The king is dead!
Long live the king...
* Jordan Waleed Kenaan Not one but four US presidents rushed to King Hussein's funeral in Jordan. A message of support for the "smooth" succession from the late king to his son Abdala.
Succession to the eldest male son is a "constitutional" procedure reminiscent of the Middle Ages. But the assembled world leaders, and the western media, had no objections. There was no mention of the ballot box which these same leaders demand in Cuba, Nicaragua or any country which does not comply to the minute with their hegemonic policy. But Jordan is not one of those countries.
The four million inhabitants of Jordan have neither the right to elect their "president" nor the right to choose their government. They have a limited influence in selecting the country's "Parliament". But this institution mainly serves as a decoration to make the king's regime shine in the eyes of the west, in order that the regime may be eligible for continued military, economic, and political support.
Paradoxically, a limited "political opening" is considered essential to accompany the World Bank and the IMF Structural Adjustment Programme. Giving the poor the illusion of participation, to encourage them to bear the burden of reform. We are witnessing the transformation of a country ruled by Martial Law during most of its history to a system of "martialized" laws. At the centre of this "political opening" is, of course, ratification of the "Peace Agreement" with the Zionist State.
What legacy does King Abdala inherit? The old king left the country with over 25% unemployment. The number of households in absolute poverty quadrupled between 1987 and 1992. These households represent at least one quarter of the population. And 7% of families (300,000 persons) live in abject poverty.
A World Bank study of the health sector points to the "possible reemergence of previously eradicated epidemic diseases," as a result of the widening gap between the rich and the poor.?
In 1994, the country's Health Minister revealed that corruption in the governmental health sector had allowed the import and sale of drugs and food that were carcinogenic or otherwise unsuitable for human use! The corruption within the health sector reemerged in
November 1998, when 500 school children were hospitalised after a vaccination programme.
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The public health situation has also worsened due to the lack of drinking water. Each household in Jordan gets just 22 gallons a day compared to 65 gallons in Saudi Arabia and 78 gallons in Israel!* This lead to an even greater catastrophe in July 1998, when it was discovered that contaminated water was being delivered to some neighbourhoods in the capital.
In 1994, the World Bank reported that the ratio of debt to GDP in Jordan (107% of the GDP) "exceeded the standards established for creditworthiness (75% of the GDP) throughout the past decade." s According to the Bank, there would be no way out for the Jordanian economy during the 1990s unless the country could achieve a level of growth of over 6% in each year. Jordan would not be able to achieve such growth without attracting "a level of capital inflows from abroad which would support a level of private investment [equivalent to] 20% of
Of course, Jordan's Structural Adjustment Programme has failed, just like all those in other parts of the world. In August 1998 the Jordanian government attacked the World Bank in the local press for the failure of the 1988-98 Structural Adjustment Program (SAP). The World Bank and IMF in turn attacked the government for submitting false numbers for the rate of growth in GDP and other economic figures. For four years the government had been claiming a growth rate of 6-7%. In fact, these years were characterised by either what the IMF likes to call "negative growth," or growth rates below 1.5%!
This was a curious charade. The IMF had accepted the government figures at the time, and applauded Jordan for its efforts. When challenged over its falsehood, the Jordanian government admitted the falsification. What is the point of this programme, since both who design it and those who implement it agree on the talsification of its advertised goals? What are the real goals of SAPs?
It is increasingly clear that the real success for both sides is the integration of the local economy with the world global market. Despite all the rhetoric, SAP programmes are not about paying the National Debt. These IMF and World
Bank plans actually maintain the debt trap, in order to force the restructuring of the whole economy for the benefit of global capitalism. The basic principles of the Bretton Woods system, established 50 years ago, are trade liberalisation and controlling capital flows.*
In 10 years of Structural Adjustment,
Jordan did a lot to attract foreign capital. The highest band of income tax was reduced from 50% to 35%. All kinds of tax breaks for companies were introduced. Government subsidies on oil, food. fodder and other vital subsidies were reduced or abolished. But the exchange rate of the Jordanian Dinar was kept fixed. Import tariffs were reduced or abolished. The revenue shortfall was made up by a new sales tax, hitting consumers and the poor in particular.
Despite the desperate situation., the country continued to take loans to fulfil its commitments to the world capital and specific sections of the local bourgeoisie in facilitating their investments and complying with their needs.
