Dear friends, Peace be upon you!

 

We are here today to discuss a subject that is significant to us and the wider world: the future of democracy in the Arab world and the Middle East. What can we say about the future of democracy in a world that is currently experiencing a bloody conflict that could quickly escalate into a nuclear war causing natural disasters and leading to retreat towards further tyranny and authoritarianism in the Middle East after a harsh year of counterrevolutions against the Arab Spring?

One can argue that democracy is no longer a top concern, that big conflicts and periods of violence are returning, and that a struggle is taking place to determine the characteristics of the new world and the global order that will prevail during the twenty-first century. But this does not provide justification for undermining democracy. I observe exactly the opposite. As a result of this turnabout, democracy gains respect and status.

We are more determined than ever to uphold a humane system that encourages equality, allows for participation and oversight, and has laws that respect and safeguard human rights. In the same way that we now recognize the significance of the use of force and arsenals in today's international conflict, we also recognize the significance of the laws and customs developed over time by humanity that ensure the state is founded on principles that uphold rights and freedoms and bases the state, its constitution, and its laws on respect for people and taking them into consideration as a basis for building states in a way that ensures their rights, dignity, freedom, and right to life.

Let us share with you what we think and what we said before Russia invaded Ukraine, shocking the world today. Perhaps you believe that the current downfall of democracy results from the fact that two great powers—China and Russia—as well as Iran and North Korea are standing in direct opposition to the democratic West. These nations are at odds with democracy and the corresponding rights and laws. Yet the fact is rather different. The West's democratic policies, not dictatorships on which no one stakes support for democracy, are to blame for the disregard for the values of democracy and human rights.

I think the democratic West's willful failure to support the Arab Spring is to blame for the start of these global trends, where democracy and human rights are retreating and making way for conflicts of a different kind that threaten to plunge humanity into the dark ages and even threaten to end all of human civilization with a nuclear war, as recently stated by Russian Prime Minister Medvedev.

It is against democracy, justice, and human rights to demonize the Arab Spring and criminalize and blame nonviolent people uprisings. How can we convey to our populaces that the democratic West is worried about democracy and its future in our region while the two major Arab countries, "America and Europe," have let us down by supporting coups and counterrevolutionary wars out of a fear of change and its impact on the Arab world and the Middle East?

 

If the democratic Western nations genuinely had an inclination to promote democratic transitions, they should have been able to do so without having to be fearful of the shift in the Arab Spring. This would have allowed them to pursue their interests in a democratic Middle East. Are Western interests guaranteed by the persistence of dictatorships, militias, and harsh authoritarian institutions in the region? This is an important query. What advantages does the existence of an extreme theocracy like the mullahs' reign in Iran bring to the democratic West? The fact that the West is now openly concerned about Iran's support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine is the result of previous Western governments overlooking, if not completely ignoring, Iran's tendencies due to the misconception among some Westerners that Iran, despite its hostile tendencies, did not pose a threat to Western interests and that, even if it did, those threats would not extend beyond the borders of the Arab countries.

Now that they can see firsthand how Saudi and Iranian tendencies have caused direct and indirect wars throughout the Arab world, isn't it time for the democratic countries to change their policy of turning a blind eye?  Or are democratic nations only acting in their own self-interest?

Although the human race has been preoccupied with the principles of peace, brotherhood, democracy, and human rights for hundreds of years, it wasn't until the middle of the 20th century, after two bloody world wars that claimed the lives of tens of millions of people, that it was able to crystallize these principles in its legal and human rights framework. An unprecedented global retreat from these ideals is currently taking place across the world.

I'm here to talk to you about the importance of developing fair strategies that support democratic principles, human rights, and the rights of people without favoring one nation over another. The counter-revolutions of the Arab Spring, which were sponsored internationally, served as a response to the worldwide retreat toward conflicts, racism, hatred, and radical ethnic tendencies.

Do you want to discuss the prospects for democracy in the Middle East and the Arab world? This makes me reflect on the current state of the Arab Spring Movement and the outcomes, efforts, and hopes that surround it. When discussing the future of democracy, I find myself asking a fundamental question: Why did the democratic West support a regional conflict started by Iran and Saudi Arabia in the face of our peaceful revolutions, which have won the respect of the international community and are fundamentally aspirations for a contemporary democratic system?

At a time when the world is once again moving quickly toward wars, the expansion of lethal weaponry, and the revival of imperial and geopolitical conflicts between countries motivated by the tendencies of armed hegemony, in blatant disregard for the issues of democracy, we stand before you today to remind you, remind ourselves, and remind the world of our cause for which people took to the streets and which was embodied in the revolutions of the Arab Spring.

A global task and not just a pressing necessity for the Arab peoples, who are facing a counter-revolution that threatens them with a future that is darker than dictatorships that once prevailed, is upholding the right of peoples to choose their rulers, to participate in politics as citizens with equal rights and obligations, and to forge an alliance across borders and religious, ethnic, and civilizational barriers among the peoples of the world to defend the system of modern values.

