by Ziad Shaker elJishi
Samir Amin the Marxist writer explains in his book "Arab Nation": that unlike feudal Europe the advent of bourgeoisie and proletariat classes did not exist in the Arab world. What did exist, though not continueously, for about 200years is a unified Arab nation (750-950) the time of the Ummayids and the first Abassids khalifahs.
Equally importantly however through-out the history of the Arabs there *WAS NEVER* the concept of a "Nation State". The rise of the Arab bourgeoisie indeed the very concept of a "Nation State" was a creation of Europe and exported to the Arab world. Europe in order to complete the exploitation of the European peasantry in its euro-feudal pre-colonial system created borders and bolstered in place the rule of the *bourgeoisie state* encouraging ethnic (etc) differences and animosity amongst the peasants of Europe. In other words there is no such thing as the "Nation State" in the history of the Arabs, not in their collective memory nor in their traditions.
Until the advance of colonialism and imperialism (as the highest manifestation of capitalism as Lenin said) from Europe nation states did not exist in the Arab world. It was the creation of the French and British capitalist state-bourgeoisie that created countries like Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine from the body collectively known as Bilad al-Sham which is Greater Syria. We must work hard to undo this today!
As the Arab renaissance will gather itself and give its rebirth anew so would the class-consciousness Arab masses reunify the Arab region once more and defeat imperialism and Zionism leading it to its renaissance.
This creation of the so-called Arab states created two realities in the Arab world:
1-It fragmented a coherent nation that spoke one language, practiced for the most part one religion, and existed in natural geographic boundaries to create a thriving and extensive civilization, into splinters and weakened structures in order to be exploited by European capitalism; needing these markets after it exhausted its own exploitation of its own
proletariat base.
2-It reared first an Arab petty bourgeoisie then a state bourgeoisie then a national state bourgeoisie in the Arab world which rules in the form of the Arab governments today and are completely engaged with capitalism and with well-defined class interests against the Arab revolution (and incidentally against the Palestinian revolution too).
What we have here is the complete disengagement of the Arab proletariat from political decision making. Not just from the means of production in the Arab world (which incidentally are imperialist dependent and rudimentary) but the proletariat gave the political governance whole to the state-bourgeoisie and sat on the side lines to watch its disasters (including drafting peace treaties with Zionism and representing the interests of the bourgeoisie classes and imperialism which lends it support and sustains it.
So what is to be done?
Here lies the role of class-consciousness through the education of the masses and as a consequence will be the mobilization of the Arab proletariat to overturn the state-bourgeoisie rule in the Arab world!
But for this to happen imperialism must be defeated first as the protector of this status quo and enemy of the proletariat revolution. Where is there a better place than the periphery of capitalism (example: the Arab world)!!
So there, here lies the unification of the Arab nation and this unification is a natural consequence of course of the unification of the Arab proletariat itself NOT through state-bourgeoisie which wholly colluded with imperialism and in reality against the Arab
unification project.
But first thing is first, for *now* we must confront the Zionist enemy as a road block on our way to a unified Arab region to a proletariat Arab state to stand against imperialism.
When the class-conscience Arab masses understand this there will be a united Arab state and the nation(bourgeoisie)-state will fall as a manifestation of imperialism in the Arab world!
Arab Renaissance Coalition in North America
For A Progressive Future
A Liberated PALESTINE
Arab Unification
A Progressive Future