A Mini Intifada in Ghor

Over the past few days a piece of news in Al-Ghad Newspaper caught my attention about a mini-intifada in one of the schools in the “shanty town” of Joufeh in the Jordan Valley.  The students of “Joufeh Secondary School for Boys” were rioting against the cutting off of electricity and water to their school.  Just imagine a school of 570 students was forced to shut down its restrooms because there was no water. Students answering nature calls had the choice of either going home or relieving themselves out in the open (Yes this is happening now in Jordan).  The electricity cutoff meant dark classrooms, in addition to other obvious inconveniences.  For two days in a row, the sight of young children calling for electricity and water in the streets around their school was nothing short of devastating, and a sure sign of the sorry state we find ourselves in today. 

The reason behind the cutoff in water was not clear.  However, the cutoff in electricity was because a good “Samaritan” and while practicing what seems a favorite passtime down there decided to shoot the electricty generator that feeds the school.  As expected, the electricity company refuses to foot the JD 18 thousand needed for fixing it (and I don't blame it).  Once again we find ourselves faced with the ramifications of the absence of the rule of law, and this time the victim presents itself in the form of an electricity generator, or maybe a school of 570 young students!

Funnily enough the school in question is a brand new school, less than 2-years old!!  From the pictures online, it seems modern and quite impressive.  It was built with foreign aid (surprise surprise!) and as part of some fancy program called Community Mobilization for Partnership (CMP)

in schools program run by an agency called IRD (International Relief and Development) and supported by USAID. The Arabic translation of CMP is quite intriguing and a bit fuzzy (     (المــدرســة المجتمعــية

 

or maybe it should be appropriately renamed

(المدرسة المشكلجية)

 

The latest reported news on the situation is that the school is still left to fend for itself to get basic services such as electricity and water.  The Ministry of Education is nowhere to be heard from nor seen. 

The story of this school fascinated me because it ironically sums up our state of affairs today on so many levels.  On the citizen respect level, in this school we find absolute disregard to the welfare of our students and their teaching faculties and environments.  On the national capital investment level, we are still building school edifices that we cannot sustain simply because we found some imbecile to fund them.  On the rule of law level, this story more than amplifies the state's inability to deter hooligans from wreaking havoc by violating public properties from electricity generators, to water wells, to government lands. On the public relations level, our love is still unabated for enrolling in fancy humanitarian programs without really putting in the necessary commitment or effort to make them work.  A case in point of these wonderful humanitarian programs is the core principles of IRD, which are: 

-          To reduce the suffering of the world’s most vulnerable groups and

-          To provide the tools and resources needed to increase their self-sufficiency.

Well for now, why don’t we reduce the urge of pooping by providing a decent lit bathrooms with clean running water in the school for our students. Once we succeed at that, we can then move on to provide other lofty tools needed to increase other self sufficiency requirements.

Finally, shame on us for consistently and systematically failing our children, especially the poor disadvantaged ones.

"Prime Ministers Galore"

Two frequently asked questions about Jordan keep on popping (or pooping) up on almost any occasion, ranging from the funeral of Nelson Mandela to the legalization of  marijuana in Uruguay.  The first is "why Jordan hasn’t been able to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth?" This question is immediately followed by "has this failure always been the case, or is it a recent phenomenon?"  The frequency of these questions intensifies with time, and so does the urge to find answers.  This very urge led me to read countless economic and political economic studies on why genuine growth over the past decades has remained elusive.

In looking for reasons, there seemed to be an emphasis on the weakness of the institutional framework for policy making and strategy planning in Jordan.  There also seems to be a consensus on the symptom, or maybe the root cause, of such weakness, which are the continuous dizzying changes in governments in Jordan. The constant “government hopping” has been a huge enigma for me.  Why would anyone “in his right mind” (the ultimate absolute decision maker namely the king) persistently disrupt an already vulnerable socio-economic  status quo? Why?  Moreover, I noticed that we have tended to blame the past decade (in an indirect allusion to King Abdulla’s reign) for such instability.  Having all of this in mind, I decided to take a quick look at government formations in Jordan since it was a British Protectorate (Emirate of Transjordan 1921) until today.  Here is what I found:

-          The first prime minister Transjordan knew was Rashid Talee’ (April-August 1921)

-          Since 1921 Jordan has had 73 changes of prime ministers. An average 
of one prime minister per 1.3 years.

-          Since 1946 Jordan has had 61 changes of prime ministers. An average of one prime minister per 1.1 years

-          Three prime ministers had their (or one of their) premierships for less than a month.  5 days (Hazza Majali in 1955), 8 days (Hussein Khalidi in 1957), and 9 days (Muhammad Daoud in 1970).

-          61 out of the 73 were prime ministers for less than two years.

-          41 out of the 73 were prime ministers for less than a year

-          10 out of the 73 were prime ministers for less than three months.

-          The longest sitting prime minister was Tawfiq Abu Al-Huda 1938-1944

-          The longest 3 sitting prime ministers were before 1946

-          Zeid Refai was twice a prime minister (I had completely forgotten about this) the first time 1973-1976 and the second time 1985-1989. Both periods were tumultuous ones.

-          From 1999 until today Jordan has had 10 prime ministers.  An average of 1 prime minister per 1.4 years. A better ratio than the previous decades!!!!

-          Since 1948 Israel has had 12 prime ministers over 33 terms.

In conclusion,  attributing  our inability to achieve sustainable growth to the instability of our policy making framework seems to hold some truth to it.  As we say in Arabic, if the reason is known, then the puzzlement is gone; or part of it at least.

USA: A Melting Pot or a Changing One?