In 2011, significant popular uprisings that tried to topple a long-running dictatorship with perpetually-serving presidents and hereditary familial and sectarian republics took place in the public squares of the Arab Spring countries, where peoples were marginalized and disenfranchised. We won't get tired of recounting what happened to the Arab Spring. The failure of our popular revolutions is a setback for democracy's future, which is why we're here today to discuss its potential.

The Arab Spring sent a clear message that people in this region of the world are revolting with a strong desire to keep up with the times and for the values of democracy, justice, equality, and human rights through a genuine democratic transformation that transforms the state from a tool used to repress and kill its citizens and destroy their ambitions and waste their capabilities into an entity that functions as a comprehensive institution for all citizens and allows all of them to take part in the creation of politics, the creation of their consensuses through it, and the management of their conflicts and competitions. Our popular uprisings weren't just a fleeting fad that hopped on reality; rather, they were a realistic necessity that wasn't satisfied for a long time because the tyrants thought their authority over the people outweighed freedom, dignity, and justice.

 

Dear all friends,

The current state of affairs portends future democratic retreats. I won't assert that the Russian invasion of Ukraine signaled the start of the world's turn away from democracy. I can say, however, that the invasion and its effects have accelerated the wave of the world's retreat from democracy to the point where it has ushered in a new era that is opposed to democracy and human rights, resulting in conflicts, wars, and economic crises that have become apparent since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

 

Wars and the politics of conquest and power pose a threat to the entire planet by causing a series of food, energy, and economic crises that will have an impact on all facets of existence. The collapse of democracy and human rights in international affairs, as well as the expansion of an environment favorable to dictatorships and national and racial chauvinism throughout Europe and the rest of the world, are perhaps some of its most notable effects.

I don't consider myself to be one of those who tends to be pessimistic, but our bias toward the values of democracy and human rights forces us to acknowledge the risks of a global retreat from democracy and to develop appropriate initiatives to deal with their effects as well as with the potential for global change that could bring humanity back to conflicts that do not value human values and usher in a period of brutal wars, invasions, massacres, and collective killings.

The responsibility of the democratic world to defend democracy places it in the face of enormous challenges because combating fascism entails not to move forward with it in the same way that international relations in the post-World War II era, which witnessed the terrible tragedies that shook Europe and the world, did by retreating from human values, democracy, and human rights.

We gather today at a time when Europe is witnessing a war of conquest that no one thought possible. The threat of fascism to Europe is not without its connection with the past events of the Middle East. If the world chooses to remain silent about fascist conflicts simply because they have little bearing on the security of superpowers and their interests, it will have to wait until these conflicts spread and have an impact on distant countries that are thought to be immune to hostilities affecting the Middle East and the Third World.

At the same time that wars were being proclaimed against peaceful popular revolutions and societies that dared to topple oppressive regimes and raised the banners of change, freedom, and democracy, tyrannical coup regimes as well as sectarian militias and extremist groups found apologists for their actions and crimes. The risks to democracy, Europe, and the world demand structural transformation as well as a reevaluation of world politics. The first step toward transformation and adaptability in the face of new difficulties is changing global perspectives on all dangers to democracy, human rights, and the ideals of freedom, peace, and global stability.

Let's be clear: for change to take place, there is a need for a wide worldview that deals with the rise of fascism as a threat in all regions, whether in the Middle East and Africa or in Europe and the West. Today's international system with influential Western countries has remained silent on some autocrat governments like Saudi Arabia and Iran since they don't interrupt with global interests, despite the fact that these regimes are responsible for unlawful actions such as military interventions, civil conflicts, and proxy wars that resulted in destabilization of certain countries and the introduction of militias to power. The concerns of democracy, justice, civil society, and human rights must be addressed together rather than by dividing the world between a civilized world and a non-civilized world.

When will we understand that, despite our differences, we all inhabit the same planet, bound by shared goals, entwined in one another's spheres of influence, and share a common destiny?

Our fight for universal principles that raise democracy and human rights will continue to be a common cause that unifies people of many racial, religious, and national backgrounds. For these reasons, we have gathered here to raise our voices and declare our determination to forge an interconnected global vision that restores the values of democracy and human rights and redefines people in terms of their shared humanity, their shared interests, and their common future, rather than in terms of the ethnic and racial conflicts and fascist wars that fascist regimes and war-hungry leaders impose upon them.

Democracy's future in our area is directly impacted by the course of world events. A third world war, the collapse of the international economy, and a string of energy and food crises are all possible outcomes of the conflict and invasion that threaten Europe. We come together today to reaffirm our commitment to democratic values, human rights, and equality, as well as our aspirations to create a new world where peace, security, and a spirit of responsibility and freedom prevail in the face of coups and wars of revolution against the Arab Spring, tyrants, sectarian, and extremist groups.

In conclusion, I can guarantee you that fascism will ultimately fail and be consigned to history, whatever the cost it exacts from humanity in terms of violence, intimidation, and devastation. As long as there are humans on the planet, the principles of democracy, freedom, and human rights will endure. Fascism will eventually come to an end in its new manifestations as well. Only what we believe in will be the new reality. Glory to humanity's never-ending fight for democracy, freedom, justice, and human rights.