Articles

Al-Munfakh Debate with Monsif Al-Marzouqi

Mahgoub El-Tigani

It was the end of December 1992 in the beautiful capitol of Tunisia that this writer occasionally met with Dr. Munsif Al-Marzouki in a conference dedicated to penitentiary treatment in the Arab and African region. The participants included human rights activists who came from the region, other countries, and the United Nations.

The Tunisian human rights league, Moroccan human rights organizations, the Egyptian human rights organization, and many others were supportive of the Sudan Human Rights Organization in the conference. These organizations voted out a request by the Sudan Government's Prosecutor General who was attending
the conference as a governmental observer, when he wanted to silence the SHRO voice in the conference.

What a cheerful support!

Like Sudan, Tunisia experienced pluralist democracies. Both countries were ruled by elected governments when they first gained their national independence. Tunisia, however, does not have the large space of Sudan or
the complex diversity it contains with respect to ethnic groups, languages, and cultures. The two countries maintain rich archaeological material and a prominent presence in history. Most important, the Tunisian and Sudanese peoples appreciate their civil societies that challenged anti- democracy throughout the last century, as well as the present time.

Al-Marzouki was a prominent leader of the Tunisian human rights league, which continues to emphasize the enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms with a special focus on political and civil rights as
well as women's rights. The Tunisian government repeatedly incarcerated Al-Marzouki for his human rights activity but he was always released in response to international pressure from human rights groups. He struggled to be a presidential candidate versus president ben Ali in the national election of the country. His right to candidacy was not well received and, thereafter, he was forced to leave the country where he is now living in exile.

Yesterday, I saw Al-Marzouki speaking in the Jazeera Channel (Al-Ray Al-Mua'kis) with another speaker whose name was Dr. Al-Munfakh. The two speakers held different views on the political crisis of the Arab region. They centered their discussion on the Palestinian Cause. Al-Marzouki ascertained the role of women in leadership. He said Palestinian women are teaching the men all over the region strong lessons on resisting the Israeli aggression and holding up the banner of Arab nationalism. They will lead the Arab nation to a new era of achievement.

The future of Arab masses, Marzouki stressed, will not stand on the pillars of Arab Unity, as was the slogan in the 1960s. The prosperity of the Arab masses would have to come through the masses' movement, from bottom up, not from any top direction. That is when it would bring about an Arab Union.

At this point, I wished Marzouki would have elaborated on the issue for, in my own opinion, Arab nationalism was a cause of many social, economic, and political problems in many countries of the region.

In Sudan, for example, the May regime that ruined Sudan in the 1970s throughout the 1980s was based on Arab nationalism. The existing NIF dictatorship is founded on Arab nationalism. The latest decision of tyrant
Bashir to reopen Jihad camps in Sudan is an extended exercise of Arab nationalism with no regard to the actual needs of our people and land.

Marzouki further asserted that the most important condition for the Arab Union is the removal of all ruling regimes of the region as they existed today. These are regimes in his opinion that cannot be reformed because
"they are established for the benefit of the ruling elite, not the needs of the masses." This is a very important statement. For the Arab countries to deal with the grand issues of peace and development in the region, they have to democratize their ruling systems to insure the freedom of expression and the full participation in national decision making without any discrimination in ethnicity, religion, or political views.

Dr. Al-Munfakh spoke highly about the existing regimes of the region. He said that, "it is 'our' history that power is acquired by the Gaish (army) or by Quraish (the Arab elite group of the old times)." Munfakh claimed that "whoever seized power with a tank or by inheritance must be fully recognized as a legitimate leader. All existing regimes are thus eligible to continue ruling the region and leading it to prosperity."

Despite the strong objections of Marzouki to Al-Munfakh's assertions, Al-Munfakh insisted that the notion of legitimacy is a function of ruling groups, not the masses who must first have consciousness. Al-Marzouki reply
was that Munfakh's ideas are extremely dangerous because he negates the fact that consciousness has always been a popular possession of the masses, not the ruling elite. "The present uprising of the masses all over the region indicate the clarity of people's consciousness. The elite are the ones who abused State powers to suppress the masses and to inhibit their participation in the public life," affirmed Al-Marzouki.

Recently, the Arab rulers spent 800 billion dollars in arms sales. They bought old tanks, useless air fighters, or even modern missiles. The question is that they continue to use arms against their own people. These
false policies testify to the corruption, authority abuse, and wasteful spending of the Arab rulers. The only way out for the region to establish peace and development is to stop armament, install democratic rule, and spread the exercise of human rights and public freedoms in society and State, Al-Marzouki taught.

Al-Munfakh views are expressive of a large majority of Arab citizens. For sure, they relate to the ongoing crisis that continues to plague the Arab region, in particular, the non-Arab peoples who continue to suffer the
crisis producing ideology of the Arab nationalism: the Gaish or the Quraish ruling relations as Munfakh strongly puffed.

Al-Marzouki 's viewpoint is an auspicious sign in the present time and the future prospects of the Arab and African region. The armed forces and the elite governors would never promote the life of the Arabs or the non-Arabs of the region. Only democracy, peace, and human rights would.