Despite her fears, Salma El Daly was prepared to join forces alongside revolutionaries when an uprising erupted in her native Egypt in late January.

El Daly, a graduate student studying television, radio and film at Syracuse University, understood the human consequences of a revolution. Still, she, like many of her family and friends, was prepared to join the revolution in the name of democratic freedom for future generations.

But when news of antirevolutionary forces capturing activists from Egyptian airports spread, El Daly said her father forbade her departure to Egypt. She has since turned her attention to informing the international community of Egypt’s struggle through the use of social media. The Egyptian public abroad has given voice to protestors, especially while President Hosni Mubarak imposed a nationwide Internet blackout, El Daly said.

‘You should never call for freedom and (not) support it with action,’ she said.

Egypt is not the only Middle Eastern country to see unrest within the past few months — waves of protest began sweeping the region after a Tunisian fruit vendor committed suicide by self-immolation in December. Most recently, joint international forces have intervened to stem human rights violations in Libya. The spread of violence and political action has continued to affect those outside of the region, including students and staff at SU, just like El Daly.

Dylan Sodaro, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, was studying abroad in Egypt when the Egyptian public took to the streets in protest, following the lead of protestors in Tunisia. That’s when he said he knew the Egyptian public had finally been pushed too far.

Before being relocated to Beirut, Lebanon, by SU for safety reasons, Sodaro said he was among the masses in Tahrir Square — where the major demonstrations were held — during the first week of protests. He said he observed crowds of protestors scattering when rubber bullets and tear gas were turned on them, only to reform moments later.

‘I would watch protesters clash with riot police and not give up,’ he said in an email.  ‘It was astounding to see people be shot at continuously and not back down.’

While the Egyptian protests observed by Sodaro helped overturn Mubarak’s regime, gains toward freedom elsewhere in the Middle East have arrived at greater human cost.

The large-scale calls for democracy that toppled the Tunisian and Egyptian governments have inspired mass demonstration in Yemen, Bahrain and Libya. Fledgling opposition has also sprouted in Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia, said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, an associate professor of political science at SU’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs.

An uprising is a unifying denominator among these Middle Eastern nations, but Boroujerdi said it is important to deconstruct each country’s political and social complexities individually.

Long-standing civil institutions were already established in both Egypt and Tunisia before protests for democracy gripped the region. Independent judiciaries, as well as the countries’ ‘tradition of opposition,’ are helping ease them toward democracy, Boroujerdi said.

Countries with histories of severe oppression and unsympathetic rulers, such as Libya, Bahrain and Yemen, are struggling more with overcoming autocratic forces, Boroujerdi said.

Libya has been unable to establish stable civil institutions under autocrat Moammar al Gadhafi, whose rule has lasted more than 40 years. Pro-Gadhafi forces turning gunfire on protestors indicates Libya’s long-standing, tight-fisted regime, Boroujerdi said.

‘Gadhafi has been in power for 42 years, he’s not used to power-sharing,’ Boroujerdi said. ‘His gut instinct, in terms of dealing with the demands of the opposition, was to go after them with arms and try to put them down.’

In addition to providing fertile ground for al-Qaeda operatives, a politically divided Libya could drastically affect the United States’ foreign policy on oil.

‘The 1.7 million barrels of oil that Libya produces every day will be disrupted, and that can push the price of oil, which is already over $104 a barrel, even higher,’ Boroujerdi said. 

The United States engaged in military action with Libya on March 19 by mounting attacks to destroy Libya’s air defense systems. Since the initial attacks by the United States and European allies, allied airstrikes have continued against Gadhafi’s forces. 

President Barack Obama gave his first major address on Monday since ordering U.S. airstrikes and defended the American-led assault in Libya, claiming it was in the national interest of the United States to stop a possible massacre by Gadhafi. Public officials and diplomats were in London on Tuesday to discuss their political vision of the post-Gadhafi era, while Libyan rebels continued to fight loyalist forces in their attempt to oust Gadhafi. 

SU has been particularly watchful of the happenings in Libya, given the role of Libyan terrorists in the Lockerbie, Scotland, bombing that killed 35 SU study abroad students. In late February, Libya’s former justice minister accused Gadhafi of ordering the bombing.

‘I think the SU campus and community have paid special attention to the evolving events in Libya given that country’s connection to Pan Am 103,’ said Kevin Quinn, vice president for public affairs, in an email.

Roy Moriel, a sophomore architecture major, said he is hopeful of the direction taken by nations neighboring his home country of Israel. Israel is already regarded as a democratic state in the Middle East, and Moriel said he hopes the uprising will unite the affected countries into one democratic union. He likened his hopes to the unification of Europe in centuries past.

‘I hope that we would get an opportunity to change the region. I guess Europe was once in war and the cause of destruction to one another for hundreds of years, and now we have one European Union,’ Moriel said.

Sarah Marusek, an SU doctoral candidate, saw an opportunity for change while studying at the American University of Beirut. She described the hope-filled air of a peaceful protest opposing corruption and sectarianism in Beirut.

‘It was like a carnival but even better as the air was full of promise,’ she said in an email. ‘I cannot even imagine how inspiring this must be when people come together on a magnitude similar to a Tahrir Square in Cairo.’

Rouzbeh Berton, a graduate civil and environmental engineering student from Iran, offered a more cautious take. He said the string of outcries for democracy in the region is heartwarming, but Middle Easterners should be wary of how quickly the revolution spread. 

Berton drew parallels between the rapid pace of current Middle Eastern uprisings with the 1979 uprising in Iran, in which Islamic extremists assumed power and dictated the direction of the revolution.

He believes it is in the Middle East’s best interest to slow the pace of revolution and be well versed in the freedoms a democracy could give it, he said. Moving too rapidly may unintentionally foster the rise of another dictatorship, he said. 

Meanwhile, U.S. intervention on individual revolutions remains subjective.

Miriam Elman, an associate professor of political science, said the U.S. government has been less willing to publicly support uprising in Bahrain for fear of straining ties with oil-rich Saudi Arabia. In contrast to the Obama administration’s public denouncement of Gadhafi’s force on Libyan civilians, little attention has been given to similar warring in Bahrain, she said.

Elman said she believes dependency on oil from Saudi Arabia lies at the heart of the United States’ inconsistent response. She said the ‘central, defining feature of our relationship with the Middle East’ is to side with the nation that best protects the U.S. foreign interest in oil. 

Ahmed Meguid, slated to join SU as an assistant professor of Islamic thought in the fall, said in an email that the United States’ response to individual countries will test the administration’s commitment to civil freedom for all.

Said Meguid: ‘These events represent a challenge to the U.S. as to whether or not it will choose to truly support the will of the people.’ 

dbtruong@syr.edu

Published on March 29, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Debbie: dbtruong@syr.edu | @debbietruong