Arab Politics -The Baath Party - Research Paper Example

 Arab Politics -The Baath Party Introduction Arab politics is mostly connected with religion and there is no existence for politics in Arab countries without religion. It is very difficult to cultivate other political ideologies in Arab countries because of the strong influence of religion on their politics. Nobody can even imagine the entry of a communist or any other liberal parties in Arab countries. Most of the Arab countries were previously ruled by Muslim emperors or kings and democracy is a distant dream in many Arab countries, though some kind of parliament elections may held in some of the Arab countries in their own manner. Baath party is one of the Arab political parties originated in Syria. It has attained international fame because of its association with former Iraq president Saddam Husain. Though Baath party has extended its roots to many Arab countries like Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan etc as a symbol of Arab unity, it didn’t survive long because of its composition of different political regimes and origin The Baath party The Arab Socialist Baath Party was founded in Syria in the 1940s by a small group of French-educated Syrian intellectuals - Michel Aflaq, a Greek Orthodox, and Salah al-Din al-Bitar, a Sunni Muslim. The word Baath means renaissance in Arabic. (Kafala) The educated Muslim intellectuals has visualised the whole Arab countries as a single entity and their aim was to bring all the Arab people under one flag of the Baath party. Their aim was not motivated by any selfish aspects. They have felt the need of a single Arab party in order to counter the external threats from countries like Israel and America. Baath party was a secular Arab party. “Socialism (not Marxism) was quickly adopted as the party’s economic dogma: “Unity [Arab], Freedom [from colonialism], and Socialism” are still the watchwords.” (The Syrian Encyclopaedia) Though Baath party has accepted socialism as the economic principle, it differed from communism in many ways. Communism mostly works for the working class of the whole world whereas Baath party stressed the importance of economic equality among all the peoples of Arab countries. They have given focus on Arab culture alone and hence they concentrated on Middle East region alone. Communism on the other hand doesn’t have any boundaries; it works for the whole working class in the world. “The Iraqi Baath party was founded in 1951 and had 500 members three years later. Saddam Hussein joined it as a 20-year-old in 1956. The party came to power on 8 February 1963 in a coup backed by the Army, overthrowing Brigadier Abdel Karim Qasim - who himself overthrew the British-installed Iraqi monarchy in 1958.” (Kafala) The Baath party & Arab unity Baath party concentrate mainly on the unity of Arab people. Most of the Arab countries though have Muslims as a common religion; they have different communities and ethnic groups such as Shias, Sunnis, Kurds etc. These different communities often engage in internal wars between each other and the countries like Israel and America has utilized these conflicts between Arab people for their own political gain and advantages. “After the Second World War, the Baathists emerged as the leadership of Arab nationalism for two reasons. First, they were the only force with a coherent ideology. Second, the existing Arab political elites were blamed for the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948” (KEREVAN) Most of the Arab parties before the formulation of Baath party did not have any vision or mission. Most of them were motivated by selfish ideologies and also they limited their actions to their own country alone. Their ideologies were not defined properly and also the leaders exploited such parties for their own advantages rather than the countries’ advantage. Moreover the establishment of Israel has opened the eyes of Arab people and they quickly recognized the need of Arab unification in order to tackle the treats from Israel. “From its earliest development, the motivation behind Baathist political thought and its leading supporters was the need to produce a means of reasserting the Arab spirit in the face of foreign domination. Arabs needed a regeneration of the common heritage of people in the region to drive off debilitating external influences.” (The Syrian Encyclopaedia) “The party's ideology is pan-Arab, secular nationalism. A committed Baathist should see individual Arab states as regions or provinces of the larger Arab nation.” (Kafala) As per the principles of Baath party every problem occurred at any of the Arab countries must be visualized as by their own problem by a Baath party worker irrespective of which country he belongs to. All the Arab people must be united to fight against the common enemy who attack any of the Arab countries as per the doctrine of Baath party. The creators of Baath party realized that it is difficult for a single Arab country to fight against a powerful external country like Israel. They believed that only through collective efforts from the entire Arab community, such threats can be effectively countered. Like Nazi and Communist parties, the Baath party members were expected to devote their life to the party. As per their principles, the