Credit Where It's Due
The current Arab Spring is indeed in large part the result of many years of sacrifice and commitment by the region's democrats. “For the past 20 years, so-called Arab civil society has been slowly denting the status quo," notes Chibli Mallat, a veteran Beirut-based human rights activist. While Arab activists were initially timid, defensive and focused on human rights, this approach was understandable, given the repression to which they were subjected. “Local Arab democrats are still hesitant to accuse the emirs and kings in the Gulf,” he suggests, “but the taboos have fallen in the Levant and North Africa [as Tunisia's] Zein al-Abidin, [Egypt's] Mubarak, [Lebanon's] Lahoud and [Syria's] Assad are being openly challenged to leave the presidency.”

“This is a rare genuine grassroots, populist, spontaneous Arab movement to change an existing power structure,” Mallat contends, “qualitatively significant in terms of modern Arab political history.” “Perhaps the most significant aspect of it is that it is also the first contemporary instance of Arabs defining their political values, goals and activism, boldly setting out to build a better society, and then seeing Western powers support them in their endeavor.” He suggests that region's democratic forces reflect an emerging cleavage between “characteristically fascist” or Ba'athist forms of Arabism and a non-violent, pluralist, democratic “White Arabism,” partly reflected in regional networking of democratic activists (Georges Ishak, the founder of the Egyptian Kifaya--"Enough"--Movement, visited Lebanese democrats shortly before the Beirut protests began.)

Despite claims of a "crowing triumphalist narrative out of Washington,” politicians and observers alike have been at pains to credit the grass roots drive behind recent mobilizations. Far from claiming ownership, US officials have been careful to give due credit. "When you look at the streets you realize we're just playing catch-up," says one State Department official. "The people are pushing for this on their own." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "knows how genies get out of bottles and what to do with them once they're out," says another State official. "We know the sweep of history, and we're going to do everything we can to help it along."

It is not for the US or Europe to spread freedom in the Arab world, Ms. Rice recently told Middle Eastern journalists. Stressing that civil society “will lead these changes,” and that “every single democratic development, every single democratic revolution,… will have an indigenous character," she nevertheless expressed her plans to “energize” the multilateral Forum for the Future “to give civil society groups in those countries an opportunity to engage civil society outside.”

"It is important that Americans and other well-wishers do not think these events are about us. They are about the people who are taking the risks,” says Tom Melia, a democracy promotion adviser to Freedom House. “For this project to succeed it has to be an Arab project. If it is identified with Uncle Sam, it will be difficult for people to claim they are standing on their own two feet." Melia, a Democrat, nevertheless gives the current US Administration due credit. “Making democracy a strategic goal for American interests in the world doesn't sound so wacky any more."

Damascus Regime Under Pressure …
The last month's roller-coaster ride of Syrian-Lebanese politics took a further turn this week when a huge demonstration against Syrian occupation was followed by the closure of the Ba'athists' intelligence service offices in Beirut. Another sign of Syria's waning influence came when Lebanese police used a crane to pull down two huge public portraits of Bashar al-Assad and his father, the late dictator Hafez al-Assad.

Both developments came the day after a huge crowd rallied in central Beirut in support of the Lebanese opposition and as restored Prime Minister-designate Omar Karami struggled to form a new government of national unity in the face of uncompromising opposition demands. "We're calling for a transition government that will oversee the total pullout of Syrian military and intelligence units and free legislative elections," opposition MP Fares Souaid told Agence France Presse.

At the time of writing, Damascus appears to have lost the initiative it regained after last week's huge demonstration by Hizbollah. The anti-Syrian mass protests in Beirut had raised hopes of a knock-on effect that would spark change in Damascus and even act as a regional catalyst. “Syria is but a Levantine version of the former-Yugoslavia,” says Robert D Kaplan, “without the intellectual class which that other post-Ottoman state could claim at the time of its break-up,” suggesting a degree of fragility yet to be confirmed by events. Others hope that restoring Lebanon's sovereignty might at least "be one way for the Arabs to break with the culture of dictators and police states.”

It would be foolish to write off the Ba'athist regime prematurely. ”The turmoil unleashed in Lebanon by the Hariri assassination may indeed represent a strategic opening, but not for the risky maximalist course that some in the Administration seem intent on pursuing,” warned Flynt Leverett, a Brookings Institution analyst. If Assad is ousted, the “most likely near-term consequence of (his) departure would be chaos; the most likely political order to emerge from that chaos would be heavily Islamist,” he warns. (Leverett was head of Middle East affairs in the US Administration's National Security Council until 2003, at a time when the democratic reform of the region was not deemed as desirable or feasible as it is today, and when US officials told a visiting German analyst that “political reform in Syria is not a US priority.”}

Furthermore, there is growing evidence that the radical Islamists, Everett fears, are already influential in state circles. The Ba'athists' violent suppression of an earlier Islamist uprising, the horrendous Massacre of Hama in 1982, when Hafez al-Assad's security forces reportedly killed some 30,000 civilians, prompted a shift in strategy. The Islamists rejected violent militancy in favor of a "Gramscian" strategy of long-term, incremental infiltration of state institutions. Indicators of their success include the arrest, reportedly at Islamists' insistence, of Nabil Fayyad, an intellectual who had warned of their growing power. "Islamists are spreading like wildfire," says one Syrian human rights activist. "People are rejecting the ideology of the Ba'ath party, but they are not rejecting Islam."