The bad news is not over. Water is scarce in Jordan, and many voices at government level are talking about diverting water from the "wasteful" agricultural sector to "income-generating" like industry and tourism.. This will presumably be done by liberalising the prices of water, and letting the market decide who can afford this most basic of
The World Bank has also recommended changes in the Land Laws. They want to replace the taxes on land transfer to people outside the close family by taxes on vacant land. The effect of this will be to concentrate land in the hands of few investors. It is a key step in the "upgrading" of the refugee camps where many of the country's Palestinians live. " A client state
Despite the failure of the first 10 year SAP, the government is negotiating a sequel. To understand what kind of government would do this to its own people, we must look back to the origins of the Jordanian monarchy.
As the Ottoman empire declined, Jordan came under British control. This influence continued even after "independence" in 1946. Modern Jordan was a key part of the British and French plan to divide and rule the middle east. Jordan was to serve as a buffer zone along most of the border between the Zionist State and the Arab world.
Because of its importance as a buffer state, the regime has been assisted and supervised by the USA and the oil-rich Arab regimes of the Persian gulf.
The country's main source of income during the past 72 years was foreign grants and loans. Up until the late 80s, this amounted to more than 50-70% of the national budget. There were ups and downs in this trend, but only for a brief period. The king always managed to find new donors interested in his geopolitical merchandise."
The new king will have the same tribal support that he inherited from his grandfather. The tribes are used to structure his army, which is the bedrock of the monarchy. Army officers and top civil servants are invariably selected
from the allied tribes. As its power has expanded across the entire country, the masculine tribal mentality had come to have a massive weight in society, from the tribal and army songs you hear in the street to the deplorable situation of Jordanian women.
The monarchy's tribal power base is no historical accident. Jordanian kings have managed the country in alliance and with the substantial help of the British, US, and Israeli governments. At different periods, the old king also harnessed support from richer countries in the region, mainly Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Iraq.
In 1956, the king had to bow to the will of the people, who poured into the streets against the British backed "Baghdad Pact" and against British rule of the country and army. By the mid-60s the King had regained control. He used British and US military and economic support to crush the people's movements He dissolved the Parliament and declared martial law. There were dozens of casualties and thousands of arrests.
This repression continued until the 1967 war, when Jordan lost the West Bank to the Zionist state. The army, the backbone of the regime, was crushed and scattered, and the Palestinian resistance began to reemerge. The king had to again bow to circumstance, reconstruct his forces and regain support from his American and Israeli allies. Then he began to prepare for the 1970 civil war and massacres in Amman. He crushed the Palestinian national resistance and drove them out of the country. He reintroduced martial law, with full economic, military and political support from America.
In 1973, fearing another surge in nationalist feelings, he flew to meet the Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meiar and revealed to her a possible Egyptian and Syrian attack on Israel. Under Jordanian law, this was treasonous and criminal.
Martial law was maintained until 1989, when the king bowed to the threat of unrest. He was terrified that the intifada in the West Bank would spread into Jordan, where over 60% of the population is of Palestinian origin.
But what most alarmed the king were riots in the non-Palestinian population, which represents his main source of support. People were rioting against the effects of the structural adjustment plan. Soldiers were among the rioters.
Hussein managed to crush the uprising quickly, and then stabilise the situation with a limited political opening. But he didn't change the parameters of the structural adjustment programme, which he insisted was the only way out of the economic crisis.
After the second gulf war, in the mood of defeat which was saping the morale of the people, the regime redoubled its implementation of the SAP. The king began with the help of a "tamed" Parliament: he co-opted the Islamic movement, Jordan's largest
"opposition." (Hardly surprising, the Islamic movement was the only legal party in Jordan between 1943 and 1989).
From this safe position, the king put forward an undemocratic and pro-tribal election law, preventing the opposition parties from pursuing any sort of effective alliances against the coming "Peace Treaty" with Israel.
Then came a "new" press and information law, condemned by human rights groups in Jordan and all over the world Under this legislation, 13 newspaper have been closed, and there has been a continuous trickle of arrests and condemnations of journalists.
The combination of these two laws serves to silence and dismantle all opposition voices by all means available. Nothing has been left to chance. It interferes directly and indirectly, both to advance the regime's loyal clients, and to limit the already-fragmented opposition.
