Ep.41 The Return of Tyrants and Foiled Dreams with Iyad El-Baghdadi
The Arab Spring, a series of revolutions that spread across the Arab world is reaching its tenth year, depending upon whether you believe it is still continuing? A single act of immolation from a desperate vegetable seller in Tunisia, set the region alight. The fall of Ben Ali followed by Mubarak and others was hailed as a truly epochal moment in world history. But like all historical shifts, this was not going to be easy and early optimism made way for a deep realism and scepticism as the autocrats mounted their own counter-coup and international actors concluded that the old cold war rationale to turn a blind eye to the tyrants in exchange for stability re-emerged as the doctrine that guided western capitals even when their public rhetoric suggested otherwise. If Syria stands as a lesson, it is that once a conflict turns into a military struggle, the opposition loses control of the narrative. Certainly no one at the time would have estimated just how bloody the civil war would become, but the inclusion of regional and international actors into this bloody mix made it impossible for anyone but Asad to succeed.
We at the Thinking Muslim are using this milestone to evaluate these past 10 difficult years. We have. Interviewed two guests that broadly reflect the concerns of Islamic groups but who have digested the sober reality and if you haven’t, I would very much suggest you listen to both Dr Azam Tamimi and Dr Uthman Bakash. Both in their own way argued that the Islamic project became too exclusive and a broad platform was not created, instead more parochial partisan concerns took over.
This episode, I speak at length to the Arab Spring activist Iyad El-Baghdadi about his valuable experience, analysis and forecast about the years ahead. He rose to prominence in the aftermath of the Arab revolutions of 2011 before being summarily arrested and forcibly exiled from his home in the UAE in April 2014. Today he is recognized among the most influential and prominent Arab voices online. He lives in Oslo, Norway, where he has been granted political asylum, and writes regularly for both Norwegian and international media, and his Twitter account received over 180 million views in last year. He is also founder and editor-in-chief of the Arab Tyrant Manual, a platform for the study of authoritarian behaviour and tactics.
Iyad’s perspective is critical if we are to learn the lessons from the last decade. Certainly, his views may differ with my previous two guests but his analysis is important for thinkers and activists. I would add, if the Muslim ummah is to find a way forward, then we have to as much as possible learn to build as broad a platform and develop ways to accommodate viewpoints, a philosophy badly lacking and a contributing factor to the decline, albeit temporarily, of the past decade. We too easily label people who do not agree with us, casting broad categories of ‘islamist’ or ‘liberal’, an excuse to dismiss one another. Yet behind these labels there is nuance. I found brother Iyad to have a deep concern for the region and ummah at large. I would advise all listeners to listen to the end, where he directly tackles the role of Islam and ideology.