The Ambassador’s Visit and the Question of Dependence

All of the countries that have made leaps in overcoming the scourge of poverty and poor economic conditions — this was a success associated with those who developed their own economic model of self-sufficiency. Since World War II, we have not heard of a country that has been able to achieve this accomplishment through devotion to the approach of dependence on others. The above hypothesis is confirmed by the experiences of Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh and other countries in the family of the tigers, Asian and otherwise.

As for our talk about freedom, it is considered a luxury. For the Arab countries that are not oil states, many of them offer their economies up for grabs into the hands of foreign experts, international financing institutions and development and aid agencies in order to succeed. The result is the continuing deterioration of conditions and corruption in many of these projects, which the foundations and financial agencies talk about day and night as the saviors of the poor. Some of these projects enriched officials who went from being junior staff in the government to the big fish, followed today by suspicions of corruption. All of this was achieved in the name of the fight against poverty.

I, along with many others, wonder where the millions went that were designated to fight against poverty and achieve social and economic transformation in Jordan over the last two decades. Was the intention to provide funds for small- and medium-scale projects that maintain the intractable poverty and the fight against unemployment and poverty operated by Jordanians, in order to enrich a group of officials and build them mansions at the expense of the abject others and their needs?

But the more important question is the question of independence. The conversation that American Ambassador to Jordan Stuart Jones had with Al-Ghad [newspaper] leads me to seek answers as to the extent of Jordan’s economic dependence on the United States. The ambassador discussed visits to provinces and talked about U.S. Agency for International Development projects, proud that the flow of American aid to Jordan amounted to US$840 million in the last year. And he insists that he does not interfere with the internal affairs of Jordan?

After the spring of freedom, which spread throughout the Arab world, the question of independence and free will became meaningful. There are officials who have talked for years about supporting small- and medium-scale projects through the economic arm of USAID. The result is what we have today: poverty on the rise, opportunities for work decreasing and this pattern of economic dependence and isolated officials pursued by suspicions of corruption.

We don’t need the American ambassador’s visits to the provinces. What the poor people of Jordan need to come out of their depths is a man not only [out] for himself but for his country, like Professor Mohammed Yunus who ignored the canned theories of development that he studied in America to listen to the voice of the poor in Bangladesh. This made possible the creation of a bank for the poor, according [Bangladesh] experience in operating them and enabling them to overcome poverty. This experience provides much independence and is applicable to Jordan.

America is not a friendly country, though it tries to appear like it. Its projects in Egypt and Jordan did not lead to good but produced economic dependence and a politically impotent class of poor people in the two countries. America is the country that occupied Iraq and turned it into ruins. It is the first and last supporter of the occupying nation of Israel, and the details of the plot of the life and future of Palestinians are known to all.