26 Dec. 2002 - 1 Jan. 2003
Al-Ahram
Nader Fergany argues that the only route to reform in the Arab world is
self-reliance
(The writer is the lead author of the Arab Human Development Report.)
The Arab region currently faces major external threats that might prove detrimental to human welfare.
What the Arab Human Development Report (AHDR) has shown is that Arabs are not lacking in intellectual capacity or the ability for constructive self-criticism. However, some self- proclaimed friends of the Arabs have repeatedly shown amazing ignorance, which is further combined -- lethally, I believe -- with an overdose of arrogance. This explosive mix has recently been formulated in terms of the need to impose reform on Arab countries from outside -- even by force -- the neo-conservative elite in the US is suggesting. One vocal advocate of this elite has called such an action "implementing the Arab Human Development Report".
Thanks, but no thanks. We have our own analysis of our predicament and you would be wiser for listening to it. Indeed, you would better serve the ideals of the West, the US and your interests in the Arab region if you do so. In our analysis, the West, especially the US, has some serious answering to do with respect to the gravity of the human development crisis in the region. The essence of human development is unleashing the creative potential of people in the region -- not supplanting it by misguided intervention from outside. Such intervention, it should be emphasised, would deprive Arabs of their fundamental right to self-determination.
Foolish self-appointed 'friends of the Arabs' in the West have made a great deal of fuss over our critique of the absence of freedom and good governance and the marginalisation of women. Nevertheless, they have hardly acknowledged our equally forceful critique of the destructive influence of the Israeli occupation of Arab land and American behaviour in the region on human development.
In my opinion, our attitude towards these responses is part of the Arab predicament. As the celebrated Arab proverb warns, foolish self- proclaimed friends end up doing more damage than a wise enemy. As we have authored the AHDR, let us, Arab intellectuals and citizens, work for its implementation. An American invasion of Iraq, for example, will not further human development in the Arab region, in exactly the same way that the death of nearly half a million Iraqi children as a result of the sanctions regime imposed on Iraq did not further human development in the Arab region.
What, then, would constitute, on the part of the West, and the US in particular, genuine friendly support for the cause of human development in Arab countries?
First, stop manipulating -- indeed violating -- the lofty principles of human rights in the service of your national interests in the Arab region through applying a double standard. Stop supporting repressive regimes in the region that serve your interests at the expense of those of their citizens. The "Afghanisation" of Arab countries can only be classified in this category.
In addition, stop your unconditional support of Israel in its violation of fundamental Arab rights to liberty and self-determination. Those who rise to the occasion and work for these noble goals would prove to be genuine and wise friends of Arabs. May they be many!
