‘IF THE ARAB WORLD SOLVED ITS OWN ISSUES, IT COULD END INTERFERENCE FROM FOREIGNERS’
Revive Arab intellectualism and use potential of youth, former ministers tell Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate
Arab countries must begin to rebuild their societies and tap into the growing youth population if they are to prevail over regional challenges and counter foreign interference in their affairs, former Arab ministers say.
The speakers at the 5th annual Abu Dhabi Strategic Debate said the willingness of Arab leaders to look westwards for solutions was still contributing to widespread violence and their inability to address their own problems and regional instability.
“If we looked in all honesty, from the Arab perspective not the foreigners’ perspective, the problems of Arabs should be the Arabs’ responsibility,” said Nabil Fahmy, a former Egyptian foreign minister.
Khaled Bahah, the former Yemeni prime minister, said a failure to address problems in Middle East and Arab countries gave non-Arab countries a chance to interfere in their affairs.
“Regional cracks allow Iran and others to influence us,” Mr Bahah said. “If we could cement these cracks then it would be impossible for outside forces to interfere. If we as Arabs could solve our problems, we would provide foreign forces with no opportunity.”
He said that Arab countries should continue to develop relations with the West but learn to face their own challenges or risk having to rely on foreign actors to provide stability.
“We find that there is a security vacuum in the Arab world and the Turkish, Iranian and Israeli influence our affairs and interfere in every single issue,” Mr Bahah said. “It’s got to the point where they are the most important players in our own affairs.”
The solution, said former Libyan prime minister Mahmoud Jibril, was to be found in empowering Arabs and tapping into what was often seen as a drawback in the region – the youth bulge.
The Arab uprisings in 2011 “was an alarm bell, because it led to more violence and we can’t have that, especially in the light of our knowing that we can ensure stability, especially with the young people”, Mr Jibril said.
He said the youth, who have become increasingly disenfranchised, need to have a say in their governments’ plans for their future.
That sense of disenfranchisement and neglect leaves people vulnerable to dissident political and religious groups that can influence them to pursue their motives, Mr Jibril said.
Change requires the education of youths and the reconstruction of an “Arab intellectualism” matched with a deeper understanding of religion. This would allow young people to reject extremist and violent interpretations of religion.
“Building a new Arab mind has become the responsibility of every Arab, not a secondary thought,” Mr Jibril said. “It is the role of every part of society to contribute to this development. It’s about providing agency to Arabs in every segment of society.”
Mr Bahah said unifying states that have been divided by civil war, such as Syria and Yemen, without considering underlying grievances was not the way to restore stability. He said it would probably institutionalise those grievances.
When decision-makers begin the process of unifying countries in Middle East, Mr Bahar said, the founding principles of that nation should be set towards sustaining long-term peace, not as a remedy to the current conflict.
Development in many Arab countries is no different to that of Singapore in the 1980s, and lessons learnt from its model should be implemented.
“Today in the region we are in the same situation but we have a lack of political understanding of this environment,” Mr Bahah said.
“The lack of ability to change is leading to violence. The resistance to change is making us fail to understand these developments and that leads to more violence.”
He said Singapore, by recognising its problems and making use of its limited resources, was able to built a country into a formidable and stable economic force, bringing prosperity to its people.
The model has often been used by developing countries and is one that he said could be reinterpreted to help pull several Arab countries out of violence and into normality.