Political work and political life between reality and the possible

Written by: Renas Banafi – Researcher in Political and Strategic Thought – London

• Arab Democratic Center

Political action requires the study of events and phenomena, an objective and neutral study that moves away from prejudice, fanaticism, and personal and subjective ideas. The observer of the political field today finds that the majority of those who stood up to political action do not care about political knowledge, which poses a dilemma for the political actor and the political reality.

Political action is collective action within society, which revolves around politics. It is necessary to monitor problems, gain knowledge of ways to solve them, be well-versed in managing them, master the means that help in practicing politics, avoid the causes that lead to crises and conflicts, spread harmony among people, work to benefit from the experiences of others, plan for a better future, and work on permanent change.

The question here is how was the political act emptied of its content? How did the citizen lose confidence in political action and become despairing of politics? What are the defects of partisan action and the diseases of political work? Do we have a political life, or do we live politically poor?

To answer this question, it is necessary to dismantle political action, political life and forms of political practice, as well as their organizational and partisan behaviors. It is important to examine the diseases of political action that have characterized party structures in various contexts within our societies. The focus here is on the diseases of politics, and on the methods adopted by work. Political action in managing the crisis of political action by letting these diseases worsen, and party structures corrupt, and open an intellectual dialogue and political debate on the partisan issue to try to contain this crisis and get out of it, and build a solid ground for political action and the structure of political parties.

So we are facing three levels of political action, namely, political thought, political practice, political organizations, a study of the state of party structures, the reasons for the decline of the partisan phenomenon, and the manifestations of partisan decadence.

Political life is controlled by several factors and approaches that explain the political crisis, and they are represented in: poverty and illiteracy, and the weakness and absence of political space, which created the phenomenon of political reluctance; That is, the lack of trust between citizens and party organizations, political parties, and the organizational structure, and the management of political and party work within society, and the weakness of the ability to manage the difference between political currents. And the absence of a modern political thought and the survival of the old ideas that contradict the new life within the party body, these reasons are responsible for the current situation worsening.

Such a matter puts us before a historic moment to re-examine the past and come up with practical solutions to build the future.

The crisis of political life, political space, political field, and political action appears as the appropriate opportunity for a deep intellectual review of political action, through which these phenomena and the relationship between them can be studied.

Understanding these phenomena is not based on a single field of knowledge, inasmuch as they are represented by different dimensions that require thinking about them as a complex macro-unit and thinking about them in a multidisciplinary manner, and this necessitates us to summon various competencies and knowledge, so knowing (when they occurred, how they occurred, what is their course, and how they are done Confronting them) is an important matter, as the shift from a superficial to an in-depth view of phenomena achieves the desired goal.

Nations that go through harsh experiences such as wars and other things are facing a test of what society has accomplished in times of wellness in terms of knowledge and infrastructure, and the level of man in terms of awareness, discipline, endurance and giving, and healthy societies seize the opportunity to learn and know the deficiencies to carry out major reviews.

• The important question that arises when studying this phenomenon is whether our countries and societies are an extension of the old traditional state or are they an extension of the modern state?

The current states are in the depth that drags the sultanate’s load with them pre-colonial countries, but they excelled in investing modernist structures. We are facing a state that shows a kind of modernity and burying a kind of old sultanistic state. In other words, we notice a problem we are experiencing, which is that there is a modernist form, but this modernist form serves in the depth the sultanistic state, a rule of a central nature and a fragile legitimacy that controls from top to bottom and not ascending from bottom to top. This matter requires us to ask central questions and serious discussions by researchers within research centers to obtain practical and realistic answers.

We can observe the degree of failure of the political process and political life, given that we have not formed a political community in the historical and scientific sense outside the institutions of the state, which ensures the existence of a reasonable level of fruitful interaction and debate in the interest of the state’s power, and this places us either as a collective responsibility for this weakness, loyalty and opposition.

On the contrary, society has been emptied of real political action. There is no civil society committed to programs with clear social responsibility, no popular initiatives to break the ice and alleviate crises, no intellectual visions that break the silence, and no serious and independent academic contributions that tell us where we are going.

