There is cultural malady among the Arabs. It is feverish, spasmodic, contagious. You can see it in the rhetoric in Arab politics. You can see it in the mayhem which easily flows from that rhetoric. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) records almost all of it. Alas, for those of you who believe that peace will come easily to the Shi'a and the Sunni, to the Israelis and the Palestinians, to the royals and the military republics, the evidence is that it won't come easily at all. In fact, the evidence it that it simply won't come.
Western diplomacy assumes that political arrangements can be made for borders, for designated air space, for rules of disengagement and demilitarization, for political modalities. I think it is all a fraud.
Below is the transcript of a debate on Arab universities, carried by Al-Jazeera. It is an important topic. But the debaters are more than a little bit off their rockers, even the sane one.
Moderator: "Not a Single Arab University [is] Among the Leading 500 Universities... Our Arab Universities Are a Reflection of the Arab Reality of Wretchedness"
Moderator Faysal Al-Qassem: "How come not a single Arab university has managed to be classified among the leading 500 universities in the world? Because our Arab universities are a reflection of the Arab reality of wretchedness, tyranny, and backwardness.
"How can a nation make progress if some of its leaders are semi-illiterate, who make grammatical errors? How can a nation possibly make progress, when the money it spends on its mules, its camels, its yachts, its pleasures, its entourages, and its hunting dogs exceeds the money it allocates to science and scientists, as a critic has said?
"Once, an Arab teacher wanted to get married, and he asked for the hand of a young woman in marriage. Her father asked him what he did for a living, and he said he was a teacher. The girl's father responded: 'Hah! I rejected three taxi drivers, so how can I possibly accept a teacher?'" [...]
Al-Zu'bi: "The Arab Allocation Per Capita for Research is $4 per annum – Whereas the General World Average is About $1,000... Where Is All the Arab Money?"
Adib Al-Zu'bi: "In all these studies, the Arab universities are at the tail end of the list – both in the internal and external studies. The main reason is the lack of willpower among the decision makers to elevate Arab education to the international level. Our universities have become an extension of our elementary schools, in their teachings methods of memorization and learning by rote, and of killing and burying Arab creativity.
[...]
"The Arab allocation per capita for research is four dollars per annum, whereas the general world average is about $1,000 per annum. Israel allocates approximately $972 per capita, while we allocate four dollars.
"My question is simple: Where is all the Arab money? Where does all the money go? It goes, as you know, to line the pockets of the top officials and to stockpile weapons in rusty storehouses, which have nothing to do with war or with defending the Arab homeland."[...]
To read the rest click here, and to see the video click here.
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COMMENTS (16)
I dunno, the moderators don't seem off their rockers. I have one quibble: Our universities have become an extension of our elementary schools, in their teachings methods of memorization and learning by rote, and of killing and burying Arab creativity.
In Japan and China they use memorization and rote learning, and these countries don't have problems in the sciences or in innovation. Compared to the money invested, the Chinese get far, far more value out of their schools than America does, so it isn't even money. As to Arab education, I am completely unfamiliar with it so have no cause to speak about it.
I dunno, the moderators don't seem off their rockers. I have one quibble: Our universities have become an extension of our elementary schools, in their teachings methods of memorization and learning by rote, and of killing and burying Arab creativity.
In Japan and China they use memorization and rote learning, and these countries don't have problems in the sciences or in innovation. Compared to the money invested, the Chinese get far, far more value out of their schools than America does, so it isn't even money. As to Arab education, I am completely unfamiliar with it so have no cause to speak about it.
At one point the nut case guest invokes Al Andalus as proof of the Arab world's scientific prowess. This isn't the first MEMRI translation of an Al Jazeera debate I've read in which someone has held up Al Andalus as the pinnacle of human accomplishment. It's one thing for Arabs to be proud of the civilization that build the Alhambra, it's another to rest on the laurels of 14th century accomplishments. I wonder, is Andalus worship really widespread in the Arab world, or is it a fringe attitude held by a few nuts on talk shows.