"Damascus Spring" Lesson?: Ba'athist Resilience
The ruthlessness of the regime was evident in the harsh crackdown on the short-lived Damascus Spring 2001-2002 after dissidents questioned the legitimacy of Ba'athist rule. The Ba'athists “are open to reform only if they get international assurances that at the end of the reform, the regime will survive," said Michel Kilo, a leading member of the Syrian opposition. Hardline defense minister Mustafa Tlass confirmed as much when he declared “we will not accept that anybody take power from us, because it comes from the barrel of the gun, and we are its masters.”

Alongside other liberal intellectuals like economics professor Aref Dalila and human rights lawyer Anwar al-Bunni, Kilo was a leading figure in the Damascus Spring that followed the Western-educated Bashar Assad's succession of his late father. Expectations that Bashar would usher in a process of glasnost and reform - Columbia University's regional specialist Rashid Khalidi, said he represented "a very big change in outlook" -- quickly proved delusional.

A brief period of relative liberalization did prompt a temporary flowering of independent associations. The Friends of Civil Society, established by industrialist Riad Seif, spawned a plethora of political salons and even state-controlled media published criticism of the regime, including the widely-read Statement of the 99. But as opposition critiques grew bolder, the “revolutionary legitimacy” of Ba'athism became subject to question, not least when the “99” group published the Basic Document of the Committees for the Revival of Civil Society.

The backlash came in early 2001, led by vice president Abd al-Halim Khaddam, a bastion of the hardline conservative thawabit (fundamentals) group within the elite. Opposition activists like Dalila and al-Bunni were imprisoned and official media and regime discourse shifted from “reform and renewal” to “development and modernization.” Bashar Assad threw his weight behind the conservatives, confirming a strategy of “authoritarian pluralism,” seeking to revive the ruling elite and promote administrative reform of a corrupt and stifling bureaucracy through more capable technocrats.

Disappointment with the regime's failure to reform is one factor in France's decision to align with the US and pressure Syria to withdraw from Lebanon. French President Jacques Chirac “strongly supported” Assad when he assumed office in 2000, only to be “bitterly disappointed by his performance ever since, and in particular his failure to carry out promised economic and political reforms.”

“Ba'athism is largely dead,” Syria expert Joshua Landis reports from Damascus, but many Syrians are still hoping Bashar Assad will “reinvigorate” the largely stagnant reform process. “They are counting on him to assemble the Ba'ath Party Congress later this year and prove that he is serious about putting some fire under the reform process,” Landis suggests. But even the pro-Syrian demonstrations in Beirut and Damascus should be seen as “part of the spreading impact of a new political sensibility,” Landis argues.

If Baathism is largely dead, Syria's democratic opposition is clearly alive. In January, four Syrian opposition groups announced the formation of a national coordination committee in defense of basic rights and human rights in Syria. And an appeal to Assad, signed by over 140 intellectuals, called for the withdrawal of Syrian forces and urged the regime to refrain from using “outdated political means of dealing with crises”. The challenge for democrats, evident in their relative isolation in 2001-2002, is to cultivate a mass base. ''We need to go grass roots, and show some bravery,'' says one dissident. ''We need to build a constituency, and create alliances, because without a strong opposition there is no change that's going to come at the top.''

But EU-US Differences On Reform Strategy for Syria
On March 10 Ba'athist youth group members and pro-government students attacked demonstrators in Damascus calling for an end to Syria's 42-year-old emergency laws. The human rights demonstration, comprising lawyers, writers and Kurds, was broken up by pro-government youths who beat and chased the activists from the main court to a city centre square. The National Co-ordination Committee for Basic Freedom and Human Rights accused pro-government supporters of "repressive and uncivilised behaviour”. Journalists had cameras and recording equipment seized by security officials who stood by while the activists were attacked.

Such actions should stir action in Brussels where officials are believed to be reconsidering the billion-dollar association agreement between Syria and the European Union in the light of Syria's failure to withdraw its troops from Lebanon. The association agreement, which commits signatories to respect fundamental human rights, must be ratified unanimously by the EU's 25 member states. Syria is the only participant in the Barcelona Process, designed to promote links between the EU and its Mediterranean periphery, not to have signed an agreement.

Only last month, a senior European Union official was lauding EU-Syrian cooperation. "Our shared efforts over the past 25 years have paved the way for more effective cooperation,” said Koos Richelle, Director-General of the Europe Aid Cooperation Office at an annual Euro-Mediterranean seminar. The EU, said Rochelle, was the ”strongest supporter of the Syrian government's modernization process” and he described the Ba'athist regime as “an active partner in our ring of friends."

Prospects for a concerted EU-US effort to secure regime change seem slim with the EU committed to a policy of both engagement with the Ba'athist regime and accommodation to Hizbollah. "We can agree with the Americans on need to establish democracy in these two countries, but we have different means to implement our policy,” said Emma Odwin, spokeswoman for the European Commission's external relations. The EU's “special policies” with both Iran and Syria will continue “with the aim of approaching them to give a push forward to reforms."

Iraq War a Catalyst But Arab Democrats Set Their Own Agenda
With the region's rulers consistently portraying local democrats as agents of foreign interests and anti-Americanism at an all-time high, it makes sense for local reformers to keep a distance from external supporters. "The mixing of the Arab reform agenda with the American agenda increases the estrangement of the democratic movement from the majority of the (Arab) people," claims Azmi Bisharah, a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, writing in the Palestinian daily Al-Quds.

