A group of Gulf academics and nationals has initiated a petition calling for citizen participation in the political decision-making process in all of the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, amid a major ongoing rift that has resulted in several Gulf countries severing ties with Qatar.
Addressed to GCC leaders and policymakers, the petition, which began circulating on social media platforms on Saturday, has gained more than 500 signatures from academics and individuals across the Gulf region – a figure the initiators say has exceeded expectations.
“Recent events have proved that the people of the region are aware enough and insistent on becoming a part of the decision-making process and determining their own fate,” part of the petition reads.
The signatories state it is time to implement a democratic process that grants “ordinary citizens a bigger role in determining their fate”.
According to Qatar’s state-funded Al Jazeera, one of the petition writers and key initiators, Qatar University PhD student Esraa al-Muftah, said that the petition calls for the “immediate cessation of any actions that lead to the escalation of the situation and which the impact the ability of people to move and freely reside within the GCC states.”
She added that GCC citizens were concerned, as they had “no say in the ensuing events” that are currently affecting the lives of people and families across the region.
The petition also includes long-standing grievances that some analysts believe to be the primary cause for the GCC crisis. Lack of popular participation and the lack of effective political and economic integration between the GCC nations have rendered the people’s parliaments futile, the signatories told Al Jazeera.
