Election Fiesta-Part I

by Mohammad Azraq (Jordan)

As election day approaches (November 20th), It is election fiesta in Jordan these days, candidates for the 15th course of parliament are spending every effort to win the votes of constituents registered in their districts.On my way to work everyday, I get my dose of “ambitious” slogans passing by Gamal Abdul Nasser square-named after the late Egyptian president- ( a.k.a Interior squake), as banners and posters are everywhere in the capital Amman as well as the rest of the country.

Realising that youth in Jordan constitute the majory of the population,candidates this course are using what used to be unconventional approach in previous courses to reach out to young voters in particular. According to an article published yesterday in the Star weekly newspaper by Blake Ellis -an American writing for the Star- more than 15 candidates have Facebook support groups ,some of whom use them to interact with constituents and respond to their questions!.

Here are some of the most interactive support groups on Facebook. Interestingly, they are all running in the same district, the third district of Amman, which is the biggest and certainly the most influential in the kingdom!.

Three weeks ago, I exchanged Facebook messages with one of the candidates running in the third district of Amman ‘ Aroub Soubh‘, who then invited me for coffee to talk in details about her election agenda and campaign strategy. I must admit, I sensed real energy and dedication in her, as well as reason and awareness of the challenges that are facing our country regarding economy, youth unemployment, women and children, and indeed education, she’s realistic enough to know the Jordanian parliament cannot achieve the unification of Iraq or resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, so she’s focusing her agenda on internal matters that concern our society as a whole. She later invited me to a “public debate” with her opponents and an election event where she met constituents and explained her agenda and what she hoped to achieve by joining the parliament, which I will bring up in my next post.

The following is her campaign announcement, translated to English by her campaign office.

Why Positivity (Ejabiya) ???

Simply

It is the opposite of negativity

It might be that negativity became one of the building blocks for the individual in our society; which starts since the early childhood and stays until one is old. We keep on complaining and then search for a reason for our complaints or better still, searching for someone to blame…

I do not want to sound negative when talking about negativity, but I talk about it out of the positivity I am aiming for…

The youth’s complaints around me about job opportunities that are not found…
And the students’ complaints about the superior hard exams’ questions…
And the parents’ complaints about their children…
And the managers about their employees…
And of course, the employees about their managers…

Not to forget mentioning the massive increase in prices and taxes and… and …and
What is the alternative for complaining???

I wanted “Positivity” to be the Slogan for my campaign as I strongly believe that I will not be the candidate you are looking for if I was not Positive….

And I will not be the member of parliament who serves her country if I was not Positive…

Positivity means not to let despair control our will…
To always have alternative solutions for our problems…
And not to allow despair to sneak to our thoughts…

Despite of what we are observing around us, and despite the problems surrounding us… economically, socially and politically, we still owe big dreams, and with positivity we can change…

I do not claim perfectionism and that I always feel positive, however, I always aim for this!

To be positive in my home, with my children and family…
To be positive at my work…
To be positive with the people who I disagree with…
To be positive in my society…
To be positive in my world…

I want the youth to be positive in changing, it is not enough to dream about positivity and to ask older people to do it, it is the time now to create it…

I do not claim that I have magical solutions, and that I will do miracles, but what I know and can do is that I will be with a different vision, different performance and dedicated hard work…

Woman’s Positivity

The Jordanian woman is a partner of the man in his concerns…

She suffers from high living cost, bureaucracy, unemployment and unequal opportunities….

And if she didn’t share such concerns with the man equally, then she usually bears larger amounts of concerns and pressure…

All what I am aiming for is for the man and the woman to be partners for the better and worse…

There is a high oppression towards the woman; however, she is participating in it, even if with a small proportion…

She has to be stronger and more aware to obtain her rights and to be an effective partner…

Partnership in nationality

(Jordanians)

Meaning that any Jordanian man or Jordanian woman as stated in article (6) of the Jordanian constitution; all are equal before the law. There shall be no discrimination between them in regards to their rights and duties; the working woman pays taxes as much as the man pays; she belongs to the country as much as the man belongs… she sacrifices for it as much as the man does…

So on what basis does the man alone hold a monopoly over the Jordanian nationality and inherits it to his wife and children?