Others take a more nuanced approach. The “new wave of democracy [that] has emerged within the Arab countries and societies is a great victory for the democrats, for the reformists in the Arab countries, says Uraib el-Rantawi, head of Jordan's al-Quds Center for Political Studies. But, he says, one cannot ignore the role of the international communities concerning this new wave of democracy and freedom in the Arab countries."

"The US use of hard power in Iraq has grabbed attention,” says Rosemary Hollis, Middle East specialist at London's Chatham House, noting that the European Union's regional reform initiatives are “very gradualist.” “It would be sad to conclude that the US was right,” she laments, and believes the region will “probably get more rapid gradualism but not revolutions.” While recognizing that the Iraq election “does signal the transformation of the existing Arab system,” Hollis, a leading British Arabist, suggests the resulting regional fragmentation could yet be “a prelude to a broader Arab awakening" of pan-Arab nationalism and Islamism.

"A liberated Iraq can show the power of freedom to transform this vital region by bringing hope and progress into the lives of millions," President George W. Bush said over two years ago at a Washington think tank. Julia Choucair, of the Carnegie Endowment's Arab Reform Bulletin, insists there is no evidence linking the Iraq war and events in Lebanon. Others suggest otherwise.

“It is strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq,” said Walid Jumblatt, Lebanese Druze leader and parliamentary deputy. “I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, eight million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world," he recently told The Washington Post. “The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it." (And this from a man who had publicly wished that Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz - "a virus wreaking corruption in the Arab land” – had been killed in Iraq and told the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, “We are all happy when U.S. soldiers are killed [in Iraq] week in and week out. The killing of U.S. soldiers in Iraq is legitimate and obligatory.”)

Conspiracy theories never lose their appeal and some commentators in the region will always insist that external pressures for democratic reform only disguise sinister strategic interests. But recent events appear to be changing the minds if not the hearts of even the most virulently anti-American figures.

"I think the Middle East is changing," Jumblatt told Newsweek. "The Arab people want to join the rest of the civilized world. They want freedom. I have denounced the American invasion of Iraq, but I also admit that the Iraqi people are now free." Unreliable and opportunist he may be but for the moment Jumblatt seems to have thrown his resources behind Lebanon's democratic opposition to the extent of convening meetings of opposition politicians with leading civil society activists. It was at his mountain retreat that they formulated a common platform demanding the resignation of leading security officers, a neutral government and a timetable for Syrian withdrawal. As for Wolfowitz, he's not holding a grudge, and told Lebanese television Jumblatt has "shown a lot of courage."

If there is a causal nexus to the recent chain of events, most commentators recognize that it comprises both internally-driven actors -- not least the brave stances and demands adopted by Arab democrats – and external pressure, particularly from a US Administration seemingly intent on demonstrating that the cynically realist support for traditional authoritarian allies is a thing of the past. The administration's pro-democratic rhetoric, diplomatic efforts and aid initiatives have been widely dismissed as either insincere, ineffectual or both, and criticized as “mild, gradual measures designed to promote democratic change without unduly challenging the authority of incumbent governments.”

But rhetoric sometimes matters. President Bush sent a clear signal that “clearly and suddenly, the thaw has begun” as the Middle East's apparently frozen absolute monarchies, autocracies and theocracies confront “a critical mass of events .. taking that region in a hopeful new direction." And history suggests that rhetoric may itself be a trim tab factor, sparking or contributing to profound, seemingly inconceivable change.

Arab Exceptionalism Undermined
The upsurge in the Middle East might also begin to challenge the arguments of those who continue to argue that the Arab peoples have little interest in or commitment to democracy. “Focusing on freedom is not that big a priority” for Arabs, argues Beirut-based commentator Rami Khouri. “For most people in the Arab world, the big sticker items are: national liberation from foreign occupation, a sense of dignity, being treated fairly by their own governments, not being subjected to corruption and abuse of power, or being lied to when they turn on their TV news in the evening, being treated decently,” he says. “Freedom and democracy are six or seven on the list.”

Khouri does not identify a political system other than one that is free and democratic that guarantees individual dignity and decent treatment, or offers protection from arbitrary power, poor governance, and media manipulation. But let's leave that aside. What is perhaps more disturbing, especially coming from such a widely-respected commentator, is Khouri's insistence that “personal freedom of the individual is not a central demand or value” for Arabs.

There is growing impatience within the region at the resilience of Arab exceptionalism . “For two decades now the Arabs have been spoken of as a special case, as a people unlike other peoples,” notes Abdel-Moneim Said, director of Egypt's Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies. “Apparently, what is good for others is not good for us.” He cautions that “the forces that thrived on our exceptionalism” –- bureaucracy, conservatism and fundamentalism --“remain strong… and will stop at nothing as they try to drag us back.”

Yet Khouri argues that not only Arabs but people in “most of the developing world” are prepared to “give up personal freedom in return for the benefits they get from belonging to a group, the family, the tribe, the religious group, the clan, the ethnic group.” We might have expected such arguments to have lost credibility after earlier democratic waves in southern Europe, Latin America, and Asia invalidated many observers' conviction that democracy simply did not gel with Catholicism, Asian values and even European peoples lacking robust democratic traditions.

“Such doubts were expressed about democracy's prospects not only in Asia but also Latin America, Catholic Europe, and even the American south,” observes democratisation expert Joshua Muravchik. “Time and again, democracy has proven to be compatible with more variegated cultures than many experts had expected.” In any event, democrats across the Middle East are currently demonstrating the virtues of political volition over anthropological determinism.

