The Backward Arabs

Arab World Trails Shamefully Behind
By RAJA KAMAL
Associate dean, Harris School for Public Policy Studies, University of Chicago
Published: December 01, 2008 - Middle East Times

The election of Barack Obama as the 44th president of the United States was indeed a historical event. This coming January, an African American, the son of a Kenyan immigrant, will become the leader of the world's most powerful country. The election of Obama is proof that the United States remains the land of opportunity. As Obama implied in his victory speech in Chicago, even those who hate the United States will need to bite their tongues and acknowledge this fact.

Since Obama's birth in 1961, much has changed in the United States. Yet none has been more profound than that which occurred in 1964. During that year, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act into law. Many would argue that the rights granted in this statute paved the way for a minority like Obama to integrate into the American dream and climb the ladder of power.

Between the 1960 election of President John F. Kennedy, the country's first Catholic president, and the 2008 election of President-Elect Obama, the first African American president, the citizens of the United States have elected eight ideologically different presidents - representing the evolution and maturation of the nation.

This is democracy in action.

Yet, during the same period, the Arab world seems to have remained frozen in the past. Leaders in the Arab world do not want to encourage any changes that would threaten their hold on power. The leadership of Libya and Syria are two sad examples.

Colonel Muammar Gadhafi has ruled Libya since 1970, when Obama was nine years old. The results of his leadership have been dismal. This oil-rich nation has not used its resources to serve the needs of Libyans, present and future.

Although Libya has the highest per capita GDP nation in Africa, the vast majority of the people have not benefited from the nation's oil revenues. It is estimated that 30 percent of Libyans are unemployed. Colonel Gadhafi and his cronies have squandered precious resources on the acquisition of military hardware and the promotion of terrorism in the Arab world and beyond.

The senseless murder of those on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, is just one example of Libya's promotion of terror. One can only imagine the benefits to the long-term development of the Libyan people if the resources used for military hardware and terrorism had been invested in education and national infrastructure.

Yet, the healthy Gadhafi, whose family is entrenched, will likely watch the next four U.S. presidents come and go.

Syria is another sad example. The Assad presidents (father and son) have ruled Syria ruthlessly since 1971 when Obama was 10 years old. The survival of the regime was and continues to be the primary goal of the Assad family. The country's resources are used maliciously, at home and abroad, to pay for the family's sophisticated intelligence apparatus which is key to propping up the regime.

In addition, Syria has been the important link between Iran and Hezbollah's leadership in Lebanon. Despite the varied and substantial natural and human resources in Syria, the economy has consistently performed anemically with around a 10 percent official unemployment rate. Most international economists believe the real rate to be much higher.

Beyond needed political and economic reform the Arab world has a very poor human rights record. For years, Human Rights Watch has published reports detailing the ongoing human rights abuses.

Recently, Sudan has often been in the press because of the government's atrocities against its citizens in the Darfur region. In Yemen, Nujood Ali, a 10-year-old girl recently sought a well-publicized divorce after being forced by her parents to marry a 30-year-old man who raped and abused her. It is an appalling story that should outrage the entire world. Nujood was deprived of her childhood and innocence. It is disgraceful that the Yemeni government would allow these marriages. Urgent reforms must be enacted and enforced to save future Nujoods.

Change must happen.

The election of Obama has the potential for global, not only local, change. Leaders in the Arab world should heed the global enthusiasm for his leadership and the change he represents. If they want to retain their hold on power they have no choice but to take a fresh look at the reforms needed in their own countries. If not, they increase the risk to their own nests – at some point soon they may very well face their own formidable movements for change.