When did Jordan become a country?
What makes a country? better yet what is the definition of a country?
It is not meant to make Jordan any less of a nation or a culture when you say that Jordan as a country didn't exist 100 hundred years ago. There is a big difference between an inhibited land and a country.
"A country" adds the dimension of political identity, of a nation that moves with its self appointed leadership towards it's own agenda. Before the so called "independence" of Arab countries, we were part of a larger nation and a larger political cluster.
It was not ONLY Jordan... Almost every other Arab country did not exist as an individual political structure as it does today. And we were sold the concept of "A COUNTRY" as if it is the greatest achievement of our modern times.
Our greatest disappointment was sold as our greatest achievement!! The unity of the Arab nations was broken down with lines of ink held sacred on fresh glossy maps with 21 proud new flags!!
What the European nations are trying to accomplish through cancelling borders and unifiying their political stance is exactly the opposite of our "greatest achievement". The American states accomplished unity and became the "United" states after civil wars.
Oh but we would wage wars to destroy our own unity and would even think of the term "Jordan didn't even exist 100 Hundred years ago" as an insult.
This comes 3 days late, from blogging about Jordan day. But Jordan to me is not a mere country... It is HOME as a home it is older than a country.
As a home it means alot more to me than any fake slogan.
It is not meant to make Jordan any less of a nation or a culture when you say that Jordan as a country didn't exist 100 hundred years ago. There is a big difference between an inhibited land and a country.
"A country" adds the dimension of political identity, of a nation that moves with its self appointed leadership towards it's own agenda. Before the so called "independence" of Arab countries, we were part of a larger nation and a larger political cluster.
It was not ONLY Jordan... Almost every other Arab country did not exist as an individual political structure as it does today. And we were sold the concept of "A COUNTRY" as if it is the greatest achievement of our modern times.
Our greatest disappointment was sold as our greatest achievement!! The unity of the Arab nations was broken down with lines of ink held sacred on fresh glossy maps with 21 proud new flags!!
What the European nations are trying to accomplish through cancelling borders and unifiying their political stance is exactly the opposite of our "greatest achievement". The American states accomplished unity and became the "United" states after civil wars.
Oh but we would wage wars to destroy our own unity and would even think of the term "Jordan didn't even exist 100 Hundred years ago" as an insult.
This comes 3 days late, from blogging about Jordan day. But Jordan to me is not a mere country... It is HOME as a home it is older than a country.
As a home it means alot more to me than any fake slogan.
تعليقات
we're in the middle of a very terbulant neighbourhood, we have larger, more powerful, and "older" countries as neighbours, but those are either under occupation, waging wars with their neighbours, or are under constant threat of instability.
having said that, Jordan..the country is a story of success, one extremely worthy of celebrating, we're not perfect, we have our own troubles, but this small "new" nation survived with the little it has, for 87 years and counting, a country that waged wars, lost land, came under economic hardships and political termoil, welcomed waves after waves of immegrants, and still it manages to remain standing on her own feet.
The acheivement of Jordan isn't how old or new it is, but how successful it is, the comfort in knowing that your family and friends are safe, that peace of mind is a product of Jordan..the country, something we should always remember when we have a conversation about "nationhood".
We are a security success story. But for Jordanians to be truly proud, we have to be an economic, technological, political, and cultural success story. We are not there yet. So if you measure success by worst case scenariois, such as other countries under occupation or suffering from civil strife, then it's a relative success. But when you take into consideration Jordan's highly educated population, our national accomplishments have been a disappointment in the areas I have mentioned. As a matter of fact, we have seen numerous vital indicators decline over the last few years such as corruption, freedoms, economy, education, ...
It's time we stop defining success by comparing Jordan to the hell next door. we must start comparing Jordan to real success stories.
So lets cut the bullshit and roll ourselves and fight corruption and repression, the number one obstacles to Jordan's progress.
When I list the hells of neighbouring countries I'm not basing the success of Jordan on their faliures because that would make Jordan the reason and the source of those faliures, Jordan is a success with its own survival, and that's my basis of the arguement, we have corruption yes, we have crime..yes we have an infested epidimic of nepitism and tribalism Yes with a capital Y, but lets cut the b.s and stop beating ourselves with a Masoshist whip and admit that this land, this country is a Success, whether our neighbours are in heaven or in hell is besides the point, but it certainly is something to keep in mind, and the first step in the presevation of this success is to admit our mistakes and they are many, but what we shouldn't do is condemn the notion of success altogather because we as individuals have a problem with someone or something in Jordan!
I know that we didn't have democracy then (maybe not yet) and that oppostion figures were thrown in jails, but all that wasn't even close to the brutality of other regimes towards their own citizens. That's why I'm glad Jordan is an independant country.
As a believe in Arab unity, I understand the greater responsibility. But I also understand that the specifics of life in Jordan need to be given priority. We are a member of the world, a member of the Arab nations, Jordanian, citizens of Amman, of our neighborhood, of our street, of our 7ara of our building of our house, of our family ... We are all of those, we are not isolating Jordan by recognizing it as a country.
