Arab Activists Watch Iran And Wonder: 'Why Not Us?'

After opposition gains in Parliament, the government of President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt delayed local elections. Shawn Baldwin for The New York Times

From The Washington Post:

CAIRO, June 25 -- Mohamed Sharkawy bears the scars of his devotion to Egypt's democracy movement. He has endured beatings in a Cairo police station, he said, and last year spent more than two weeks in an insect-ridden jail for organizing a protest.

But watching tens of thousands of Iranians take to the streets of Tehran this month, the 27-year-old pro-democracy activist has grown disillusioned. In 10 days, he said, the Iranians have achieved far more than his movement has ever accomplished in Egypt.

"We sacrificed a lot, but we have gotten nowhere," Sharkawy said.

Across the Arab world, Iran's massive opposition protests have triggered a wave of soul-searching and conflicting emotions. Many question why their own reform movements are unable to rally people to rise up against unpopular authoritarian regimes. In Egypt, the cradle of what was once the Arab world's most ambitious push for democracy, Iran's protests have served as a reminder of how much the notion has unraveled under President Hosni Mubarak, who has ruled the country for 30 years.

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My Comment: The reason why protests on Tehran's streets do not happen on the Arab street is simple .... the majority do not want it. People are always willing to give up their freedom for security, and this is the lie that has been sold to them in Cairo, the Gulf States .... and hell .... in most of the world.

The New York Times examined the failure of democracy in the Middle East 2 1/2 years ago. Its analysis and conclusions are just as pertinent today, with the exception that unlike President Bush who made democratization a central policy objective after 9/11, the Obama administration have little if any interest in pursuing democracy in the Arab world. The link to the New York Times story is HERE.