The "Street" and the Politics of Dissent in the Arab World Author(s): Asef Bayat Source: Middle East

Report, No. 226 (Spring, 2003), pp. 10-17 Published by: Middle East Research and Information Project Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1559277 . Accessed: 08/03/2011 21:48
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DISSENT

street." Astereotypical of image the "Arab

NABIL/AP AMR PHOTO

The
in
Asef

"Street" and
the
Bayat

the

Politics of Dissent

Arab

World

Despite the massive wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations in the spring of 2002, Western commentators have announced the death of effective popularprotest in the Arabworld. Deep social changes, combined with ever present state repression, have indeed transformedthe politics of dissent. But protest in the Arabworld is far fromdead.
In the tense weeks betweenthe SeptemberII attacksand the first US bombing raids over Afghanistan,and continuing until the fall of the Taliban, commentators raised serious latercalled the "irconcernsabout what the WallStreetJournal If Arabstreet."' the US attackeda Muslim country,the rational street"rallybehind Osama punditsworried,would the "Arab bin Ladenand other radicalIslamists,endangeringother US
at editorof Middle East Report,teaches Asef Bayat,a contributing sociology the in American University Cairo. 10MIDDLE 10

interestsin the region and renderingGeorge W. Bush's"war a on terrorism" troublesome,if not doomed, venturefrom the to outset?As US troopsprepared deploy in Afghanistan,some officialsin Washington implored IsraeliPrime MinisterAriel Sharonto exerciserestraintin his campaignto crush the Palestinian uprisingby force.Should Israeliincursionsinto Palestinian territory continueduringthe US assaulton theTaliban,they the simmeringrageof the Arabmassesmight "boilover," feared, leaving the local gendarmespowerlessto prevent the furious
2003 226 REPORT * SPRING EAST 2003 MIDDLE REPORT - SPRING 226 EAST

crowds from harming Americans, trashing US propertyand threateningthe stabilityof friendlyArab regimes.Sen. Joseph US Biden (D-DE) broachedthe possibilitythat "every embassy in the Middle East [would be] burned to the ground."2 Since the war in Afghanistan,and continuing through the major Israelioffensivesin the West Bank and the buildup to street" become a minor househas Bush's on Iraq,the "Arab war hold word in the West, bandied about in the media as both a subject of profound anxiety and an object of withering condescension.The "Arab street,"and by extension, the "Muslim street,"have become code words * that immediately invoke a reified

to be takenat facevalue.The Economist declaredthe "death" of the Arabstreet,once and for all. It was not long beforeNational SecurityAdviserCondoleezzaRice concludedthat becausethe Arabpeoplesaretoo weakto demanddemocracy, US should the interveneto liberatethe Arabworld from its tyrants.7

ASenseofPlace
In the narrativesof the Western media, the "Arabstreet"is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't-it is either "irraor and There tional"and "aggressive" it is "apathetic" "dead." is little chance of its salvation as somethingWesternsocietiesmight

"abnormal" mindandessentially
set, as well as a strangeplace filled

withangry who,whether people because hate us or just don't they

understandus, must shout impre-

street IS damnedif "Arab it does and damned if it

doesn't.
-

In the WestelI media, the rn

The as recognize familiar. "Arab

street" has become an extension

of another infamous concept,the "Arab whichalsoreified the mind,"

