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The Lion versus the Lion-Tamer: Or People Power versus State Power

Nizar Awad - 6/8/2011

This article is a modest attempt at tracing the course of the Libyan February 17th Revolution and identifying the root causes of revolutions in general. It also aims at promoting the novelty and uniqueness of Arab revolutions rather than taking for granted those one size fits all labels and designations that are being thrown around on the internet and other mass media outlets worldwide including “Arab spring” and “Jasmine revolution”.


The spontaneous outburst of outrage that sparked the Libyan February 17th Revolution and the outpouring of self-awareness that descended upon the consciousness of the revolutionaries can be understood through particular aspects of political and social theories. On the one hand the aspect of political theory that may shed light on the unique Libyan experience is the one describing the delicate relationship between political authority and the public. On the other hand the aspect of social theory that may help clarify the cohesion and affinity that consequently developed between the Libyan demonstrators is the one focusing on the nature and function of collective consciousness. The literary critic Terry Eagleton in the conclusion to his book “Literary Theory” writes “We know that the lion is stronger than the lion-tamer, and so does the lion-tamer. The problem is that the lion does not know that” (Literary Theory, p.217, University of Minnesota Press 1983, USA) .The allegory to which he alludes is meant to capture the essence of the precarious relationship between intellectual freedom and political authority yet it can also be utilized to define the relationship between people in general and their political authority especially if such authority is despotic and oppressive.


I for one would never forget the looks on the faces of our revolutionaries after snatching a decisive victory from the jaws of defeat in city after city from Tubruk to Ajdabiya and from Misrata to Zintan. The looks on the faces of our heroes in Benghazi that intermingled shock with pride spoke volumes about the tremendous collective power that poured out from the depth of their being and culminated in the conclusive rout of Gathafi’s heavily armed brigades. Their facial expressions show the triumph in being able to tap into such tremendous reserve of power and courage which remained dormant for so long due to the regime’s incessant brainwashing and persistent psychological emasculation through violence and intimidation. As a matter of fact this allegory could also be instrumental in understanding the escalation and de-escalation of tension between the coercive authority of the state and the subversive power of the general populace. Once we come to an understanding of such forces then we may also be able to develop an understanding of such apparently unpredictable and spontaneous revolutions sweeping the Arab world. While utilizing political theory to understand the monopoly of the state versus the mobility of the street, the social theory that identifies popular uprising in terms of the presence or absence of social consciousness cab also be utilized to determine the initiation and course of popular uprisings. According to both theories, self-awareness on the part of the Arab populace concerning the extent of their power vis a vis the sate eventually, led to the eruption of a collective sense of indignation which was then transformed into a popular revolt thereby tearing down the wall of fear and silence that ensnared them for so long. Nothing can illustrate the intricate and reciprocal connection between consciousness and power better than the spontaneous chants and poetic expressions of our people. Their words and slogans celebrate how they have reclaimed their entire being through their collective might. Ordinary and gifted people alike transcended their individuality for the sake of the group and celebrated their being of one mind, one soul and one body. While one poet’s response to Gathafi’s frantic question, who are you? (Man antum) is “Who we are? We are the ones who caused you to choke”, a young girl spoke on behalf of all Libyan’s when she says directing her talk to Gathafi “we don’t want you anymore. We just want you to leave”. Libyans from all walks of life have been promoting their collective identity over their individual identities by referring to themselves as the grandchildren of Libya’s great martyr Omar al-Mukhtar.


However the resurrection of the collective action that eventually translated into popular revolution and the restoration of the collective consciousness in Libya and beyond did not come from vacuum but evolved out of negative social and political conditions. The prelude to such spontaneous events was the certainty that Arab regimes have been gradually losing legitimacy and credibility and so are scholars and historian of the Arab world, Middle East and Islam who have been intentionally or unintentionally feeding us naive and immature studies and analyses of the region, its people and the conditions on the ground. While scholars of the Arab world have resigned themselves to the notion that major changes in the region can only come from the outside including Europe and the United States, scholars of Islam have been asserting time and time again that only Islamists such as the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and Jordan or Ennahda (Renaissance) Islamic Party in Tunisia could pose serious challenges to the Arab authoritarian regimes. Even when popular revolutions led by Arab youths erupted in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Libya and now spreading to Syria and Jordan among others, these same scholars and historians are putting labels on this new phenomenon so as to authenticate or rejuvenate their discredited theories and findings. In order to co-opt this otherwise novel and unique youth movements these same people in or outside the Arab World have even come up with several designations including “Arab Spring” “Arab Jasmine Revolution”, and “Arab Nahda” which means Arab Awaking or Renaissance among others. Revolutions are by definition forward looking mass movements and not recreations of past events. The Iranian revolution of 1979 may have found inspiration in the revolution led Caliph Ali’s son Husayn against the Umayyad State but other than that it was unique in its own right.