So we have to rebuild the political field and political work to restore politics to its natural role, so it is not possible to talk about politics in isolation from the modern political field or independently from it, and then politics is an interlocking relationship and an integrated coordination between individuals, society, the state, power and political action is free and open competition on civil foundations based on equal citizenship For everyone, it is the right and correct ground, the space or field through which politics or political action can be practiced without intimidation or intimidation, and civil policy is based on the base of civil society, which has become one of the main pillars in building the modern state or the political field.

The political space or field is based on an infrastructure that is based on civil society, its institutions, actors and individuals, and without it it is not possible to practice politics or political action.

The change of the political space depends on a change in the structure and roles of political actors, and what we are witnessing in regards to the political process needs a shift that breaks with previous practices and constitutes a starting point towards changing the rules of the political system and the level of the relationship between the actors?

The matter is nothing more than partial changes that do not mean the foundation for a transition to a new political space? Because we have reached a stage that is no longer what it was in the past, and this is an indication of the birth of a new political space?

We can deconstruct and study the phenomenon of aggravating political action into several axes, the most important of which are:

• 1- The problematic of the political space by reviewing and comparing the elements of the modern and old political space.
• 2- The rules and laws of the political game.
• 3- From criticism of authority to criticism of politics.
• 4- Criticism of political parties.
• 5- Political modernity.
• 6- Political thought.

The outcome of building these elements will build a new political space.

The importance of this contribution lies in its employment of political approaches and openness to political economy, political sociology, political history and political psychology.

It is also possible to rely in the analysis an approach of some kind of overlap between internal and external factors in the interpretation of many issues (elements of legitimacy building, political parties, and the growing influence of civil society). And the use of historical facts in presenting perceptions to analyze the elements of the current political scene.

May this study be a building block for the establishment of solid studies that seek to analyze the wide changes in the political arena. And pushing to answer many questions posed to researchers in political science in light of a reality that puts us before the challenge of creating an accumulation that would lead to finding theoretical foundations that frame an understanding of the political field.

Our political reality has not taken root despite partisan practice, which shows that there is poverty in the infrastructure of political life in our societies, as the potentials and energies have not been exploited in the success of political life since the establishment and establishment of parties and civil society organizations, and instead of witnessing progress in political life, we are witnessing today an unjustified regression, Some place the blame on governments, some place it on opposition parties, and others see the lack of political space due to our traditional societies being influenced by tribal and nomadic culture, as they are rebellious societies and abstain from modern forms of political action.

The modern concepts of civil politics we are witnessing today did not exist before the beginning of the twentieth century. At that time, our societies were dependent on political concepts of the pre-modern state, and proceed according to the rules of traditional structures that governed societies and on this basis between the field, space and our political work.

Political life needs a qualitative shift from a traditional society to a society in which people are equal before the law, ruled by institutions based on political and legal foundations. We encourage political participation as it is the prerequisite for bringing about qualitative development in society’s thought and political behavior, so that this is organized through legitimate legalized institutions. They all become parties in the political process.

In our case, we must provide the necessary conditions for the development of political life, and this process is integrated, long-term, and addresses the various aspects of society’s life.

• Correlation between political thought and political space (the syndrome of thought and reality)

Our societies are facing an unprecedented challenge that targets their existence and order, and for this reason, attention has been focused on many institutions and research centers, on the syndrome of thought and reality. And the exchange between thought and reality.

Building a healthy political life is the main entrance for societies to achieve progress and prosperity. In its general context, this means achieving renaissance, proving oneself in the national and global arena, and contributing to the reconstruction of the world.

And this matter depends on society’s awareness of itself, its location, the degree of its presence, its effectiveness and its impact on the surrounding reality, and the ability of its social bearers to achieve a renaissance within society and rid it of the obstacles of its active economic, social, political and cultural presence, or in other words the establishment of the civil state, the state of citizenship, institutions, pluralism, partnership and respect Opinion and other opinion and confronting every idea that does not serve the community and that prevents a person from his ability to realize his destiny by himself and not by relying on other forces outside his world.

