Learning from the food riots
1098
In August, the people of southern Jordan poured into the streets in spontaneous riots over the increased price of bread and animal feed. The demonstrations quickly spread to other villages and cities, including Salt and parts of the capital, Amman. by No'man Amjed IT IS TWO YEARS SINCE THE SIGNING of the "Peace Accords" with Israel. Jordan's rulers predicted an economic revival — "a new Singapore," as Prince Hassan described it. The Prime Minister promised that "one year after the signing of these accords there will be no more poor people in Jordan." Eighteen months and three cabinet re-shuffles later, the people are rioting for food. How can this be?
There are a number of factors: internationally, the Jordanian regime has been obliged to alter a number of alliances, beginning with its cruel involvement in the sanctions against the people of Iraq. Jordan also participated in the US-led assault against Iran and Iraq, in total harmony with the USA's dual containment policy in the Gulf.
King Hussein says he "jumped into his seat" on the "peace train." On the eve of the Gulf war, more than 50% of Jordan's foreign trade was with Iraq. Sanctions against Iraq meant that Jordan's income was severely decreased and its recession grew deeper. And, while the Iraqi market was taken away, the markets of other Gulf states did not open to Jordan in exchange. Despite their relative strength these countries are also suffering from economic problems due to the reduction in oil prices and excessive weapons purchases. In addition there are the expenses of the Gulf War itself, which left the Saudi government with debt of about $100 billion.
King Hussein's critical stance vis-à-vis the allied forces during the Gulf War has not been forgotten by the Gulf countries, and there is no great eagerness to improve relations with him. Thus he had little room to manoeuvre. Following the Oslo "Peace" accords between Israel and the PLO, Jordan's ruler was sucked into normalizing relations with the Zionist state. The Egyptian media described him derisively as "jogging toward the Israelis". In effect, he gone further in one year than Egypt had dared do in 15 years of "realistic engagement" with the Zionist state.
King Hussein even opened military bases in Jordan for American aircraft so they could monitor southern Iraq. This political stance gives the Jordanian monarchy some increased security. 10 International Viewpoint
It also enables Hussein to participate in putting pressure on the Syrian regime to reach its own "peace settlement" with Israel. This has included threats and accusations from Jordan that the Syrians are supporting terrorism because of their support for Hizbullah, an Islamic militia in Lebanon.
Hostility towards Syria is part of the Jordanian regime's support for the TurkishIsraeli alliance [see IV#277, May 1996]. Jordan also wants to regain a better relationship with the Gulf countries, particularly Saudi Arabia. But the main factor governing Jordan's attitude toward the Syrian regime continues to be determined by how urgent it seems to promote a new development in the "peace process".
Due to the decline of foreign aid to Jordan (less than $10 million this year, according to the Financial Times), the government has been forced to implement a rapid Structural Adjustment Program (SAP). This requires removal of all price subsidies -including those on bread and animal feed.
The SAP also requires attacks on democratic liberties and hard-won labor rights. For example, a new labor law has abolished the right to strike. This was designed "to make the Jordanian labor market more appealing to foreign investors" , according to one of Jordan's leading pro-SAP economists.
Far-reaching attacks against labor and trade unions continue under the new government. The goal is to diminish their role in all areas. The president of the Engineers' Union, Laith Shubelat, was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison in retaliation for his speech opposing the "peace accords" and criticizing King Hussein's behavior. There has also been harassment and jail terms for political activists who oppose normalization of relations with Israel.
Meanwhile, the rate of unemployment has surged to a new high (14-20%, according to the economist Fahd al-Fanik. Individual income has declined by over 50% over the past ten years.
The next step of the SAP calls for the government to sell its shares in public enterprises at current Amman stock exchange rates—without regard for the nationality of the purchaser! Over 30 million shares are on offer, but total sales income is not expected to exceed $152 million.
The King has proposed negotiations to "evaluate the situation" in the wake of the riots. This was partially to try and place the burden of economic problems and corruption on the shoulders of the people. It was also designed to ensure the widest possible support for and popular participation in the next SAP measures, which will include devaluing the Jordanian dinar. The government hopes to spread responsibility for the catastrophic consequences of this policy as widdely as possible. They know that devaluation could lead to a currency melt-down, at a time when foreign investors are definitely not inclined to support the Jordanian economy.
The economic relationship with Israel is of crucial importance. There are more than one billion Jordanian Dinars in circulation on the Israeli-occupied West Bank. And the government of Israeli prime minister Netanyahu is not proposing a quick and easy, or even a "respectable" solution for the Arab regimes involved in the settlement track (of peace, and regional economic "cooperation.")
The August uprising in Jordan should be seen in the context of these current and historical developments. It was hardly a product of "external machinations" as the regime has claimed (see below). It is an indication of motion which might be able to begin counteracting the current mood of defeat-provided it develops into a political movement with the courage and daring to rebuild the labor and popular struggles and if it can capture a broad, revolutionary vision beyond the restricted ideological vision of the Arab regimes. Jordan's Islamic "opposition"
Jordan's largest political force, the Islamic Action Front Party (IAFP) is supposedly part of the parliamentary opposition to the "accords." But, in a leadership meeting prior to the increase in the price of bread, the party agreed "not to participate in or support any kind of disturbances against the government's bread price increase.
The IAFP's influence on the Jordanian political scene can be compared to a fatty deposit which blocks the flow of blood when the body tries to move and change. It has shown no interest in mobilizing people. Instead its rhetoric has served to deceive the masses and diffuse the anger of its rank and file membership and social base.
That social base is substantial among those who have nothing to hope for-due to their severe poverty combined with their social and national oppression.
The IAFP repesents the (illusory)
hope that the dispossesed can find an alternative, decisive path toward change.
The Left and Nationalist
Movements
Jordan needs a new left, which recognises the true nature of the IAFP, and stops trying to ally with it. The role of a truely progressive lett party would involve addressing the base of the
IAFP, and criticizing the opportunism of the party's leadership's—a leadership which will soon return to its seats in his majesty's government.
To regain control after the riots, King Hussein claimed that the protest was due to Iraqi intervention, via Jordan's pro-Iraqi Ba'aath nationalist party. Security forces arrested over 300 militants from the nationalist and left parties (Communist Party, Democratic People's Party, Popular Unity Party, Jordan Ansar Party, and Jordanian Community Party-Revolutionary Tendency).
The nationalist and leftist movements in the area have been dealt a defeat. They were defeated separately, but at the same time. This took place because, during the formation and early stages of the Arab liberation movement, they did not understand the revolutionary integration between their two causes, the national struggle and the class struggle. For some, this was due to sectarian nationalism. For others it was the result of Stalinism and dogmatism.
Hard as they are, these latest blows provide another chance to create a new vision for Jordan and for the general struggle of the Arab peoples against Zionism and imperialism.
As ine proverb goes: 1 hat As the proverb goes: "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." It is important for the evolution of any new movement that it learn in a radical and critical way. The most valuable lesson is still the process of the uprising itself, the unlimited reserves of the people to retaliate, and to succeed, and to try again.
These latest riots won't change the course of the history of the Middle East. But analysis of this struggle should indicate the major changes which are needed in the whole region. * In ue wnole region.
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21st century • the transformation and regroupment of the left • sex and class • our role
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