At one point the nut case guest invokes Al Andalus as proof of the Arab world's scientific prowess. This isn't the first MEMRI translation of an Al Jazeera debate I've read in which someone has held up Al Andalus as the pinnacle of human accomplishment. It's one thing for Arabs to be proud of the civilization that build the Alhambra, it's another to rest on the laurels of 14th century accomplishments. I wonder, is Andalus worship really widespread in the Arab world, or is it a fringe attitude held by a few nuts on talk shows.
Will,
Read Bernard Lewis' What Went Wrong?: The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East; also his The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror.
I can't say al Andalus worship (as you aptly put it) is ubiquitous in the Islamic world but it is fairly common especially in the more conservative Islamic societies. Lewis has pointed out that bin Laden himself would regularly invoke the fall of the Caliphate in the early 20th Century and the fall of al Andalus as historic injustices that have to be reversed.
But bin Laden didn't have to say it explicitly. He often simply alludes to those events without explicitly identifying them but that is more than sufficient for his ... view full comment
Will,
Read Bernard Lewis' What Went Wrong?: The Clash Between Islam and Modernity in the Middle East; also his The Crisis of Islam: Holy War and Unholy Terror.
I can't say al Andalus worship (as you aptly put it) is ubiquitous in the Islamic world but it is fairly common especially in the more conservative Islamic societies. Lewis has pointed out that bin Laden himself would regularly invoke the fall of the Caliphate in the early 20th Century and the fall of al Andalus as historic injustices that have to be reversed.
But bin Laden didn't have to say it explicitly. He often simply alludes to those events without explicitly identifying them but that is more than sufficient for his fans and followers to know what he is talking about. In other words, the Caliphate and al Andalus are sufficiently embedded within Islamic and especially Islamist consciousness such that it only needs to be hinted at.
Many, if not most Westerners seem to be incapable of getting it.
Hershel Ginsburg
Jerusalem / Efrata
"Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy of Osama bin Laden in the al-Qaeda leadership, in
a new tape publicized on 20 September 2007, referred to the global aspirations
of the Islamic Revolution:
O, our Muslim nation in the Maghreb [North Africa], zone of deployment for
battle and jihad! The return of Andalus [today's Spain] to Muslim hands is a
duty for the [Islamic] nation in general and for you in particular. You will
not be able to achieve this except by purifying the Islamic Maghreb of the
French and the Spanish who have once again returned, after your fathers and
grandfathers had expelled them unsparingly in the way of Allah.
Earlier, in December 2006, al-Zawahiri m ... view full comment
"Ayman al-Zawahiri, deputy of Osama bin Laden in the al-Qaeda leadership, in
a new tape publicized on 20 September 2007, referred to the global aspirations
of the Islamic Revolution:
O, our Muslim nation in the Maghreb [North Africa], zone of deployment for
battle and jihad! The return of Andalus [today's Spain] to Muslim hands is a
duty for the [Islamic] nation in general and for you in particular. You will
not be able to achieve this except by purifying the Islamic Maghreb of the
French and the Spanish who have once again returned, after your fathers and
grandfathers had expelled them unsparingly in the way of Allah.
Earlier, in December 2006, al-Zawahiri made a passing reference to "Spain's
occupation of Ceuta and Melilla," two small enclaves on the North African
coast that are under Spanish sovereignty.
This is not the first time al-Qaeda leaders have referred to the Iberian
Peninsula as occupied Muslim territory to which the commandment of jihad
applies until it is liberated and Islamic rule is imposed there. On 29
September 1994, Osama bin Laden wrote to Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Baz, the Grand
Mufti of Saudi Arabia: "All in all, we request of Allah...that the [Islamic]
nation should regain its honor and prestige, should raise again the unique
flag of Allah on all stolen Islamic land, from Palestine to Andalus, as well
as Islamic lands that were lost because of the treachery of leaders and the
helplessness of the Muslims."1 "
http://www.zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2007/10/peace-with-justice-for...
