U.S. President George W. Bush's call for the democratization of the Arab world was not received well by the Arab Press. The November 6th address, which mentioned Egypt, Iran and Syria by name, was considered a shift in US policy, and intended to send a loud message to citizens of the Arab world.
But while excerpts from the address appeared in some Egyptian papers, the Middle East Media Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reports that the relatively liberal Al-Qahira weekly, published by Egypt’s Ministry of Culture, was the only one to print the speech in its entirety. The following are excerpts from MEMRI’s review of Arab reactions to the address:
Egypt Government Daily: Saddam's Dictatorship is Preferable to Bush's Democracy
Columnist Bassyouni Al-Hilwani wrote in the Egyptian government weekly 'Aqidati: "It appears that the American president, Little Bush, relies on a group of hashish-smoking advisors. Not a week passes without him addressing the world with na?ve proposals, false and random accusations, and idiotic demands, as if he were living on a desert island with his spoiled dogs...
"Bush has forgotten that the Arab and Islamic peoples prefer to be ruled by a dictator such as Saddam Hussein than by a democratic president of the likes of Bush, who lies to the world every day, deceives his people, sows hatred towards it in the souls of all the peoples of the world, and annihilates the lives of his people in battles that do not concern them at all. Oh Mr. Bush, if you were a democratic president as you claim to be, you would abandon your post immediately and disperse all your Zionist aides and advisors."
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher stated that Bush's address was misunderstood, and that Bush was in fact not criticizing Egyptian democracy but praising Egypt's leading role in democratization and Egypt's democracy as a model that should be applied in other countries in the region.
The Egyptian government daily, Al-Ahram, rejected Bush’s call outright: "Our people, whose civilization is 7,000 years old, does not expect, and does not need to expect, others to give it lessons in democracy or in anything else. Therefore, attempts to impose democracy from without will fail."
The opposition press in Egypt also took a harsh stance on Bush's words, but it also gloated over what it perceived as Bush's insult to Arab regimes that they have always accused of being pro-American.
Ahmad 'Alwan, member of the supreme council of Al-Wafd, Egypt's biggest opposition party, wrote in the party daily Al-Wafd: "We will never accept a message from a tyrant who understands only force and whose use of weapons is the only way of spreading his message [i.e. Bush]. In contrast, we live on the land of the Arabs who understand the truth regarding [Bush's] greedy aspirations in our region... It is not our rulers' oppression of us that planted our hatred [for the U.S.], but American support for the Zionist state and, in particular, the current Bushist-Sharonist era, may Allah remove them from our path."
The Nasserite opposition weekly Al-Arabi featured an article by Egyptian Journalist Association member Gamal Fahmi: "Last Thursday, 'Brother' W. Bush proved that although he is idiotic, stupid, fascist, and criminal; he is also base. He surprised the [puppets] of America's creation who play, in our lands, the role of tyrannical leaders in his [i.e. Bush's] public statement... 'Brother' W. did not make do with this, but also swore to create democratic change in these regimes!”
In the same article, Fahmi pens an imaginary dialogue between Bush and an emissary of the pro-U.S. Arab leaders, in which the emissary tries to ask the American president about democracy. "Don't you understand English?!" Bush says to the emissary, who responds, "We don't understand democracy and democracy does not understand us." Bush insists that the Arab rulers do something, and the emissary says that the U.S. was occupying Iraq, destroying it, and killing its people for the sake of democracy and that therefore "we ask your permission to do the same... Give us the order, and we will kill half of our peoples." Bush asks, "What about the other half?" "We will arrest them and put them in jail," the emissary promises, "and then we will declare democracy and release all the prisoners."
Palestinian Authority Daily: Bush is Driven by an evangelical & Colonialist Mentality
In his column in the Palestinian Authority daily Al-Ayyam, Ahmad Majdalani wrote: "As is customary for colonialists, President Bush opened his missionary speech about the values of democracy in completely lame American language, the language characterized by colonialist arrogance and superciliousness which are the trademarks of the first American Yankee who annihilated the culture of the Indian people, the original inhabitants of America, and imposed the culture of power and the cowboy in its stead...
"President Bush and his speechwriters... are motivated by a Yankee and missionary mentality that propagates the values of democracy in the way of colonialism. [This mentality] blinds them to the facts of reality and history, because there is no one model for democracy. Democracy is the result of the economic, political, and social development of cultures, and it is not forced upon peoples by means of cruise missiles, tanks, and planes..."
Syrian Government Daily on 'Blood-Sucking Americans'
Nasser Shamali wrote in the government daily Teshreen: "[Bush's] speechwriters are [members] of the Zionist gang that wrote the speeches of the war on Iraq and on the Arabs and Muslims. This is the same gang of usurers and bloodsuckers whose discourse on U.S.-style democracy refers to expanding its dictatorship all over the world, killing anyone it wants to, and robbing anyone it wants to."