It is necessary to bring about political development and take necessary measures through activating political life with the participation of parties and civil organizations for their primary role in bringing about this development and its reflection on society.

Perhaps one of the most important reasons for the failure of the development project is the isolation of the state from society and the failure to allow the social actors and living forces that express the pulse of society to participate in taking responsibility. It is not possible to build a renaissance or development without building the political field.

It is difficult to talk about politics or to practice it properly in societies that are reluctant and reluctant to the modern forms we see in developed countries.

The ruling elites view political participation as a diminution of the ruler’s rights and a coup against the nature of government. The conflict revolves around two concepts of citizenship. The first understanding is a reflection of the feudal traditions that linked people to the feudal lord. The second understanding is a modern understanding that starts from the ground of social contracting as a basis for legitimacy and citizenship, and the function of this contract is to achieve political justice and judicial justice.

And because of the dominance and predominance of the first concept, by virtue of having power and protection, political life is characterized by political instability and corruption. Groups without citizenship rights are often excluded from economic life.

According to this, the image of the model of absolutism is formed based on considering state goods as spoils for the ruling elite, and the power and state sovereignty are largely concentrated in the ruling family.

The traditions of tribal and tribal rule concentrate and confine political power and the political field in the hands of the ruler and his family, by monopolizing the tools of coercion, monopolizing the distribution of wealth and goods, and exempting from monitoring and transparency. This is evident in tracking the distribution of senior positions and the distribution of members of the ruling family, or at least the elders of them, to the most important positions and institutions, especially those called sovereigns, and building a bureaucratic cadre of experts and local technocrats who work under the general control of the ruling family. This distribution of the ruling family poles to most of the joints

The main state proved their influence, and the principle of the state was linked to them organically, until it became difficult to distinguish between the state and the ruling family. As if; One thing. We are resilient societies that are resistant to modernity and democracy because of the traditional structure, it is a tribal Bedouin society.

The disguised nomadism is formal urbanization, that is, living and working in the city, with the mentality remaining rural, the values, norms and tribalism Bedouin and behavior according to tribal custom and the shifting of loyalty and belonging from the state and the homeland to the tribe, sect and region.

Transitioning from rural and nomadic society with its values, traditions, norms and gangs to civilized urban society without going through a transitional period in which those values ​​and norms are dismantled is a complex process that requires social, economic and cultural conditions and conditions that help to adapt and harmonize

Urbanization, in the forefront of which is the transfer of loyalty and belonging from the clan to the state and homeland, and then submission to the rule of law and civil society and not to tribal values ​​and norms, which is reflected in social, economic, cultural and political structures, especially in family, educational and professional relations, which in turn are affected by the ways of thinking, work and rural Bedouin behavior to Cities, the occurrence of change, transformation and transformation in lifestyle, behavior, social, cultural and economic relations.

Today, tribal values, norms, and gangs besiege cities from all sides and interfere with their values ​​and culture, and intensely press their gangs on the social, economic, political and cultural structures of cities through clans, families, sects, and parties. The unfinished state is weakening and maturing, and this phenomenon has taken on the disintegration of political life, after it has been unable to establish the rule of law and civil society and to provide a margin of freedom and respect for opinion and the other opinion. Entering into modernity from the back doors is caused by the decline of urban culture based on stability, tolerance and social progress.

The political and intellectual nomadism is a problem that must be liberated from, and a curse on life that must be avoided, and civilization is a solution to many problems resulting from nomadism, but there is a psychological distance between nomadism and urbanization, and a time distance between the nomadism and urbanization, and the major countries knew that the solution is the transfer of civilization and its services To the desert, not the other way around, the Bedouin person must be civilized and civilized while he is in the desert, but if a person moves to the city with the mentality and culture of the desert, then here is the greatest calamity in life.

Bedouin culture requires four things.

• 1- Old sheikhs take care of people’s affairs.
• 2- A society that has bloody relations, and between them is solidarity on issues of life and the defense of common people.
• 3- And the land on which they live.
• 4- A social system that they judge.

Thus life remains for many years, but rather long decades that do not change. Finally, we want to mention that any reform process that does not address these points will return us to square one