Monday, February 4, 2008

Since When Does Progress Equal Regression?

In todays GDN there is an article from an expert at the UN, Rola Dashti, in which its stated that Arabs are slipping backwards in major areas...even while they continue to progress in other areas.

"THE sick are getting sicker, the literate are becoming illiterate and the middle class is getting poorer, as much of the Arab world slips backwards, says a UN expert."
Massive progress in improving health and education and combating poverty and gender discrimination is being undone, says UN Development Programme advisory panel member Rola Dashti.

I find this truly alarming as its generally believed that countries continue to advance once they "become enlightened" about certain necessitiies regarding what a country and its citizens need to progress. The illiteracy comment is truly scary...an illiterate nation are just sheep without any input either politically or, in most cases, economically...other than as menial labour.....which, of course, can then be traced to unemployment....and the circle continues.

What I dont understand is how can you start going backward once you have gained that forward momentum? Something truly cataclysmic must occur to stop the wheels of progress from turning...so we must ask ourselves, what has occurred in the Arab world that might be the cause of regression in literacy rates, equality, employment....I mean, the skylines of Arab countries are continually being changed by the addition of new skyscrapers over night almost....private schools are popping up all over the landscape...more women are joining the work force then ever before...so what the hell is causing this regression....and more importanly, why are the Arabs letting it happen? Maybe "letting" is to g eneric a word....why are they not doing more to stop it from happening?

I can only surmise that those skyscapers are being filled with nonarabs who have all the cushy jobs...thus "taking" money and jobs away from the Arabs...which would indicate that the private schools are full of the children of those nonarabs...and maybe not so many Arabs....these children are being forced to learn in govt schools that seriously need to update the education system if they want their children to be able to compete in the scholastic arena...right now its a shame what passes for govt school learning in many Arab countries. Are Arab children growing up with a less than adequate education...are they "learning" all the wrong stuff that wont give them the tools they need to advance themselves and their nations....are they even aware that they are missing out on what should be theirs by right...the best education the govt can afford...and Im pretty damn sure most of these govts could afford a hell of a lot more towards education then currently offered. They are only cheating themselves and their children...and the future of their countries by holding back on the one thing that separates a prosperous people and country from a "regressed" or "backward" one.

I might also point out that the surge in influence of the extreme type Muslims into the landscape may have something to do with it...if they had their way all forms of entertainment...all forms of mixing of sexes...all forms of enjoyment would cease to exist in the Arab/Muslim world...everything becomes haram or forbidden....or even bida/innovated....which leaves a once vibrant and advancing country....listless and unable to garner the energy it takes to give a damn about what happens tomorrow. They are unhappy and feeling powerless with their govts...their economy...their future for their children...and now even the few sources of entertainment open to them are deemed haram...so why fight it....just sit back...watch tv and let someone else worry about it....while all the progress you once made...slips slowly away...

I hope this report from the UN was rather inflated and things are not as bad as those statistics would imply...the Arabs have enough work to do without having to redo work that was hard enough the first time around.

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