But while excerpts from the address appeared in some Egyptian papers, the Middle East Media Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reports that the relatively liberal Al-Qahira weekly, published by Egypt’s Ministry of Culture, was the only one to print the speech in its entirety. The following are excerpts from MEMRI’s review of Arab reactions to the address:
Egypt Government Daily: Saddam's Dictatorship is Preferable to Bush's Democracy
Columnist Bassyouni Al-Hilwani wrote in the Egyptian government weekly 'Aqidati: "It appears that the American president, Little Bush, relies on a group of hashish-smoking advisors. Not a week passes without him addressing the world with na?ve proposals, false and random accusations, and idiotic demands, as if he were living on a desert island with his spoiled dogs...
"Bush has forgotten that the Arab and Islamic peoples prefer to be ruled by a dictator such as Saddam Hussein than by a democratic president of the likes of Bush, who lies to the world every day, deceives his people, sows hatred towards it in the souls of all the peoples of the world, and annihilates the lives of his people in battles that do not concern them at all. Oh Mr. Bush, if you were a democratic president as you claim to be, you would abandon your post immediately and disperse all your Zionist aides and advisors."
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Maher stated that Bush's address was misunderstood, and that Bush was in fact not criticizing Egyptian democracy but praising Egypt's leading role in democratization and Egypt's democracy as a model that should be applied in other countries in the region.
The Egyptian government daily, Al-Ahram, rejected Bush’s call outright: "Our people, whose civilization is 7,000 years old, does not expect, and does not need to expect, others to give it lessons in democracy or in anything else. Therefore, attempts to impose democracy from without will fail."
The opposition press in Egypt also took a harsh stance on Bush's words, but it also gloated over what it perceived as Bush's insult to Arab regimes that they have always accused of being pro-American.
Ahmad 'Alwan, member of the supreme council of Al-Wafd, Egypt's biggest opposition party, wrote in the party daily Al-Wafd: "We will never accept a message from a tyrant who understands only force and whose use of weapons is the only way of spreading his message [i.e. Bush]. In contrast, we live on the land of the Arabs who understand the truth regarding [Bush's] greedy aspirations in our region... It is not our rulers' oppression of us that planted our hatred [for the U.S.], but American support for the Zionist state and, in particular, the current Bushist-Sharonist era, may Allah remove them from our path."
The Nasserite opposition weekly Al-Arabi featured an article by Egyptian Journalist Association member Gamal Fahmi: "Last Thursday, 'Brother' W. Bush proved that although he is idiotic, stupid, fascist, and criminal; he is also base. He surprised the [puppets] of America's creation who play, in our lands, the role of tyrannical leaders in his [i.e. Bush's] public statement... 'Brother' W. did not make do with this, but also swore to create democratic change in these regimes!”
In the same article, Fahmi pens an imaginary dialogue between Bush and an emissary of the pro-U.S. Arab leaders, in which the emissary tries to ask the American president about democracy. "Don't you understand English?!" Bush says to the emissary, who responds, "We don't understand democracy and democracy does not understand us." Bush insists that the Arab rulers do something, and the emissary says that the U.S. was occupying Iraq, destroying it, and killing its people for the sake of democracy and that therefore "we ask your permission to do the same... Give us the order, and we will kill half of our peoples." Bush asks, "What about the other half?" "We will arrest them and put them in jail," the emissary promises, "and then we will declare democracy and release all the prisoners."
Palestinian Authority Daily: Bush is Driven by an evangelical & Colonialist Mentality
In his column in the Palestinian Authority daily Al-Ayyam, Ahmad Majdalani wrote: "As is customary for colonialists, President Bush opened his missionary speech about the values of democracy in completely lame American language, the language characterized by colonialist arrogance and superciliousness which are the trademarks of the first American Yankee who annihilated the culture of the Indian people, the original inhabitants of America, and imposed the culture of power and the cowboy in its stead...
"President Bush and his speechwriters... are motivated by a Yankee and missionary mentality that propagates the values of democracy in the way of colonialism. [This mentality] blinds them to the facts of reality and history, because there is no one model for democracy. Democracy is the result of the economic, political, and social development of cultures, and it is not forced upon peoples by means of cruise missiles, tanks, and planes..."
Syrian Government Daily on 'Blood-Sucking Americans'
Nasser Shamali wrote in the government daily Teshreen: "[Bush's] speechwriters are [members] of the Zionist gang that wrote the speeches of the war on Iraq and on the Arabs and Muslims. This is the same gang of usurers and bloodsuckers whose discourse on U.S.-style democracy refers to expanding its dictatorship all over the world, killing anyone it wants to, and robbing anyone it wants to."