party must be given prominence rather than anything else. The Baath party- Ideology of a state “In early 1988, the Baath Party continued to stress parallelism focused on "regional" (qutri) and "national" (qawmi) goals, following the Baath doctrine that the territorially and politically divided Arab countries were merely "regions" of a collective entity called "The Arab Nation." Hence the Baath movement in one country was considered merely an aspect of, or a phase leading to, "a unified democratic socialist Arab nation." (POLITICS) Baath party has formulated definite goals for different regions and different Arab countries. But all the strategies were integrated into the common aim of Arab unity. They believed that Arab culture has unique features and hence it should be preserved from the intrusion of foreign cultures. The intrusion of foreign cultures in Arab countries has been witnessed suspiciously by the Baath party. Baath party has given prominence to Arab community’s interest rather than any Arab country’s interest. For them any actions taken in Arab country must be in line with the principles of Baath party or Arab culture as a whole. State’s interests should be sacrificed for the Arab community’s interests as per the doctrines of Baath party. “The Baath's major goal since 1968 has been to socialize the economy. By the late 1980s, the party had succeeded in socializing a significant part of the national economy, including agriculture, commerce, industry, and oil” (POLITICS) Baath party has identified the common resources in Arab community and they tried to socialize the Arab economy. The formation of OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) is a best example for Baath party’s economic vision. The Arab communities have realized that the major share of crude oil available in the world is under their custody and hence they can utilize these petroleum resources to their own advantages. The formation of OPEC was intended for getting maximum prices for their crude oil resources in the world market. Now OPEC is actually controlling the oil prices all over the world. Reasons for Baath party’s failure “As part of Saddam Hussein's power structure and complicit in his brutal rule, the Baath party was expected to disintegrate with the end of his rule. Revenge attacks against Baath officials and party buildings were widely predicted and have happened.” (Kafala) Baath party in Iraq has sacrificed many of the established doctrines of Baath party for their political advantages in Iraq. Instead of working for the common Arab growth Saddam tried to spread his wings to neighboring Arab countries like Kuwait which resulted in strong division among Arab countries. America and Israel were waiting for an opportunity to interfere in Iraq. Saddam has created such an opportunity by attacking Kuwait. The Kuwait attack by Saddam was exactly opposite for what the Baath party was actually formulated for. Saddam failed to control his emotions and he thought that the vision of Baath party (unification of Arab culture) can be obtained only through the unification of all the Arab countries under one common administration of Iraq. Saddam tried to interpret the principles of Baath party differently and he has assumed different meanings to the Arab unification. “Under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, the Ba'ath party inflicted terror and intimidation on the citizens of Iraq. People were raped, murdered, tortured, imprisoned and intimidated for holding beliefs that were inconsistent with the beliefs of the party” (Ba'ath Party: Saddam Hussein) Saddam tried to terrorize the Iraqi people and his son Uday was also accused o committing so many crimes under the Saddam dictatorship. Saddam has been accused of killing thousands of Kurds and hence even the Arab people turned against him. Opponents of Saddam were brutally murdered or tortured and he never allowed any kind of opposition to grow against him in Iraq. Because of Saddam’s bias towards a single Arab community, most of the other Arab communities were waiting for his downfall and hence the path towards gulf region has been made clear for America by Saddam indirectly. The rest is history everybody knows. America under the leadership of George Bush with the help of his allies attacked Iraq and dethroned Saddam from power. The elimination of Saddam from power resulted in the elimination of Baath party also from power. “US plans for Iraq after Saddam Hussein are assumed to include the dismantling of the Baath. Analysts have warned though that the destruction of the Baath might lead to the destruction of the vast numbers of civil organizations swallowed up by the Baath during years of totalitarian rule.” (Kafala) Baath never allowed the growth of any other civil organizations in Iraq. They believed that everything required for the Arab community is provided by Baath party and hence a second organization is not required in Iraq. Saddam's government has shifted the orientation of Baath party towards Islam rather than Arab nationalism, in its desperate search for legitimacy. Saddam thought that he can exploit the religious feeling better than anything else. He miscalculated that the regional feelings will overrule the communal feelings of the people. “The Jerusalem army was a fine example of the Ba'ath