The Jordanian government has been for years one of the more open of Arab states, with its monarchs – first the long-ruling King Hussein and now his son King Abdullah – ruling with a relatively light hand (I spent 1997 living in Jordan). Yet as democracy movements gain strength in other parts of the Arab world, Jordan seems to be moving toward a crackdown on professional associations. This is how the London-based Al-Hayat describes the new law in its March 5 article, “Jordan: The issue of freedom and human rights increases the attention of Washington and its demands”:

It appears that the Jordanian government decision in regard to its professional associations bill will conclusively prevent them from “professionalizing” the political opposition, and takes a step toward striking at a stronghold of the Islamists and liberals hostile to America and Israel. This makes a quick end to the historical conflict between the authorities and the unions, in spite of the fact that this will open the issue of public freedoms in Jordan and put its reform program to a true test after the American Secretary of State strongly criticized last week ‘government violations of human rights, and a retreat of freedom of expression guaranteed in the constitution.’

This is indeed a significant shift, because professional associations – lawyers, physicians, teachers, etc. – have long been the one arena in the Arab public sphere, not merely in Jordan, where Islamists have been able to run candidates and win elections, carving out an organized platform from which to persue their agenda. Al-Hayat quoted Interior Minister Samir Habashneh as defending the new law by saying that it did not affect membership in the associations, but could expand their membership base by making sure that union dues would be spent on matters directly relevant to the professional focus on the association; not, he didn’t need to add, on politics.

In other words, the lawyers’ union can now focus exclusively on matters pertaining to the legal profession, but cannot get involved in politics. This by itself would not be so notable were the Jordanian parliament a genuine forum for political opposition, but as the unions were almost all that the opposition had, this will be a blow to them.

Contributed by Kirk H. Sowell at Window on the Arab World, and More!”