JORDANIAN REVOLTING AGAINST THE KINGLET – IRBID NORTH AUG 2020

1 Comment / 1 Comment

1. Some important things to notice about these demonstrations: the demonstrators avoid explicitly attacking Abdullah by name. Also, don’t mention the names of other members of the royal family. I have noticed only one chant that contains a clear reference to the King as an indvidual. That is when they denounced an unnamed “gambling addict” who was mispending the country’s money on his addiction. Otherwise, the demonstrators have only been critizing the “gang” (no names) In fact, they have not spent as much time on explicit criticisms of the government as affirming their committment to positive values, such freedom, unity, patriotism, and a determination to perservere in the protests (“we are not giveing up).

   I think this shift away from a direct confrontation with the King personally is a wise new tactic. They may have some informal arrangement with the police that they will allow them to demonstrate as long as they avoid attacking the King by name, and emphasize their positive goals. In any event, they seem to be attracting bigger crowds than last year with this more sopisticated tactic.

   Perhaps it also has something to do with attracting the support of those jordanians who want a democratic government and an end to corruption, but would prefer to deal gently with the King personally–for example , by allowing him to retreat to comfortable exile. There are also those who want Abdullah to go, but are willing to retain a King as a constitutional figurehead, like the kings of Britain, Holland, Belgium Sweden, etc. Jordan has had a monarch, first called an “emir” and then a king, since British created it in 1921, and then gave it “independence in 1946. As a result, some Jordanians are said to feel that they need to have someone (not Abdullah) wit h the title of KIng