Jordanians protest to vent their anger
BY P.K KATHARASONAMMAN: Angry and helpless, many Jordanians are in a despondent mood.
They feel like shooting US President George W. Bush for the bombs he is dropping over Iraq, which shares a common border with Jordan. But they know they cannot do much to stop Bush from killing their neighbours except to take their anger to the streets.
On Friday, thousands staged yet another demonstration. Men, women and children marched side-by-side holding flags and yelling anti-war slogans.
Jordanians feel that the US strike on the Iraqis is a strike on Jordanians and all Arabs and Muslims.
“Is this how a leader of the strongest nation in the world behaves?” said an angry shopper, the anger directed at America and the Arab stand on the conflict.
Political cartoonist Emad Hajjaj said: “They feel as if everything is going wrong around them and there is nothing they can do. Everyone thinks what the US is doing in Iraq is wrong, but they have no influence, so they only feel despair.”
A student at University of Jordan, who realised the hopelessness of the war, puts it another way: “We may not be able to do anything as Jordanians except to demonstrate and make our voices heard so that the Iraqi people know that we support them.
“This war is a war of imperialism. We as Arabs have to solve our own problem. This war is not about democracy, it is about money and oil. I think Jordanians are starting to feel the danger.”
Such feelings were shared by many Arab leaders and a vast majority of Middle East analysts who believed that the attack on Iraq was a bigger American political and economic agenda for a new world order.
They were of the view that the American strategy was laid out more than 10 years ago with complete disregard for other nations and their people.
Washington was waiting to carry out that strategy and Sept 11, 2001 gave Bush the opportunity to do it.
Arab News columnist Hassan Tahsin said that the political and economic motives were more dangerous than the nations opposed to war realise.
“The American scheme was put into place after the 1991 Gulf War to liberate Kuwait in the days of (former president George) Bush Senior.
“It was supported by neo-republicans who came back into power with Bush Junior and are now called the hawks of the White House,” he said.
What Washington wanted was for the world to understand that the principle of balance of power as a basis of international relations was over and the American military mastery must continue along with the availability of guaranteed cheap oil, Hassan said.
“This new principle imposed by the US is the basis for the new world order – personal gain through absolute power,” added Hassan in summing up the worries of Iraq’s neighbours and the opponents of the Bush war.
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