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Problems in the Arab world
are not just due to internal factors By Riad Qanbar, PhD
for MMN Montreal, July 12, 2002 - The
results of a recent United Nations evaluation of the quality of life in the
Arabic-speaking world have shown that Arab countries are lagging behind in
three major areas: freedom, education and gender issues. Even though these
results are typical of developing countries, several commentaries on the
results have sought to attribute this miserable failing solely to internal
factors, often subtly or overtly blaming Islam for the current unfortunate
reality in the Arab world. Internal factors indeed contribute to the status
of any country, but for the developing world, the strongest influences come
from external sources.
In the modern day realities of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) and its structural adjustment programs,
the World Trade Organization and its trade agreement rules, and the military
and economic dominance of one superpower, no developing nation-state is
sovereign in actuality. Developing countries have little control over their
external as well as internal polices in the face of the major global
players. As a consequence, the measures that are implemented in these
countries often serve the interests of the major global players at the
expense of the well-being of the citizenry. This is most commonly
exemplified by the structural adjustment programs forced on nation-states
indebted to the IMF. These adjustments are meant to guarantee the servicing
of the IMF loans and often result in major cutbacks in government spending
on crucial services, like education, health-care and welfare. These measures
often start a country into a downward spiral of privatization,
unemployment, poverty, and a further increase in debt. In fact, the
adjective “developing” is a misleading one, since, under the current world
order, no developing country is likely to change status into a developed
nation any time soon.
In a world order where economic gain
is the main driving force, trade has prime importance. For profitable trade
among nation-states, stability – not democracy – is the major requirement.
In many of the developing country, this stability is achieved through
dictatorships that are armed and supported by the more influential world
players. Tyranny, massive debts at exuberant interest rates, conflict,
disastrous states of internal affairs and restricting the movement of people
while allowing free movement of capital all guarantee cheap skilled labour
and rock-bottom prices of raw materials. They also play well into the
world’s three largest trades: arms, drugs and human trafficking.
The impact of this world order is
clearly seen in the Arab world as well as in other developing nations. The
U.N. report merely outlines this reality. However, what is not readily
apparent from the U.N. report and the commentaries on it in the popular
press is that this impact is significantly “cushioned” in the Arab world
compared with other developing nations. For example, the report shows a very
low incidence of abject poverty in spite of the fact that one out of five
people lives on less than $2 a day and that social assistance is
non-existent in most Arab countries.
The report highlights maternity
mortality rate and female illiteracy as measures of the poor status of
women. However, little emphasis is placed on other factors that indicate the
well-being of women in a society. In many of these factors, the Arab world
fares pretty well indeed. For example, the Arab world has some of the
world’s lowest rates of violent crimes against women, sexual abuse and
prostitution. Also, the number of households supported only by single
mothers in the Arab countries is one of the lowest in the world. So is the
incidence of HIV infection. In addition, despite rampant corruption and
human-rights abuses by their governments, Arab countries boast one of the
world’s lowest rates of violent crimes in general (murders, aggravated
assaults, armed robbery, etc..) The rates of suicide, alcoholism, and
substance abuse are also remarkably low. The fact that the Arab world still
manages to fare well on many aspects that are essential for a healthy social
fabric even though most of its citizens are weighed down under
dictatorships, human right abuses, heavy restrictions on all freedoms,
illiteracy, high unemployment rates, corruption, and poverty begs the
question: “what is it that slows down the destructive impact of all these
shortcomings on the Arab world?” The answer, in part, lies in the
centuries-old value system of the region. Social responsibility, belief in
personal accountability to God, institutionalized charity (zakat), tolerance
of differences and a well-defined moral code are all part of the region’s
Islamic heritage.
The long-term prospects for the
region remain bleak, however. The Arab societies may have been able to
absorb some of the destructive impact of decades of colonization and
neo-colonization, but this impact is becoming more evident every day. Unless
a major change in the forces that drive world politics takes place, little
hope remains not only for the developing world, but also for the masses in
the developed countries. Instead of a profit-driven global economy that
overdraws on the non-renewable resources of the earth, pollutes the
environment, eradicates bio-diversity, erodes the quality of life of the
majority for the benefit of a few, and jeopardizes the future of the next
generation, a system the puts human beings ahead of profit needs to gain
momentum. Perhaps the U.N. can set the example of how to implement
responsible decisions despite the pressure from the rich and the powerful.
After all, in the great world body which espouses the virtues of democracy,
the decisions of the 189 member General Assembly are non-binding whereas the
decisions of the 15 member Security Council are!
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