Europe Highlights Democratization Credentials
Foreign powers can and should play a role in democratizing the Middle East, says Javier Solana, the EU High Representative for common foreign and security policy. While democratic movements must be “home-grown and adapted to local conditions,” foreign agencies “can help create a context conducive to political change. Once change is under way, they can support and reward reformist forces.”

With the values of democracy and human rights in its “collective DNA” and a demonstrable record in “using Europe's power to attract, stabilise and transform,” Solana suggests the EU has a responsibility in the Middle East to add to the “sense of possibility and optimism as a crescendo of voices calls for more pluralism, more accountability and, yes, more democracy.” The time has come, he concludes, “to answer Europe's democratic calling” in the region.

Other voices echo his call for Europe to reclaim its democratizing vocation and cast off the jaded cynicism that took hold even before the end of the Cold War. "The Germany [US President Ronald] Reagan was traveling in, much like today's Germany, was very skeptical of the American president and his foreign policy," recalls Der Spiegel's Claus Christian Malzahn. "When Reagan stood before the Brandenburg Gate -- and the Berlin Wall -- and demanded that Gorbachev 'tear down this Wall,' he was lampooned the next day. ... But history has shown that it wasn't Reagan who was the dreamer as he voiced his demand. Rather, it was German politicians who were lacking in imagination -- a group who in 1987 couldn't imagine that there might be an alternative to a divided Germany."

The EU is a force for democracy through what it is as much as through what it does, says Robert Cooper, Director General for External Relations at the Council of the EU. "We're the people who do regime change – just look at Turkey or Ukraine, and you can see how far we got by just being [what we are]," he argues. “In promoting democracy, the EU is certainly the actor with the best record in the last 10 years,” argues Nicole Gnesotto, director of the EU Institute for Security Studies, with over 450 million European citizens “assured of the democratic common destiny of their 25 nations.”

Europe's record in promoting democracy is indeed highly commendable when the prospect of accession to the EU creates a compelling imperative for aspirant regimes to implement governance reform and respect basic human rights and democratic norms. But the EU's record is less impressive beyond its own neighbourhood. It is also compromised by the policies and practices of individual member states who maintain an autonomous foreign policy in which realpolitik and commercial interests often override democratic considerations.

US and European approaches to Middle East democratization diverge for legitimate and understandable reasons. The EU, concerned with the stability of its periphery, adopts a long-term and multi-dimensional approach. Drawing on the evident success of the accession-based “gravity model,” the EU aims to cultivate and secure democracy's necessary preconditions -- institution-building, governance reform, economic development.

But the need to engage regimes can make the EU overly sensitive to diplomatic protocol and reluctant to press the region's autocrats and authoritarians on human rights and democratic reform. The EU's Barcelona Process, while formally committing Euro-Mediterranean partners to respect human rights and democratic norms, has consistently prioritized trade and other factors when such rights and norms have been violated. The challenge for the EU, therefore, is what to do when gravity fails and how to reach the optimal equilibrium between, to use Solana's formulation, stability and transformation.

In fact, Europe has learned over the past three years that its ambitions exceed its reach, says Josef Joffe, editor of the German weekly Die Zeit. But, if parties on both sides can move beyond the mutual hubris, Joffe suggests there is a strategically vital joint agenda which includes democratic transformation in the Middle East. This is a compelling proposition and the energetic pursuit of a joint transatlantic agenda in support of home-grown democrats and reform initiatives should help accelerate what will inevitably be a long and uneven transition to democracy and modernity.

…. Can A Revived Atlanticism Confront Its "Most Demanding Test"?
Similar initiatives are outlined in a proposed Compact Between the United States and Europe, published simultaneously in Washington and London and signed by 55 prominent foreign policy and defence experts. The compact proposes that the US and EU member states affirm that “encouraging the peaceful development of democratic societies that respect human rights in the broader Middle East is a central strategic aim of their foreign policies.” The compact, drafted in the form of a diplomatic agreement, commits the US and EU to “establish an Independent Foundation for Democracy in the Middle East and jointly contribute $100 million a year over the next five years to its activities.”

A "transatlantic initiative for progress," under the joint auspices of the US and EU, could provide a common framework for new joint programmes within the Arab and Muslim worlds, argues Guillaume Parmentier of the French Institute for International Relations. Parmentier's suggestions may do little more than echo earlier proposals for transatlantic cooperation. They also hint at a technocratic and elitist approach familiar to Parisian Enarques but at odds with the bottom-up paradigm of civil society and democratic activists, particularly his notions that freedom can be “given to peoples" and democracy take root “where individuals are trained to think outside the references provided by their family or ethnic group”.

The transatlantic community faces a "historic challenge in the Arab and Muslim world," according to a new report from CSIS, a Washington-based think tank. "The combination of poverty and social repression, religious divisions and political instability, technological backwardness, and daunting demographics makes for an explosive mix…It is there that the partnership will meet its most demanding test — but it is also there that the partnership can least afford to fail that test." A critical factor will be finding the right balance between regional stability and democratic transformation.

Such demands for joint action challenge the conventional wisdom of insurmountable transatlantic division. Profound differences over Iraq, Iran, China, Kyoto and international law, amongst other issues, purportedly demonstrate a strategic rift rather than temporarily divergent interests. But on Iraq a watershed appears to have been reached, with European states formerly hostile to the war now committed to assisting reconstruction. "It's got to be the beginning of a thaw," said Tom Korologos, the US ambassador to Belgium, of Bush's recent visit to Europe.