The country's elections are seriously manipulated. Last time round, only 39% of the 1.85m. voters participated. This is less that 23% of the population!
Oppositionists and independent voices are falsely accused, tried under harsh legislation, and sentenced to long periods of imprisonment. Many others are still waiting for their day in court.
Jordan's "forgiving king" often steps in to pardon those he has unjustly accused and sentenced. Good for his
In November 1998, Amnesty international reported that "several detainees have died in jail over last two years following beating by different security services... sometimes [there] has been no proper investigation" of charges brought against oppositionists. But this kind of news doesn't interest the monarchy's supporters in the western media.
One of the most troubling results of these laws has been the attack on labour and professional unions, and regular interference in union elections. The regime has also introduced a new labour law that eliminates the right to strike, and leave unions vulnerable to being dismantled at any time.
This is part of a process aimed at maintaining the popular masses in a state of defeatism, lowering their morale and weakening their ability to resist the savage consequences of the SAP implementation. This makes it possible to accelerate the pace of "privatisation." In Jordan today, privatisation is a wholesale sell-off of government enterprises at ridiculously low prices for the sake of "attracting" international capital.
At the same time, the government is reducing or abolishing subsidies on food and fodder. The price of water for agriculture has risen by over 600% during
This is the contradictory legacy that King Abdala must now assume.
Abdala has a 20-year military career and has served as the head of the elite forces in the army. The former regent, his uncle Hassan was unable to oppose King Hussein's decision to appoint Abdala as his successor. The United States administration and Israel have already shown their support for Abdala and are trying to gather aid from the region (mainly from the Gulf States) to smooth the transition of power and maintain stability.
There is a lot of talk about "democracy " and "political opening," but this is just a smokescreen. As a sign of welcome to the new king, the main organised party, the Islamic Action Front (IAF) has lifted its boycott of the country's "fixed" elections. There is no real opening for an expression of the popular interest.
The policies which Abdala will continue are against the will and the interest of ordinary people in Jordan and across the Arab World. The new monarch will pursue close relations with Israel, and collaborate with the American plan to topple Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq.
Abdala will continue his father's strategy of active intervention in the changing structure of the Islamic groups and other opposition groups on the lett, demoralising and dividing activists
The new king will continue Jordan's submission to IMF and World Bank diktats. Any foreign aid which does arrive will be sucked into the corrupted structure of the regime.
If this century has proven anything, it proves that no government is to be trusted to ensure the rights, needs and future of the people. Nowhere is this clearer than in the regimes in the Arab world. But what to do with political movements without memory? What do do with those who rushed to the king's funeral, praising his work for peace (with Israel and against the Palestinians) and for the country (for the rich and against the poor). The Jordanian regime can be relied on to pursue the disgrace of the Oslo and Wadi Araba agreements. This is no time for illusions about peace and progress in Jordan and the region. * 1. Theabsolute poverty line for a family of 6.8 persons is JD 97 (US$136) per month per family not paying rent and JD119 (US$167) per month for a family paying rent. Abject poverty is sJD67 per month! 2. Hashmite Kingdom of Jordan: Health sector study, World Bank 1997 Jordan is nine people 5. World Bank, in "Peace and Jordanian Economy" October 1994. 6. Ibid. pg.5 7. "The only part of the so-called national wealth that actually enters into the collective possession of a modern nation is - - the national debt." Marx, Capital Volume One page 919, Vintage Books 8. Whose world Order: Conflicting Visions lecture by Noam Chomsky Sept. 22 1998 at the university of CoWorld Bank Study: "Peace and Jordanian Economy* October 1994. 10. The geopolitical role that Jordan (TransJordan) has played and "benefited" from during different periods of 11. The per capita income ratio of Jordan to Israel is 12. Though the economic crisis in the Persian Gulf threatens to cut Jordan's aid income. Saudi Arabia's national debt is currently 120% of GDP, and oil prices are expected to remain very low.
International Viewpoint #309 March 1999 27
offensive in the areas controlled by the RPA-ABB, the guerrilla wing of the Revolutionary Workers Party (RWP-P).
