Intellectuals see a ray of hope in ‘Arab Spring’
Jaipur literature fest: Opening day witnesses high-voltage debate on Rushdie
The sentiments of thousands of people in Egypt, Syria and Tunisia who laid down their lives to break free from the shackles of dictatorship, reverberated in the Jaipur Literature Festival here with intellectuals baring their heart on the momentous revolution.
The debate titled “The Arab Spring: A Winter’s View” saw the likes of Kamin Mohammadi, Navdeep Suri, Karima Khalil, Raja Shehadeh, Max Rodenbeck and Barkha Dutt indulge in a lively discussion on the revolution’s impact on the region’s politics.
Barkha Dutt said the outcome of the revolution called for a celebration, however, at this juncture, the countries are staring at an uncertain future.
“What was synonymous with peaceful protest is now not so peaceful,” Dutt said.
Describing the situation in Egypt as a “downright violent crackdown,” Kamin Mohammadi said: “In Egypt there has been a complete revolution by young people against a patriarchal system.”
She went on to say that the revolution has even made the people of Iran hopeful of a better future.
“Though a tsunami of hope has been evoked, Iran’s opposition movement was still brutally supressed and underground,” Mohammadi said.
The panel also discussed whether democracy is an ideal model or an idealised model.
While Dutt emphasised on India’s potential in becoming a leader in world democracy, Navdeep Suri said India is held in high esteem across several sections of the world as a role model in democracy.
However, it is always prudent to let the countrymen decide on the form of government in the country, Suri opined. “Externally imposed regime change is not advisable, but internally, that can only be celebrated,” he cautioned.
Rodenbeck compared the Arab Spring to the 19th century Great Awakening in America and the Protestant Revival, saying “the West tends to forget its own history when it looks at other people.”
He observed that it is not always necessary to have a Western notion of secularism for democracy. “People in Arab countries are looking to find their own way,” he added.
Rodenbeck said Sharia and democracy has never co-existed and described it as an ‘experiment.’
The comment led to a passionate debate about whether there can be democracy without secularism, or is it then a theocracy.
This question earned a large round of applause from the audience. The panel agreed that countries must be allowed to find their own way.
There was also a high voltage debate on Salman Rushdie’s decision of keeping away from the festival due to threats to his life and pressure on the government from community groups.
The panel described the Rushdie issue as unfortunate. The panel also questioned the Centre and the Rajasthan government for facilitating the communal groups by remaining indecisive on the issue.
The arguments garnered a huge round of applause. KaminMohammadi observed that the treatment meted out to Rushdie was unacceptable, adding that there was more to the issue.
“I would love to take away the association of the violence with Islam. This kind of radicalism is not about devotion to God, it’s about other things,” she said.
Karima Khalil observed that “demography is destiny.” She warned: “It’s very much a work in progress in Egypt and the country was like a pressure cooker and now the lid has come off. We’re going to see very interesting and creative times ahead but it’s going to be a very long and rocky road.”
Similarly, Raja Shehadeh said geography was destiny, and that now the barriers of fear had fallen, geographical borders might fall as well, since so many were ‘artificial.’
Seconding Shehadeh’s opinion, Mohammadi said: “In Iran, a huge section of the population are under 35. This gives me a great deal of hope because they have access to information and communication through Google.”
