Jordan has lately seen a series of crises and in every case,
its response to the crisis has been weak and done through a same-old, same-old
approach. There are no major changes and in the even there were, it’s a change
of names, not policies, which will certainly remain unchanged, unless proven
otherwise in the future.
اضافة اعلان
We are buying time, on the basis of a slow and piecemeal
response that involves resistance to every call for reforming this country
politically, economically, and socially. A clear example is the way the
political reform file is handled. What they do is pay lip service, buy time,
and hold unproductive dialogues during which we are indulged for years over the
elections, political parties, professional associations laws, and others.
During April Uprising in 1989,
Jordan’s response was not
slow. On the contrary, it was swift and resulted in the return of democracy,
the National Charter, and other yields. There was a realization that political,
economic, and social crises coincided and accumulated, leading to a popular
reaction that was not easy. The response handled the situation on the one hand,
and manifested a belief in the need for change on the other.
When external pressures and internal calls increase, the
political reform crisis is rescheduled and this is the only way things are
moving ahead; otherwise, the situation will remain the same or deteriorate,
which makes it related to other crises that also need attention.
The same names that used to defend old-school policies and
their byproducts, including practices and laws, are the very people who step
forward to call for reform when they sense they need to do that and play the
role of reformers. They think we do not have a memory and particularly show no
understanding that when someone is the root cause of a problem, they cannot
also be the solution.
The crises we have experienced lately are critical and
unprecedented. They were supposed to prompt policy makers into addressing the
national situation rather than following patterns of behavior characterized by
circumlocution, wasting time, and piecemeal approaches. To appear before the
public as people who understand what a crisis is and how to deal with its
repercussions.
The
economic situation is another example. All indictors,
such as state debt, unemployment, price hikes, and the loss of tens of
thousands of jobs, suggest that the state has failed to address the crisis. On
the contrary, the economic crisis is worsening, indicating that the situation
will be poorer still in the coming years. On the other hand, it shows that
officials are underestimating the economic suffering of people, which is
associated with discontent with political laws and the situation of freedoms,
and others related to the social situation and the spread of anger, crime,
divorce, spinsterhood, violence and absence of justice.
No analysts of a scene like this would not see the cost of
such crises on the overall situation, but what is more noticeable is that these
problems are tackled only in two ways: rescheduling and putting them off, the
cost of which would be high. The second is stalling by distracting public
opinion with newly announced policies and brainstorming sessions over political
reform, for example, which is an illusion.
Many have demanded, including this writer, that the
assessment of the political, economic, and social crises and their impact
should be done differently, with no underestimation of their costs on Jordan.
Without delay, stalling, or time buying, these problems should be solved to
bring about some relation in Jordan, instead of the state of uncertainty, with
people unsure about their lives, present and future.
Those who think that lagging responses prove that the state
is strong has calculations the public cannot comprehend are making a big
mistake. The ability of the state to aptly respond to and manage crises is the
only sign of vigor and resilience. Continuing with the old policies tells us,
correctly, that we are heading into a more difficult situation at all levels,
and observers warn against that.
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