According to Tri-people organisation against disaster (TRIPOD), over 20,000 families have been displaced. The displaced population is coping as best they can. Most brought no food with them, and are now selling their cattle at a very low price, and eating their poultry. Some have found refuge with relatives, who are already in a very tight economic situation. There is no source of livelihood for the refugees in the evacuation centre
The internal refugees have no tents. Some have built rough shelters, but these do not protect them from the sun or the rain. Even the evacuation centres are not safe, with the constant sound of bombings and clashes. The various government and private agencies are virtually ignoring the evacuees. Deployment of military forces
Eighty percent of the country's 350,000 soldiers are now concentrated in
The Philippine government has escalated the war against the Moro minority and revolutionary groups on the Southern island of Mindanao. According to Chris Garlan of the Alab-Katipunan peace movement, "the Mindanao problem is not military but poverty." In 1996, the Armed Forces of the Philippines launched military offensives against the strongholds of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). This offensive was accompanied by the opening of peace negotiations with the group, which seeks self-rule for the indigenous, Muslim population of Mindanao. The army advanced into the peripheries of MILF main camps. (The MILF has 13 major and 33 smaller camps all over Mindanao).
In 1997 the army advanced even further towards the MILF: main camps. Military offensives happened in the MILF camps at Camp Abubakar, Raja Muda, and Camp Omar.
Clashes and skirmishes heightened, while the peace negotiations continued. A Secession of Hostilities agreement was signed, but, later in the year, an armed confrontation near camp Abubakar at Buldon and Barira municipalities resulted to the killing of teachers and students at a Madrasah (Islamic school).
Meanwhile, the government finally signed a peace agreement with the larger Moro National Liberation Front. Mindanao was promised a degree of autonomy, and MNLF leader Nur Misuari became the governor of the Autonomous Region of the Muslims on Mindanao (ARMM).
In 1998, the army intermittently attacked Camp Omar and Camp Rajah Muda. Heavy fire fights took place in these MILF territories which killed and wounded undetermined numbers of government soldiers and rebel comba28 International Viewpoint #309 March 1999 tants. Elsewhere, five major detachments of government troops were overrun by the MILF which resulted to the closure of major national highways.
The heavy fire fights between the two warring armed groups continued to escalate even during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which started on December 19.
There was a massive deployment of military forces from the north of the Philippines (4 Army Divisions, Special Operations Groups, Special Forces and other military units, from bases in Luzon reinforced the government positions around the 13 main MILF camps. This growing encirclement marked a new, higher phase of the military offensive.
By early 1999 the main MILF camps were encircled. Camps Abubakar, Omar and Raja Muda were again shelled with mortars and massive bombings. There was a massive confiscation of MILF arms from their satellite camps and peripheral regions. The skirmishes continue as we go to press.
Since 1996, hundreds of military and MILF forces have been injured and killed. So have many innocent civilians caught in the massive military offensive. The MILF has been on the defensive, but has managed to destroy or capture significant number of AP's and other heavy weapons from government troops.
Thousands of homes and hectares of farmland have been devastated and razed to the ground due to military offensives.
The military has also launched an the Philippines. There are also 20,000 members of the Philippine National Police (PNP) on the island.
Since the "integration into civil life" of the MNLF, 7,000 former guerrillas have been integrated into the armed forces, ready to fight their former comrades in the MILF and the revolutionary guerrilla groups.
The island also has ?'.out 47,000 armed members of paramilitary groups, trained in counter-insurgency, and organised in the Citizen Armed Forces and Geographical Unit (CAFGU). This doesn't include the bands of armed vigilantes, which are increasingly present
There are also a number of ideologically motivated vigilantes, including the Christian Nationalist Front, Tadtad, Adamic, Pulahan, Sagrado Corazon de Jesus and Christian Liberation Army, Some of these groups were organised for counterinsurgency during the Marcos years.
In Zamboanga Peninsula another armed group has emerged: the Subanen Liberation Army (SLA) seems to be trained for counter insurgency with an anti-Moro orientation.
There are four networks of death squads, organised by the military intelligence group, the police, the army and local politicians. According to one army source, the military intelligence network is the most dangerous, because of its capacity for secret operations.
Needless to say, the Armed Forces of the Philippines have an overwhelming superiority of firepower-over the rebels. They have 4 OB-10 bombers, 4 MG 520 attack aircraft, 4 Huey helicopter gunships, 4 F5 Fighter jets, and a large number of armoured personnel carriers, 105mm and 81mm howitzers. Their use is internal armed conflict, not for
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