GULF CIVIL SOCIETY FORUM calls for Gulf Monarchies to abandon absolutism and to adopt European-style Parliaments
By Kevin Stoda
The KUWAIT TIMES reported (Feb. 22, 2011) that yesterday the Gulf Civil Society Forum called on the Gulf Monarchies to abandon absolutism and to adopt European-style parliaments and democracies. "It's time the ruling families took the initiative... and transformed into European-style monarchies," said a statement signed by the forum's coordinator, Anwar Al-Rasheed.
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTI1MjE4NTExMQ==
In the midst of the rising unrest and popular arrest in North Africa, the Gulf Civil Society Forum had met in Qatar from January 11 through 13 of this year and had had the purpose of gathering “together around 250 representatives from democracy advocates and civil society activists from the MENA Region, was to prepare a common Civil Society platform of principles and goals”.
http://www.bridgingthegulf.org/
According to the Bridging the Gulf Foundation, the main goals from the inception of the Gulf Civil Society Forum since its founding in 2004 has been:
• Strengthening the commitment of the International Community to peace and stability in the region of the Broader Middle East and North Africa.
• Promote successful reform through depending on the countries in the region, and avoiding forced change, i.e. imposed, from outside.
• Respecting diversity. Engagement must respond to local conditions and be based on local ownership. Each society will reach its own conclusions about the pace and scope of change. Yet distinctiveness, important as it is, must not be exploited to prevent reform.
• Supporting reform that will involve governments, business leaders and civil societies from the region as full partners in this common effort.
• Supporting reform in the region, for the benefit of all its citizens, and as part of a long-term effort, and requires the G8 and the region to make a generational commitment.
When high-level “officials from 20 countries of the Middle East and North Africa and the Group of Eight and 10 international partners took part” met in Doha in January, an additional; 250 participants from civil society organizations were present as well as representatives of the business sector in the Middle East.” According to the KUWAIT TIMES, “The Gulf Civil Society Forum is made up of liberal intellectuals, academics and human rights activists from the six states.” On Monday, the statement from the Gulf Civil Society Forum declared that “demands for reforms, fighting corruption and becoming democratic states like other countries of the world” will continue until the calls for the Monarchs and their to step back from their traditional roles.
The KUWAIT TIMES notes, “All six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council are ruled by monarchies which enjoy almost absolute powers, controlling all key government positions and with rulers having the final say in internal and external affairs. The bloc, which groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, sits on around 45 percent of global oil reserves and 30 percent of natural gas deposits.
Together they pump just under a fifth of world crude. Only Kuwait and Bahrain have elected parliaments but their powers are limited. The Saudi Shura (Consultative) Council is appointed by the king.”
Currently, Bahrain’s King is facing the most political opposition but all Monarchs in the region have been put on notice through the events in Tunesia and Egypt of the past months. This past weekend, the Saudi Government even opened a Facebook page to field citizen complaints.
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=31390
The KUWAIT TIMES reported (Feb. 22, 2011) that yesterday the Gulf Civil Society Forum called on the Gulf Monarchies to abandon absolutism and to adopt European-style parliaments and democracies. "It's time the ruling families took the initiative... and transformed into European-style monarchies," said a statement signed by the forum's coordinator, Anwar Al-Rasheed.
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTI1MjE4NTExMQ==
In the midst of the rising unrest and popular arrest in North Africa, the Gulf Civil Society Forum had met in Qatar from January 11 through 13 of this year and had had the purpose of gathering “together around 250 representatives from democracy advocates and civil society activists from the MENA Region, was to prepare a common Civil Society platform of principles and goals”.
http://www.bridgingthegulf.org/
According to the Bridging the Gulf Foundation, the main goals from the inception of the Gulf Civil Society Forum since its founding in 2004 has been:
• Strengthening the commitment of the International Community to peace and stability in the region of the Broader Middle East and North Africa.
• Promote successful reform through depending on the countries in the region, and avoiding forced change, i.e. imposed, from outside.
• Respecting diversity. Engagement must respond to local conditions and be based on local ownership. Each society will reach its own conclusions about the pace and scope of change. Yet distinctiveness, important as it is, must not be exploited to prevent reform.
• Supporting reform that will involve governments, business leaders and civil societies from the region as full partners in this common effort.
