No Red Lines

A Reason interview with Middle East Transparent's Pierre Akel.

Michael Young | February 9, 2006

Lebanese Pierre Akel hosts the popular Web site Middle East Transparent, which receives 50,000-60,000 hits a day. While the Paris-based site is trilingual (Arabic, English, French), its particular value is that it has become a forum for Arab liberals who would otherwise have no outlet for their writings. Akel himself has written for Arabic newspapers in London and Paris. He moved to France in 1976, after studying economics at the American University of Beirut and philosophy at the Lebanese University. He also took history at the University of Paris, Sorbonne. He finances the site himself, and for the moment, only the enthusiasm of his readers and writers keeps him going.

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reason: Describe your Web site, Metransparent.com.�

Pierre Akel: In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, it seemed to me that Arab liberals had to take a stand against the barbarian wave threatening to engulf the region. The danger was imminent. Only, no one could provide a comprehensive definition of Arab liberal currents. Americans tended to rely on English-speaking analysts, many of whom live in the United States and Europe. My friend Barry Rubin has written extensively on Arab liberals. However, Barry does not read Arabic and has what I call a "pro-Israel bias." He tends to shed a negative light on Arab liberals. I myself was much more familiar with the Islamic fundamentalist movement than with liberal currents. I had talked to the "Londonstan" leaders, read their writings and explored the many fundamentalist Web sites in Saudi Arabia.

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Metransparent was an attempt to explore such liberal currents as exist inside the Middle East. I discovered the different strains of Arab liberalism along with my readers. An independent Web site was necessary in order to allow people to write what they really had in mind, not merely what they were allowed to write. It was also necessary as a forum for the diverse currents in the region.

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To understand Arab liberalism, one has to understand not only what it now represents but where it emerged from: In Syria, it mostly comes from the remnants of the communist or Marxist left—just like the Eastern European dissidents of 30 years ago. In Saudi Arabia, it comes from the very heart of Islamic fundamentalist culture, but also from the orthodox Sunnis originating in the Hijaz, where the cities of Jeddah, Medina and Mecca are located. Hussein Shobokshi is a good example. It also comes from the Shiite minority in the oil producing Eastern Province. In Tunisia, it comes from the reformed Islamic university Al-Zaitouna. In Egypt, liberals are inspired by the great liberal tradition that was crushed by the late President Gamal Abdel Nasser. �

reason: What's your average day like when it comes to finding articles? Whose articles do you tend to run? �

Akel: We get our articles by email from practically every Arab country. Right now we have too many opinion pieces and are late in publishing what we receive. Most of the authors—we have more than 200—write exclusively for us; some send their articles to Arabic newspapers and to us, and we publish complete, uncensored versions. I believe we have something like 25 opinion articles from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates per week, a bit more from Egypt, and many more from Syria, which has a formidable civil society movement. Tunisians also contribute quite a bit, as well as Moroccans, especially Berber intellectuals, and Yemenis, Algerians, etc. �

I am especially proud to say that, soon, half of our writers shall be women. Usually, I receive letters from potential authors asking what "our conditions" are for accepting contributions. We answer back that we are a democratic and liberal Web site, with no censorship or red lines.

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The Web site also has a reputation as a forum for liberal Shiites, both Saudi and Lebanese. But, most importantly, I believe we are the most daring site in advocating an Islamic Reformation, as represented by such writers as Gamal Banna [the brother of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, Hassan al-Banna], Judge Said al-Ashmawy, and Sayyid al-Qimny, all from Egypt; and by many writers in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Islamic reformers are part and parcel of the Arab liberal movement. Egypt and Saudi Arabia are the two countries where calls for an Islamic Reformation are the most advanced.

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reason: Is there room for Middle Eastern liberalism today, between dictatorships and Islamists? �