North Africa and Southwest Asia: Part Two

The Fossil Fuel Economy

– Until the 1970’s, European and American companies pumped, refined, marketed all the oil

• Paid a small percentage to countries

• Around 1970

– Countries nationalize oil industry, pump, sell their own crude

– OPEC cartel institute quotas, bumps the price of oil

» Leads to recession, Debt crisis elsewhere

– Oil not in every country

• Not evenly distributed to population where there is oil

• Most spent on infrastructure, large bureaucracies, royal families

Diversification and Development

• Economic diversification – attempt to spread economic activity across multiple sectors, so not dependent on just one thing

• Hurdles

– State formerly controlled most industry

– Under colonialism, colonist products pushed

– Few resources besides oil

– Oil rich areas used to invest in U.S. and Europe, not own region

– Tourism potentially effected by terror

• SAP’s also cut back education, welfare programs

– Poverty skyrockets

Regional Conflicts

• Most conflicts in the region are due to groups sharing a state, where in one group has more power (thus state resources, opportunity, rights, wealth, etc…) than another group

– Iraq: Sunnis in West/center, Shi’i in South/Baghdad, Kurds in North

– Turkey: Kurds in East, Turks elsewhere (once were other minorities in cities)

– Sudan/South Sudan: Mulitple African Christians and Animists in South, Arab Muslims in North, African  Muslims in West (Darfur)

– Lebanon: Maronites (Christians), Druze, Sunnis, Shi’i

– Bahrain: Sunni rulers; Shia national population; expats

– Syria: Alawi rulers; minorities in large cities and Kurds in North; Sunnis everywhere

– Libya: Almost all Sunnis, but various tribes vying for control

Arab Spring

• In 2011, beginning in Tunisia, a wave of popular protests swept across the region

– Reaching Egypt, Syria, Bahrain, and Libya

• While Tunisia got rid of their dictator; and the protests pushed reforms in Morocco and Jordan; in the other countries, it brought much disruption

– Egypt overthrew its dictator; elections sent the Muslim Brotherhood to power; they proved inept/overreaching; army overthrew them; now back to a dictatorship

– Bahrain (with an assist from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states) saw a brutal crackdown on largely peaceful protestors

– Libya saw the overthrow of Qaddafi, followed by chaos

– Then there is Syria, where youth led protests were brutally cracked down on, which re-ignited dormant militant Islamists (and drew some in from neighboring Iraq), which led to full on civil war with various outside countries supporting the different factions

• 480,000 dead; 11 million displaced/refugees.

Islam in Society

• Book is wrong in this section

– Theocracy: is rule by religious leaders, not just that the state endorses a certain religion and its principles

• Iran is a theocracy, where the ultimate authority is clerics

– That being said, Iran has liveliest press culture in the region

• Saudi Arabia is not a theocracy (rule is by the Sauds); even if religion pervades the state

• UAE, for example, allows interest, alcohol (all forbidden by Islam), Christian churches, Hindu temples

– UAE, Oman, Kuwait are Monarchies, where only members of the ruling family can rule

– Algeria, Turkey and Tunisia are secular states

• Even Egypt now states Sharia is the ultimate inspiration for law

Reform within the region

– The biggest change over the last 20 years in the region has been the introduction of the internet, more active satellite television news, and mobile phones/internet.

• It is especially big here because media was so tightly controlled by states

• The Arab Spring would not have happened without mobile phones

– In general, mobile phones have allowed young people to connect with other young people outside of their families

– This is a region that has faced many challenges in terms of women’s rights (primarily in Saudi Arabia, then Iran; but to a lesser extent in many states in the region), but yet has decades of strong activism by women

• Here again, social media and just mobiles in general have been a key factor.

Iraq & ISIS

– Iraq was carved out of the Ottoman Empire, bringing together three large groups of people – Kurds in the North; Sunnis in the West; Shia in the South – along with the diverse, large city in Baghdad and other minority groups

• Was bound to be fractious; as was their custom, the British favored the Sunnis over the more numerous Shia.

– Iraq was a country that floated on the edge of major alliances; under Saddam actually went to war with Iran in the 1980s (which the US liked, initially)

–  The invasion of Kuwait in the early 1990s led to the instant isolation of Saddam’s Iraq and an international invasion. 

• A decade of sanctions followed

– After 9/11 attacks and invading Afghanistan (itself a complex country), the Bush administration invaded Iraq (which had nothing to do with 9/11) and opened the flood gates of chaos

• Perhaps the biggest mistake was the disbanding of Saddam’s Sunni army; jobless and armed, they became the heart of an insurgency; some members of that insurgency go on to form ISIS

– ISIS takes advantage of the chaos in Syria to take land in Eastern Syria and then invade Northern and Western Iraq

Formation of Israel and Fate of Palestinians

• After WWII, Europe interested in resettling Holocaust survivors

• Since late 19^th, a Jewish nationalist movement, Zionism, had been planning a homeland in Israel

– Land bought from absentee Ottoman landowners, established Kibbutzem (settlements)

• This displaces poor Arab farmers

– In 1918, British PM issues Balfour Declaration, supporting Jewish homeland

• Arabs considered this a breach of an earlier agreement

– In 1947, United Nations comes up with a partition plan, international Jerusalem w/o local input

• Arabs reject due to loss of further land, Jewish settlers reluctantly agree

• 1948, British leave, Israel declares independence

– Result is state of Israel, hundreds of thousands of now landless Palestinians, pushed into West Bank (then Jordan) and Gaza Strip

