The fall of the Arab political class

If the first wave of the Arab Spring was launched for political demands, such as rights and freedoms and the cessation of repression and tyranny and human rights violations, the current uprisings and protests are driven by clear economic and social demands, as a result of the failure of the economic policies of the Arab authorities, and their involvement in large cases of corruption as in Iraq Egypt and Lebanon.

It seems that the file of corruption of the political class dominates the agenda of the Arab peoples now, and the main motive for its current move against the political elites, which failed to achieve the demands and aspirations of the Arab people, despite their bright promises. The developments of the Arab political situation over the past months and weeks reveal a phenomenon that appears to be common to a number of countries, namely, the loss of confidence of the people in the elites and the political class, and their rejection of the continued political presence of this class.

This has been translated both in resorting to the streets and demonstrating in order to reject the continuation of this class in power and demand to stop corruption and punish it, as is happening in Iraq and Egypt now and by Sudan, Algeria and Jordan; or through the ballot box where the voters punished this class represented in the personalities and political parties.

This is what happened in Tunisia recently through the presidential elections, which reached the second round of two candidates not belonging to the well-known political class, namely law professor Qais Said and businessman Nabil Karoui and won the first sweep.

In Iraq, it is clear that corruption has reached unprecedented levels, especially among presumed people's deputies, representatives and defenders of their rights. Iraq ranks 168th out of 180 countries in the Transparency International Index, where corruption has spread and reached unprecedented levels.

Moreover, although a number of officials and politicians have been brought to justice for their involvement in corruption, no one has been held accountable for corruption so far. Although there is a supreme anti-corruption council, it has done nothing to reduce or eliminate corruption in government interests and among the political elite.

According to a report by the newspaper "New Arab" published in May; the regulators in Iraq estimated the amount of money lost by Iraq due to corruption operations more than 450 billion dollars, out of 900 billion dollars obtained by Iraq from the sale of oil during the twelve years The past.

There are those who confirm that the figure is much higher because of the international grants delivered to Iraq after 2003 amounting to tens of billions of dollars, in addition to other revenues obtained by Iraq other than those obtained from oil. This is not the first time that Iraqis have risen to protest against corruption and poor economic and living conditions; we have seen numerous protests in the last two years.

But the current protests are the most violent, with more than 100 people killed and thousands injured by live bullets to disperse the protesters. This prompted the Iraqi government to impose a curfew in Baghdad and the southern provinces, before it was lifted hours later in order to reduce tension and congestion. There is talk of a possible dissolution of parliament and calls for new parliamentary elections in the coming months.

In Egypt, corruption is the only file that has stirred the stagnant waters of politics for more than six years. This has given businessman Mohammed Ali the momentum he has had since his appearance. Especially with many activists to verify the facts that he mentioned, and related to the corruption of palaces and villas owned by Sisi and his men and members of his family.

This moved the street in the September 20-27 protests, the first since Sisi came to power five years ago. The phenomenon of Muhammad Ali is itself a demonstration of the total failure of the political class in Egypt, especially the opposition; it failed to express the demands of the street in the way Muhammad Ali did, which revealed the extent of separation between this political class and the people.

In an attempt to soothe popular anger, the Egyptian government was forced to take urgent measures, trying to improve the living conditions of millions of Egyptians, who are paying the price for austerity policies imposed by the IMF agenda.

In Lebanon, the file of corruption appears to be large and complex. He played an important role in fueling the current intifada, which calls for an end to the corruption of the political class in all its colors and political and sectarian references.

When an Arab citizen compares the claims of poverty to the "want" of his rulers, and their corrupt behavior, he discovers the extent of lying and fraud that these rulers practice in order to absorb the rights of the people and further impoverish them so that they do not exist. This leads many young people to protest and reject this contradiction and duplication between discourse and behavior.

Therefore, it will be difficult to imagine that the Arab regimes and governments will remain engaged in corruption, without any attempt to reform and fight this corruption, without the people rising up against them and demanding their departure at all costs, and this is perhaps the most important message that can be read in the current protests in Iraq, and before him. Egypt.