Jordan is making really great strides

Condoleeza Rice, pressed by reporters about the absence of democracy in the 'moderate' states she was flying out to meet, responded that "We have with the Saudis these discussions. We have with the Egyptians these discussions. Look, it's not -- Jordan is making really great strides in its political evolution."  Nice to hear that she is "having these discussions" with the Saudis and the Egyptians - at least she isn't claiming that they are listening to her discussions, or that they are "making great strides in [their] political evolution."  The only place she claims is actually "making really great strides" is Jordan.

Jordan.

Hm.  Let's see what has happened in Jordan's political evolution over the last year (not even counting the sudden alleged discovery of a Shia menace):

• The passage of a draconian anti-terrorism law which dramatically expands the power of the secret police and intelligence. One report describes it like this:  "The law considers any direct or indirect relations with terrorist organizations inside or outside the country as an act of terror. It gives the security services a carte blanche to take measures against those the authorities believe support terror ideas, incite attacks or express sympathy for suicide bombings. These suspects may be detained without charge or trial for long periods of time without access to lawyers, which international rights groups says is already practiced in the kingdom."
• The arrest and conviction of two Islamist Members of Parliament for issuing public statements praising Abu Musab Zarqawi - not material assistance, not incitement to terrorism, just positive statements about him.   They were subsequently pardoned by the King, in traditional Jordanian fashion, leading some observers to wonder why Jordan bothers to have a legal system at all.
• Parliament just approved a law demanding that only government-approved ulema could issue fatwas or preach in mosques, aimed at curbing the power of the Islamist movement. 
• Human Rights Watch has issued a series of reports detailing torture in Jordan's prisons and the rising power of an unchecked GID (General Intelligence Directorate) in all areas of Jordanian life.
• Press freedom has continued to suffer.   Even before the powerful speaker of the Parliament gave an angry press conference vowing to introduce legislation clamping down on the freedom of the press, there were reports of official moves to expand state control over the media, and liberals trying to reform Jordan TV were forced out in favor of more pliant conservatives. Last year the editor of an Islamist weekly newspaper was arrested for posting articles critical of Jordan on a website, and charged with insulting the dignity of the state before a state security (not civilian) court.  Two journalists went to jail for reprinting the Danish cartoons.
• The National Agenda, billed as the framework for liberal political reform, was dead on arrival.  It isn't just that its recommendations haven't been implemented, but it is rarely even mentioned any more.
• As Samih al-Mayateh writes today, rumors continue to circulate among the Jordanian public about the possibility that the Parliamentary elections scheduled for June of next year won't be held (the last time a Jordanian Parliament lasted a full four year session, in 2001, the elections were canceled and the country went without a Parliament for two years).  If they are going to be held, it would be nice if there were a new electoral law in place some time before then so that people could decide whether and how to run. 
• In the most recent public opinion survey I could find which asked the question (December 2005), only 48% of Jordanians said that they felt they could safely criticize the government.

This is what Rice sees as "great strides in its political evolution"?   

Reasonable people can disagree about the merits of each Jordanian policy:  perhaps the anti-terror law wasn't as bad as it could have been or was justified by the Amman hotel bombings;  perhaps the fatwa law was needed to battle extremist preaching in the mosques; perhaps torture was justified because it helped out the Americans.. um, I mean, because, um - I mean, what torture, you biased human rights organizations you!  Certainly a lot of Jordanians (including some bloggers who are likely going to be very annoyed by this post!) see at least some of the moves as warranted by the security situation - terror attacks are real, and so forth.   But whether or not it is justified by Jordan's political situation, the overall trend towards a more repressive, less liberal political system is pretty clear.   

Now, perhaps this is just another definitional issue.  Perhaps from the Bush administration's perspective, passing draconian anti-terrorism laws, using torture, threatening the press and so forth does constitute great progress towards democracy.  Or maybe it isn't just a slip of the tongue when Rice responds to a question about Jordan's political development by talking about its relations with Israel or support for American foreign policy objectives.   But for people who consider progress towards democracy to include things like a more free press, more civil liberties, more respect for human rights, or - god forbid! - actual elections of the country's ruler... not so much.   

Comments

[moi]

Marc, I totally agree. Especially since the bombings in Amman, things are getting worse. I realize that people are justifying them because of the terrorist threat, but just like I wouldn't give justifications for the PATRIOT act over here in the US, I wouldn't excuse any law that infringes upon people's civil and human rights.
I wonder why Condi would say that... maybe because the GID is becoming closer to the CIA than any other foreign intelligence service, including the Mossad? At least that's what a recent LA Times article says which I blogged about yesterday.
At this point in time, there is nothing the US wants to do to offend the Jordanians with all the help they're providing in the "war on terror".