us. or cations against "Arab other

Muslim actions" are described almost exclusivelyin termsof "mobs, riots, revolts,"3 leadingto the logical conclusion that "Western for standards measuringpublic opinion simply don'tapply"in the Arabworld. At any time, Americanreadersare reminded, protestingArabmassesmay shed theirunassumingappearance and "suddenly turninto a mob, powerfulenough to sweepaway Arab who governments"-notablythe "moderate" governments remainloyal allies of the US.4 street"notwithstanding,US forces Worriesabout the "Arab in US did moveintoAfghanistan, bombsdid killAfghancivilians conflictonly briefly"cooled the thousands, Israeli-Palestinian the off' and Bush moved full speedaheadwith plansto attackIraq. But, though numerousprotestsin the MuslimandArabworlds did occur,no US embassywas burnedto the ground.Nor did theAraband Muslimmassesrallybehindbin Laden.Only when Israelinvadedthe West Bankin the springof 2002 did ordinary peoplein the Arabworld collectively explodewith outrage.The millions of Arab citizenswho poured into the streetsof Cairo, Amman, Rabatand many othercitiesto express sympathywith the Palestiniansevoked memories of how Arab anti-colonial movements in the post-war period were driven from below. But becausethe "Arab street"had not eruptedat the possible US bombing in Afghanistanduring Ramadan,this very real example of latent popular anger in the Arab world was airily dismissed.Abruptly, imageof the "Arab the street" shiftedfrom an unpredictable to a "myth" a "bluff," and somehow powderkeg alive despite the fact that Arab countrieswere filled with kept "brainwashed" The people trappedin "apathy."5 implicationfor US policymaking clear: was Arabsdo not havethe gutsto stopan attackon Iraqor anyotherunpopular initiative, therefore US and the US shouldexpress "notsensitivity, resolution" the face in but of remonstrations fromAraballies.6 Neither the slogansof the actual demonstrators nor the insistenceof Arab governments thattheyfaceunbearable fromtheirpopulations needed pressure
MIDDLE REPORT * SPRING EAST 226? 2003

culture and collective conduct of an entire people in a violent abstraction. It is another subject of Orientalist imagination, reminisof cent of colonial representation the "other," which sadlyhas been internalizedby some Arabselves.By no simple oversight, the "Arab street"is seldom regarded an expressionof public as and collectivesentiment, like its Westerncounterpart opinion still is, but is perceivedprimarilyas a physical entity, a brute force expressedin riots and mob violence. The "Arabstreet" matters only in its violent imaginary,when it is poised to imperil interests or disrupt grand strategies. The street that conveys the collective sentiment is a non-issue, because the US can and often does safely ignore it. Such perceptions of the "Arab street"informWashington's approachin the Middle East-flouting Arabpublic opinion with increasingly unequivocal support for Sharon while he proceeds to dismantle the Palestinian with determination Authority,and simultaneously, to wage war on Iraq. But streetpolitics in general,and the Arabstreetin particular ,are more complex. Neither street is just a physicality,nor is the Arabstreeta mere brute force or simply dead. The Arab street is primarilyan expressionof public sentiment, but one whose modes and meansof articulationhavegone throughsignificantchanges.Streetpolitics is the modern urbantheaterof We contentionpar excellence. need only rememberthe role the has "street" playedin such monumentalpoliticalchangesas the FrenchRevolution,nineteenth-century labormovements,anticolonial struggles,the anti-Vietnamwar in the US, the velvet revolutionsin EasternEurope,and perhaps,the currentglobal anti-warmovement. The streetis the chief locus of politics for absent from posiordinarypeople, those who are structurally tions of power.Simultaneously socialand spatial,constantand the current,a placeof both the familiarand the stranger, visible and the vocal, the street representsa complex entity wherein sentiments and outlooks are formed, spreadand expressedin a uniquefashion.
11 11

In the Arab world, the street is the physical place where collectivedissent is expressed.In the street,one finds not only elements-the poor and unemployed-but also marginalized actors with some institutional power like students, workers, women, stateemployeesand shopkeepers.The spatialelement in streetpolitics distinguishesit from strikesor sit-ins, because streetsare not only where people protest, but also where they extend their protest beyond their immediate circle. A street march not only brings together the invitees, but also involves the "strangers" who might espouse similar, real

pervasivepower pub* lic spaces-with police patrols, traffic regulation,spatialdivision-as a result. Students at Cairo University,for example, often stage protest marchesinside the campus. However, the moment they decide to come out into the street (where the Israeliembassyis located), riot police areimmediatelyand massivelydeployed to encircle the demonstrators,push them into a corner away from public view and keep the protest a local event. Indeed, this heavily guarded actual street, now renamedafter Muhammad al-Durra,the boy killed in Israeli in "crossfire" the early stages of the second intifda, points to the fact that the metaphoricalstreet is not desertedso much as it is controlled.