Whereas calling Arab revolutions jasmine and spring are attempts to view them as basically duplicates of movements that engulfed Eastern Europe following the implosion of the Soviet Union and by extension Communism and the fall the Berlin Wall, calling them Nahda is intentionally intended to give the impression that what we are witnessing all over the Arab World is simply a resurrection or an extension to the Arab Awakening despite the huge differences in the nature and circumstances surrounding each movement. In essence the early Arab Awakening was a reaction to the 1978 Napoleonic Invasion of Egypt which initiated Western colonization of most of the Arab World and the Ottoman Empire’s 19th reforms (Tanzimat) that allowed for limited constitutional measures and political participation in its Arab provinces and most importantly Egypt. In other words viewing Arab revolutions through the prism of revolts in Eastern Europe for example is identical to viewing the American Revolution entirely through the prism of the French Revolution and thereby glossing over the novelty and uniqueness of each revolution. Since it is still very early to accurately define the Arab revolutions we can still examine the circumstances surrounding such uprisings and their impact on Arab populations so far.


Since the Tunisian vegetable vendor Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire ignited a revolution that is now spreading like wild fires all over the Arab world, I have been searching for a word or a phrase that truly captures the essence and impact of such momentous events on the Arab people. Then it downed on me what could better describe this spontaneous uprising which was triggered by the plight of an ordinary yet dignified man then the phrase “The Return of Consciousness” or “’Awdat al-Wa’y” in Arabic. This phrase was originally coined by the Egyptian dramatist and novelist Tawfiq al-Hakim as the title for a book describing the sociopolitical atmosphere in Egypt following the death of president Jamal abd al-Nasser in the year 1970. What happened in Tunisia which consequently created a domino effect in North Africa and the Middle East was truly an awakening triggered by the suicide of the street vegetable vendor Mohamed Bouazizi whose numerous humiliations at the hands of the municipal police in his town of Sidi Bouzidof led to his setting himself on fire in front of the local governor’s office. Bouazizi’s humiliation at the hands of the police mirrored the humiliation of the Tunisian and by extension all Arabs at the hands of their authoritarian regimes like that of Zein al-Abidin bin Ali in Tunisia, Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, Abdullah Salih in Yemen and Muammar al-Gathafi in Libya. The debasement of his dignity and his wounded pride led to the indignation of his countrymen and Arabs in general and created an awareness among them of their own loss of dignity and injured pride.


In other words the awakening of Bouazizi’s consciousness awoke the consciousness of a whole nation. A spark from the fire that consumed his body ignited the revolution to restore his honor and the honor of a whole nation. It was only a matter of time before the return of consciousness among Tunisians became and continued to be a rallying cry among Arab populations from Morocco to Bahrain and beyond. Bouazizi’s disparate action to be free has freed the consciousness of all of us, let us keep his memory a life and internalize his final words to his mother telling her that “I will be travelling oh mother. Please forgive me. Blame is useless. I am lost on a road and it is out of my hands. Forgive me if I disobeyed your advice to me. Blame the times but not me. I am travelling with no return. I am all done with crying and shedding of tears. Blame over treacherous times is useless in the land of people. I am exhausted and all things have departed my consciousness. Muhammad Bouazizi who departed and all I ask of time is that it brings forgetfulness”. The televised message* of his mother Menobia to Libyans who are suffering under siege and relentless bombardments by Gathafi’s forces shows just how the two revolutions are eternally linked in soul and substance and that they and others like them are essentially revolutions to restore consciousness or in her own words, “I feel sorry for the mothers of the martyrs. My heart was burning with sorrow. I pray for the souls of all martyrs of Libya. We tell them, mothers of martyrs, may ay Allah (God) almighty give you strength and patience and tell the people of Libya, may Allah (God) help you. I hope that you get everything you wish for. God’s willing; Libya will be a free country. We hope that your dictator leaves, just as Ibn Ali (Tunisia’s ousted president) has left. I would like to kiss every martyr’s mother on the head and pray that Allah (God) may grant them serenity and patience to bear what is unbearable. May Libya becomes free”


* Link to Menobia’s message on You Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61m567lqL74)