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The Indispensable Century ? The Arab Revolution: What Would Freedom Bring To The Arab World? Part Three

Every successful country whether in the West or Asia has two things going for them: they have a well educated population and strong institutions. The two major things lacking in all Arab countries. There is high youth unemployment in all Arab countries however, at the same time when you visit those same countries, they have a high influx of foreign workers. Why is that so? To put it bluntly the Arabs lack the skills to perform those tasks themselves.

They claim to have an educated population yet their leaders send their kids to the West for school because they know all too well that their school systems are crap. Who drills the oil from the ground in Saudi Arabia and other oil rich Arab states? Westerners of course.

These articles might sound to some as if I am saying that it is a wrong thing to remove the likes of Gadhafi or Assad, that is not what I am saying.  What I am saying is removing those guys alone will not solve the Arab problem. It needs to be seen as a first step towards creating a 21st century society in the Arab world. It is like a person who wants to lose weight by just dieting. For sure dieting is a good first step however, it has to be followed by exercise, stress reduction etc.

For the Arab revolution, spring-awakening, or whatever they would like to call it, to succeed revolutionary leaders have to level up with their people the fact that they have to change. The first step in that process would be the separation of religion and state. Religion and state is oil and water it is a poisonous combination. The second step is education. They must admit that their current level of education is unfit to compete in a 21st century market place. Thirdly they need to build institutions that do not depend on a single charismatic leader.

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In the film: “The Way Back” there was a very interesting scene when the escaped prisoners arrive at the border crossing out of the Soviet Union. Colin Farrel changed his mind and said he was not leaving the Soviet Union any longer. Jim Sturgess’s  asked him in an attempt to convince him “What about freedom?” “Freedom” Colin Farrel repeated and asked “What would I do with freedom?” Bear in mind this guy had just risked his life escaping from a Siberian prison, fought wild animals along the way, almost froze to death in the cold and came to the brink of starvation for freedom and now he is asking what would he do with freedom.

Maybe this is a good lesson for the Arabs as they conduct their fight for freedom. What are they going to do with this freedom that they are willing to kill themselves and destroy their countries for? Liberia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Angola and many African countries killed thousands of their compatriots for freedom, what have they done with the freedom? Am I saying the Arabs should live under brutal dictatorship no that is not what I am saying all I am saying is think of the final destination before embarking on the journey.

Those in the West who are bankrolling the Arabs quest for freedom must ask themselves what do they think the Arabs are going to do with the freedom. Or what do they expect them to do with the freedom? Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, to justify intervention in the Balkans conflict, said “this generation must draw the line”. Have they drawn the line? Dead men walking Sarkozy and Berlusconi are using the Arab suffering to gain political capital and persuade their people that they are helping.

When the independent movement swept across Africa, Britain and France hastily granted Africans freedom without giving them the tools with which to navigate that freedom.  50 years after most African countries gained their independence, they still cannot feed themselves. The West is repeating the same mistake rushing to help the Arabs gain freedom without giving them the tools with which to navigate that freedom.

When I look into my crystal ball what I see is this: ten years after gaining the freedom there would be angry and disenchanted young men roaming the streets of the Arab world feeling hopeless and desperate. Where would they direct their anger? Pick your bet: at the West. You cannot give people freedom without the tools with which to navigate that freedom, that is tempting the gods.

“We have no history only the past that keeps repeating itself”. Ten years from now when those angry young men ask the question what would I do with freedom, I hope someone has an answer ready for them.

 

Romeo Richards is the CEO of Retail Profit Protection Experts a division of Richards International Group (RIG). Romeo is a co-author of the bestselling retail loss prevention book: 84%: The most effective strategy for retail profit protection. For more articles, whitepaper, best practices guide and ebooks written by Mr. Romeo Richards please visit: http//www.theprofitexperts.co.uk.

 

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Petition: Asylum in a secular country for Kacem El Ghazzali www.gopetition.com you can also help by donation: Paypal: secularismforeducation@gmail.com Kacem’s youtube channel www.youtube.com bahmut.blogspot.com (Arabic blog) atheistica.wordpress.com ( English blog) mentioned: Eopyk’s video: www.youtube.com Eopyk: www.youtube.com IHateAllReligions: www.youtube.com thanks for watching…

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Posted on August 24, 2011 by , Reply

TERRY JONES RETURNS TO PROTEST AT ARAB FESTIVAL(06/17/11)