Arab goure rnme nt s IX the disruptionor uncertainty caused allow litt e room for thatthreatens authorities, independel r the byriots, it dissent. who exert a over
or imagined, grievances. It is this
epidemic potential, and not simply

When traditionalsocial contractsareviolated, Arab populations have reacted swiftly. The I98os saw numerous urban protests over the spiraling cost of living. In August 1983, the Moroccan government reduced consumer subsidies by 20 percent, triggering urban unrest in the north and elsewhere. Similar protests took place in Tunis in 1984, and in Khartoumin 1982 and 1985.In summerI987, the rivalfactions in the Lebanesecivil war joined hands to stage an extensive street protest against a drop in the value of the Lebanese currency.Algeriawas struckby cost-of-living riots in the fall of 988, and Jordaniansstaged nationwide protests in 1989, over the

and plight of Palestinians economic

Costof Living
Arab anti-colonial strugglesattest to the active history of the Arab street. Popular movements arose in Syria, Iraq,Jordan and Lebanon during the late I950Safter Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. The unsuccessful tripartite aggression by Britain, France and Israel in October I956 to reclaim control of the Canal caused an outpouring of popular protests in Arab countries in support of Egypt. Although I956 was probably the last major pan-Arabsolidarity movement until the pro-Palestinianwave of 2002, social protests by workers, artisans, women and students for domestic social development, citizens' rights and political participation have been documented.8 Labor movements in Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Yemen and Morocco have carried out strikes or street protests over both bread-and-butterand political issues. Since the I980S, during the era of IMF-recommended structural adjustment programs,Arab labor unions have tried to resist cancellations of consumer commodity subsidies, price rises, pay cuts and layoffs. Despite no-strike deals and repression of activists,wildcat stoppageshave occurred. Fearof popular resistance has often forced governments, such as in Egypt, Jordanand Morocco, to delaystructuraladjustmentprograms or retain certain social policies.9
12 12

hardship, forcing the late King Hussein to introduce cautious measures of political liberalization. Lifting subsidies in 1996 provoked a new wave of street protests, leading the king to restrict freedom of expression and assembly.'?In Egypt in 1986, low-ranking army officerstook to the streets to protest the Mubarakregime'sdecision to extend militaryservice.The unrest quickly spread to other sectors of society. While the lower and middle classes formed the core of urban protests, college students often joined in. But student movements have had their own contentious agendas. In Egypt, the I970s marked the heyday of a student activism dominated by leftist trends. Outraged opposition to the Camp David peace treaty and economic austerity brought thousands of students out into urban streets. Earlieryears had seen students organizing conferences, strikes, sit-ins, street marches and producing newspapersfor the walls, the "freestof publications."" In I99I, students in Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Jordan,Yemenand Sudandemonstratedto express anger against both the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the USled war to drive Iraq out of Kuwait. Since 1986, Palestinian students have been among the most frequent participantsin actions of the intifada, often undeterredby the Israeliarmy's policies of shooting and arrestingstudents or closing down Palestinianuniversities.

Fragmentation
Yet many things have changed drasticallyfor the Arab street since the I980s. The pace of cost-of-living protestshas slowed down, as governmentsenact structuraladjustmentprograms more slowly and cautiously,deploy safety nets such as social funds (Egyptand Jordan)and allow IslamicNGOs and charities to help out the poor. Indeed, the Arab world enjoys the lowest incidence of extreme poverty in the world's developMeanwhile, the discontent of the impoverished ing regions.12 middle classes was channeled into the Islamist movements in general, and the politicization of professional syndicates in particular.
2003 226 EAST MIDDLE REPORT * SPRING MIDDLE REPORT ? SPRING EAST 226 2003

MP Farid row Zeinab in Egyptian Hasanayn behind of police,outsideSayyida mosque Cairo.

THOMAS HARTWELL

On the other hand, the more traditionalclass-basedmovemovements ments-notably, peasantorganizations, cooperative and trade unions-are in relativedecline. As peasants have moved to the city from the countryside,or lost their land to become ruralday laborers,the social basis of peasantand cooperativemovementshas eroded.The weakeningof economic populism, closely linked to structuraladjustment,has led to the declineof publicsectoremployment,which constitutedthe coreof tradeunionism.Throughreform,downsizing,privatization and relocation,structural adjustmenthas underminedthe unionizedpublic sector,while new privateenterprises linked to internationalcapital remain largelyunion-free.Although the statebureaucracy remainsweighty,its underpaidemployeesare unorganized,and a largeproportionof them surviveby taking second or thirdjobs in the informalsector.Currently, much of the Arabwork forceis self-employed.Manywage-earners work in smallenterprises wherepaternalistic relationsprevail.On average,between one thirdand one half of the urbanwork force are involved in the unregulated,unorganizedinformal sector. While tensionbetweenbossesand employeesis not uncommon in these establishments,laborerstend to remainmore loyal to their bosses than to fellow workersin the shop next door.

