Arab Nationalism

Introduction

• Pan-Arabism, also called Arabism or Arab nationalism, ia a nationalist notion of cultural and political unity among Arab countries
• Its central premise is that the people of the Arab world, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indian Ocean, constitute one nation bound together by common ethnicity, language, culture, history, identity, geography and politics
• One of the primary goals of Arab nationalism is the end of Western influence in the Arab world, seen as a “nemesis” of Arab strength, and the removal of those Arab governments considered to be dependent upon Western power
• It rose to prominence with the weakening and defeat of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century and declined after the defeat of the Arab armies in the Six-Day War

Ideology

• Within the Arab nationalist movement are three main ideas: that of the Arab nation; Arab nationalism; and pan-Arab unity
  • Arab Nation
    • The 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine led to the foundation of the Arab nationalist Ba’ath Party, which asserts that the Arab nation is the group of people who speak Arabic, inhabit the Arab world, and who feel they belong to the same nation
  • Arab nationalism
    • It is the “sum total” of the characteristics and qualities exclusive to the Arab nation
  • Pan-Arab unity
    • It is the modern idea that stipulates that the separate Arab countries must unify to form a single state under one political system

Arab Nationalism: Tracing the timeline

• Origins
  • In the 1860s, literature produced in the Mashriq (the Levant and Mesopotamia) which was under Ottoman control at the time, contained emotional intensity and strongly condemned the Ottoman Turks for “betraying Islam” and the Fatherland to the Christian West
  • At that time, the reforming Ottoman and Egyptian governments were blamed for the situation because they attempted to borrow Western practices from the Europeans that were seen as unnatural and corrupt.
  • The Arab patriots’ view was that the Islamic governments should revive true Islam that would in turn, pave way for the establishment of constitutional representative government and freedom which, though Islamic in origin, was manifested in the West at the time
• Rise of modern Arab nationalism
  • In 1911, Muslim intellectuals and politicians from throughout the Levant formed al-Fatat (“the Young Arab Society”), a small Arab nationalist club, in Paris
    • Its stated aim was “raising the level of the Arab nation to the level of modern nations.” In the first few years of its existence, al-Fatat called for greater autonomy within a unified Ottoman state rather than Arab independence from the empire

• Further, Damascus became the coordinating centre of the Arab nationalist movement as it was seen as the birthplace of the ideology, the seat of Faysal—the first Arab “sovereign” after nearly 400 years of Turkish suzerainty

• Growth of the movement
  • A number of Arab revolts against the European powers took place following the establishment of the British and French mandates. Resentment of British rule culminated in the Iraqi revolt of 1920
  • The conflict in Iraq provoked anger and frustration throughout the Arab world and the British acknowledged the rapid growth of Arab nationalist feeling among the Arab population, large segments of which saw the events in Iraq as a valiant struggle against imperialism
  • The events of the region influenced the creation of the Arab Union Club in Egypt in 1942 which called for developing stronger ties between Egypt and the Arab world. Branches were subsequently opened in Baghdad, Beirut, Jaffa and Damascus, and Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa El-Nahas adopted its platform, pledging to help protect “the interests and rights” of the “sister Arab nations” and explore the “question of Arab unity.”
• Peak under Egyptian leadership
  • After the Second World War, Gamal Abdel Nasser, the leader of Egypt, was a significant player in the rise of Arab nationalism
    • Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal and directly challenged the dominance of the Western powers in the region.
    • At the same time he opened Egypt up as a Cold War zone by receiving aid and arms shipments from the Soviet bloc countries that were not dependent on treaties, bases and peace accords
  • Decline
    • After the defeat of the Arab coalition by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War, the Arab nationalist movement is said to have suffered an “irreversible” slide towards “political marginality”
    • From the mid-1960s onward, the movement was further weakened by factional splits and ideological infighting.
    • The formerly pro-Nasser Arab Nationalist Movement, publicly abandoned Nasserism in favour of Marxism–Leninism and fell apart soon after

Reasons for Decline of Arab Nationalism

• Despite adhering to common ideology, there existed differences among Arab states, which hindered pan-Arabic Nationalism
  • This was evident in the case of Jordan and Saudi Arabia, which were rules by conservative Royal families, who had pro-western stance; and these states were criticised by pro-arab nationalists states like Egypt and Syria
• Personal Interests of ruling families hindered pan-Arab Unity, as they would lose their ruling power in case of disappearance of national boundaries
• Also, after WW2 western powers also worked on disuniting the Arabs, by playing one state against another for fulfilment of their own interests
• Suspicion of Arab unity by minority groups such as Kurds in Iraq who were non-Arab, or Shia Arabs in Iraq who feared Arab nationalism was actually “a Sunni project” to establish “Sunni hegemony”
• The Islamic revival, which grew as Arab nationalism declined, and whose Islamist adherents were very hostile towards nationalism in general, believing it had no place in Islam
• Lack of interest by the movement in pluralism, separation of powers, freedom of political expression and other democratic concepts which might have “resuscitated” the ideology in its moment of weakness