“The initial intention of redesigning the Middle East map as a preamble to peace may have looked unrealistic at the time,” writes Guy Sorman in Le Figaro, “but seems to be on the road to appearing achievable.” “It seems perfectly clear that the Arab world has perfectly understood the principles of democratic liberalism. The Europeans were too skeptical and underestimated their desire for freedom,” he continues.

After recently meeting with Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice noted that “we no longer need to talk about the transatlantic alliance; we are talking about how to put the transatlantic alliance to use to seize the historic opportunities before us.” The recent Franco-American cooperation in pressuring Syria is also a hopeful sign, says Lebanese opposition leader, Camille Chamoun of the National Liberation party. "The free world is really helping Lebanon restore its sovereignty," he says.

Europeans, complains The Economist, “with the French and Germans to the fore, have been gracelessly loath to admit that the Bush doctrine, however crassly simplistic in expression and implementation, has moved the scenery -- in the right direction.” But there is a growing appreciation, not only that the war prompted subsequent shifts in the region's political culture and prospects, but that some Europeans may have misjudged the current US administration.

Some Europeans are still made uncomfortable by President Bush's invoking the F-word as a leitmotif of US foreign policy. In his inaugural address Bush used the word "freedom" 27 times and 21 times in his State of the Union speech. In contrast, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, opening the annual Munich Conference on Security Policy, addressed many of the same themes as Bush -- Middle East peace, terrorism, 21st-century security. Schröder never mentioned freedom but frequently invoked "stability," "instability," "stabilization," or "stabilizing." This difference in US and European rhetoric is noted, not least in the Middle East.

The argument that Bush's language of freedom is “not benevolent idealism but an ideological weapon” will find its adherents amongst cynics and realists on both Left and Right. Such sentiments are not only found among Europeans of course. "Only history can be the final arbiter of our success or failure,” notes one observer, lamenting that “it does seem somewhat unseemly that so many Americans are waging their own battles against a policy that, although a long shot, could radically alter the situation in the Middle East in our favor and deal a major blow to those who would continue to try to do us harm."

But opinion is starting to shift as Europeans come to recall and reclaim a tradition of democratic internationalism. "There have been many good reasons to criticize the messianic political style of Bush's first term," argues Rüdiger Lentz of German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, but, he asks, "Isn't it time now to stop finger-pointing and bickering?" Europeans have to acknowledge that Afghanistan and Iraq "might have been catalysts for what we see now happening in Lebanon, in Egypt and even between the Palestinians and Israel," he suggests. "The spread of the ideals of freedom and democracy has been a European prerogative for a long time," Lentz recalls. "Don't leave it now to Bush alone to carry this torch to new frontiers."

Schröder's China Stance Attacked
Lifting the European Union's arms embargo against China “would contradict a forceful human-rights policy, a forward-looking strategic foreign policy and transatlantic relations,” according to a cross-party letter signed by three German members of the European Parliament -- Elmar Brok, a Christian Democrat; Erika Mann, a Social Democrat; and Cem Özdemir, a member of the Greens.

Gerhard Schröder, the Social Democratic chancellor, has faced growing criticism from his junior coalition partner, the Greens, over his support lifting the ban, imposed after the regime violently suppressed the burgeoning democracy movement in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Concern intensified this week after Beijing's communist regime unveiled legislation to preauthorize military action if Taiwan moved towards formal independence. Political turmoil in Hong Kong has added to the uncertainty and placed additional responsibility on democratic states to hold China accountable. “It will be for world leaders, despite their eagerness to do almost anything to please Beijing, to remind China that "One Country, Two Systems," to which it is treaty-bound, means exactly that,” argues Jonathan Mirsky, a leading China watcher.

“It is difficult to understand why the Europeans, especially Germany and France, are pressing for an end of the embargo," argues Der Tagesspiegel. "They only seem to be interested in selling as much as possible to the Chinese," it adds. Austria's Die Presse joined the fray, accusing the EU of double standards after EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner suggested that China has made progress in the area of human rights. "This shows contempt for all the courageous advocates of freedom of speech being held in China's jails."

Cuba Pulls Out Stops To Avoid Human Rights Censure 
Cuba is campaigning to avoid a repeat of last year's censure by the UN Commission on Human Rights which began its annual meeting in Geneva this week. The communist regime “expects no Latin American country will play the role of Cain” in the commission, said Havana's foreign minister Felipe Perez Roque.

Roque is spending this week in Europe lobbying governments not to condemn a regime which, with North Korea, remains one of the world's last Stalinist dictatorships. In April 2004, the UNCHR passed a resolution urging that Cuba "refrain from adopting measures which could jeopardize the fundamental rights" of its citizens. The commission "deplored” the March 2003 mass arrests and prosecutions of political dissidents and journalists. Yet Cuba was recently named to the commission even though a December 2004 UN review expressed strong criticism of the UNCHR for including some of the world's worst human rights violators among its 53 members.

The European Union recently ended 18 months of diplomatic sanctions imposed after the 2003 arrests, citing Cuba's "progress towards pluralism and respect for human rights." But of the 75 democrats imprisoned in the crackdown of 2003, some 61 remain in prison while 14 have been released on conditional discharge. Over the same period, 21 other dissidents have been jailed. International human rights organizations have called for a review of the EU decision.

