Al Alam (May 11, 2004)
Yahya Yahyaoui wonders whether the AHDR paves the way for the GMI.
The author suggests that the two UNDP reports about the Arab world drew strong criticism because (1) they reveal Arab weaknesses and deficits (illiteracy, unemployment, oppression and exploitation, and (2) call for reforms pointing out that if vital reforms are not quickly launched regional stability will be endangered further, and the interests of the developed world will be threatened.
These reports make reform proposals that challenge area rulers to address the severe deficit in democracy and good governance, and the prevalence of corruption. They argue (1) that democracy and good governance must become the framework for human development; (2) that well educated citizens are the proper agents of development, and (3) that free enterprise and opportunity are the proper mechanisms of development.
The failure of the area to develop at the same pace as similar areas is due to its crippling deficits in education, research, and innovation in science and technology. A knowledge society must first eradicate illiteracy, promote quality education and launch educational reforms. Opportunity promotes the development of democracy, freedom and economic well being.
The author points out that opposition to the AHDR does not include the suggested reforms themselves, but the imposition of reforms from the outside. The report shows that the existing Arab governments are required to carry out the imposed/required reforms. These reports reveal to the world an obvious truth, which whips up resentment.
He argues that the report is viewed as a document produced by a conservative and radical US administration determined to shape the Middle East to suit its economic and strategic needs, as an attack on the Arab world.
The author of this article views the AHDR and the GMI as milestones that mark the nadir of Arab decadence and humiliation. These documents are drafted at a time when the American right that holds power in Washington displays a strong determination to turn Israel into a center of scientific and technological power in the region. They show that this dominated area is looking for outside help because by itself it cannot overcome underdevelopment, lack of freedom, etc.
Arab governments are shocked to be told to their face that they have failed to develop their nations or to plan for their future development.
Attajdid (April 19, 2004)
In this article Abdelghani Bellout, reports on a seminar that was organized by the Center for Constitutional and Political Studies of Cadi Ayyad University in Morocco, in collaboration with the Konrad Adenauer Foundation about the AHDR in April 16-17, 2004. The seminar brought together 27 participants from Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia.
This article highlights a limited number of presentations the most notable of which is the presentation given by Yahya El Yahyaoui of Mohammed V University (Morocco) about the cultural, economic and political determinants of a knowledge society.
El Yahyaoui charges that even the industrialized countries have not become knowledge societies, the last stage of development and that the AHDR poses the problem of development from above and is not clear whether it should come from within or be imposed from outside. He wonders whether change should be imposed from outside if it cannot come from within, and warns that the current situation suggests that it will be imposed from outside, witness the Greater Middle East Initiative, the proposition of France and Germany, the NATO project.
El Yahyaoui warns that Arab governments will pay a heavy price, just like Iraq, and charges that Arab intellectuals are irrelevant either because they have been marginalized or co-opted.
One speaker pointed out that development require more women should be educated, given access to jobs and become more involved in practical life if development is to be achieved. Another speaker from Egypt warned that in the West women have enjoyed freedom, and are now commodified. Arab women should be wary!
Prepared by Mr. Racheed Ben Mokhtar, Dr. Abdel Hameed Lotfi,
December 24, 2004.
(Mis en ligne le 8 Mars 2007)