Alternative Insight

The Misrepresentation of the Arab world


The simplified rhetoric that describes the Arab world as being mired in poverty and ignorance neglects the geographical, historical and cultural factors that brought the Arab world to its present position. It also ignores the advances during the last half century.

Why is the United States intensely focused on the far-away Arab world when its long-time hemispheric neighbors in Central America, Caribbean and parts of South America are deprived and poorly educated? Is it because the Arab world lacks freedom and democracy? Doesn't that situation exist in other regions, and isn't it a problem best resolved by the Arab peoples?

Does the American administration want viable democracies for Middle East nations or democracies that result in conflicts and eventual dismemberment of nations, such as happened in the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, and seems to be occurring in Iraq and Sudan?

The Failings of the Arab World
Critics of the Arab world have referred to the 2002 Human Development report from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to justify their criticisms. The principal political, social and economic failures of the Arab world detailed in the 2002 UNDP report are:

  • Arab women have lower life expectancy than the world average.
  • Women occupy only 3.5% of all seats in Arab parliaments.
  • GDP for all Arab countries is less than the GDP of Spain.
  • One in five Arabs lives on less than $2 per day.
  • Arab unemployment, at 15%, is the highest in the developing world
  • 51% of older adolescents interviewed expressed a desire to emigrate.
  • The barrier to improved Arab performance is not the lack of resources but the lack of freedom, knowledge and woman power.

The UNDP’s Arab Human Development Report 2003 (AHDR) described the limitations of press freedom in Arab countries but noted changes:

In most Arab countries the media operate in an environment that sharply restricts freedom of the press and freedom of expression and opinion. Journalists face illegal harassment, intimidation and even physical threats; censorship is rife and newspapers and television channels are sometimes arbitrarily closed down. Most media institutions are state-owned, particularly radio and television.
The last two years have seen some improvements in the Arab information environment, brought about by dawning competition. More independent-minded newspapers have appeared, challenging the iron grip of the older, state-supported press on political opinion, news and information. With bases abroad, these papers can escape state censorship.

Facts must be appreciated, except, similar facts apply to other regions of the world - Africa, Central America, Caribbean, India sub-continent, Philippines. Why haven't identical and even more gross failures caused an equal concern and alarm towards the other regions? The rhetoric of the Arab world critics cause skepticism. The skepticism is enhanced by the failure to highlight the positive accomplishments of the Arabs and properly analyze the factors that have brought the Arab world to its present conditions.

The Arab World Accomplishments

UNDP reports also show:

  • Arab life expectancy increased by 15 yrs in the last 30 yrs.
  • Arab infant mortality rates dropped by two thirds in the last 30 yrs
  • Arab income per capita at ~$2500 (2002) is higher than that in most other developing regions and is considered in the middle-income group.
  • Arabs have less abject poverty (defined as an income of less than $1 a day) than any other developing region.
  • Almost all Arab nations exceed all African nations, India sub-continent. most Central American nations and most Caribbean nations in the Human Development Index. As one example Egypt, the Arab region's most populated nation and one of its poorer countries, has an index rating of 115 which is superior to Nicaragua (118), Guatemala (120) and India (124).

The UNDP report did not include essential facts: During the period of 1960-1985 the Arab region surpassed all regions, except East Asia, in income growth. Income distribution grew in a more equitable direction than any other region. The reason for the Arab region's superior performance during the 1960-1985 period is the same reason for its decline in economic growth - the price of oil - the average price of oil increased to $27/barrel in 1985 and then declined to $12/barrel in 1998. The severe decline in oil revenue created havoc to Arab economic and social programs.

Other factors have prevented the Arab world from achieving elevated development.

The Consideration of Other Factors
Is it only the lack of freedom that has prevented the Arab nations from reaching the elevated economic and social standards of the west?

  • Egypt and Iraq contain 1/3 of the population of the Arab world, much of its area and most of its intellectual and industrial thrust. Twenty five years of conflict have stagnated Iraq's economic and social progress. Egypt remains limited by a paucity of resources. These two nations skew the total assessment of developments in the entire Arab world.
  • The Arab world has severe water and food shortages.

With the threat of a major food and water shortage looming large, rapidly diminishing water sources will be one of the most critical challenges facing the nation (Egypt) in the coming decade.
Hadia Mostafa, Egypt Today, Jan.26, 2005

The Arab world already imports between 30 and 50 percent of its total food needs, depending on whose estimate you believe. In Egypt, the figure for staples stands as high as 30-35 percent for grains. As a result, irrigation will not be possible in some areas, which will have dire consequences for food security in the region.
Jordanian Minister of Agriculture and Water Hazem El-Nazer in an address to the AWCs (Arab Water Council) founding assembly.