"In Japan and China they use memorization and rote learning, and these countries don't have problems in the sciences or in innovation"
It's an interesting comparison which I never thought about. It can't all be attributed to oil since oil began to play a major role in the Arab world only during the 20th century.
Perhaps Spinoza was right after all:
"In this the Turks have achieved the greatest measure of success. They hold even discussion of religion to be sinful, and with their mass of dogma they gain such a thorough hold on the individual’s judgment that they leave no room in the mind for the exercise of reason, or even the capacity to doubt.”
In Spinoza's time the "Turk" would be the gene ... view full comment
"In Japan and China they use memorization and rote learning, and these countries don't have problems in the sciences or in innovation"
It's an interesting comparison which I never thought about. It can't all be attributed to oil since oil began to play a major role in the Arab world only during the 20th century.
Perhaps Spinoza was right after all:
"In this the Turks have achieved the greatest measure of success. They hold even discussion of religion to be sinful, and with their mass of dogma they gain such a thorough hold on the individual’s judgment that they leave no room in the mind for the exercise of reason, or even the capacity to doubt.”
In Spinoza's time the "Turk" would be the general way of referring to Muslims ("Mohammedans" was also used, but I think a bit later).
This is just too rich. Can it be an accident that just as SNL stopped being funny Al-Jazeera took off?
This is just too rich. Can it be an accident that just as SNL stopped being funny Al-Jazeera took off?
Al Jazeera are not funny.
"On July 19, 2008, Al Jazeera TV broadcast a program from Lebanon that covered the "welcome-home" festivities for Samir Kuntar. In the program, the head of Al Jazeera's Beirut office, Ghassan bin Jiddo, lavished praise on Kuntar by calling him a "pan-Arab hero" and organized a birthday party for him. "
Who is Samir Kuntar? What was his heroic deed?
"After taking the hostages, Kuntar's group took Danny and Einat down to the beach, where a shootout with Israeli policemen and soldiers erupted. Samir Kuntar shot the father, Danny, at close range in the back, in front of his daughter, and drowned him in the sea to ensure he was dead. Next, he smashed the head of 4 year-old ... view full comment
Al Jazeera are not funny.
"On July 19, 2008, Al Jazeera TV broadcast a program from Lebanon that covered the "welcome-home" festivities for Samir Kuntar. In the program, the head of Al Jazeera's Beirut office, Ghassan bin Jiddo, lavished praise on Kuntar by calling him a "pan-Arab hero" and organized a birthday party for him. "
Who is Samir Kuntar? What was his heroic deed?
"After taking the hostages, Kuntar's group took Danny and Einat down to the beach, where a shootout with Israeli policemen and soldiers erupted. Samir Kuntar shot the father, Danny, at close range in the back, in front of his daughter, and drowned him in the sea to ensure he was dead. Next, he smashed the head of 4 year-old Einat on beach rocks and crushed her skull with the butt of his rifle.[1]
Back in the crawl space, two-year-old Yael Haran was accidentally suffocated to death by her mother's attempts to quiet her whimpering from revealing their hideout, so that they would not be found by Kuntar's group.[2]"
_____________
Pierre Heumann of the Swiss weekly Die Weltwoche spoke with Al-Jazeera Editor-in-Chief Ahmed Sheikh in Doha:
"In many Arab states, the middle class is disappearing. The rich get richer and the poor get still poorer. Look at the schools in Jordan, Egypt or Morocco: You have up to 70 youngsters crammed together in a single classroom. How can a teacher do his job in such circumstances? The public hospitals are also in a hopeless condition. These are just examples. They show how hopeless the situation is for us in the Middle East.
Who is responsible for the situation?
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most important reasons why these crises and problems continue to simmer. The day when Israel was founded created the basis for our problems. The West should finally come to understand this. Everything would be much calmer if the Palestinians were given their rights.