[Djuha]

In other "Democracy is on the march" news, Jordan is now blocking Skype for "regulatory reasons." More likely to protect the interests of Jordan Telecom. So much for Jordan's vaunted internet freedom.

Does anyone know how expensive phone cards are in Amman?

[Nas]

"including some bloggers who are likely going to be very annoyed by this post!"

lol, it's not annoyance at anything other than the fact that if and when we really want to look at a country's devolopment we should factor in the positive and the negative. focusing merely on the latter and using it as a sample of judgement for the overall is a bit strange. ignoring the essential factors at play as well as the larger context of our position in the region, is also a bit of a strange way to analyze a country.

as for journalists who are under the impression that our King's western leanings will lead to an khomeini-like iranian revolution, suffice to say the word "naive" would be generous as they've highly underestimated the obvious realities of our country and our society's relationship with the monarchy.

[Schwa-Schwa]

But Nas, does that mean you think Democracy Is On The March In Jordan, or not?

[Nas]

Schwa-Schwa: well when was the last time democracy was marching anywhere? seriously, i'd like to join that parade. unless of course it involves blood, guts and revolution.

what does it mean to have democracy marching in Jordan? free elections for the people to elect their own government to rule the country? that's fine and dandy, i'm all for that, but given the country's current realities, demographics and the recent surge of islamist popularity, free elections in Jordan are likely to be a one time event. i for one would rather not see that happen in the interest of just telling the world: hey, we're a democracy, ain't that great?

[Nur al-Cubicle]

Democracy is on the march! Wave goodbye!

[Nur al-Cubicle]

Gee, I've just remembered that shootout between Jordanian and US prison guards --in Kosovo. One of those secret CIA prisons, perhaps? That HUUUGE story got buried in a heartbeat.

[Abu Sinan]

Things have been getting worse since 9/11. These governments are piggy backing on the US "anti-terror" efforts. The reasoning being, if America is denying rights, why cannot we? As if they ever needed a reason.

All of this adds support to the extremists.

[Abdurahman]

I was amazed by the amount of the armed military everywhere in Amman in August last year (i stayed in SAS hotel, one of those bombed), I can't imagine that being increased!

There can be no "good" reason for turtore, but Jordan is reliably the "Torture Capital" of the world where they offer outsourcing options for the US - how unfortunate!

[rami]

Hello..

I think the situation in Jordan is alot more complicated and bears a much deeper depth than what was outlined in this post, with all respect.

These incidents are only what the english-speaking media reporting on Jordan picked up recently, but if you dig a bit deeper, and look at Jordan's overall problems and performance, you will get a whole different perspective into things.

Press laws for example - its a long story man. It involves the structure of jordanian press, the level of professionalism in journalism in the country, the level of sophestication of media disciplines at universities, ..etc...etc.

Anti-terrorism laws -- ah, please, dont let me go there.

Anyway, Jordan has a big developmental problem, a big gap between the rich and the poor.

On the other hand there are good statistics (not totally trustworthy tho), as in enrollment in education institutes, gender-equality at work places, improving health care, I care less for FDIs and stuff.

I did a survey on what Jordanians think about democracy, it was published on the blogosphere and in a local newspaper. In general, Jordanians are apathetic to politics, democracy has been in Jordanian land since the days of the greeko-roman federation, but today its looked upon as a stretchable term to fit in different political influences and agendas.

[Observer]

Let's not forget "We Are All Jordan." Jordan First, then the National Agenda, and now this--does the regime really believe that emphasizing what passes as citizenship will make reformers forget about the political deliberalization taking place under 'Abdullah II?

You have a PM telling conservative elites (e.g., 'Abdulsalem al-Majali) at WAC meetings that American policy is manufactured in Israel. You have ministers from the second-tier portfolios begging the Shahin brothers for a cut of the graft pie. You have the Big Two Western guns in Amman--Chris Prentice and David Hale--grinding their teeth about the lack of movement on corruption issues that was all the rage last year. And you have a cozy triumvirate of Dhahabi, Awadallah, and King who perceive the streets to be as quiet--if not quieter--then any other period since the 1994 peace treaty under Hussein.

Why change, they think? Keep the Muashers and the Majalis and the Armoutis happy. Keep a Tarawneh and Tell in the back pocket--and just hope that the mass of poor (you know, the great majority who don't live in 'Abdoun and who don't party at Blue Fig Cafe) won't notice that the fate of their country is being determined by a shortlist of a few very wealthy, and very conservative, elites.