• Supporting reform in the region, for the benefit of all its citizens, and as part of a long-term effort, and requires the G8 and the region to make a generational commitment.
When high-level “officials from 20 countries of the Middle East and North Africa and the Group of Eight and 10 international partners took part” met in Doha in January, an additional; 250 participants from civil society organizations were present as well as representatives of the business sector in the Middle East.” According to the KUWAIT TIMES, “The Gulf Civil Society Forum is made up of liberal intellectuals, academics and human rights activists from the six states.” On Monday, the statement from the Gulf Civil Society Forum declared that “demands for reforms, fighting corruption and becoming democratic states like other countries of the world” will continue until the calls for the Monarchs and their to step back from their traditional roles.
The KUWAIT TIMES notes, “All six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council are ruled by monarchies which enjoy almost absolute powers, controlling all key government positions and with rulers having the final say in internal and external affairs. The bloc, which groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, sits on around 45 percent of global oil reserves and 30 percent of natural gas deposits.
Together they pump just under a fifth of world crude. Only Kuwait and Bahrain have elected parliaments but their powers are limited. The Saudi Shura (Consultative) Council is appointed by the king.”
Currently, Bahrain’s King is facing the most political opposition but all Monarchs in the region have been put on notice through the events in Tunesia and Egypt of the past months. This past weekend, the Saudi Government even opened a Facebook page to field citizen complaints.
http://www.themedialine.org/news/news_detail.asp?NewsID=31390
posted by Kevin Anthony Stoda at 9:54 AM
2 Comments:
The Desire for Freedom in the Arab World Cannot Be Swept Away
By Ibrahim Ramey
The monumental events in Egypt have become a catalyst for a huge wave of popular uprising that is sweeping the Arab world. In nations as diverse as Yemen, Jordan, Bahrain, Algeria, and Libya, hundreds of thousands of ordinary citizens have taken to the streets to demand basic freedoms and an end to the corrupt regimes that oppress them. In many cases, these nonviolent demonstrations have been met with lethal force by both military supporters of these regimes, and assorted thugs and counter-progressive forces that act as proxies for the official governments.
But it is in Libya, ruled by an autocrat for the last 40 years, that events have reached a point of open warfare. According to reports from the respected international organization Human Rights Watch, more than 300 peaceful demonstrators have been killed by military forces loyal to the Libyan leader Muammar Quaddafi. The Libyan army is using automatic weapons and snipers to shoot opponents massed in the streets of Tripoli and Benghazi, and countless others have been serious wounded. But the pro-democracy demonstrators in Libya have not been deterred from their freedom struggle; indeed, it is reported that one military unit in Benghazi has defected from government control, while the parliament building in Tripoli was set ablaze.
While we certainly call for an end to the violence that is convulsing Libya and much of the Arab world, we note that the overwhelming majority of this violence comes from the government forces that are adamantly opposed to democracy. Unarmed demonstrators demand social change in the face of overwhelming force. The despots whom they seek to replace have all too frequently shown no regard for human life. And yet, the demonstrations continue.
The Muslim American Society believes in the fundamental right of all people to enjoy their God-given human rights and freedoms, and to establish lawful governments that protect these rights. Indeed, the religion of Islam, when practiced with clarity and integrity, affirms and protects these rights as well. When governments in majority-Muslim nations violate these rights, the people of these nations have the responsibility to protest, and to change those governments through nonviolent means of mass protest and mobilization. And when the legitimate demand for change is met with violence, then it is the duty of all civilized nations to stand with the heroic people who resist oppression.
We believe, as American Muslims, that these fundamental human rights must be guarded, and that ruling parties and established governments should not use force to maintain their rule. The legitimacy of any system of government, as the U.S. Declaration of Independence says, can only come from the consent of the people. And when that consent is challenged or withdrawn, then those governments must be dissolved, and yield to the popular demand for change.
http://www.rttnews.com/ArticleView.aspx?id=1555342
U.S. Flayed for Support of Undemocratic Regimes in the Arab World
Prominent human rights and democracy activists who spoke at the U.S. State Department's inaugural Strategic Dialogue with Civil Society have criticized the United States for supporting undemocratic leaders in Muslim countries.
Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission Chairperson Sima Samar and prominent Egyptian democracy activist Sherif Mansour were among the invited speakers who interacted with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the opening session held in Washington.
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