Do you mean to say that if Israel did not exist, there would suddenly be democracy in Egypt, that the schools in Morocco would be better, that the public clinics in Jordan would function better?
I think so.
Can you please explain to me what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has to do with these problems?
The Palestinian cause is central for Arab thinking.
In the end, is it a matter of feelings of self-esteem?
Exactly. It's because we always lose to Israel. It gnaws at the people in the Middle East that such a small country as Israel, with only about 7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million. That hurts our collective ego. The Palestinian problem is in the genes of every Arab. The West's problem is that it does not understand this."
http://www.worldpoliticsreview.com/article.aspx?id=395
Perhaps the recognition that "the Arab nation" doesn't exist might be a starting point. Indeed the 20th century seems to be the era in which all attempts to create such an entity failed miserably. If there is a traditional nationalism in Arab countries it seems to be restricted to nations with a genuinely distinctive social history such as Egypt. The fact that a whole lot of people speak Arabic doens't imply an "Arab nation" any more than English demands that the U.S., Ireland, the UK, and Australia, and Barbados be a single "Anglo-nation."
Perhaps the recognition that "the Arab nation" doesn't exist might be a starting point. Indeed the 20th century seems to be the era in which all attempts to create such an entity failed miserably. If there is a traditional nationalism in Arab countries it seems to be restricted to nations with a genuinely distinctive social history such as Egypt. The fact that a whole lot of people speak Arabic doens't imply an "Arab nation" any more than English demands that the U.S., Ireland, the UK, and Australia, and Barbados be a single "Anglo-nation."
"The fact that a whole lot of people speak Arabic doens't imply an "Arab nation" any more than English demands that the U.S., Ireland, the UK, and Australia, and Barbados be a single "Anglo-nation.""
I don't know that your analogy is all that accurate.
This is how the Arab League, a social, political and economic organization intended to encompass the Arab World, defines an Arab:
“An Arab is a person whose language is Arabic, who lives in an Arabic-speaking country, and who is in sympathy with the aspirations of the Arabic-speaking peoples.[1]
The Arab League's main goal is to unify politically the Arab populations so defined. (wiki)
Is there a similar way in which an "anglo" is formally define ... view full comment
"The fact that a whole lot of people speak Arabic doens't imply an "Arab nation" any more than English demands that the U.S., Ireland, the UK, and Australia, and Barbados be a single "Anglo-nation.""
I don't know that your analogy is all that accurate.
This is how the Arab League, a social, political and economic organization intended to encompass the Arab World, defines an Arab:
“An Arab is a person whose language is Arabic, who lives in an Arabic-speaking country, and who is in sympathy with the aspirations of the Arabic-speaking peoples.[1]
The Arab League's main goal is to unify politically the Arab populations so defined. (wiki)
Is there a similar way in which an "anglo" is formally defined? Is it a main goal for Anglo nations to be unified in their aspirations?
There is also the example of La Francophonie, or the Francophonie, "an international organization of polities and governments with French as the mother or customary language, wherein a significant proportion of people are francophones (French speakers) or where there is a notable affiliation with the French language or culture. "
A comparison among the three collectivities is useful if we want to assess just how cohesive the Arab world is.
I think I don't know much about the history of the Arab League beyond the basics, and I'm influenced of course by my favorite movie Lawrence of Arabia, but I do wonder whether the language identifier is sufficient for a transborder "nation" spread across a few thousand miles and a set of divergent political and social histories (e.g. the noticeably different experiences of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and, say, Iraq). The AL's formulation sounds like pie-in-the-sky much more than other kinds of more territorially-based national ideas -- love them or hate them, they have some observable basis in reality.
The British Commonwealth would be one variant of a voluntary, language/culture-based gro ... view full comment
I think I don't know much about the history of the Arab League beyond the basics, and I'm influenced of course by my favorite movie Lawrence of Arabia, but I do wonder whether the language identifier is sufficient for a transborder "nation" spread across a few thousand miles and a set of divergent political and social histories (e.g. the noticeably different experiences of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and, say, Iraq). The AL's formulation sounds like pie-in-the-sky much more than other kinds of more territorially-based national ideas -- love them or hate them, they have some observable basis in reality.