Although the explosive growth of NGOs since the I98os heraldedautonomous civic activism, NGOs are premisedon the politics of fragmentation.NGOs divide the potential beneficiariesof their activisminto small groups,substitutecharity for principlesof rights and accountability,and foster insider lobbying ratherthan street politics. It is largelythe advocacy NGOs, involved in human rights,women'srightsand democratization,not wealthand income gaps, that offerdifferentand new spacesfor social mobilization. As people relymore on informalactivitiesand theirloyalties arefragmented, for struggles wagesand conditionstend to lose groundto concernsoverjobs, informalwork conditionsand an affordable of living,andrapidurbanization cost increases demands for urbanservices, decenthousing,healthand education. shelter, Undersuchconditions,the Arabgrassroots resorts to politics not of collectiveprotestbut to the individualistic strategyof "quiet encroachment." Individuals families and striveto acquire basicnecessities forshelter, urbancollectiveconsumption,informal (land in jobsand businessopportunities) a prolongedand unassuming, though illegal,fashion.Insteadof organizinga streetmarchto demandelectricity, example,the disenfranchised for simplytap into the municipalpowergridwithout authorization.13

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work and identity politics. However, by the mid-g99os, it became clear that the Islamists could not go very far with more costly Islamization-establishing an Islamicpolity and economy and conducting international relations compatible with the modern national and global citizenry. Islamist rule faced crisis where it was put into practice (as in Iran and Sudan). Elsewhere,violent strategiesfailed (as in Egypt and Algeria), and thus new visions about the Islamic project developed. The Islamist movements were either repressedor became resigned to revision of their earlieroutlooks. Anti-Islamicsentimentin the West followingthe September ii events,and the subsequent "war terrorism," undoubton have reinforceda feeling that Islamis underglobalattack,reinedly of and Islamist forcingthe languages religiosity nativism.Several partieswhich, among otherthings, expressed opposition to US policies scored considerablesuccessesin severalnational elections. TheJusticeand DevelopmentPartyin Moroccodoubled its shareto 42 seats in September2002 elections. In October the Islamistmovement came in third in Algerianlocal 2002, elections and the allianceof religiouspartiesin Pakistanwon seats. In November,Islamistswon 53out of I50 parliamentary I9 out of the total 40 parliamentary seats in Bahrain,and the TurkishJustice and Development Partycaptured66 percent of the legislature.However,these electoralvictoriespoint less to a "revival Islamism"14 to a shift of Islamismfrom a of than politicalprojectwith nationalconcernsinto more fragmented languagesconcerned with personal piety and global, anti-Islamic menace. If anything, we are on the thresholdof a postIslamistturn. 5 The Islamist movements undoubtedly changed the Arab states.They renderedthe Arab statesmore religious(as states moved to rob Islamismof its moral authority),more nativist or nationalist(as statesmoved to asserttheirArabauthenticity and to disown democracyas a Westernconstruct) and more sincethe liquidationof radical Islamists offeredstates repressive, the opportunityto control other forms of dissent.This legacy of the Islamistmovementshas furthercomplicatedthe politics of dissent in today'sArabworld.

Renaissance

The revivalof the "Arab street"in 2002 in solidaritywith the Palestinians truly spectacular. a shortwhile, stateslost was For theirtight control,and publiclyvocal opposition groupsprolifIn the Arab world, the political classpar excellence remains erated,evenamongthe "Westernized" "apolitical" and students the educated middle class-state employees, students, pro- of the AmericanUniversityin Cairo.The Palestinian solidarity fessionals and the intelligentsia-who mobilized the "street" movementshowedthatthereis moreto Arabstreetpoliticsthan in the I95os and I96os with overarching ideologies of na- Islamism,and spurredthe renewalof a political tradition. In as tionalism, Ba'thism, socialism and social justice. Islamism January, the US moved closerto attackingIraq,one million has been the latest of these grand worldviews. With the Yemenismarchedin Sanaa,chanting, "Declarationof War Is core support coming from the worse-off middle layers, the Terrorism." Over o,000o protested in Khartoum, thousands Islamist movements succeeded for two decades in activating in Damascusand Rabat,and hundredsin the Bahrainicapital large numbers of the disenchanted population with cheap of Manama.16 Twentythousand Christiansin Jordanstageda Islamization-moral and cultural purity, affordablecharity prayerfor the people of Iraq,condemning Bush'swar.17 One

of Legacy Islamism

14 14

2003 226 EAST MIDDLE REPORT * SPRING MIDDLE REPORT " SPRING EAST 226 2003

Cairene women to Embassy after official being blocked marching theembassy. from on present petition US

