Last week, I took Tom Friedman to task for his silly claim that the Iraq war had sparked a political debate in the Arab world about democracy after long decades of silence on the matter. I challenged him last week by pointing to his own early enthusiasm for al Jazeera. This morning, I spent a few minutes on the al Jazeera website, and now I can put a little meat on the bones of my criticism.
Remember, Friedman wants you to believe that " the U.S. ouster of Saddam Hussein has triggered the first real "conversation" about political reform in the Arab world in a long, long time. It's still mostly in private, but more is now erupting in public." How, then, to explain the following al Jazeera talk show topics?
March 5, 1999: "Arab democracy between two generations." - More Than One Opinion
March 29, 1999: "Democracy in the Arab world." - More Than One Opinion
June 27, 1999: "The Relationship Between the Rulers and the Ruled." - Sharia and Life
September 21, 1999: "Imperialism and the Arab Regimes." - The Opposite Direction
October 17, 1999: "Islam and the Question of Freedom of Expression." - Sharia and Life
November 2, 1999: "Military Regimes and their Impact on Society." - The Opposite Direction
This isn't every show dedicated to internal critique, just a small sample. The debates on these shows - transcripts are free and easily available if you can read Arabic (unlike Tom Friedman, apparently, who relies on MEMRI for his Arabic sources... more's the pity) - tend towards fierce criticism of dictatorial Arab regimes, and many guests (and most of the hosts) are passionate in their demands for more democracy. Unless Friedman wants to claim that Bush's war is so powerful that it went back in time to alter Arab political discourse, then the most simple and basic evidence shows how very wrong he is.
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