party's paradoxical nature. It was launched after a summit meeting at which Saddam ordered the creation of military training camps for Iraqis committed to the Palestinian cause. There was never a question of them being sent into actual battle.” (Baran) Saddam was actually tried to exploit the Arab emotions towards the Palestinian people. He wanted to prove that he keeping all the declared aims of Baath party intact by creating Jerusalem army. Baath party members were the recruiters of Jerusalem army. Each family were forced to send at least one person to the Jerusalem army which cost them much loss of earnings rather than anything else. The services in Jerusalem army where unpaid and it was physically demanding and caused many problems to the public. He has conducted many army parades in Baghdad just to attract the foreign attention towards it. Saddam actually cheated the Arab people since he never send this Jerusalem army to the war front. Saddam tried to deviate the attention of others from the massacres happened in Iraq against the Kurds by Saddam administration, Baath party and its allies. In order to make the things happen in Iraq Baath party’s approval was a prerequisite. Even for getting food rations the approval of Baath party was necessary in Iraqi society. “The party ultimately has the power to excommunicate people, leaving them ineligible for food rations, bank accounts or homes. Though they may not be victims of direct brutality, they soon find themselves on the street. And taking away civil rights is more radical and cruel than sending in the police, a step the regime rarely takes.” (Baran) Most of the civil rights were denied to the Iraqi citizens under the label of Baath party. Saddam utilized Baath party to remain in power by suppressing the people’s will against him. Freedom of expression was prohibited in Iraqi society and most of the media were under strict censorship during Saddam or Baath party era in Iraq. Saddam has established his statues and portraits all over the country as a great warrior and symbol of Arab nationalism. The common public were forced to praise Saddam and Baath party unwillingly and hence many of the public were against Baath party and Saddam in Iraq though they never tried to express their displeasure publicly out of the fear of Saddam. Baath party rules in Syria and Iraq some common aspects which finally resulted in the destruction of Baath party. “Under Hafez al-Assad in Syria and Saddam Hussein (who succeeded al-Bakr and remained the titular leader of the party until his execution in 2006) in Iraq, both nations moved away from Ba'athist principles, although the ruling parties retained the Ba'ath name.” (Ba'ath party) The basic principles of Baath party have been sacrificed in both of these countries for political gains which exhausted Baath party in Arab region. The popularity of Baath party started to diminish among Arab people after witnessing the misuse of power in both Syria and Iraq. “Theoretically, the Iraqi Regional Command made decisions about Baath Party policy based on consensus. In practice, all decisions were made by the party's secretary general, Saddam Husain” (POLITICS) Conclusions “It goes without saying that the Baath Party played a pivotal role in the field of Arab culture and was indeed the most composed and profound ideological trend of pan-Arab nationalism” (Abah) Baath party has created immense interest among the Arab public at the time of its formation. Most of the Arab countries have approved the spirit and principles of Baath party since it offered effective resistance against any foreign intervention in any of the Arab countries. Arab unity has been witnessed as the core of Baath party principles. Though secularism and socialism were among the declared aims of the Baath party, its main aim was the Arab unification. The prevention of foreign intrusion and threats were some other aims of the formation of Baath party. Baath party started to exhaust since its principles were misinterpreted and misused for individual benefits. Saddam in Iraq and Assad in Syria misused Baath party and its principles for their own political gains. Its main focus of unification of Arab culture has been redefined as the well being of Islam by the Arab dictators like Saddam and Assad. Works Cited 1. The Syrian Encyclopaedia, Retrieved on April 28, 2009 from http://www.damascus-online.com/se/hist/baath_party.htm 2. Kafala Tarik, The Iraqi Baath party, Retrieved on April 28, 2009 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2886733.stm 3. Ba'ath party, Retrieved on April 28, 2009 from http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0805601.html 4. POLITICS, Retrieved on April 28, 2009 from http://countrystudies.us/iraq/77.htm 5. Abah Sayyed Wild, Return of the Baath Party, Retrieved on April 28, 2009 from http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=16085 6. KEREVAN GEORGE, The Syrian-Iraqi Baath party and its Nazi beginnings Retrieved on April 28, 2009 from http://www.eretzyisroel.org/~jkatz/baath.html 7. Ba'ath Party: Saddam Hussein, Retrieved on April 28, 2009 from http://www.lycos.com/info/baath-party--saddam-hussein.html 8. Baran David, The Party in Power, Retrieved on April 28, 2009 from http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/51/230.html Read More