Democracy in a Tribal Community

When I was planning to come to Jordan I was largely motivated by the idea that studying a culture through books is one thing, but living in it is completely different.  This idea has played to be very true. One of the major ideas that I have studied about this region before I came was the political mindsets here.  I remember studying it and thinking, "That makes since" but now that I'm here I has an even higher understanding of the different ideas.

Background information.  Jordan is kingdom.  It has a king and although it has elections for members of parliament, the majority of the people here are highly devote to the king.  As any google search will tell you, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was created after the first World War when the Middle East was split up into the present day countries.  The Hashemite family was given authority over the country and they still rule it today.  Pictures of the king and his family are everywhere.

King's picture over a Baptist School's Auditorium 

There are pictures of the king in nearly every place where people meet: theaters, offices, businesses, billboards, entrances to establishments, any government office, any university...  There will be pictures of the king eating when you go to popular restaurants.  When I go on trips I like to play "count the king" with my friends where we see who can find the most pictures of the king on our trip.  Included with the king might be a picture of his father and oldest son as well.  At first, it felt awkward having the king stare at me ever where I went.  Coming from America, I was not use to this public display of appreciation--for anything real--so it felt a bit overwhelming, but through time, it became normal.

The public have a tremendous respect for the king.  Although you might friend citizens who might speak ill of him, you will find many more that have his family picture as the background of their personal computer.  It is not required to hang pictures of the king everywhere, but out of pure admiration the citizens do it.  Sometimes citizens will also hang up pictures when their business is in trouble hoping that they might get assistance from the king if he happens to come by.  

Despite of all of this, the king is at large absent in the daily lives of people here.  He is more or less a ghost figure, a legend, or a rumor.  If he goes into a restaurant, people in that restaurant will talk about it for months, but when there was a major gas crisis last fall which lead to major protest, the king was no where to be found.  I remember feeling a void during this time.  In America, if anything major happens, I would expect for the president to get on public television to address the country.  Although he might not say anything of true value, it was comforting to just know that he was there knowing the concerns of the people.  

At the establishment of the modern Middle East, less then 100 years ago, the Middle East was made up of tribes.  There were constant tribal wars and honestly these alliances and tensions are still evident in the populous today.  Once modernity broke in this area, a mixture was created between the old tribal lifestyle and the "new era of democracy."  This mixture has created deep ruts that have been hard for the population to overcome.  This past January, Jordan held it's parliamentary elections.  Leading up to the elections there was a surplus of signs that cluttered every road in Amman.  Unlike America, where the race last for a year or more, here it only lasted around 2 months.

Before the parliamentary elections, the University of Jordan held its student elections for its students.  To my amazement, the University's election completely foreshadowed the elections that I would see in the fallowing months.  Before the campus elections, there were thousands of fliers posted at every gate and walk way.  Some students even had 30 foot tall posters that hung off the side of buildings promoting their canadidancy.  Every guy running for office had some type of glamour shot on every single poster and every girl had some type of graphic design that would catch the eye.  Posters and papers cluttered every inch of the university.  

On the day of the university elects, when I went to class, I found police officers at every gate entering the university.  After class finished my professor advised me just to go home to avoid any violence that would break out.  From years experience, students who ran for office and lost would often get offended at their failure and it often turned into a huge tribal fight after the results came out.  One student would say something to another and instead of it being one on one, family defense brought the whole clan in on the dispute.  But this display of tribal patriotism is not the only one at the university.

In the past four years the University of Jordan has but put a huge fence around their campus with security gates at every entrance to try to cut back on the number of tribal fights.  Every student is required to swipe their ID cards to get into the campus--especially the men.  (Being a female foreigner I can often just act like I don't know what they are asking for--only speaking English, not Arabic--and they let me in.)  These efforts have not completely stopped the problem.  In the fall I expected at least one fight every two weeks.

Returning to the parliamentary elections: from those who I talked to, it was quite predetermined who people would vote for.  They should vote for the member of their family that was running.  On the day of elections I was able to go with a friend to vote.  After driving around in a mindless inquiry of where he should vote, we found a school tucked into a neighborhood.  We had to walk about the length of a block and the whole time I had, perhaps, a hundred people handing me fliers with more electoral promotion.  Once we were inside the gate of the school, we were approached by many people to go and meet the candidates that were waiting outside of the school.  We then had to show the election card as well as the National ID to get into the school.  Girls and guys were then separated to go to different rooms to cast their vote.  My friend was male, so I fallowed him to the men's section.  He then signed in again to wait his turn to vote.  All of the men who came held their heads high actings quite proud of themselves for being an active member of their community.  Most of the men were older-higher classed citizens (but this might have been influenced by the place where we went--it was a nicer neighborhood).  When my friend turned in his ballot, he then had to put his finger into ink that stained his finger for the week.  A few days after the votes were counted, I heard canons go off in celebration for the victory.

Being here has greatly changed my idea of what it means for there to be democracy in the Middle East. As an American it is easy to think that democracy would be best for everyone, but in some societies I question this idea.  Just because it works in America doesn't mean that it will work in the rest of the world.  When explaining it I always talk about how in America we are all immigrants.  The majority of us have little to no generational ties to the land where we live.  The people who had lived in the land for thousands of years have been frequently uprooted by different forces which has eventually weakened their emotional connection to the land.  Most Americans are not aware of their extended family beyond cousins and such.  I know that I have no idea who my mother or father's cousins are.  Once grandparents pass on, the connects die with them.  This is completely different.

Families in Jordan have been around since the time of Christ.  Generations of history and memories tie people to their land.  Families are not just mother, father, and children, but a clan.  Children grow up in the same land where their family had lived for hundreds or thousands of years.  Children are born and raised, then continue on the family business whether that is farming or herding.  The threat of industrialization or relocation completely corrupts the mindset of the region.  This is one reason why the creation of the state of Israel has left such a huge wound on Palestinians.  Even today if you ask a Palestinian teenager where their homeland is, they will tell you Palestinian--even though they have never even been there.  It's ingrained in the identity of the people in a way that I feel is incomprehensible to westerners looking in from our western view point.

As I said, trying to bring the two mindsets together has caused many problems.  It has caused a weak false sense of democracy.  Not from the side of the rulers, but from the community.  There can be no democracy when people feel obligated to vote according to their family name, not the quality of the candidate.  Even people here will acknowledge this dilemma but its challenges still stand strong.  It will be nearly impossible to try to remove the mindset of strong family connections here but I don't think there is really a need for that either.  The tribal mindset is in many ways the strength in this region.  There is a huge emphasis on knowing your family and the idea that everyone belongs to some family or group.  Women do not change their names when they get married and orphans are prohibited from accepting a new last name just to preserve the true patrilineal bloodlines.  

I have heard stories about how some tribes have their own newspaper and their own websites.  I have also heard about how some families get together once a month just to share family news.  They all put money in a pot and give it to the family members who are in need.  People here take care of their family  both immediate and distant.  No one is ever allowed to feel lonely or alone.  There is always a support system and there is always someone to talk to.  It is the strength of the area.  If you meet one person, they'll introduce you to their whole family and you then have an entire family at your side.  This just limits our idea of democracy.