And how come do the foundlings obtain the nationality and at the same time the legitimate son of the Jordanian woman doesn’t???

Furthermore, how come some Arabs obtain the Jordanian nationality for an amount of money and at the same time the son of the Jordanian woman doesn’t???

When will the time come for the laws to be in agreement with article (6) of the Jordanian constitution regarding Jordanians’ equality???

And till when Jordanians will remain divided into levels and degrees… some enjoy rights that others can’t have???

And when will be the time for the Jordanian laws to harmonize with the international bill of human rights which refuses discrimination on grounds of sex???

The international bill of human rights stipulates the woman’s political rights; her right to a nationality and transferring her nationality to her children. While the world has concluded the debate about the first generation of human rights … and started discussing the fourth generation of human rights… some are still having the debate of the first generation rights…

Today… as we are living in 2007… there is still discrimination in our beloved country!!!

We have to start considering a real partnership between the man and the woman… a partnership reflected by the unbiased laws and legislations… not by the slogan and banners…

Child’s positivity:

With the children I have started … and with them I will continue…
I tried to open a studio … and dedicate a “happy time” for them …
The children of Jordan have granted me their love and positivity, and in turn I have passionately given them my unconditional endless hardworking…

Children gave me the chance to be among them, and live their happiness through participation… they made me happy that they grew up and kept me within them…

How delighted I am that they are supporting me today in my campaign… they have became young men and women… to grant me their trust as youth as they used to be when they were young children…

Our children deserve more from us…

They deserve from us to think and care for them at the time we are expanding our cities and extending the concrete cement blocks that kill the space around them… not leaving a space for them to play except for in front of the cars tires…

They deserve from us laws and institutions that protect them from exploitation and abuse… so that not to see them standing on the traffic lights, or begging in front of mosques, or working at car stations…

Our children need our protection now… we are the ones who are going to be in need for this protection if we didn’t ensure it to them today…

Youth Positivity:

Only youth “is the hope”… this is my belief…
I don’t need to imitate youth in order to understand them…
Our youth have a lot of knowledge and a lot of expertise…
Our youth are vivid … full of positivity…
Their positivity sneaks into all the “faraway” and “nearby” countries… through their journey in searching for chances to achieve their dreams …
And their country remains in search for entrepreneurs…
They are present over there… but in another place…

Youth needs an effective actual participation in all fields, not for a decorative unreal one…

My project is theirs…
I don’t want youth to think of migration…
I want Jordan to be the project of each young Jordanian…

The young Jordan in the strong Jordan that is able to face the challenges of development, and keeps pace with the new era’s demands after perceiving the past’s positive culture and heritage.

Expression positivity:

For one to feel injustice for some time is not an issue… but the problem is when one can’t express refusing this injustice…

The Freedom of expression and speech!!!
And the freedom of access to information!!!

A right for every human being…

Aroub is a media person, she was first introduced to Jordanians through her children television programme ‘Waqt Al Farah’ ( Happy Time) which aired on Jordan national television in the nineties up until the year 2003. After that, Arab Radio and Television network (ART) bought the rights to the programme and started airing it on its children channel. She currently works at ATV, which I brought up its dilemma in previous posts.

Comparing Aroub to her direct opponent Samar Haj Hasan ,who’s also an accomplished woman and business entrepreneur, I felt Aroub could relate more to the average Jordanian than Samar could; Aroub is a product of the public education , she went to community college before she had the chance to go to university, Samar on the other hand received her education at an expensive private school and then was able to earn a university degree from an American university in Switzerland.

As someone who is a product of the private education, knowing what it means to be provided with opportunities that open up your mind, burnish your skills, and prepare you to face life’s challenges and deal with them efficiently and effectively, I found that someone like Aroub managed to open up her mind, burnish her skills and engage life’s challenges with little opportunities was absolutely admirable!