Former Czech anti-communist dissident and ex-President Vaclav Havel condemned the EU's shift towards the communist regime. "It is hard to find a better way for the EU to destroy its ideals of freedom, equality and respect for human rights," he wrote in French daily Le Figaro. Havel accused European governments of putting hotel investments ahead of human rights. He denounced efforts to limit dissidents' access to EU embassies as "diplomatic apartheid" noting from his own experience that diplomatic receptions were generally the only occasions on which dissidents and communist officials met.

The island's democrats and human rights activists are pursuing parallel strategies. Leading dissident Oswaldo Paya, recipient of the European Parliament's Sakharov Prize, has proposed a conciliatory National Dialogue. Paya outlined plans for a peaceful transition to democracy in a detailed “Transitional Program,” released in Cuba in December 2002. Castro's response was to launch the 2003 campaign of harassment and mass arrests. Meanwhile, an Assembly for the Advancement of Civil Society, is being organized for May 20 by former political prisoner Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello.

Both initiatives will at least provide a test for the EU's expectation that life will get easier for dissidents. While Spain, which led the EU's conciliatory moves towards Castro, “has recovered a margin for maneuver,” notes Madrid's liberal daily El Pais, it remains to be seen whether Cuban dissidents will benefit.

Useful Idiots: Pt 627
Some 200 intellectuals, activists and artists issued a letter this week urging the U.N. Human Rights Commission not to censure Cuba over it's human rights record. "We urge the governments of the commission's member countries to not permit [the resolution] to be used to legitimize the anti-Cuban aggression of the administration of [President] Bush," the activists' letter said.

Signatories included Nobel Peace Prize laureates Adolfo Perez Esquivel of Argentina and Rigoberta Menchu of Guatemala, and Nobel Literature Prize winners Nadine Gordimer of South Africa and Portuguese communist Jose Saramago. Other signatories included US actor Danny Glover and France's former “first lady”, Danielle Mitterrand. The intervention was described as "noble and important" by Roberto Retamar, director of Cuba's center of Latin America culture, who went on to describe imprisoned dissidents as "mercenaries" who deserved to be jailed.

A resolution to condemn the communist regime's record is usually presented at the Commission's spring meeting in Geneva which opened Monday and runs through April 22. Cuba expects such a proposal will be presented and considered in mid-April. In addition to organizing the activists' petition, Havana dispatched its foreign minister to Europe on an intensive propaganda offensive. Last year's resolution was adopted by 22 votes to 21, with 10 abstentions, and Cuba expects to win over some key votes.

NEWS IN BRIEF

EU Funds Russian Human Rights Groups
The European Union has set aside €870,000 ($1.16 million) for human rights projects in Russia. Commission representative Mark Franco, speaking at a conference on human rights in Moscow, said the money would be available in the form of grants to small activist groups between March 10 and May 17 2005. Each grant should not exceed €100,000 euros, while the maximum length of the project could not exceed 18 months. The EU's four funding priorities are innovative approaches to encourage young people's participation in human rights activities; information-related work to prevent illegal actions by law enforcement agencies; support for freedom of speech and independent media; and human rights violations in the North Caucasus. According to Izvestia, the EU has spent some €3.75 million supporting 74 human rights projects in Russia.

NDI Democracy Promotion Center Opens in Yemen
The new Yemeni headquarters of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDI) and its Democracy Promotion Center, devoted to educating members of parliament on the principles of parliamentary work, opened on March 3. The new facilities will provide local political parties with access to research capacities, a library and digital literature, and Internet-based resources.

Mugabe Regime Threatens NGOs
The Zimbabwean government is threatening to de-register at least 30 NGOs for failing to provide details of donor funds. Public service minister Paul Mangwana claims that some NGOs fund the opposition and "anti-government activities, in the name of democratisation". Some 300 local and 30 international NGOs were active in Zimbabwe at the end of last year but new legislation has paralysed NGOs involved in human rights and civic voter education. The NGO bill bans foreign NGOs concerned principally with "issues of governance," and denies registration to NGOs receiving foreign funding for "promotion and protection of human rights and political governance issues."

Suat Kiniklioglu Appointed GMF Ankara Office Director
The German Marshall Fund (GMF) has appointed Suat Kiniklioglu, founding director of the Ankara Center for Turkish Policy Studies (ANKAM) and a former GMF transatlantic fellow, as director of its soon-to-open office in Ankara, Turkey. During its first year of operations, Kiniklioglu will help GMF to develop policy programs, fellowships, and grant-making activities that encourage more active and prominent Turkish participation in the Euro-Atlantic community. Additionally, GMF seeks to support stronger civil society in Turkey and its neighboring countries and to create a forum where Americans, Europeans, and Turks can learn from one another and address shared challenges.

RESOURCES

Libert@s Available
The latest edition of Libert@s, the electronic newsletter of Rights & Democracy is available here.

OPPORTUNITIES

John Humphrey Freedom Award
Rights & Democracy is accepting nominations for the John Humphrey Freedom Award, presented each year for outstanding contributions to the promotion of human rights and democratic development. The award consists of a grant of $25,000 and a speaking tour of Canadian cities to help increase awareness of the recipient's work. The deadline for nominations of an organization or person is April 15, 2005. Additional information is available from Anyle Coté, e-,mail: acote@dd-rd.ca, or the Rights & Democracy Website.

European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR)
The European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) Programme of the European Communities is seeking proposals for Human Rights Microprojects in:

Morocco For further details, e-mail: Delegation-morocco-microprojets@cec.eu.int. The deadline for submission of proposals is 23 March 2005, 16.00, Rabat time.

