Stifled Arab World Traumatised by Outside Forces

Stifled Arab World Traumatised by Outside Forces - Study
Thalif Deen - IPS 10/21/03

UNITED NATIONS, Oct 20 (IPS) - Intellectually stifled because it has no real multi-party democracy nor a free press, the Arab world has been traumatised by new political and military misadventures engineered by outside forces, says a new Arab Human Development Report released Monday.

The second of a series of studies prepared by a group of Arab intellectuals and academics calls the period between the first and the second reports, ''two years unlike any others in recent Arab history''.

''In 2003, Iraq fell under an occupation that most Arabs saw as embodying plans to reshape the region from the outside to suit the interest of foreign powers,'' says U.N. Assistant Secretary-General Rima Khalaf Hunaidi.

In 2002, the Israeli Army re-occupied almost the entire Palestinian territories committing -- notably in Jenin and Nablus -- a series of human atrocities that international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have described as ''war crimes'', she told reporters Monday.

''The invasion also caused widespread material destruction that spared neither schools, nor mosques, nor churches nor even olive trees,'' added Hunaidi, director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States at the New York-based U.N. Development Programme (UNDP).

Hunaidi warned that the impact of those momentous events ''would cripple the process of development in Arab societies imposing a pattern contrary to those desired by most Arabs''.

The new report, a follow-up to the first ever Arab Human Development Report released in 2002, focuses on the constraints that hamper the acquisition, diffusion and production of knowledge in Arab societies and covers 22 nations with a population of 280 million people.

The first study blamed the root causes of Arab underdevelopment on three ''deficits'': of freedom, women's rights and knowledge.

The new study affirms that knowledge can help the Arab world to expand the scope of human freedoms, enhance the capacity to guarantee those freedoms through good governance, and achieve the higher moral human goals of justice and human dignity.

In most Arab countries, production in the humanities and social sciences is subject to many restrictions, Hunaidi told reporters.

''Censorship and political red lines, whether explicit or tacit, frequently interfere with free expression and enquiry in these fields,'' she added.

The only politically redeeming feature in recent years, says the report, is the ''bright spots'' in the information environment represented by a number of Arabic satellite channels and newspapers.

Despite the ''iron grip'' of official media on political opinion, news and information, the Arab media have entered a new phase marked by dawning competition, it adds.

In contrast to their weak output in the natural and social sciences, Arab societies can also boast creative production in literature and art equal to the best in the world.

''The originality visible in many Arab creative works is often impressive,'' Hunaidi said. ''But such works are the fruit of a robust creative effort that, however, does not call for large financial investments, unlike the case of scientific research and development.''

Yet Arab literary production, she said, faces certain challenges, of which the most important are a low readership and the declining purchasing power of today's Arab readers. This is clearly reflected in the number of books produced in the Arab world.

''Although we Arabs represent five percent of the world's people, we account for just one percent of the books it produces,'' Hunaidi added.

Moreover, the relatively few books produced in the region do not move freely through markets, due to the restrictions imposed by 22 censors in various countries. ''As a result, our people are frequently denied access to fresh ideas and creative works,'' she argued.

Over the last two years, Hunaidi said, measures taken in the name of the ''war on terrorism'' have stifled freedoms in many parts of the Arab world and beyond, notably in the United States.

Civil and political freedoms -- like the right to a fair and timely trial -- particularly of Arabs and Muslims, were violated as a consequence.

''Contrary to established legal principles, they have become guilty until proven innocent. Islam has been the target of an unjust wave of provocation, defamation and criticism that betrays remarkable ignorance most of the time and blatant prejudice at other times,'' Hunaidi added.

Under these new circumstances, the challenge of human development has become even more important, more urgent and harder to attain.

In contrast to these externally driven events, said Hunaidi, the Arab Human Development Reports represent an effort to crystallise a strategic vision of change -- developed by Arabs, for the sake of human development from within the region, and to deepen an Arab-owned and led dialogue on ways to safeguard the dignity and well being of the Arab people.

''There can be no doubt that self-reform stemming from open, scrupulous and balanced self-criticism is the right, if not the only alternative to plans that have apparently been drawn up outside the Arab world for restructuring the region and reshaping its identity,'' she added.

The publication of the report was co-sponsored by the Arab Fund for Social Development.