DOHA: All Arab countries will have to pass through the transitional period the Arab Spring countries have experienced, says Dr Azmi Bishara, noted intellectual and Director of the Doha-based Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies.
Delivering the keynote address at the seventh Al Jazeera Forum which concluded at Doha Sheraton yesterday, Bishara said: "Revolution is not simply a conflict between good and bad people but it means dissolution of a regime, not just sacking individuals."
He classified intellectuals into two types -- those who are critical of the regime but don't take sides with the revolution because the popular revolutions emerge from the streets directly.
The second category comprises those who are against the revolution since they consider revolution as a conspiracy and gradually they become agents of the security apparatus.
"Intellectuals who are critical of the regime should not slip down to refusing the revolution because this will take them to a position similar to those who are opposing the revolution," said Bishara.
He said victory sometimes evokes euphoria among those who created the revolution and they start considering themselves holy cows.
He noted that the post-revolution era in the Arab Spring countries had resulted in some negative phenomena such as crimes, tribalism and sectarianism and divisions within parties and groups.
Bishara's speech was followed by a session that discussed security challenges in the Arab Spring countries.
Dr Omar Ashour, Director of the Middle East Graduate Studies Programme at University of Exeter, who was the first speaker at the session, said that a democratic transition was not possible through reconciliation with security forces.
"Democratic systems require to bring the security institutions under elected leaders and weapons to disappear from the political landscape. This means the military uniforms will be out of the political process," said Ashour.
Tunisia began to implement this by appointing a defence minister, while Egypt still could not do this because as per the country's constitution the minister of defence should be a military man.
"These countries should establish committees for monitoring the security bodies as happened in many developed countries," said Ashour.
Abdul Karim Saif, Director of Saba Centre for Strategic Studies in Yemen, said that one of the main challenges facing Yemen was to shift from revolution to a democratic system in a peaceful way.
"It is not easy to agree on the process of transition, since those sponsoring the process may not agree among themselves... What Saudi Arabia wants may not be the same the Americans want," said Saif.
He said the unrest in Yemen during the revolution led to the creation of tribal and regional militias, with the leader of the tribe becoming the commander of these militias and the governor of the respective area.
"This is against the concept of a democratic state. Many civil positions in Yemen are occupied by military men," he added.
Youssef Sawani, Acting Director of Centre for Arab Unity Studies in Lebanon, said the Libyan people had made significant progress towards achieving the goals of the revolution despite challenges.
"No common road map could be applied in all Arab Spring countries.
"For instance, in Egypt the security and military institutions are still enjoying important status while these institutions is Libya have collapsed and replaced by regional and tribal forces," said Saif.
Bashir Abdel Fattah, researcher at Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies in Egypt, said that the main challenge in Egypt was to regulate relations between the army, police and the ruling elite and merge the different security bodies to create one neutral security institution.
© The Peninsula 2013