Egypt full Guidelines here. The deadline for submission of proposals is 3 May 2005, 14:00, Cairo local time.

DR Congo full Guidelines here. The deadline for submission of proposals is 12 May 2005, 17:00, Kinshasa time.

Sudan The deadline for submission of proposals is 10 May 2005, 15:00, Sudan local time.

Russia full guidelines here. The deadline for submission of proposals is 17 May 2005, 16:00, Moscow time.

Lebanon full guidelines here. They are also available for consultation at the following address: Delegation of The European Commission, 490 Harbor Drive Bldg., Charles Helou Av., Saifi – Beirut – Lebanon, Tel:  01-569 400 Fax: 01- 569-415. Deadline for submission of proposals is 11 April 2005, 16:00, Beirut time.

West Bank & Gaza Strip further details here and at the following addresses: Mr. John Kjaer, Head of Representation, European Commission Technical Assistance Office West Bank & Gaza, George Adam Smith 5, Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem or Mr. John Kjaer, Head of Representation, European Commission Technical Assistance Office West Bank & Gaza, Charles de Gaulle Street, Rimal, P.O. Box 576, Gaza. The deadline for submission of proposals is Monday 4 April 2005, 16.00, local time of address (Jerusalem & Gaza).

European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR), Turkey
The Delegation of European Commission to Turkey is seeking proposals for Human Rights Microprojects, with financial assistance of the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) Programme of the European Communities.

  Four thematic priorities of equal rank have been identified for the 2005 call for proposals. The programme will specifically support projects which include one or more of these priorities:

• Freedom of expression and independent media
  
• Improved access to justice
  
• Fight against torture and impunity
  
• Protection and respect of cultural diversity.

The full guidelines and other relevant documents are available here and here.  

You can also contact the EC Representation at the following address: EC Representation to Turkey, 2004/EIDHR-micro/120-705/L/G, Section C -– Institution Building and Civil Society, Uður Mumcu Caddesi 88/4, 06700 ANKARA, Fax: (312) 446 67 37. The deadline for submission of projects is 14 April  2005, 17.00, Ankara time. Any application received after this deadline will not be considered.

2005 Eliav-Sartawi Awards for Middle Eastern Journalism (Zel Lurie Journalism Fund)
Search for Common Ground requests submissions for this annual competition to recognise and encourage journalism that contributes to a better understanding among peoples and to maintaining political dialogue in the Middle East. Awards will be offered for articles published between April 1, 2004 and April 15, 2005 in Arab, Israeli, or Western publications. Articles submitted for consideration will be reviewed by distinguished international panels of judges. Winners in each category will receive a monetary award of €1,000. An Awards Ceremony will be organised in Brussels in September 2005. Please send submissions before April 15, 2005 to AwardsME2005@sfcg.org. Details, including the submission process, here.

International Republican Institute, Program Officer for Africa, Washington, D.C.
The Program Officer (PO) is responsible for designing and implementing a strategy for IRI programs in selected countries in the Africa Region. S/he develops long-range and annual plans for the country program(s), identifies potential partner organizations, develops training strategies and oversees project implementation. The Program Officer closely monitors political and economic developments in the country(ies) and develops and maintains the relationship between IRI and country partners and grantees. S/he designs, develops and implements projects in collaboration with partner organizations. The PO executes programs, including election observation missions, conferences, training seminars and other program activities in the country(ies). The Program Officer is responsible for developing and meeting country program(s) fundraising goals, including preparing grant proposals, budgets, quarterly reports and evaluations. Further details here. Fax: 202-408-9462 Email: personnel@iri.org.

National Democratic Institute, Various Washington-based and International Positions Available
Interested applicants can apply now using the on-line resume tool here. IMPORTANT: Please include cover letter with specific job title cited. Applicants must be willing to travel to Washington at their own expense for interviews. No phone calls please. Email: llangman@ndi.org

IFES, Program Assistant, Middle East
The IFES Middle East and North Africa (MENA) program is accepting applications for a full-time Program Assistant to support IFES' Middle East and, specifically, Iraq projects. The Program Assistant will report to the Program Officer. Contact Information: Michelle Bovich Phone: (202)350-6700 Email: aboboc@ifes.org

Freedom House, Program Officers, Cuba Programs, Washington, DC
Freedom House is seeking two program officers for its Cuba programs. The tasks of the Program officers will include taking the lead on selected program tasks, promoting the project, researching and analyzing current affairs, assisting in assuming the responsibility of and making decisions for organizational leadership, program design and implementation, financial management, fundraising, public relations, and other duties as assigned. The ideal candidate must have knowledge of civil liberties, human rights, political change, and democracy and transition issues in Latin America and/or the former Soviet Union (specific knowledge of Cuba is a plus); knowledge of government funding sources and program management; ability to effectively write proposals, reports, procedures, and maintain documentation; ability to take initiative, high level of dependability, ability to read, write, and speak English and Spanish. Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience required. Master's degree preferred. One to two years of professional experience in human rights or democracy-promotion a plus. International travel required. Please submit cover letter, resume, and salary history to: Megan Schmidt, Human Resources Manager, e-mail: humanresources@freedomhouse.org or fax: 202-296-5078.

