Are American Students Embracing Arab Culture More Than Arabs Themselves?
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Roshan Amiri
- . May 2, 2024
- . Update: May 2, 2024 3:54 pm
‘Freedom of expression’ or ‘right to express’, and ‘right to protest’ – are some very common words that carry the meaning of beautiful democracy. In general, democracy allows citizens to protest and show their views publicly.
Sometimes the authorities try to stop and end these protests which we recently saw at Columbia University in the US. We have already seen such repression by the government on protests in Britain, other European countries, and also in India.
But the Arab world is different. Many times it came to light that human rights activists were jailed, women’s rights were declining, there was no right to expression, etc. Recently I came across a news from Saudi Arabia where a female fitness trainer was jailed for 11 years just because she went out shopping without a hijab. I never noticed any word of democracy from the Arab world. Why?
Then, with a pen in my hand and a global map in front of me, I brainstormed again. I came to the conclusion that one reason for this could be ‘history’. America and Europe went through wars and after the wars, they won democracy. They established a government of law and democracy. The irony is that the Arab world never faced any such war for democracy. This may be reflecting today’s policies of Arab countries. They will not support the citizens’ right to protest and expression. They are different from Western countries.
If Arab students start doing what the students of American Columbia are doing in the universities till now then the news will be different, there will be bloodshed in no time. And students will have to lose their lives.
Arab freedom is just a dream that is now over. However, the rulers are still in fear, which is why they are afraid of protests. They fear every protest because they do not know which protest could be against the government. That’s why they believe in suppressing rights!
I can give you many examples that whenever there was a protest in the Arab region, it came at a huge cost, the cost of someone’s life. In Arab countries, if protesters somehow survive the police and army, there are trials, dreaded articles and laws leading to the death penalty or long prison terms. Protests in Arab regions come at a high cost.
Youth lost their futures in it and those taking part in the protests are truly brave Arabs.
So, now I can say it American students are not embracing Arab Culture more than Arabs themselves. This is because Americans knows the price of protest is not too much. The will never face any death trails, or criminal offensive charges in America meanwhile if any Arab student do the same thing it will take a huge cost.
But a news is coming that some students in Lebanon have started anti-Israel protests in the country. It will be interesting to see where this leads. My take on the analysis will be stronger after an update on this.