The British Commonwealth would be one variant of a voluntary, language/culture-based grouping of states, but it was really an international association of interest rather than a transnational political entity.
I don't understand what Lawrence of Arabia, has to do with the issue. Maybe people who love the movie have been conditioned to regard the Arab as a romantic desert dweller, pure, noble and fierce, an object of desire, or something. I have never been able to like this movie even as a girl in Israel where it was terribly popular. I know some persons (one or two from the CR boards) whose view of the Arab world is definitely shaped by this epic. They find very difficult to find any sympathy for Israel. A bit like you, Ironyroad, only much cruder and less guarded.
But you have not answered my question, not directly, at least:
“An Arab is a person whose language is Arabic, who lives in an Arabi ... view full comment
I don't understand what Lawrence of Arabia, has to do with the issue. Maybe people who love the movie have been conditioned to regard the Arab as a romantic desert dweller, pure, noble and fierce, an object of desire, or something. I have never been able to like this movie even as a girl in Israel where it was terribly popular. I know some persons (one or two from the CR boards) whose view of the Arab world is definitely shaped by this epic. They find very difficult to find any sympathy for Israel. A bit like you, Ironyroad, only much cruder and less guarded.
But you have not answered my question, not directly, at least:
“An Arab is a person whose language is Arabic, who lives in an Arabic-speaking country, and who is in sympathy with the aspirations of the Arabic-speaking peoples.[1]
The Arab League's main goal is to unify politically the Arab populations so defined. (wiki)
Is there a similar way in which an "anglo" is formally defined? Is it a main goal for Anglo nations to be unified in their aspirations?
What does the Arab league mean when it aims at unifying the people? What aspirations are those that unify them? Is it the search for the solution to global warming? Is it the improvement of the condition of women in their societies? Is it the state of their education?
What do you think they are aiming at with this unification thingy? Do you think that the failure of Nasser's pan-Arabism means that the aspiration and the basic impulse is gone? That they have learned their lesson?
"They find very difficult to find any sympathy for Israel. A bit like you, Ironyroad, only much cruder and less guarded."
!!!???
Did Santa bring you the wrong sweater, Noga, or what's the reason for the sour and cheerless dig?
[Parenthetically: I've just spend the last 3 weeks or so being instructed in the history of Zionism and Post-Zionism in Israel and in the Diaspora, incidentally, so I don't know if my guard is up or down right now. I'm on the committee of a non-traditional student (much older, Israeli, a lawyer for many decades) who has just completed a very compelling dissertation on that theme.]
Anyhow, be that as it may, I didn't think the reference to LoA was that oblique -- the mo ... view full comment
"They find very difficult to find any sympathy for Israel. A bit like you, Ironyroad, only much cruder and less guarded."
!!!???
Did Santa bring you the wrong sweater, Noga, or what's the reason for the sour and cheerless dig?
[Parenthetically: I've just spend the last 3 weeks or so being instructed in the history of Zionism and Post-Zionism in Israel and in the Diaspora, incidentally, so I don't know if my guard is up or down right now. I'm on the committee of a non-traditional student (much older, Israeli, a lawyer for many decades) who has just completed a very compelling dissertation on that theme.]
Anyhow, be that as it may, I didn't think the reference to LoA was that oblique -- the movie's take on that period of history shows the inability of the Arab rulers to think beyond a system of shifting tribal alliances and a pre-modern and autocratic view of power -- much to Lawrence's disgust, of course. The movie is about Lawrence's romantic vision and his subsequent disillusionment.
I did answer your question, albeit indirectly. It's "no" -- no such "Anglo nation" was ever really a serious political goal, except perhaps at certain points during the U.S.-British relationship. But my point -- which I maybe made badly -- was that the Arab League theory of the Arab "nation" seems/seemed to be posited on exactly that kind of language-identity theory that ignores other major factors. It's one thing to say Lithuanians are those who speak Lithuanian as a mother tongue (a small group of people in a restricted territorial area) and quite another to stake an analogous political claim for Arabic speakers.
