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To Whom It May Concern

January 31, 2010 21 Comments

A letter inspired by His Majesty’s interview with Fareed Zakaria at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

To whom it may concern,

In Jordan, during the last ten years, there has been a pattern of governing. Sadly this pattern, I think, has become so ingrained in the system that it can no longer be seen or identified; it has become a part of who we are. In a way, the legitimacy and the substance of such initiatives can’t be even debated or questioned. Why? Because of the “royal touch”. Initiatives became the name of the game – initiative this and initiative that. Excitement and anticipation hits the roof, our hopes get inflated, and we throw all of our eggs in that one basket. Excitement dwindles down, our hopes deflate again and the initiative is moved to the ICU where it will later on die. The same is happening now with the “decentralization” plan, a plan that we are yet to see or debate. A plan to decentralize a country of six million; a country that is smaller than most. A plan that I am willing to bet on its failure, because the society was not involved. The society has been ignored. The society seems to only exist in our capacity-lacking minds. His majesty referred to “capacity building” in the context of political reform, I hope that he was talking about the government and it’s tools becoming more equipped to deal with a free society that treats individuals as human beings with rights. I also hope that his majesty wasn’t talking about sculpting the society to fit some sort of a preconceived “end state”. The best way to build democratic values is by actually letting people practice it. It is not talking about it. It is not about planning and designing it. It is about the people learning from their mistakes. It is about the people making choices and bearing the consequences of such choices.

In Jordan we don’t get to “vote off” our anger or dissatisfaction. Our anger fuels our desperation and frustrations. Our hopes for the future become the only way to survive the present. A present that is increasingly consuming any hope we have for that future. In the interview, his majesty mentioned that we are having an early election. The date not yet specified. But why are we having an “early” election to begin with? That wasn’t mentioned: The last parliament was dissolved as per his majesty’s decree – a decision that is two years late – but late is better than never, eh? His majesty talked about “reforming” the election process in a way that makes it more transparent, participative, and capable of producing high quality parliamentarians. Sounds good, right? One word is missing however, and it is the key to any political reform, as a matter of fact it is the definition of democracy. The missing word is: representation. Any election reform that doesn’t make representation its top priority will fail and will only serve to maintain the “tsk” and the status-quo, which the king mentioned.

In the interview his majesty talked about how his reform agenda has faced many obstacles in the form of the “tsk” mentality- meaning “no” or “forget about it”. He also talked about how some members of the society view some reform efforts as being part of a foreign or a Zionist agenda to change the “face” of Jordan, a face who some are trying too hard to paint with their own brushes. Our Face is our people and their hopes. Yet, it seems that his majesty forgot that one of his most powerful ministers, Mr. Nayef El-Qadi, the interior minister, is second to the Islamic Action Front in using the term “Zionist agenda” when describing any form of opposition to his majesty’s government.

Also, recently, Saleh El-Gallab was appointed as the head of the entity called Jordan “TV”. Gallab is a figure known for his extreme approach in dealing with opposition usually using terms such treasonous to describe calls for reform. Beyond attacking local opposition his favorite targets include but aren’t limited to: Syria, Hamas, Hizbullah, Iran, Iraq, Shietes, Israel, and the US. He is to Jordan what Glen Beck and Sean Hannity are to the US. What kind of signal does the appointment of such a figure send? I am assuming that confrontation will be the name of the game. Extreme figures are given more power and tools. Controversial figures known for their usual “tsk” approach are promoted. Mixed signals are the only signals I see. Why? I don’t know. Maybe it is just a way to create some sort of distraction. Maybe having extreme figures can help our so-slow-paced “reform” efforts. Maybe they can create an environment where policies are shoved through. I don’t know. But my guess is that with the absence of any oversight entity, the worse is yet to come. Unchecked power corrupts. It creates an environment that not only encourages bad behavior but also enables it. It brings the worst out of people. Good intentions are good but not nearly enough. They are great, but not enough.

Yes I am pessimistic, just like his majesty. However, unlike the king my pessimism is local in nature. It is not about the prospects of a solution to the Palestinian issue – it is about the prospects of progress in Jordan. The progress toward a more democratic society. A society that gets to choose.

Before I close my quasi-letter, a couple of things about information and censorship. If we know. If we have access to information, we will have the motivation to act and to become better. But if we know, and yet don’t act we’ll become worse. If we know and yet we are banned from reacting we’ll remain the “silenced majority” that so many wrongly call the “silent majority”. We’ll be primed to accept anything, be it good or bad. We’ll become even more passive and more disengaged. We’ll become the nation of “who cares?” – and we are almost there thanks to many of the failed policies and their intended and unintended consequences.

