A summit for Arab reform
Jamal Ahmed Khashoggi argues that the Arabs could make better use of their energies than by holding an emergency summit
What's the point of holding an exceptional Arab summit? To give Arab citizens the false impression that such a development might have important consequences? If the goal is to avert a war against Iraq, Arab leaders will not be able to achieve this. At most, they will issue a statement with phrases like, "We ardently oppose any aggression against any country, and will stand firmly in the way of plans to divide Iraq". Yet another eloquent statement added to the thousands of such impotent ones made by the Arab League.
Why do we insist on repeating ourselves? The Arab public no longer responds with enthusiasm to such statements. It would be more sensible to simply postpone, rather than bring forward, such a meeting, so that it is held a few months after the war, when the view is unobstructed and passions have cooled. At such a point, we could at least begin to seriously contemplate the question of "what next?" and how to finally resurrect the nation from the coma that beset it on 5 June 1967 -- perhaps even prior to that date, when an Arab tank found its way to an already weak Arab parliament, not to buttress its power, but to curb it.
One looks forward to a summit in which we could proclaim the end of this dark epoch, and an opening of the doors to democracy, public participation and the people's right to freedom, prosperity and contentment. Only then can we protect ourselves against the possible emergence of another Arab leader like Saddam Hussein, who would drag us into five wars from which we emerge defeated within the scope of a single, indefinitely extended term in office.
Why do Arab leaders fail to invite Nader Fergani and those who prepared the celebrated UNDP report on Arab human development to reveal, once again, the dire state of affairs from which Arab societies suffer on the economic, cultural, educational levels? If Arab leaders endured listening to the report, or a live broadcast of it, that would be more beneficial and more entertaining for Arab viewers than any summit. From the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf, Arabs would be glued to their television screens. Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz could then step in and make a statement comprising the most daring initiative and save the day.
Such a statement would address the roots, rather than symptoms, of the problem -- the political institutions of Arab states, their economies, public participation in decision-making, education, relations with the rest of the world, globalisation and other fundamental matters, ranging from our daily bread, to the school our children attend, to the hospital which we would prefer not to go.
Even if the war does not happen -- a universal hope -- such an initiative would still be important. The situation in Iraq would continue to be explosive -- even if Saddam is given another chance. It is not normal for a regime to be on the brink of collapse, while at the same time the very idea of the territorial integrity of the country over which it presides is under attack. The world does not need another Somalia. It makes more sense to work towards the collapse of the regime in Baghdad -- not the whole of Iraq -- whereupon we can work with Iraqi nationalists to reorganise the country.
Iraq is, after all, in a sufficient state of disintegration, division and distension -- it hardly requires further, irresponsible meddling. But it is not the only case of malaise among us, it is merely the most obvious one. Many Arab societies suffer from impending disaster, and the explosions are merely delayed through the use of painkillers and sedatives, as it were. No regime should think of itself as an exception.
The Saudi crown prince proved courageous in Ramadan, when he visited areas of dire poverty in Riyadh, conveying the implicit message to all Saudis that we all have major problems that we must not hide or shy away from, and their solution begins with acknowledging their existence. Some Arab leaders, I believe, are not without such courage; that image must be repeated in every poor neighbourhood in the Arab world, in every village without electricity, in every school where textbooks still have to be procured midway through the academic year, and in every port where foodstuffs on their way to consumers are left to rot due to the absence of this or that bureaucratic stamp.
Arabs, in the end, should let Iraq deal with its own problems, for there are hundreds of thousands of educated, nationalist Iraqis capable of sorting out the challenges their country faces. They should be concerned with their own problems instead.
