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I will be live today around noon CET on @DeutscheWelle to talk about what is left of the Arab Uprisings. Tune in if you wanna see me giving some hopefully not to nervous comments on my first live TV interview from home.
https://www.dw.com/en/media-center/live-tv/s-100825
https://www.dw.com/en/media-center/live-tv/s-100825
I talked to @DeutscheWelle news making the point that the autocrats in the region & their repressive crack down on protest movements and unwillingness to change are to blame for the rather bleak outcomes of the Uprisings across the Arab World 10 years.
I also pointed out how the structural factors that were underlying the protests in 2011 are still very much present and have in many aspects even worsened since then. Especially: poverty, socio-economic inequality, corruption and repression.
Finally I was asked about the responsibility of the international community for the outcomes we see today.
Here I argued that the EU & US despite their public support for the ideals and goals of the protest movements have put their interests in stability & continuity over the
Here I argued that the EU & US despite their public support for the ideals and goals of the protest movements have put their interests in stability & continuity over the
demands of the protesters and the human rights of the citizens in the region, albeit the assumption that continuous autocratic rule in the region being able to provide stability being fundamentally flawed.
Because as long as people in the Arab World experience inequality,
Because as long as people in the Arab World experience inequality,
repression, injustice & corruption that are the basic tools for these autocratic regimes to stay in power, they do not contribute to stability. Rather the opposite.
Thus, if the EU & US want stability or care about the people in this region they have to change their
Thus, if the EU & US want stability or care about the people in this region they have to change their
relationships w autocratic rulers in the region.
Instead of showering them with honors during red carpet visits they should include human rights conditions on economic cooperation and stop selling arms to regimes that use them in conflicts across the region/against their citizens
Instead of showering them with honors during red carpet visits they should include human rights conditions on economic cooperation and stop selling arms to regimes that use them in conflicts across the region/against their citizens
and make clear that there can only be more cooperation if they deliver on curbing and persecuting Human Rights violations, free detained political prisoners, fight corruption and provide basic rights for their citizens.