These days reading the news coming out of the USA, it is quite evident that we no longer read names typically associated with Anglo-Saxon America.  The following is a sample of some of the names in leading news stories over the past few weeks:

Yanira Maldonado:  Arizona woman held on marijuana charges
Arvind Mahankali:  Winner of the Scripps National Spelling Bee
Tamerlan Tsarnaev & Dzhokhar Tsarnaev:  Alleged Boston Marathon bombers
Barack Obama: The first US Jewish President
Tamer Mosallam, Nozad Al Hamawendi, Cecilia Zamora, Alyahyan, teenagers involved in a recent highly publicized tragic car crash in Newport Beach in California.

A passing thought for whatever it is worth.

 

Tolerance...

“I am not guilty of the common error of judging another by myself. I easily believe in another’s humor which is contrary to my own; and though I find myself engaged to one certain form, I do not oblige others to it, as many do; but believe and apprehend a thousand ways of living; and, contrary to most men, more easily admit of difference than uniformity amongst us. I as frankly as any one would have me, discharge a man from my humors and principles, and consider him according to his own particular model. Though I am not continent myself, I nevertheless sincerely approve the continence of the Feuillans and Capuchins, and highly commend their way of living. I insinuate myself by imagination into their places, and love and honor them the more for being other than I am. I very much desire that we may be judged every man by himself, and would not be drawn into the consequence of common examples”. (Michel Montaigne)

العصافير "توتوت" والقافله تسير

ارتفع سقف حرية التعبير..
بس فعليًا ما صار في تغيير..
المشاكل هي هي وقابله للتجيير..
والجماعه فوق بيتكركرو "ههه قال بدهم تحرير"..
والجماعه تحت بيتخبطو باللي بصير وما بصير..
طعه وقايمه قلبت كل صغير كبير...
والكبير سقف أحمر لأنه من غيره بئس المصير..
صدقنا حالنا وفكرنا فيسبوك مأذنه للتكبير..
وفكرنا تويتر لحاله رح يعمل تأثير..
وتناسينا إنه الكلام الحاف ما بحل أزمة تعتير..
إفتراضي كان أو جاي من حتة تقرير..
الوضع مهزله والحراك قابل للمصادره بس مش للتصدير..
وسلامتكو وتعيشو على خطابات إجلال وتقدير..
فحواهاالعصافير توتوت والقافله تسير

Is Hitler a Christian?

I was recently asked by a 12-year old adorable and very intelligent American boy “Was Bin Laden a Moslem?” I answered “Yes”.

The question suddenly popped up on my mind on that same evening. It wasn’t so much the question, but the fact that a 12-year old kid is already thinking along these lines. I had no doubt of the innocence of his question. However, I had all doubts about the media at work shaping this type of thinking.

The following day, and while having breakfast with the parents of this child, and who happen to be devout Christians, I decided to bring up this question again. It was now my turn to ask the father (who is a good friend) and said “Was Hitler a Christian?” He answered “Yes”. I then continued “Does it ever occur to you why is it that even though Hitler targeted groups based on their religion, we never think of him as a Christian but rather as a Nazi; while in the case of Bin Laden who was specifically opposed to U.S. foreign policy and intervention in the Middle East, we still insist on emphasizing his religion rather than his actions?

After what ended up being a lengthy discussion, we concluded that neither the actions of Bin Laden nor those of Hitler are representatives of their religious beliefs. More importantly, we agreed that once religion is infused in politics, they both become manipulative, toxic, and lethal. Most importantly, my 12-year old friend shared in this discussion, which thankfully succeeded in putting this matter in a different and more tolerant perspective.

As for the media fueling and mongering such thinking, well that's a whole different question altogether!

Count Me Out For Now!

While some argue that elections give transitional countries experience with organizing parties and civil society in addition to improving the protection of civil liberties, others argue that well-functioning rule of law must precede elections. The importance of a vibrant middle class and a functioning state apparatus are also stressed on as prerequisites of meaningful elections.

In the absence of many of these prerequisites, the question that remains in my head: why should I vote on Tuesday (our Tuesday that is November 9, 2010)? I am fully aware that this is a “chicken and egg" question? Ooops this riddle has been recently resolved, it’s the chicken. Well, you get the gist of what I am trying to say. I hope!

If the process of campaigning is any indication, then I am definitely turned off. If the track record of the candidates is any indication, then common sense tells me that the majority of them did not get to finish their last term because they were simply fired (I have no better way to describe it). So seeing them back again would be equivalent to Yogi Berra’s “It's déjà vu all over again". A nightmare scenario if you ask me. If the firing of many of the likely lucky future MPs, ok ok term dissolution, was unfair (as some might argue), then the independence of this entire crucial branch is more of a reason not to vote. To tell you the truth, when the last session was dissolved I got the feeling that the message was “you either do it the executive way, or I will show you the way”, out that is!!!

Sounds negative. I know. Well let me look at it from a more positive angle. I will start with letting bygones be bygones. Let me now look at the campaign program of the candidates I am supposed to cast my vote of confidence for. Program? What’s that? Some have declared superficial and skeleton ones through slogans that make elections sound more like martyrdom, while others have simply and “condescendingly” declared “no messages” but we are still supposed to take them seriously and vote for them. Others have graciously reminded us that Jordan is for Jordanians...how about the “non-Jordanians” (as defined by these very Jordanians) who will be voting?

I am extremely annoyed by the fact that I won’t be voting. But frankly speaking, I would be more annoyed to vote for a candidate simply because I have to. I’d rather delay this part of being a good citizen and concentrate on the many other parts that are real and can hopefully make a meaningful difference. Sorry...