Finally, once lost, trust is almost impossible to be regained. The biggest danger is when people lose the trust they have in their leaders, not when they lose the trust in policies. Policies can be replaced and changed. But for people, someone must and should be held accountable for the failed policies. And when we, the people, have no way of holding officials accountable, when we lack the means to vote on policies and decisions that affect our lives, we lose trust in the whole system – not just parts of it. We lose trust in the whole pyramid, not only the bottom or the middles of it. In our minds we know who should be held accountable. So a word of advice: delegate responsibility and decision making to the people and their representatives for the sake of both the people and the state. For the sake of our future and our children.

Just Do it!

Sincerely,

A deeply concerned and frustrated citizen,

Mohanned

Photo from related article in The Guardian.

ree7

I just don't get people like, you keep complaining and complaining like a 60 year old prostitute, talking about what is missing and how it should be, give it a break will ya? Or atleast stop reading those idiotic – and by that i mean those theoretical-idealistic-that-were-never-applied – ideas. You want a change then start with yourself, and then maybe if you're good enough you'll inspire the people around you. But don't write a blog addressing the king or governmental representatives, because you know that none of them will read it. The only ones to read it are the public. Which means that you are trying to show other people that Jordan matters to you – which is a great thing honestly – as an individual but remember no one talks about his family to strangers. Or you are just trying to create more problems and frustrations to other fellow jordanians – and i hope you didn't mean that.

No matter what your intentions are, the fact that you are creating a bigger problem with no slight possibility of creating a solution is considered nothing more but absurdity.

It has never been easy to any nation to gain their right to engage in the government, even now the so-called Democracy is not being fully applied neither in the US or Britain (unless you count talk-shows as democracy).

Dear sir, if you think you deserve the right to choose your country's policy and voting for or against regulations then work for it. Why should you be given this great right if you just sit on your bottom, dwindling about how it is and what should be done, when you can do some action, the type that can make a difference.

Either stop this old-prostitute attitude and accomplish something by action, or forever hold. your peace.

Sincerely
a person worried about his fellow citizens
zeidinio

الى Ree7

لماذا تريد اسكات الناس من التعبير عن رأيهم و احباطهم؟
اؤيدك بأن هناك الكثير من الجعجعة والقليل من الطحن ولكن هذا لا يعني ان على الناس ان تتوقف عن الكتابة في وصف مشاعرهم وتقديم افكار للنهوض و لتطوير وتحسين أوضاع البلد
أحي الكاتب على مقاله وأسألك انت ان تخبرنا برأيك و ماذا فعلت حيال الاوضاع المتردية؟

اعلمك ايضا بأن التفكير العشائري الذي يقول بانه عيب علينا ان ننقد عائلتنا في العلن هو سبب صارخ من اسباب تردي الاوضاع اذ انه لا اصلاح دون حرية تعبير لدى المواطنين.
Farah

I do believe that you have some serious issues in understanding what it means to be a citizen. By being a citizen of this country or of the world, a citizen in general you have rights and duties, and it is your duty, as a citizen to voice your opinions are your concerns, even if it is, as you say, “only on a blog” that basically no one important will read. Additionally, I would like to tell you to get with the times, technology means that we can reach out to anyone and everyone through the internet and via blogging sites like this; you may believe that no one of seniority reads them, but it may result in mobilizing the public to create positive change that will benefit everyone.

You really should reconsider your attitude.
ree7

@Farah: about blogging; after the new law (Internet blogging following the path of printings) you should know it means that no one cares anymore to them. And it means that it is not the governments concern to check the blogs for the sake of collecting complaints or guidance. It is quite the opposite. Now you tell me what we'll the bloggers do if they started hunting them one by one – like whats happening in Eygpt. then, how about we form a comittee? we check the cases and study them (by we, i mean jordanians) and then address them one by one, i'm sure it is easy to get some funding since the American orgnisations are playing the good-guy role. There are dozens of solutions. Instead all we do is write and complain acting like we are changing the world,well, guess what, it is still the same as it was 50 years ago, and will be the same after 50 years. and why is that? because educated – professional & snobby – people like to talk about these important cases, like to act like their doing some difference, but god forsake they actually do some real work. Because when the night is over, its every man for himself. So yeah, why pick a real fight, why walk a righteous path?

