The Arab World on Obama
Writing by abuhatem on Wednesday, 4 of June , 2008 at 5:15 am
Here are some translated excerpts from the comments written by readers in the Arab world on al-Jazeera’s article on Obama’s winning the democratic presidential nomination:
- “I pray to God Almighty that he will be a lesser evil than other than him.” - Faisal
- “When will we have the freedom that others have? When will the Arab world wake up and announce the death of tyranny by dictators that believe they are God incarnate? I feel so sad in the difference between us and them. Indeed I feel grief both at the conditions of the Palestinians, and at those who continually repeat that Americans are infidels.” - Mu’tassim
- “Clinton’s loss is a great loss. Clinton was the wife of the most skilled U.S. president, who fixed their economy and tried to bring peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Obama is going to lose to McCain.” - Basel
- “I am surprised at all of these Arabs who actually care for the race in the United States and actually think that peace will come from Washington. These people are the enemies of the Arabs and the infidels. They are all, without exception, the enemies of the Islamic nation and controlled by the Israel lobby.” - Khalil
- “Congratulations to Obama. We need to see a change and even if it is only once.” - Dolama
- “We really hope that Obama succeeds in implementing the change that he talks about and uses diplomacy to talk to Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas, and ends the occupation in Iraq. And that he not become a slave of the Zionist government in Israel. And we also hope that the Arab leaders and people will learn from this the importance of free and fair elections and the extent of their impact on democracy and freedom.” - Abu Noura
- “We don’t really care much for U.S. presidential elections. This is because I am confident that Bush alone is not who governors the Unites States, nor the next president, but that the U.S. is governed by the White House and greatly influenced by the Jewish lobby and its controllers in Israel.”- Amaru
- “All of them, Obama and McCain, are from the same infidel group.” - Khalid
- “At the very least they have democratic elections! In the Arab world you have only two options: a king or a military coup, and they remain until the grave.” - Anonymous
- “They are all thugs and pirates who butcher Muslims and are controlled by the Jewish lobby.” - Mahmoud
- “The American hatred of Arabs will not cease until we begin to please Israel.” - Ali
- “It is strange that I smell the smell of democracy coming from the shores of the U.S., thousands of miles away, and it smells much better than the stench of dictatorship which comes from the Arabs. Welcome to America, and wake up O Arabs!” - Anonymous
- “The infidels are all one. I agree. Yet are we Muslims united? Are we Muslims truly better than them? Or are we divided into parts. We are the hypocrites which God condemns.” - Hasan
- “This competition proves that the soul of democracy stems from patriotism, political awareness, and freedom to chose whoever one feels is most beneficial to the interests of one’s community.” Abbas
- “We should know that America contains a vast variety of political persuasions. I believe that after America failed, and thank God it failed, at an illegal control of the world, it realized its failures in Iraq and Afghanistan and decided there was no choice except to embrace change. Obama came very quickly to attempt to repair the tarnished image of America.” - Ahmad
- “But Obama lost so many of the last primaries. And even in many of the places he won he did so barely, they basically split the vote. This did a big favor to the republicans. I think Obama is going to be a weak general election candidate in front of the republicans.” - Samir
- “This victory should have been announced a long time ago! Nevertheless, the ambition and stubbornness of Mrs. Clinton prolonged the time until the coming of this announcement. Obama’s victory and ability to pick up white votes should be a lesson we should learn in the Arab world: namely, that change is possible if there’s resolve and determination. If this is the case why reject American preaching of democracy in our countries? Are we for change in our own region? I hope that the answer is yes.” - Ibrahim
As you can tell, comments can be divided into basically three types: (a) happiness at Obama’s win and a hope that democracy can be brought to Arab shores, (b) extremist and radical hatred of America and indifference, or (c) punditry done by al-Jazeera viewers in the Arab world. This should further discredit the stereotype that the Arab street’s public opinion is monolithic. But it also affirms that radical anti-Americanism still exists in the Arab world. The brash foreign policies of the Bush administration seem to be the main causal factor in this as almost each commentator mentioned foreign policies. Furthermore, the number of pro-democracy and pro-liberty comments should discredit those who see Arabic civilization as the antithesis of liberty.
Category: American Politics, International Relations, Islam
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