Um, what about those demonstrations over there?

David Pollack of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy writes just now that "large public demonstrations have so far failed to materialize in most Arab countries" in response to Gaza. While this may be reassuring to those who hope to minimize the importance of paying attention to Arab public opinion, it simply isn’t true. ...

David Pollack of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy writes just now that "large public demonstrations have so far failed to materialize in most Arab countries" in response to Gaza. While this may be reassuring to those who hope to minimize the importance of paying attention to Arab public opinion, it simply isn't true.

David Pollack of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy writes just now that "large public demonstrations have so far failed to materialize in most Arab countries" in response to Gaza. While this may be reassuring to those who hope to minimize the importance of paying attention to Arab public opinion, it simply isn’t true.

Just from Arabic press reports today:

And that’s not even counting the many protests blocked by security forces across the region, in Cairo and Amman and elsewhere.

Pollack’s claim struck me as particularly odd since, just like the vast majority of the Arab TV-viewing public, I’ve spent the last half hour watching al-Jazeera’s reporting and extensive footage of massive protests across the Arab world. I still am… there are a lot of protests and reporting them is a key way that al-Jazeera constructs a narrative of Arab public opinion.

I don’t think that protests on the famous "Arab street" are the only meaningful measure of Arab public opinion, nor that they can in and of themselves affect things. Arguments could be made for downplaying their significance: Maybe they are just a way for regimes to let off steam and divert popular anger. Maybe they are staged for the TV cameras. Maybe they substitute for more effective action. Maybe their anger is a cost worth paying for other important policy goals. All arguable — I would disagree, but the points could be argued. But to deny that they are even happening when they manifestly are seems disinegenuous… and a very poor guide to policy or understanding the stakes of the conflict. 

UPDATE: for updated accounts in Arabic of the "massive" and "unprecedented" protests during Friday’s "day of rage" which swept virtually every Arab country (and led to some nasty clashes with heavy security forces in Jordan and Egypt), check out al-Hayat, al-Akhbar, al-Ghad, al-Dustour, al-Mesryoon, al-Khaleej, or even the Saudi al-Sharq al-Awsat (which would probably prefer to ignore them. 

Marc Lynch is associate professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, where he is the director of the Institute for Middle East Studies and of the Project on Middle East Political Science. He is also a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. He is the author of The Arab Uprising (March 2012, PublicAffairs).

He publishes frequently on the politics of the Middle East, with a particular focus on the Arab media and information technology, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, and Islamist movements. Twitter: @abuaardvark

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