The crisis of Arab culture
By
Awatef Abdel Rahman
The complex, multidimensional crisis afflicting Arab culture has complex origins. What is clear, though, is that it is not a simple result of indolence or incompetence. Rather, it stems from two main tendencies: Arab decision-makers' failure to escape their dependence on international approval, for which read the American administration, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund; and the futility of the efforts of Arab intellectuals.
This futility stems, in turn, from the nearly impossible position in which those intellectuals seeking change find themselves. Though they act in all sincerity to promote the national interest, supporting the disinherited and the marginalised, they are consistently excluded from the decision making process by a range of bureaucratic and security measures. Other intellectuals fall into one of two categories: those that have been mobilised -- effectively coopted -- by governments, rendering their role ineffectual, and those that seek the sanctuary of foreign funding. These latter have a tendency to favour excessive media attention over the making of any genuine contribution. The funding bodies, however generous may be their actions on the surface, cannot help but pursue the agendas of their respective governments which rather negates their claims to be pursuing disinterested scholarship or research.
One thing that can be done is for intellectuals to rally behind the causes in which they believe irrespective of individual interests, and connect directly to the people without whose support their work would be meaningless.
* This week's Soapbox speaker is professor of mass communication at Cairo University.