Attitude? you fancy that i should've said something else? maybe you wanted me to say: “Thanks alot for all the effort that you do each day by writing, i hear its paying off, specially in the outskirts, you are finally doing what the ones before you failed miserably to do so. In short, i salute you.”

If you fancy these words, then how about some results then?

@zeidinio: it is not a tribal-mentality that tells you to keep family matters to ourselves; if you are brother or sister did some mischief to you or any other family member you don't run to the neighbors, you go to your other FAMILY members.

btw someone said something me not knowing the definition of the word citizen. Funny how the first thing you mentioned was rights and duties, what about the society? and what about hard times demand us to go through some hardships until sorted out?
Mohanned

I am guessing you are the “ree7″ kind that one needs ablution afterward,right?
Mohanned

As you said,the right to choose is a RIGHT. I am not appointed by his majesty or the government. I am simply a citizen voicing his opinion and speaking of his frustrations. So you want us to simply stop talking and maybe do something..Enlighten us, how can we go about political reform? My guess is that it is us taking to the streets,right? Or maybe not voting-which I never did and the majority of jordanians never did? Do we just stay silent or do we speak up?

Tell us what you did to inspire others? Tell us what you did to push for political reform? inspire me sir? Inspire us jordanians whom you just called “old prostitutes” while forgetting that many regimes in the nation give it for free?

Plus,trust me, you know nothing of what I and many others, so please stop the godly attitude you have as if you know what others are or should be doing!

You are nothing but a part of the status-quo..youare a “Tsk” :D
http://twitter.com/tarawnah Naseem Tarawnah

While I might disagree with the ree7's initial comment, or at least the way s/he expressed it, there is something important to point out in political reform dynamics, which seems to be largely ignored by the opposition forces in Jordan for some reason – and that is the bottom-up role. Yes, political reform is largely in the hands of the government, but one's assumption is that this is a government that is not inclined to willingly give political power to the average voter lest it erode their own, what conclusion can one draw? Is it not that the fact that people need to be the driving force for change in the face of a rejectionist state?

to put it another way, as jack nicholson's character says in the movie The Departed: “Twenty years after an Irishman couldn't get a ****** job, we had the presidency…no one gives it to you. You have to take it.”

actually that entire quote, however profane, is indicative of a bottom up movement that, like every other movement in human history, was the only thing that caused true and genuine political reform: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407887/quotes
Mohanned

Agreed, but to dismiss speech as worthless is just as bad as doing nothing. I think we had a similar debate before, so I am not going to repeat myself again. Speech is the first step and a crucial step for that matter. It is an exercise. It is a motivating force. Speech and persuasion are the two most critical tools in mobilizing bottom-up movements.
Maria

I appreciate a citizen's voice from Jordan. No matter what efforts the “apparatus” makes, the truth always surfaces. It is all well that some rulers try to portrait an image for the country of modernity, advancement, female empowerment and so on…but none of this will make any impact if the citizens cannot enjoy those freedoms, on the contrary, when the real situation is revealed the image left is just a politician's bad campaign. Thanks for your courage. The world is listening. Greetings from Spain.
http://blog.eyas-sharaiha.com/ Eyas

It's true that speech is a crucial first step for enticing civil action, but one thing that I notice sometimes (and perhaps you portray that unintentionally), though not apparent in this particular post, is that the “negativity” or “pessimism” you talked about can be seen as a sort of long term pessimism, implying that Jordan is static and won't change in the future — and such thought might actually do the opposite of what you intend, that is, discourage action because there's a “vicious cycle” or a “status quo” that keeps Jordan static. I'm guessing this is where Nasseem's post comes from (and perhaps ree7, to an extent).
ree7

@Mohanned: I never really said Jordanians are “old prostitutes”, I only said YOU are complaining like one, perhaps my attitude souds snobbish, and for that i'm sorry, but do understand it is because you hit a nerve with your article.

What I'm trying to say is maybe 25% of the population read, nowadays. No one seems to care about reading the news or even hearing it. It is a strange time we are living in nowadays, It seems everyone is saying that this is the Age of Comunication, where news spread fast, but all I see is wierd-strange news are only the one that is traveling (think of Branjolina – or whatever).

This is the time where we should develop new methods to get reach the people, maybe with a concert or a festival. Yes blogging is an essential method to reach people too, but we need bigger results, it is just not enough.