- There are 22 Arab countries, not 21 (i think you forgot jozor al kamar, "Comoros")
- I think that the states of the USA were actually united under a federal country before the civil war.
Ammar, Hareega,
I don't know what to say, because I'm in agreement with almost everything you said... I wouldn't want Jordan to become part of Syria or Iraq but I would like to see Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Eqypt...etc all part of one nation again, it might be a long way to go... but I hate the state of self centered Arab nations...
Anon,
I have to agree to what you say as well... there is a lot of room for improvement... it's not that rosy from all angles...
Oh by the way, I have to delete the other comment, please refrain from using "bad" words :)
Qwaider,
It seems to me that people forget that we were part of a larger nation... I'm not against recognizing Jordan as a country... I'm just against recognizing Jordan ONLY as a country... and it seems that people tend to have their short term memory option always on... we can easily focus on the country and forget the larger nation... I like to zoom out every once and a while...
Za3tar,
Bulls eye, thanks for pointing that out... I don't know about (jozor al kamar, "Comoros") but I know that Libya doesn't want to be part of the Arab countries anymore :) but you're right, just because the ruler wants out doesn't mean they're no longer Arab... As for the united states, I wanted to state that nations struggle to become united... they could have had southern and northern states and just sign a peace treaty...
ولكن السؤال الحقيقي هو هل يستطيع الأردن الوقوف بدون دعم الدول العربية وحيدا ضد مصالح أمريكا في المنطقة و من هو البديل الإستراتيجي في أي تحالف جديد وهل هو قادر على دعم مماثل للدعم الأمريكي و هل هو بديل أفضل أخلاقيا؟
The cold war is behind us, and oil will run out in a few decades. At that point, you might get your wish, except I think the struggle won't be for unity us, but as usual it will be for power, and will break us down to even smaller unit.
I shouldn't be so optimistic.
Could it become a second Africa...
The day we lose someone we love and very close to us, is the day that our lives will change for ever. And nothing will ever make it goes the way it was. We could never defeat death . and we will always feel the emptiness that it caused us. And in the same time we will some how feel responsible for it. No matter how many days goes by, the memory of that day will conquer our life with so many questions such as what if????? And the hard feeling of wither our loved ones new how much we loved and appreciate their present in our lives. Take it one step a day toward establishing a new more stable life.
As for ur article about Taliban and Afghanistan when u say the road to Jerusalem seems closer. Let me tell u this . the road will never ever be closer to Jerusalem because of Taliban or Ben laden or any of their kind of mentality or even believes on the contrary because of them our lives r so f…ed up. And we ganna suffer for a long time because of them.
As for ur blog about Jordan as a country??? Wooow if it wasn't for the last line or two I would not believed that a Jordanian could write such a thing. First of all, Jordan as a land and a name existed and known long before there was any country around us or in the world too.
And if a country does count because it was inhabited by real people what would make a country a state ??? it’s the people even thought there was no official name or state established in our land that does not make us any less than any other country. As long as one human being lived in this land that mean we r here and we belong to this land and to this country.
Memories of our ancestors and inhabitant on this land what makes us what we r now. We all in favor of an Arabian unity that will not demolish our identity as the last Othman (Turkish) imperial had done.
Remember history r rooted in the stories of its ancestors and the memories of the past r shaped into cultures and then countries
AS for your comments, your first comment is a very accurate description of what happens after loosing a loved one... something that can only be written by someone who lived a similar experience...
Regarding Taliban and Bin Laden, replying to you would probably take a new post and possibly put some people in dark corners...
As for the last one on Jordan being a country, if you read the post again you will see that I have said " It is not meant to make Jordan any less of a nation or a culture when you say that Jordan as a country didn't exist 100 hundred years ago."
The whole point of the article was that being a new country is nothing to be ashamed of and that it does not mean that we didn't exist as a nation/culture before that... BUT being separated from a larger nation and taking pride in abandoning our history as one nation is what we should be ashamed of.
Your comment is not related to the post to say the least...
And what exactly are you talking about... shame shame... what exactly have Jordanians done?
It is very poor judgement to generalize and say that a whole nation is guilty... It's like saying all Palestinians are traitors just because there are agents for Israel among them... It's like saying all Iraqis are criminals and savage... You cannot judge a whole nation like that.
Many Jordanians have died on the soil of Palestine and have welcomed their brothers and sisters with open arms... There are marriages between families and cities and I find it very unfair, racist and completely destructive to ignore everything good about a nation and assume the worst....
I felt a deep relief and happiness when I read your honorable text. I wish I would see all Arabs think as openly and wise as you.
I wish that happen one day.
see our website about Palestine: mythicliberty.com
Best wishes from Iran
I was trying to open the website you mentioned but it didn't open can you check the spelling again... I would like to see your website.