The US elections but underline that the Arab region has far to go on the path to political freedom, writes Amin Howeidi* Miracle of miracles! A black man is master of the White House. If anything, this tells us that the American people have turned a corner in their history. By giving a black Democratic senator a mandate to lead the country come January, Americans have turned racism into a relic of the past. I remember times in which no one had expected such a day to come. When I was attending the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, decades ago, blacks had to sit in the back of the bus. Some restaurants banned dogs and blacks. Others banned dogs and Jews. Blacks and whites had separate schools. One day, I went with my friend Haila, who was Ethiopian, to lunch. The waitress comes to the table. She takes my order and writes it down with a smile, then she makes as if about to leave, without taking the order of my friend. I stop her. "You haven't taken my friend's order." She replies flatly, "Sorry sir, but I don't serve blacks." We leave to look for another place that accepts black clientele and Haila starts on about American democracy. I tell him to shut up, for it's all getting just too crazy for me. A tremendous shift is taking place in American society. It is too early to tell whether this shift will do us any good. We've all heard Obama saying all the right things, but deeds are another story. Is he going to be able to face up to the Zionist lobby? Are white supremacists going to make an attempt on his life? This is the same country in which men like Martin Luther King Jr and John Kennedy were assassinated, after all. Pessimism aside, what we need to do now is get in touch with the new president and get our point of view across as fast as possible, preferably while he is still putting together his team and outlining the administration's policy. Right now, the president-elect is conferring with close colleagues and getting ready to start working as soon as the power is transferred. These are exciting times for America, and it makes one feel -- more than ever -- the lack of similar occasions in our part of the world. I once met Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Cairo on the very day a new US president was being sworn in. "Do you know that today is the swearing in ceremony for the US president?" I said. The Libyan leader said he did. I pointed out that in our countries power changes hand only upon the death of an incumbent leader, not when the constitution says so. And if the handover is not quite constitutional, we change the constitution to suit the new incumbent. Gaddafi chuckled, and invited me to visit Libya to talk a bit more. For some reason, the invitation never came. The point I am trying to make is that we can learn from others as we go. We have to admit that changes of power are a delicate matter and that it is not just the business of leaders but the entire nation. Come election times, I cannot help making a comparison between America and countries in our part of the world during the presidential elections. The excitement, freedom and energy so visible in the US elections is unfortunately lacking in ours. We need to work more on our political freedom, and we need leaders who show us the way ahead. Political freedom doesn't need to be an illusion. Votes don't have to be bought. And polls don't have to be rigged by the rich and powerful. In our part of the world, we may vote, but we're not free. Our poor and rich are not equal in political opportunity. And they won't be until we abandon revolutionary legitimacy and pay more attention to constitutional legitimacy. * The writer is former defence minister and chief of General Intelligence.