Israel Palestine Conflict (cont)

• Leading up to the end of British Mandate in 1948, tensions riding high, violence by Palestinians and Israeli militias rises

• Israel declares independence, Mandate ends, Arab states invade

• Leading up to the war, some Palestinians begin to flee; during war some voluntarily flee/many forced off land

– By end of the war, 700,000 Palestinians were refugees

• Situation worsens for Jews in Arab lands, most leave

–  Forced out in Egypt and Libya

• Post-war, Israel allows only a very small amount of Palestinian refugees to resettle

Israel Palestine (cont)

• Israel wins a war again in 1967, draws in 1973

– Gains West Bank, Golan Heights, Sinai (later back to Egypt)

– Neighboring Arab States no longer fight for Palestinians, but to get their own land back.

• Palestinians have intifadas (uprisings) to start advocating for themselves

– Initially, violence high by both Palestinians and Israeli Defense Forces; over time, Palestinian losses mount over time to be many orders of magnitude larger

• Many in Gaza in particular remain in horrific poverty, following a blockade, collective punishment, housing bulldozing, poor Hamas leadership

• Peace with Egypt at Camp David, Oslo gets PLO recognition

– Full settement hung up by right of return, status of Jerusalem, Israeli settlements

• Many grassroots efforts among Israelis and Palestinians to stop the violence together

Migration and Urbanization

• Emigration

– Because of jobs, many go to Europe as guest workers

• Turks to Germany, North Africans to Spain, France

• Men much more often than women

• Many eventually return, hard to get citizenship

• Most send remittances

• Immigration

– Because of oil boom in Gulf, workers go there from poorer Arab, South Asia and Southeast Asia (as well Europe, NA and Sub-Saharan Africa)

• Dubai is at least 90% foreign labor

– Israel continues to receive Jews from former Soviet areas, Africa

Other migrations

Internal Migration

• Until late 20^th century, most people lived in villages; now 70% urban

– Old historic quarters now full of new migrants; rich move to gated communities

Refugees

– Millions from environmental, political problems

• Earthquakes devastate communities

• Iran highest number of refugees (Iraq, Afghanistan)

• Palestinians w/o a state are poor, scattered

– The major refugee camps are semi-permanent, dependent on aid

• Sudan has huge internally displaced person population from civil strife

• Iraq and now Syria have now generated huge amounts of refugees.

– They end up in Jordan, itself a very poor country.

Population

– Large area, much of it empty

• Density near coasts, rivers, and uplands (where there is rainfall)

• In Cairo, can be up to 26,000 per sq mile

– Though fertility rates are down, still high by world standards (3.1 per woman).   Brought down by:

• Women marry later, more school

• State sponsored family planning (Iran, Egypt)

• But still, many countries have 40% of population under 15

– Population might double in 25 years

• Water, local food, jobs already scarce

• As more women enter workforce, more jobs needed

Population (cont)

• Gender Roles and Population Growth

– As usual, the more opportunities women have outside the home, fewer children

– If stay at home, children are way to gain prestige

• Some families have children until multiple sons are born

– Sons support parents in old age

Housing

– Multi-generational, patriarchal families still common; but becoming less so

– Families traditionally lived in walled compounds, with few windows on the street

• Apartments now becoming more common

– Most dwellings have one or two rooms up front for non-related guests

• Female, children’s space for cooking, playing, TV watching

Gendered Space

• In some of region, space is segregated

– This predates Islam: some Jews and Christians in the region do the similar things

– Men’s role “traditionally” in public space, working, exchanging favors to advance families position

– Women “given”: domestic sphere, private spaces (although young girls in rural areas have great spatial freedom)

• Divided public, private spaces in house, lattice work enforces division

• Some places wearing veil is way to go in public while showing piety

– Takes many forms from abaya (full black cloak) or just a light headscarf with Western dress

• Other places, pre-Islamic practice of seclusion

– Saudi Arabia most extreme, no driving (until 2 weeks ago), women only shopping centers

– Done more by rich, urban women (luxury)

• Most other places, no requirements at all, especially large cities

– Shows diversity in the region

• Everywhere in region, family remains very important in daily routine, and even young men spend much time in the household

Gendered Space (cont.)

• Debates over women’s rights are over a century old in the region, especially in Egypt.  They also show great diversity.

– Don’t believe the book when it says women have only recently been politicized.

• For examples, in a country like Kuwait, gender norms were probably more liberal in the 1970s than 1990s.

– It is true there has been rapid change recently, and technology starting with satellite television, to the internet and cell phones are all a part of this.

– Saudi Arabia has the harshest restrictions; followed by Iran.  They should be understood as the exception instead of the norm.

• Even in these societies, especially for last 20 years, women are highly educated, largely urbanized and far from helpless victims, even if they face very, very real challenges.  Many men in these societies have and do support changes (some don’t).

Language and Diversity

– Israel: Hebrew is the official language…

• .. But Jews came to Israel from this region, Europe, Russia, Africa so many other languages spoken here

– Turkey: Turkish

• Turks originally from Central Asia

– Iran: Farsi (although there are many other languages spoken by various ethnic groups)

– Everywhere else Arabic is the official language

• Berber: Related dialects spoken in mountains of North Africa

• Taureg: Also spoken in North Africa

• Kurdish: Kurds (Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria)

– TV, media hurting minority languages, English used on Internet

• Millions of South Asians in Gulf also use English first