  • The Arab nations are artificial and were created by France and Britain in a manner that caused tribal conflicts. Leadership has been imposed in Morocco, Kuwait, United Arab emirates, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Egypt and Libya have disposed royalty but they have not been able to implement democratic procedures.
  • For decades western nations dominated the Arab region and steered policies in a direction preferable to western interests;
  • Many Arab nations are corrupt, but they are no more corrupt than many other nations. One difference - its corrupt governments have support by western nations - note Egypt, Saudi Arabia and present-day Iraq.
  • The Arab region experienced abrupt cultural, scientific and economic transitions after the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire. Newly established countries required new administrations, new politics, new programs and new outlooks, During much of this transition time, Britain and France and later the United States impeded Arab development and dominated the economics and politics of Arab nations. One serious example of western government attempts to control the Arab world occurred in 1921. Britain, in an effort to control Iraqi nationalism, started terror raids by bombing Iraqi villages and killing many Iraq citizens. Use of bombers to suppress insurrections were practiced in the Palestine Mandate in 1922, in the Aden Protectorate six years later and against rioters in Egypt,

The negative appearances of the Arab world are well registered but not well explained. Post WWII had impoverished, mal-nourished, and uneducated Arab masses. Regimes were autocratic and corrupt. Infrastructure was lacking or, in some case, non-existent. Sanitation and health facilities were sub-standard.

Compare the short period available for developing the Arab region to the long interval for developing Central America, Caribbean and parts of South America. The nations in the Arab region, for the most part, exceed the nations of the latter regions in most social factors, such as sanitation, gross domestic product, employment and health. The Arab world has a long way to go, but it has made progress that should be recognized.

The intensive media criticism of the Arab world is only one part of a two- part plan to soften the Arab world for nefarious objectives. The criticism leads to fear and hate; the world has become plagued by Islamophobia.

Islamophobia
New hyphenated words have emerged in the last years; Islamic-terrorism and Islamo-fascism appear in many media reports. Terrorism is apparent in many Catholic nations, such as Spain, Northern Ireland, Latin America, but the vocabulary has not originated the word Catholic-terrorism. The India sub-continent has Hindu terrorists, Sikh terrorists and other religious terrorists - no hyphenated words for these terrorists.

And what is Islamo-fascism? Imagine if a reporter used the words Episcopalian-fascism because Episcopalian ministers would not accept "gay" prelates or used the word Jewish-fascist because of the oppressive practices of Israel. There would be an uproar and the reporter would be fired. The use of fabricated and hyphenated scare words that defame Islam are part of a contrived plot to subtly identify Islam with extremist forces and create hate for the Arab world. This hate is magnitudes more than other orally, written or physically expressed hatred to any group in the world. Some hate examples, a minor amount of the total, during the period of 2001 to 2005:

  • Lutz, Florida, a suburb of Tampa- A break-in occurred in the Islamic Community Centre. A vandal wrote "Kill All Muslims" on the mosque's interior walls and then smashed windows.
  • Charlotte Harbor - Someone vandalized a mosque's sign and then left threatening phone messages.
  • Ballwin, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis - Vandals painted a swastika and the word "Die" on the wall of the Dar-al-Islam mosque.
  • Suburb of Houston, Texas - Dead fish were dumped near the entrance sign to a mosque under construction.
  • Orland Park, Chicago suburb - Residents urged officials to reject a mosque's building application.
  • Polls reveal the evolving hatred against Muslims

One in four Americans believes that Muslims value human life less than others and teach their children to hate, according to a new poll. Half of all Americans believe Islam encourages the oppression of women.
Poll reveals US Islamophobia, By Roshan Muhammed Salih
Released by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Oct. 5, 2004

  • Literature distributes racism.

"The most stupid religion is Islam," said best-selling French novelist Michel Houellebecq. In his latest novel, Plateforme, he has the narrator say: "Each time that I hear that a Palestinian terrorist, or a Palestinian child, or a pregnant Palestinian woman has been shot in the Gaza Strip, I shiver with enthusiasm at the thought that there is one less Muslim."
Europe's Current Shame Is Islam-Phobia, Not Anti-Semitism: Gwynne Dyer, Salt Lake Tribune, 2002.

