Courage in Amman: Tujan Faissal Speaks
Jordan's only ever female member of parliament, Tujan Faisal, is renowned for her outspokenness. As an independent representative on the Circassian slate, she failed to be re-elected this term, but she continues to see herself as a people's representative. I met her in her Amman home late in the evening on October third. She was exhausted, yet I still found it difficult to match her energy.
- You are admired but also harassed. You have run three times in the elections and won a seat once. What makes you do it?
I worked in television and had my own program there. That brought me very close to the problems of people. I saw the corruption in the regime and understood the political roots of this mess. That made me look for political solutions. I decided to fight for democracy. The first obligation was to get into parliament. It wasn't easy. In 1989, which was my first experience of running, I survived a murder attempt. Islamic groups, loyal to the king, declared me an apostate and put me on a level with Salman Rushdie. There were also economic pressures. I was fired from my job, and my husband, Dr. Ibrahim Abu al-Adel, was forbidden to teach medicine in the universities where he had positions. I lost that election, but in 1993 I won. - As a member of parliament you spoke out against the Oslo accords and the Arava agreement between Israel and Jordan. Why?
First of all, let me tell you this: after I read the Oslo accords I locked myself up for three days in my house in a state of total despair. When I got over that I would just scream at everyone as if I was suffering from hysteria. It was totally clear to me that Oslo buried the Palestinian state. It allows for chopping up the Palestinian territories into closed cantons, ghettoes. It turns the workers into prisoners, hostages who have to work in slave conditions. Oslo has left sixty percent of the Palestinians – the refugees – with no solution whatsoever. - And the Arava agreement?
This is sheer treachery, a wound in the Arab heart. It is not "the peace of the brave" but "the surrender of the scared". Jordan has turned itself into Israel's spokesperson. Wherever Israel can't penetrate, Jordan steps in and puts in a good word. You might even say, with a touch of irony, that through Jordan, Israel has a seat in the Arab League. The Israeli Mossad is acting in Jordan as if it's at home, and our relations with other Arab countries have deteriorated. They are even severing economic ties with us. Instead of all the promises for prosperity, the treaty has just brought our economy to Point Zero. Unemployment is running at 30% and growing, and tourism is down. As if that's not enough, when the regime saw how slow the normalization with Israel was going, they changed the Prime Minister. Faiz Tarawneh took over – he had been chief negotiator with Israel. - You were considered quite a troublemaker during your parliamentary period (1993-1997). In many respects you were a better spokesperson for the Palestinians than their own leadership, is that right?
Well, at that time I represented Jordan in the International Parliament (???), which includes representatives from 200 countries. I was also on its executive board, which has twelve members. I managed to question the building of the new settlement on Abu Gheneim (Heb. Har Homa - Ed.) despite fierce opposition. There was a proposal to add Palestine as a member, and the board wanted to remove that from the agenda. I managed to get it through, and the topic was passed to the plenary, where I received much support. Unfortunately, the general secretary of the International Parliament, an Egyptian named Ahmad Fathi Srur, postponed the decision. The voting was scheduled for September 1997, but the king dispersed the parliament six days before. I disregarded the fact that officially I couldn't represent Jordan and attended that meeting. The Israeli delegate was very surprised to see me. He'd probably been notified that our parliament had been dispersed, so he didn't think I'd come. To my astonishment, when the voting took place, the Arab delegates all left and the proposal fell. - What are your parliamentary achievements?
I found that members of parliament in Jordan underestimate themselves and see their job as merely one of making complaints. They are completely ignorant of the by-laws they can use. I took it upon myself, during my period in parliament, to organize the opposition and make it aware of the laws. I widened this activity, creating awareness among the people, and wrote regular articles in the press about people's rights according to the law. The regime was so furious that, Mafia style, they warned the papers not to publish them. At one point, they even closed Mithaq and al-Haya. (Jordanian newspapers - Ed.) - If the parliament is so weak, why do you insist on participating in the elections?
After all, most of the opposition boycotted them this time. Look, leadership means taking responsibility. Unlike the government, the parliament represents the people. The decision to boycott meant that the opposition left the regime with all the power. Perhaps they were afraid, in case of a loss in the elections, to reveal how weak their following was. - You lost these elections as an independent representative, but we hear you are working to create a new party. Why?
I lost these elections because of fraud in the counting of the votes. You had people who voted ten times and youngsters below the age of eligibility. We found names from among the dead. Somehow they got resurrected. I have compiled all my evidence and registered an official complaint with the Ministry of Interior. I also left copies of all my proof with lawyers abroad, in case something happens to me. I am dealing here with a corrupt regime ruled by Mafia-style hoodlums. I held some public meetings about the elections in refugee camps. The government had tanks at the gates. Other organizations that invited me to speak were threatened.
There is a political vacuum in Jordan today, and many people have urged me to build a party. Indeed, we do need a new kind of party. I would like it to be a liberal national one, a party that puts people's needs above all, one that sees Jordan as a part of the Arab nation and not as a part of the American-Zionist axis. I have approached some people to join me. One of them is Ahmad Abidat, who was once prime minister but has lately come over to the opposition. - Samya Nasser, a member of the Organization for Democratic Action, is running for membership in the municipal council of Majd al-Krum. (See interview, p. 12) She is running on a political platform that rejects the Oslo accords. What would you tell her from your experience as an Arab woman and as an opponent of the agreement?
I would tell her that if she holds on to her principles, she can make huge inroads. At the beginning things might be difficult, but it's even more difficult to give in to corruption and injustice. Our peoples need better representation. And to the people of Majd al-Krum I would like to say: give your voice to a program rather than to a vote that leans on family loyalty. We too suffer from that system. It is disastrous to our societies because it splits us against our interests – along lines of kinship rather than ideas. Give your vote to a program that calls for real democracy and human rights; to a program that negates the criminal Oslo accords, with their phony normalization of relations between Israel and the Arabs. Finally, give your voice to a woman who knows how to represent you with courage.