HARTWELL THOMAS

in thousandYemeniwomen demonstrated the streetsto protest the arrest a Yemenicitizenmistakenfor an al-Qaedamember of in Germany.18 Largeand small protest actions againstwar on have continued in Egypt and other Arab countriesamid Iraq massivedeploymentsof police. However,at least with regardto Palestine,the tremendous rise of the Arab street occurredwith the tacit approvalof the Arab states. The extremityof Israel's violence during the 2002 invasions brought the politicians closer to the people. Street dissent was directed largelyagainstan outside adversary, and protesters' slogansagainsttheir own governmentswere voiced primarilyby the ideological leadersratherthan the ordinary havecrowds Only participants.19 in the most recentCairorallies demandedthe removal the 20-yearold emergency of lawswhich continue to hamperfree public assembly. Why did the Arab street fail to rise against its own suppression, to demand democracy and justice? While the disenfranchised have resorted to "quiet encroachment," the Arab states have considerably neutralized the political class by promulgating a common discourse based on nationalism, religiosity and anti-Zionism. Entrenched in the "old-fashioned pan-Arabnationalism,"and seduced by the language of religiosityand moral politics, the Arab intelligentsiafailed to seize the moment to win political concessions from their own authoritarian states. Israel's occupation of Palestine,
MIDDLE REPORT *" EAST MIDDLE REPORT SPRING EAST 226 2003

with material and diplomatic US support, has trapped generations of Arab intelligentsia in a narrow-minded nativism and cultural nationalism from which the authoritarianArab states largelybenefit.20 The nativist often dismisses ideas and however noble, that can be described as rooted in practices, alien, usually"Western" cultures, and romanticizesideas and of the "self" even if they are oppressive. Human practices rights, for example, may simply be discarded as a Western import or a manipulative US ploy. On the other hand, the Arabgovernmentsallow little room for independent dissent. Since 2000, demands for collective protestsagainstthe US and Israelhave been ignoredby the authorities,while unofficialstreetactionshavefacedintimidation and assault,with activistsbeing harassed detained.21 Febor On I5, 2003, the day that overten million people throughout ruary the world demonstratedagainstthe US waron Iraq,thousands of Egyptianriot police squeezedsome 500 demonstrators into a cornerseparatingthem from the public.

Neither Irrational Dead Nor

Facedwith formidable challenges to expression in the street, Arab activists have developed new means of articulatingdissent-boycott campaigns, cyber-activism and protest art among them. As the Arab states exercise surveillance over the streets, activism is pushed inside the confines of civil in15
15

stitutions-college campuses,schools, mosques, professional associations and NGOs. Given the lack of a free political climate, professional associations offer venues for political campaigns, to the extent that they often assume the role of political parties where intense competition for leadershipprevails.Their headquartersserve as sites for politi-

Zamzam.Alongside Zamzam, Mecca Cola appearedin Paris to cater to EuropeanArabs and Muslims who boycotted the US beverages.It sold 2.2 million bottles in Francewithin two months. Mecca Cola allocated Io percent of the revenue to Palestinianchildren.
I

Information

technology

is also

increasingly being employed to

workand calrallies, charity meetings,

international solidarity campaigns.

Other civil associations,chiefly the new advocacyNGOs, have begun

to promote public debates on hu-

direct campaigns. Faced with I repression, media"politicallonger history "Small in the has a The sermons of Islamic Arab activists are Middle East. developing nieIw ways of preacherslike Sheikh Kishk, Yusufalo U Qaradawi, Sheikh Fadlallahand the 'I. J"