THIS IS WHAT MUSLIM ARE PLANNING: ALL OUT to Protect and Keep Safe the Arab and Muslim community! Defend Freedom of Religion for All! RALLY, Friday, June 17, 12:00 noon Gather in front of Dearborn City Hall Stop Racist Immigrant-Bashing and the Scapegoating of America’s Arab, Black, Latina/o, Asian, Islamic and Other Minority and Immigrant Communities No More Raids & Deportations No Second-Class Treatment for Minority & Immigrant Communities: Stop the New Jim Crow! Full Rights for All Immigrants Arab, Muslim, Black, Latina/o, Asian & White — We Are All Dearborn, Detroit and its Surrounding Area Build the New Youth-led, Independent, Mass Civil Rights Movement Realize Dr. King’s Vision for America in Metro-Detroit While we succeeded in stopping Jones and his gaggle of racist thugs from rallying in front of the Islamic Center and demonstrated our opposition in front of City Hall, we did not do enough to prevent him from returning. Jones has announced his plan to return to Dearborn on June 17, the first day of the Arab International Festival. He plans to hold another rally in front of City Hall at 1:00pm and then march to the festival. The Arab International Festival is a local tradition that has grown to become a hallmark of the diversity of American society. By his planned presence at the Festival and his continued campaign of racist harassment in Dearborn, Jones is attacking two of the most important democratic values of American society: equality and freedom of religion …

Posted on June 17, 2011 by , Reply

Freedom Dilemma in the Arab States

Hasan A. Yahya, Ph.Ds

 Since man existed on earth, freedom for him is two types in definition, one is freedom of, and the other is freedom from. While in theory they both may mean related to each other, in reality they are far from each other according to cultural norms and mores.  Freedom of is the absence of constraints on behavior, it means freedom to do something. In modern time, the two types are defined logically as related to each other in any political system.  In this sense, freedom is synonymous with liberty in two important areas, freedom of worship, (religion in general),  and freedom of speech. The freedom from, however, includes two types of freedom. Freedom from fear, and freedom from want.  In both areas, immunity from fear and want against oppression and exploitation and immunity from discrimination and racism, and both are equated with equality and justice.

The influence of the concept order, however, makes the difference in practice, for example, under authoritarian political systems freedom of is largely forgotten, through legislation or executive branches of governments. This means, that freedom from, fear and want is also persistent. I believe that freedom of is more applicable than freedom from in both authoritarian and liberal political systems, at least, theoretically. They are nonetheless, differ greatly, in application.

Order, whither, social or political, refer to established patterns of authority in society. Where traditional modes of behavior are followed. It is the norms of doing things. Such norms prescribe behavior in different areas, such as school systems and students’ behavior in schools, by appearance and obedience.  Marriage behavior according to law (religious or secular), and press publication and explicit photography (without anarchy).

 In modern time, states are different in applying freedom of, or freedom from according to their political systems. While in advanced countries we may observe justice, and liberty in both types of freedom, justice and liberty are rarely noticed in totalitarian or traditional systems like the Arab countries for example. In most of the Arab states, liberty is limited and justice is exploited by those who have ( power, or wealth) over those who have not (non-citizens-workers, and service people, the less educated). While we use here two important concepts in Marx’s theory of capitalism, we do not mean, that they mean the same thing after more than a century ago. The means of production and property ownership is taking new shapes under the concept of order, especially, the political one.

In the Arab countries, where lack of laws application from traditional personalities undermines liberty and justice, where both became culturally accepted without resistance. If not, they will be exploited by security measures of order.

Terrorism as we knew in recent years have played a vital role in making deviation from all types of freedom, Religious, free speech, fear and want, where corruption of traditional regimes, helps out the idea of keeping the state order by ignoring freedom of and freedom from. So we see that product prices has no limits, and bread becomes more and more less in health value and  more in price.

In strategic planning, or in the transitional periods from one old political system to another more open to all types of freedom, Arab states are urged to apply both types of freedom, at least freedom of worship and liberty, because these two can be applied away from discrimination and exploitation by following the rules of law, which is absent in most Arab countries. Rules of law, however, do not mean, traffic laws, or marriage laws, but laws of justice and equality of citizens and non citizens alike, live inside their borders. Rules of law of limited presidency ( where presidency periods go up to four plus times or life, in Algeria, Egypt, and Tunisia, for example)   

I believe, if this happened, and rules of law become understood, in theory and application, we, then, would say, that the Arab countries are in the right track of healthy governments. While symptoms of this vision is showing in some areas, traditional application of rules of law are missed from government departments, especially the ones connected to cultural norms built up through centuries of wrong beliefs and heretics of rulers, theologians and sheep-like conformity, citizens. ( 715 words) www.dryahyatv.com

Hasan A. Yahya is an American Arab scholar, and a professor of cultures and sociology. He published 19 Arabic and 8 English books and 200 plus articles on sociology, psychology, politics, poetry, IQ Test Measurement and short stories in both Arabic and English. His articles may be found on articlesbase.com, Face book and other internet sites. His recent book published on Amazon titled: Therapy Cases: Mental and physical, 2008, and Lawlaki: Poetry Diwan, 2000 Bayt Min al-Shi’r al-Arabi. (all in Arabic on amazon- 2009). His recent activities reflects his talents and knowledge on youtube’s Dryahyatv.com Dr. Yahya resides in Michigan, USA. Dr. Yahya has four children and eight grandchildren.

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Posted on March 15, 2011 by , Reply