Which East do we want?

(Questions by writer Abdullah Janahi in response to Dr. Iyad Barghouti’s article published in Al-Quds)

An article that addresses the Arab trinity: first, Arab regimes, second, national movements and parties, and third, intellectuals, whether elite or organic intellectuals in the style of the theories of the Italian Antonio Gramsci and the Moroccan Mohammed Abed al-Jabri.

The first question posed to this Arab trinity: What is the project of each party of this trinity regarding the future of the Arab homeland? The Zionists and the West have their project for the “New Middle East,” which means a new geography, new demography, new international relations, new policies, new axioms, a new prevailing culture, and new educational curricula. It is a re-arrangement of the region in which the Zionist entity is the only one qualified to expand.

The second question before two of this Arab trinity - the national liberation movements, and the intellectuals, and we exclude the Arab regimes because they have decided to support the Zionist-Western project for the region. This question is: Is there seriousness on the part of these two parties in an intellectual and political review, and an organizational return to the unifying Arab identities, and the concept of joint national security. That is, to make mistakes in the decisions to separate the Arab arenas, and to theorize about the "national state" and its priority and isolation, and to "trivialize" any unifying action that thinks about "gathering" the elements of power. In other words, to return to the unity of the Arab arenas organizationally, partisanly, intellectually and politically, that is, to return to the idea of the "Arab Nationalist Movement" before the organizational separations that occurred in the movement's branches, where organizational independence was achieved for each of the Arab countries?

That is, returning to the Arab slogan (O sons of the Arab nation, unite), in the same vein as the beloved international slogan in its first stage (O workers and peasants of the world, unite).

The third question for the duo mentioned in the previous question from the Arab trinity is: the position on the Islamic religion in national and Arab political work? At this stage - and perhaps decades before - the great "service" provided by a group of modernist intellectuals to the Western Zionist project and the new Middle East - mostly unintentionally and indirectly - was that in the midst of these people carrying out their "revolutionary" work against the "reactionary" culture, which they classify "religion" as one of its most important elements, they got closer to the "state" institution (hostage and mortgaged) which was part of their modernization project to destroy it and build a modern civil state, and they contributed to the dismantling of society through their "chastity" in dealing with "Islam" which they considered an "incubator" for backwardness, so they facilitated its presentation to imperialism and Zionism to use it against the "nation" in the form of ISIS sometimes and the Abrahamic project at other times. Is there a critical review of this important issue by all modernist political forces with all their classifications with the aim of reconciling with the revolutionary and resistance dimensions in the movements of political Islam. On the other hand, the Islamic political forces, with all their sectarian diversity, are undertaking critical ideological and political reviews with the aim of reconciling with the components of intellectual and political modernity, leading to the construction of the “historical bloc” in the Gramsci and Al-Jabri concepts. At that moment, I remembered my book entitled (The Historical Bloc from Gramsci to Al-Jabri, and its Relevance to Bahrain), which I published during a historical period that was pivotal for Bahrain, as it was supposed to create a single historical bloc to achieve the desired true civil democratic political, social and economic transformation, an opportunity that was lost for personal reasons related to some parties of the political forces!

The fourth most important question facing the duo - and some of the ruling parties - of the Arab trinity is: Is there really only one power in our region that has its own project for a new Middle East? As Barghouti's article explains. I agree that the Arab trinity does not have its own project. So where does this trinity place its foot? Is it with the Zionist-Western project for the new Middle East, as is currently happening by the majority of Arab regimes and a segment of "elite" intellectuals? Or with Iran as a Middle Eastern power? The researcher confirms that we do not need to make much effort to acknowledge that Iran (and its allies) is the "essential" power that stands in the way of the Zionist imperialist version of the new Middle East project, not only because it has a different vision for the future of the region, but because it is the only one that has a comprehensive project that opposes it. The Iranian project is based on two issues: the first, the inevitability of liberating Palestine, considering that the Zionist entity is a strange "cancerous tumor" in the region. The second is the necessity of withdrawing all foreign forces, fleets and bases from the region and leaving them to their owners to determine the form of their presence and their mutual relations.

The Iranian project considers the Zionist entity and foreign bases a direct threat to Iranian national security. Therefore, we must understand that Iran's abandonment, or more precisely the abandonment of (the Islamic Revolution in Iran) of Palestine is an abandonment of its own project before it is an ideological or moral position in solidarity with the Palestinian people. Therefore, the Iranian project can be judged as an Eastern liberation project, Eastern in the sense that it is not designed to position itself within the interests of any of the major powers, especially the United States. It is a completely Iranian project. It is a liberation project in the sense that its declared goals are summarized in "purifying" the region (the East) or (West Asia) from all foreign powers present in it and controlling its fate.

This is simply it, and there is no need to go too far into the "alleys" of ideology and the "conspiracies" of history. With the right to strictly criticize and present reservations for any Iranian sectarian or religious deviations that lead to distorting the Middle East liberation project from the hegemony of Western powers and the future of the Zionist entity in the region. Without placing the Iranian project in the category of equality with the Zionist project, but rather by appreciating it as a liberation project for the region and working to "develop" it through interaction and dialogue between all parties whose interest is to be liberated from Western hegemony.

Arabs.. between two projects

It has become clear that the Arabs, both official and unofficial, do not have any project or even any special vision for the future of the region (the East), and they are basically and based on the above, not in a position that allows them to think about any such project, neither now nor in the foreseeable future. We are faced with two projects to reshape the future of the region, and there is no third: the American-Zionist New Middle East project, which is confronted by the Iranian project. We are also faced with official Arabs who comply without hesitation to engage in the first project, despite some of them realizing its direct danger to them and their regimes. And elites (primarily intellectuals), some of whom are indifferent on the pretext that they do not see a difference between the two projects, and some of whom pray to God to preserve the old (existing) one.

In conclusion: If the peoples of the East do not unite to create their “East” according to their own measurements, then the Zionist entity is ready to create for it and for them the “New Middle East” that is always renewable according to the Zionist measurements.

These are the most important questions that came to my mind after reading Dr. Iyad Barghouti’s article in the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds. We need an Arab brainstorming session when deconstructing each of the four questions mentioned above.