manrights, women, democratization,

articulatint dissent.
I
I

children and labor rights. Currently, some 90 to Ioo human rights organizations operate in the Arab world, along with hundredsof social servicecenters,and many more social service organizationsthat are beginning to employ the language of rights in their work.22 Innovations in mobilization, styles of communication and organizationalflexibility are bringing a breathof fresh air to stagnant nationalist politics. The Egyptian Popular Committee for Solidaritywith the PalestinianIntifada represents one such trend. Set up in October 2000, the Committee from Egypt'svariouspolitical broughttogetherrepresentatives trends-leftists, nationalists, Islamists, women's and rights groups. It set up a website, developed a mailing list, initiated charitycollections, organizedboycottsof Americanand Israeli products, revivedstreet actions and collected 200,000 signatures on petitions to close down the Israeliembassyin Cairo. The Egyptian Anti-Globalization Group and the National CampaignAgainst the Waron Iraq,as well as the Committee for the Defense of Workers'Rights and some human rights NGOs, adopt similar styles of activism.23 Grassroots charity and boycotts, or product campaigns, have become new mediums of political mobilization. Collecting food and medicine for Palestinians has involved thousands of young volunteers and hundreds of companies and organizations. In April 2002, students at the American University in Cairo gathered thirty 250-ton truckloads of charitableproducts from factories, companies and homes in the space of four days and nights, bringing them to Palestinians in Gaza. Millions of Arabs and Muslims have joined in boycotting American and Israeli products, including McDonald's, KFC, Starbucks,Nike and Coca-Cola. The remarkablesuccess of local products caused Coca-Cola to lose some 20 to 40 percent of its market share in some countries, while fast food companies also lost sales.24The Iranian Zamzam Cola captured a sizable Middle Eastern market, extending to Pakistan,Malaysia,Indonesia and severalAfrican countries. Within four months, the company exported ten million cans to Saudi Arabia and PersianGulf states. Some Europeancountries, Denmark and Belgium, began to import
16 16

popular Egyptian televangelist 'Amr Khalid have been disseminated on a massive scale through audio and videocassettes.Followersof 'AmrKhalid, who was banned from preaching in late 2002, could gather over 10,000 signatures in his support via websites. More recently, activists have begun to use e-mails to publicize claims or mobilize for rallies and demonstrations. In February 2003, Egyptiancoalitions in solidaritywith Palestineand Iraq planned to send one million petitions to the UN and the US and British Embassies via the Internet. Alternative news websites areprobablythe most important sites through which networks of critical and informed constituencies are formed. Satellite TV is rapidly spreadingin the Arab world, bringing alternative information to break the hold of the barren domestic news channels. The skyline of Damascus, bristling with satellite dishes, helps to explain the soullessness of the street newsstandswhere the ruling party'sdailies are displayed. While cyber-campaigns remain limited to the elite (on average only 2 percent of Arabs have access to personal computers),25the politics of the arts reaches a mass audience. The Israeli reoccupation of the West Bank in 2002 revived the political legacy of Umm Kulthoum, Fairouz and Morocco's Ahmad Sanoussi. Arab artists, movie stars, paintersand especiallysingershave become oraclesof public outrage. In Egypt, major pop stars such as 'AmrDiab, Muhammad Munir and Mustafa Qamar produced best-selling albums that featured exclusively religious and nationalist lyrics. Muhammad Munir's high-priced "Land and Peace, O Prophet of God" sold Ioo,000 copies in a short period. Other singers, including Ali al-Hajjar,Muhammad Tharwat and Hani Shakir,joined together to produce the religio-nationalistic album "Al-Aqsa,O God," which cornered Arab marketplaces. Of course, the extent and efficacy of these new spaces of contention remain very modest. Yet the growing tendency of most Arab governments to try to control them-closing NGOs, banning publications or songs and arresting web designers-offers a hint of their potential to compensate for the impediments facing the Arab street. As such, street
2003 226 SPRING EAST MIDDLE REPORT *" MIDDLE REPORT SPRING EAST 226 2003

politics is not a virtue, but a necessity and an opportunity, when people are compelled to make themselves heard. Virtue lies not in mass politics, but in civil society, in the institutionalization of interest articulation and in rational dialogue. Yet the street remains the most vital locus for the audible expression of collective grievances, so long as the local regimes or the global powers ignore popularly held views. The Arab street is neither "irrational" nor "dead," but is undergoing a major transformation caused both by old constraints and new opportunities brought about by global restructuring.As a means and mode of expression, the Arab street may be shifting, but the collective grievance that it conveys remains. To ignore it is to do injustice to both moral sensibility and rational conduct of politics. ? Endnotes
1 Robert Bartley,"Resolution,Not Compromise,Builds Coalition," WallStreet Journal,
November 12, 200ooI.