In December, 2004, Oriana Fallaci, a well-known former war correspondent, published a book called Anger and Pride. Fallaci denounced Europeans who sympathize with the Palestinian cause as anti-Semites "who would sell their own mothers to a harem in order to see Jews once again in the gas chambers." Her pro-Israeli stance, however, is only a pretext for an attack on Muslims: "vile creatures who urinate in baptistries" and "multiply like rats."
Europe's Current Shame Is Islam-Phobia, Not Anti-Semitism: Gwynne Dyer, Salt Lake Tribune, 2002.

Why is there a one-sided concentration on the inadequacies of the Arab world and a plethora of biased comments against Islam? There must be reasons other than trying to artificially change the course of history.

The Misrepresentation of the Arab World
For the most part, the Arab world lacks freedom, does not favor democracy, suppresses women initiatives and has forms of corruption. These failures are not totally true, and in a world of many nations and regions, these qualities are not unique. The intensive concentration on the failures of the Arab world has perplexing characteristics:

  • It is never mentioned that Tunisia and Algeria are actually republics with universal suffrage. Lebanon is a republic with suffrage for men and for women who have an elementary education. These countries have elections (admittedly, none of which might be fair) and forms of representative (with a question mark) democracy.
  • Algeria, one of the more democratic nations (another question mark) in the Arab world, has actually had the greatest violence. The Algerian government has introduced autocratic legislation to reduce the violence.
  • Unfortunately, practically all the world is corrupt (ever hear of Enron and the dot.coms?), and much of the world's population live in controlled societies.
  • Any characteristic can be chosen to define the worth of a nation. The U.S. prefers to choose freedom and democracy, which are worthwhile choices but not overriding. If the choices were distribution of wealth, racism, militarism or business corruption, the U.S. wouldn't be considered too well.
  • Although the media tend to portray the Arab region as burning with violence, the Arab world has negligible criminality and much less violence than either the Balkans, Central America, South America, Africa or the India sub-continent. In February 1, 2005, only Saudi Arabia and Sudan had serious internal violence that involved themselves. The more major violence, as of Feb. 1, 2005, in the Arab world were in Iraq and Palestine, and these explosive situations involve the non-Moslem nations of the U.S. and Israel.

So, why does America fuss about the Arab Middle East?

The obvious reason for America's fascination with the Middle East is the Middle East fascination with oil. Controlling the supply in order to compromise oil to other nations, such as China, is the principal reason for the U.S. intensive involvement with the Arab world. By accusing the Middle Easterners of lack of freedom, lack of democracy and lack of women's rights, the U.S. has an excuse to disregard the sovereignty of the Arab nations and then interfere with their operations. The U.S. doesn't include in its agenda the subjugation of women in Israeli orthodox institutions and the oppression of Palestinians within Israel and in the territories.

The secondary reason is to guide the Arab world to western values and limit its military and economic potential so as not to pose a threat, direct or indirect, to the United States and Israel.

At the moment, the thrusts appear hypocritical, and by being contradictory to U.S. interests, arouse skepticism.

  • Countries are signing treaties and implementing dependent aid programs with other oil producers such as Iran, Sudan and Angola. The U.S., by its unilateral policy, is being locked out of meaningful and vital oil markets.
  • The U.S. built partnerships with Arab governments by supporting the despotic rulers of several regimes, such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the Arab Emirates, Morocco and, to some degree, Jordan. Enabling those nations to be free and democratic means a possible loss of their cooperation and friendship. Why would the U.S. do that? Since the American rhetoric contradicts its actions and preferences, the rhetoric is suspect.
  • The Arab street is seething because of the Iraq occupation and U.S. support of Israel. Democratic governments will unleash an anger that is presently controlled by authoritarian regimes. This will be welcome by the Arab world but probably won't be compatible with U.S. policies. Is it believable that the U.S. will pursue policies that contradict its present policies?

Oil flowed from Iraq to the West during the tumultuous, authoritarian and conflicted Saddam Hussein years. Why should the U.S. be concerned with the future tap? The Arab world has oil but not well-oiled machines. It has growing pains that lead to turmoil and the U.S is foolish to share that pain and turmoil. It has more to gain by a careful approach that does not appear hypocritical or contemptuous rather than by an intrusive approach that excites to violence. The U.S.can assist in achieving peace and stability by changing policies from those that favor authoritarian regimes to those that favor the Arab peoples. Otherwise it will prove it wants only "wannabe" democracies that serve its interests.

alternative insight
February 1, 2005
Slight Update: August, 2006

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