My very subjective sense is that Arab societies never really warmed to nationalism -- there were too many counterforces from religion to tribalism to imperial nostalgia active, and there was a distinct lack of the kind of initial modernity that's needed for the psychic citizenship, lateral trust, and future-orientation that Benedict Anderson describes in Imagined Communities.
Have you thought about the possibility that "religion to tribalism to imperial nostalgia" are exactly some of the components that make Arab nationalism possible?
Anyway, you seem to use "Arab nationalism" and "Arab nation" interchangeably. I'm not sure they are. "Arab Nation" as the venerable editor in chief uses it, seems to be a translation of "al-umma al-arabiyya". It is a term that resonates with Middle Eastern Arabs. THEy know what it means.
I'm curious how you came to serve on the academic committee of a history of Zionism and Post-Zionism in Israel dissertation. Aren't you an Eng. Lit. guy?
I did not intend my comment to be a dig. It's how I perceive the sum total of your various pos ... view full comment
Have you thought about the possibility that "religion to tribalism to imperial nostalgia" are exactly some of the components that make Arab nationalism possible?
Anyway, you seem to use "Arab nationalism" and "Arab nation" interchangeably. I'm not sure they are. "Arab Nation" as the venerable editor in chief uses it, seems to be a translation of "al-umma al-arabiyya". It is a term that resonates with Middle Eastern Arabs. THEy know what it means.
I'm curious how you came to serve on the academic committee of a history of Zionism and Post-Zionism in Israel dissertation. Aren't you an Eng. Lit. guy?
I did not intend my comment to be a dig. It's how I perceive the sum total of your various positions on different issues is. When I said you have little sympathy for Israel I did not mean to suggest that you are looking forward to its destruction. So you shouldn't react as if I did.
It's an intriguing thought, but that combination would certainly make it an unusual type of nationalism, with many internal faults. Putting it plainly, I incline to support the Anderson theory that nationalist ideas, while often emerging from a crucible of religion, tribalism, and imperial nostalgia (or some combination of elements, including colonial humiliation or exclusion), require a new relationship between social and individual experience to take on concrete form in the real world. For example, some of the religious fervor has to be switched in the direction of national ideals, the tribalism has to be shed or at least weakened to benefit the wider framework of citizenship, and imperi ... view full comment
It's an intriguing thought, but that combination would certainly make it an unusual type of nationalism, with many internal faults. Putting it plainly, I incline to support the Anderson theory that nationalist ideas, while often emerging from a crucible of religion, tribalism, and imperial nostalgia (or some combination of elements, including colonial humiliation or exclusion), require a new relationship between social and individual experience to take on concrete form in the real world. For example, some of the religious fervor has to be switched in the direction of national ideals, the tribalism has to be shed or at least weakened to benefit the wider framework of citizenship, and imperial nostalgia has to be shifted from political to cultural spheres, where it does less harm.
To that extent, I think many observers would agree that Arab societies have not been models of such a transformation and indeed have often been sites of the failures of modern nationalism, precisely because they couldn't pull those maneuvers off (Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon are good examples).
Aha -- yes, I am indeed a literature guy, that's true. But at an earlier place of employment I was also part of the cultural studies dept, and that's where the dissertation began. It was partly a personal thing that I was involved but I'm also reasonably familiar with standard works on nationalism, so it wasn't quite as weird as it might sound.
Of course I'm not looking forward to Israel's destruction. For chrissake Noga, get a grip.
And you can exchange the sweater, you know! It's not really from Santa :)
And you can exchange the sweater, you know! It's not really from Santa :)
I can't help thinking ironyroad, how effectively you put to use the kiss of the blarney.
I can't help thinking ironyroad, how effectively you put to use the kiss of the blarney.