2 Citedin Robert "The Arab'Street' PosesNo RealThreat US,"Newsday, to Satloff, September

27, 2002.

3 Ibid.
4 John Kifner, "Street Brawl," New YorkTimes, November II, 2001.

5 See, for example,Reuel Marc Gerecht,"Betterto Be FearedThan Loved,"TheWeekly Authorssympathetic Arabprotestcan havesimilartakes.See, for example,AshrafKhalil, to "TheArabCouch," CairoTimes,December26, 2002 and Robert Fisk, "AMillion March in London, but Facedwith Disaster,the ArabsAre Like Mice,"Independent, 18, February
2003.

Standard, April 29, 2002 and "The Myth of the Arab Street," Jerusalem Post, April 11, 2002.

6 Wall StreetJournal, November 12, 2001. 7 Al-Hayat, November 6, 2002.

of New York Press, 1994).

8 See EdmundBurkeand Ira Lapidus,eds. Islam,Politicsand SocialMovements (Berkeley, CA: University CaliforniaPress,I990) and ZacharyLockman,ed. Workers Working of and Classes theMiddleEast:Struggles, in NY: StateUniversity Histories, (Albany, Historiographies

A see and 9 On laborstruggles, AlanRichards JohnWaterbury, PoliticalEconomy Middle ofthe CO: Westview Labor theState and East(Boulder, Press, 1990) andMarsha Posusney, Pripstein
in Egypt (New York: Columbia University Press, I997). (Fall 1996).

10 LamisAndoni and JillianSchwedler, "BreadRiots in Jordan," MiddleEastReport 201 and NationalPoliticsin Egypt(London, Saqi 11 Ahmed Abdalla, TheStudentMovement
Books, 1985).

To order a copy of the video and/or the accompanying report please visit
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12 UN DevelopmentProgram, ArabHumanDevelopment 2002 (New York,2002), Report

p. 90.

13 For a detailed discussion of these dynamics, see Asef Bayat, "Activismand Social InternationalJournal 34/1 Developmentin the MiddleEast," ofMiddleEastStudies (February
2002).

14 See Reda Hilal, "Blowback: Islamizationfrom Below,"al-AhramWeekly, November

21-27, 2002. See also 'Ali Abu al-Khayr, "al-Islam al-Siyasi wa al-Dimuqratiyya," al-Wafd, February I5, 2003.

or fill out the form below and send it to: National Lawyers Guild National Office 143 Madison Ave, 4th Floor New York NY 10016 FIn the Name of Security Order form

and in Movements Political 15 SeeAsefBayat,Post-Islamism: Socio-Religious Change theMiddle East(Berkeley, CA: University California of Press,forthcoming).
16 Al-Hayat, January 28, 2003. 17 Al-Hayat, February I5, 2003. 18 Al-Hayat, January 20, 2002.

Full Name: Street: City/ State: Phone Number: | D Credit Card Card Number: Card Type: Quantity: Video ($25 ea): Exp. Date: _Report ($5 ea): ] Check Zip Code:

19 In Arabcountriesother than Egypt, there is little evidencepointing to demonstrators theirown governments' policies. targeting 20 Bycomparison, oppositionin today's attemptsto subvert hardliners' Iran the the manipulation of the Palestinian causeto suppress internaldissent,as in the protestchant"Leave Aside Let raha maakon). (Felestin-o kon,fekri behal-e Palestine, Us Focuson Ourselves" 21 As reportedby Human RightsWatch,in Egyptsome 11activistshad been detainedby
security agents in February 2003. Cairo Times, February 6-19, 2003.

C: Money Order

I Total Amount: Signature:

22 Interview with FatehAzzam,coordinator human rightsprogram,Ford Foundation, of

Cairo, February 2003.

"Closerto the Street," CairoTimes, 23 See Hossamel-Hamalawy, 6-19 2003. February

24 Payvan Iran News, October 14, 2002; Asia Times, January 24, 2003; al-Qahira, January 7, 2003.

a fil by Emily

Kunstler

& Sarah

Kunstler

25 ArabHumanDevelopment 2002, p. 75. Report

Produced by Off Center & The National Lawyers Guild vww.off-center.com www.nlg.org

MIDDLE REPORT * SPRING EAST MIDDLE REPORT EAST 226 2003

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