Anyways, I love talking to all of you guys here on 7iber, because in a way I feel that there is still some hope that shinier faces are on the edge of flourishing. And i'll always try to get the flaws argument, in order to create a perfect one.
Omar_Alidi

reading this ……. lets call it “article” i couldn't help to get a little angry and frustrated at the continued method of self bitty that is used , every one is a critic a political Analyst and the perfect guy to reform the country if only HE was in charge , everybody has an opinion and is entitled to it , but to come here and start talking about this and that with out knowledge or having all the facts and even try to twist the only few facts you have to fit your so-called letter of concern and frustration , you criticize the lame actions of the establishment and how there ist any retribution for the responsible , the parliament was established for that very purpose to keep taps on the government's work , frustrated about the last one not doing its job ? i'm with you in that , but the right actions were taken and it was dissolved but no you had to use your sarcasm , the election process is being reformed so we don't have that same issue again but no you dismiss that and talk about representation like its the king or the government's fault that the people YOU and ME elect cant represent us in a way that we would like, like its not US who vote for this guy or that because of money , family or other non-very-good reasons , lets see you or some one you know run for election and REPRESENT , you might say that you need money for that and even blame the government for our lack of money too and that is another matter , back to the negativity and the fact that we are no costumed to see the worst in any situation , we should defy that type of thinking and sometimes look to the bright side , see the full half of the glass for a change , I'm not talking about being stupidly cheerful all the time and look the other way from our problems but we have to count our blessings and be thankful so that our issues seem less profound and then try to fix them .
Mohanned

There is a fine line between being delusional and being desperately optimistic.
http://scratchesonthelifewall.blogspot.com/ Shaheen

We want a reform, but where can we start ?

I believe the very first step is the constitutional reform, and this does not need changes in the constitution but reviving the spirit of the 1952 constitution. الامة مصدر السلطات is the fundamental building block of the political process in Jordan, all authorities must be used and applied by the nation or its representatives, unfortunately this is far away from the current situation in Jordan.

Long periods of the parliament absence -even when its not dissolved- and a new class of hypocrites have limited the accountability in our whole political system. its very seldom to see a state man who stands and says: sorry, your plan wont work.

There is a problem in implementing his majesty views and hopes, the consecutive governments were not able to translated these views to real achievements, there are two possibilities; either our plans were too optimistic and unrealistic or the officials were not competent, However we have to admit that there are few success stories.

Nations can fail or succeed, on both cases they need to learn how to handle their matters, not to be a subject for imported plans and projects that they had no choice in selecting or discussing them.

On the other hand, there were serious challenges in the last 10 years, Jordan did not take a break, from crisis to another, which made progress and success more tough, However, having the people of Jordan involved in encountering the threats that endanger their country will make it stronger.

Final note on the recent appointments, most of them are still controversial, Mona Najem as the TRC head despite the chaos that followed Umnia deal and corruptions allegations, Saleh Algalab on the top of the govermental media arm, a face and voice who is not welcome in Jordan's society, with black history in “fighting” the Hashimite regime, finally. Mohamad Sager too was not a popular choice, even its considered against the constitution. Three persons who are related in away or another to cases are being discussed in courts.
ahmadtahboub

He hit a nerve so you call him a prostitute? You can't just say whatever you want and say you're sorry and everything is OK. I bet you think you're part of the world's “elite” and that you (and people who think like you of course) monopolize culture and even basic human intelligence.
Your attitude sounds snobbish because it IS!
And, don't make uninformed spur-of-the-moment statistics. That's just wrong!
ree7

He is an old prostitute! And while you are trying to judge me, how about you do something useful in your life for a change, Sadly you are the type who stay checking the internet with no life what so ever, trying to pick some fights with strangers… GET A LIFE. And please from now on, spare me from your lame replies.
Ahmad Tahboub

Thanks for proving my points..
and too bad when you post on public sites you can't control who replies and when..
and yeah! you got me all figured out! haha..
Khaled

lol I honestly didn't read the post, but ree7 is a retard!
So this is the “liberal/liberating freedom of expression”? looll
Smith would've suicided on the spot!

Tribute to Tamil Tigers wiped out in late massacres, but then again “freedom of expression” is essential! The tens of thousands of Tamils should've had a blog and argued with ree7 to assist culture of exchange! lol
Cheers!
Khaled

and btw, politics is dead- get over it!
Khaled

lol I honestly didn't read the post, but ree7 is a retard!
So this is the “liberal/liberating freedom of expression”? looll
Smith would've suicided on the spot!

Tribute to Tamil Tigers wiped out in late massacres, but then again “freedom of expression” is essential! The tens of thousands of Tamils should've had a blog and argued with ree7 to assist culture of exchange! lol
Cheers!
Khaled

and btw, politics is dead- get over it!