Freedom House, Program Officer, Civic Mobilization Programs
Freedom House is seeking a program officer for its civic mobilization programs. The tasks of the program officer will include taking the lead on selected program tasks, promoting the project, researching and analyzing current affairs, assisting in assuming the responsibility of and making decisions for organizational leadership, program design and implementation, financial management, fundraising, public relations, and other duties as assigned. The ideal candidate must have knowledge of human rights, democracy and democracy-assistance, and issues of political change and social mobilization; knowledge of government funding sources and program management; ability to effectively write proposals, reports, procedures, maintain documentation; ability to take initiative, high level of dependability, ability to read, write, and speak English. Fluency in Russian, Spanish, French or another second language a plus. Submit cover letter, resume, and salary history to: Megan Schmidt, Human Resources Manager, humanresources@freedomhouse.org or fax: 202-296-5078

Freedom House, Director, North Korea Advocacy Initiative, Washington DC
Freedom House is seeking a candidate to fill a one-year position as Director of its North Korea Advocacy Initiative The full-time position, located in Washington, DC, is responsible for the implementation and direction of the organization's activities on human rights in North Korea, including the development and organization of an international summit within the next year. Supervising a staff of three employees, the Director will implement the organization's strategic plan for North Korea, and will be responsible for media outreach, coordination with partner organizations, recruitment and supervision of volunteers, and all logistical planning. The Director will report directly to the Executive Director of Freedom House, and will also coordinate the activities of the project's advisory committee. Fluency in Korean and knowledge of current Korean politics is required. Previous experience in human rights advocacy, international development, and conference planning desirable. Submit resume, cover letter, and salary history to: Human Resources Department, e-mail: humanresources@freedomhouse.org or fax: 202-296-5078.

Freedom House, Program Officer, North Korea Project, Washington DC
Freedom House is seeking a candidate to fill a one-year position as program officer in its North Korea Project. The full-time position, located in Washington, DC, is responsible assisting in the implementation of the organization's activities on human rights in North Korea, including the planning of a major summit and outreach activities. Responsibilities include: conducting media outreach, working with partner organizations and volunteers, and logistical planning. The North Korean Program Officer will report directly to the Director of the North Korean Advocacy Initiative. Fluency in Korean and knowledge of current Korean politics is required. Must be Internet savvy. Previous experience in human rights advocacy, international development, and conference planning desirable. Communications background also desirable. Please submit resume, cover letter, and salary history to: Human Resources Department, e-mail: humanresources@freedomhouse.org or fax: 202-296-5078.

Freedom House, Middle East Senior Program Manager, Washington, DC
The Senior Program Manager will assume a leadership role in programs. The tasks of the Senior Program Manager will include, but are not limited to: managing one or more projects, promoting the projects, representing Freedom House before funding organizations, assisting the Executive Director in assuming the responsibility of and making decisions for organizational leadership, program design and implementation, program monitoring and evaluation, financial management, fundraising, and public relations. Candidates should have a minimum of three years experience with international human rights and project management. Knowledge of democratic development issues, including media, governance, civil society or human rights issues required. Experience managing democracy programs funded by USAID and private foundations required. Experience working overseas required. Ability to read, write, and speak English required; ability to read, write, and speak Arabic or French a plus. Regional expertise in the Middle East preferred. Bachelor's degree or equivalent working experience required; Master's level preferred. Please submit resume, cover letter, and salary history to: Megan Schmidt, Human Resources Manager, e-mail: humanresources@freedomhouse.org or fax: 202-296-5078

EVENTS

New York Democracy Forum 2005 Season
The New York Democracy Forum will bring leading democracy advocates to New York City. The 2005 season will feature speaking events each month (except during the summer) at the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College.

On March 22, the inaugural lecture will be given by the Honorable Richard Gephardt on "Spreading Freedom: A Mission for the American People." Other speakers will include Azar Nafisi (April 20), best-selling author of Reading Lolita in Teheran, who will address the topic, "Women, Culture, Human Rights: The Case of Iran", and public intellectual Francis Fukuyama (May 25), whose latest book is entitled State Building: Governance and World Order in the 21st Century, will address the topic, "Do we really know how to promote democracy?"

Future speakers include his Holiness the Dalai Lama, Senator John McCain, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and General Wesley Clark. Each is closely linked to NED and its broad network of democrats.

March 29, 6 pm, SAIS, Rome Building, 1619 Mass Avenue NW, Washington, DC
The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future is Eclipsing the American Dream
Jeremy Rifkin, President, the Foundation on Economic Trends . RSVP to Felisa Neuringer Klubes by phone at 202-663-5626 or e-mail: fklubes@jhu.edu, or go here.

April 22-23, Marriott Wardman, 2660 Woodley Road, NW, Washington, DC
CSID Sixth Annual Conference; Democracy and Development: Challenges for the Islamic World.
Further details and registration here.

April 25-28, Wilton Park, Sussex, UK
Arab-West Policy Dialogue on Common Security and Confidence Building
How can dialogue between the Arab region and the West on security needs be strengthened? Can the EuroMed dialogue improve relations between the Arab world and the West on the lines of the earlier East-West CSCE/OSCE process? How can issues such as democratic values and transformation best be addressed? For further information, please go here.

April 29-30 2005, Rabat, Morocco
EuroMeSCo Annual Conference: Euro-Mediterranean Partnership Priorities Towards 2010
The EuroMeSCo Annual Conference will discuss EMP Priorities Towards 2010. EuroMeSCo members and others involved in partnership activities will be invited to discuss the Barcelona Principles and Participation of Political Actors and Civil Society in the EMP. Working group sessions will focus specifically on the following themes: Euro-Mediterranean Co-operation in Multilateral Fora; Civil Society, and Migration; and Identifying Specific Areas for Security Co-operation.