among a generally reformist opposition.
In
today’s world, many Muslims and non-Muslims believe that democracy is at
constant odds with the Islamic faith. The issue is not about transition, but
whether Islam can support a democratic order. What makes democracy so
controversial in the Middle East, also in many other cultures around the world,
is the fact that it has a unique historical root in the West. However, as much
politically unstable as Jordan is, it is unlikely it will collapse or be
exposed to Jihad Islamist fanatics like we are seeing in Somalia at the moment.
Unlike Syria or Iraq, Jordan is a
fairly middle-income country - despite its budget crisis - with a strong and
respectable military. Its state legitimacy and the people of Jordan interacting
allows the country to invest in jobs, medical care, and most importantly
education. Women’s issues have also taken a step forward, however, many women’s
rights activists argue there is still a lot to be done. Ever since Jordan’s
independence from Britain in 1946, women’s movement have fueled the engine of
gender-inequality in the country. Educated
women were granted
suffrage by 1955, but it was not until 1974 where all women were granted the right to
vote. In 1993, the first female candidate was elected in the lower house of
Parliament soon after following the first women appointed to the upper house of
Parliament.[1]
Despite its past and recent turmoil, as a unitary parliamentary constitutional
monarchy, Jordan seems to be the most “democratic” government in the Arab world
today. A country exposed to conflict in the North and financial crisis, it is
the least corrupt. Or so it seems;
In Jordan, murder is punishable by
death, but so called “honor killings” which are still happening on many
occasions, the courts have the right to commute or reduce the sentence,
particularly if the victims family is asking for leniency. Why is it that men
are not fully prosecuted for murdering female relatives over honor-crimes? How
can a country who represented to the international community as a legitimate,
and prosperous state, by celebrity Queens such a Noor and Rania, to be so
patriarchal; at the same time when current Queen Rania is portrayed as a symbol
for female equality by her people?
Ahmad Ghashmary, a unique and rare
male feminist, has been a passionate advocate to stop social and legal
acceptance of men murdering female relatives to honor-crimes. In 2006, the
Jordanian Supreme Court suspended Fatima Habib from her position as a trial
judge because she had sentenced Saleh Radwan to death for killing his younger
sister, Dana, when he discovered that she was having an affair with a male
friend of his. Saleh went on saying that his sister has “dishonored the family.”[2] Outraged by the sentence, some of
the male judges wanted to sign a petition to appoint a male judge to the
Supreme Court to give “proper
justice to the dishonored man.”[3] And so they succeeded; Habib was
believed to be in favor of women and that was a good enough reason to welcome
the Courts decision to replace her. Judge Habib said in one of her statements
that the Supreme Court decision to reverse her sentence was “barbaric.” She went on saying, “It will take us ages to
convince people here that women are human beings, that they are as wise as men
if not wiser sometimes.”[4]
This case was only a sheer example
of how extremists spread propaganda claiming that women’s emancipation is a
Western plot designed to eliminate Islamic morals. Khaled Abou El Fadl, a
Professor of Law at the University of California in Los Angeles, and a Muslim,
argues in his book “The Great Theft” that Jihad and the treatment of women in
Islam are the two most controversial and misunderstood topics about the Islamic
faith; and I believe he is absolutely right. The issue of women in Islam, as well
as Jihad, invokes the images of oppression and cruelty against women. However,
the sole problem does not lie with Islam as a religion itself, but the fact
that ultraconservative and extremists have adopted the truth about the Islamic
faith and formed Islam’s image into a dominant role to be misunderstood by the
world, especially the West. This patriarchal society lead by supremacy has
turned honor killings justifiable, when in reality it has absolutely nothing to
do with Islam.
After all, when we see all the
turmoil and protests going on in Jordan recently, the media and many lead us to
believe that Jordan is nowhere near from collapsing, and all this is just
another “riot” that will pass; but the problem lies much deeper than that. Yes,
Jordan does have strong international relationships and a strong military, but
is that all it takes for a developed, and “democratic” country as many claim,
to be on verge of collapse? What if women were suddenly to take the streets of
Amman and started a revolution as they have in Tunisia a few years ago? Isn’t
the oh so influential Queen Rania a symbol for women’s emancipation?
In the midst of all the struggle for
women’s equality in Jordan, Ahmad Ghashmary believes there is hope. In 2007, he
has launched a new group called “LAHA” which means “For Her” in Arabic to
encourage activism for women’s rights. He believes changes must come for women
if they are not to lose half of their society. However, as much as we love to
hope this fine activist will succeed to get his massage through, the real
problem is not only social attitudes in families but with the “government”
itself, or more so the Courts.
This attitude of understanding the
motives for killing relatives as an excuse to reduce or pardon the sentence
will guarantee the social collapse of Jordan; if murder is punishable by death,
then so shall honor killings be. A country cannot prosper “democratically” is
distinctions like that are made. Women can no longer be trapped in a maze;
trying to find their way out of a long road ahead.
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