09
Feb
2007
9 Comments
Podcast #8 – Youth empowerment in the Middle East
A short podcast where I (rather passionately) argue that Arabs are not ready for democracy, and how our only hope for democratization is introducing democratic values through educational institutions, and making sure that the youth are taking good advantage of such freedoms.
[This audio has been temporarily removed.]
This is probably one of the few podcasts that I considered important to make.
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Esra’a
I admire your sincerity.
To be even more honest Arash, I put myself in the category of the majority. I won’t know what to do with the responsibilities of living in a democratic society either, and I fear that I would be so overwhelmed with the freedoms that I might abuse it.
We need to be guided. We are lost.
We suffer from only one thing in the Middle East, the lack of democracy. If stupidity were that simple–if stupidity were that stupid, it would not lack rigor but, on the contrary, is responsible for discipline and education. We may very well reserve a place for stupidity that, after all is said and done, puts it on the side of discipline and education. You should take care of freedom and democracy, truth and education will take care of themselves.
Cheers,
middleXeast
Like I said in my podcast, we do need democratic values. We can’t function without having our rights to free speech recognized. I’ve always been a huge supporter of free speech as our campaigns suggest.
But without education, don’t expect us all to use these rights responsibly and be able to accept and appreciate democracy. That was my main argument. Before we fight for democracy, we better understand how much responsibility will lie at the hands of people – and if that lies in the hands of uneducated people, well, let’s just say “I told you so.”
Educate first, make them aware, then target the political sphere.
Thanks for stopping by.
Dear Esra’a,
I am, I must confessed, bored with the outdated approach which adopts the problematic of education as a basic unit of analysis for the maladies of state and society, ignoring the fact that education is just one aspect of the ideological apparatus of the state. The state relies on its ideological apparatus, in which education is only a part, to reproduce its citizens as obedient agents.
Emphasizing education the way you do as the constitutive feature of our soico-political backwardness–is plainly false. In the sociology of development and/or underdevelopment (fun stuff), your approach is called “educational defeatism,” and rejected as an apology for the existing authoritarian states.
Keep in mind, modern education, the one we witness in the metropolitan societies of the West, is only likely when the state assumes a democratic form, and not the other way around.
Cheers,
middleXeast
Firstly, where are you from? Because it seems to me as if you’ve never lived in a Middle Eastern country before where for the most part not a lot of progress is being made politically.
I already emphasized in my podcast that this is not the solution.
I specifically said that this is a different route, another option, because targeting the political institutions is not helping. Targeting the youth and their approach to democracy however, is my main argument. If you want proof of this succeeding, take a look at Ukraine’s Orange Revolution in 2004, where 2/3 of the activists were young students. Why did they succeed?
Because NGOs did not target politicians.
They targeted educational institutions and empowered the students so much that they led the revolution which resulted in a free press.
So don’t tell me this is outdated. No one ever took that approach yet. Name me one Arab activist who resorted to this useful method and then reconsider your “outdated” and “bored” confession.
Do you know anything at all about political activism in the Middle East? This is an honest question. I’d like to know if you currently live in the Middle East and if so, what political activism is actually succeeding instead of sticking out like a sore thumb as a rebellious “opposition group.” Now that, is what I call outdated. 10 years ago, same parties, same methods of fighting. Today, still no difference!
That doesn’t strike you as alarming?
Do you REALLY think we are doing ourselves a favor by targeting the exact same institutions in the exact same manner?
Really, think about your own response.
Education is key, I think any person will tell you that. And if it bores you, well, too bad. Target the politicians directly and watch history repeat itself all over again. Watch these activists go through the exact same problems. Watch the youth amuse themselves to death with anything but education and real effective activism.
Finally – democratic values within the educational system was also emphasized in my podcast, it seems as though you missed that part completely.
I am NOT justifying our forms of governments. I am merely suggesting a different option in changing them, I’m saying be discreet, not direct. Direct activism targeted at the government will not help. It’s not helping and no one has really succeeded.
Have you ever been educated in the Gulf? There are many mullahs, self-proclaimed “imams,” and “Islamic scholars” running around schools trying to convert children to the extremist ideologies of radical Islam. And you tell me education doesn’t matter? You tell me these kids won’t grow up to be the people we all fear? You think these people are what we need in a real democracy?
I must remind you that, politically, we are far from being like the countries in the West. So it’s becoming painful to listen to “but it worked in the West” argument. Our nations are different. Our religion is different. We have civil wars or disputes practically everywhere. You’re telling me education and youth empowerment won’t help reduce that significantly?
Why no change, people ask. Because people are reacting the same way every single year and never thinking about looking at things through a different lens. For democracy to succeed, people need to understand what to do with it. They need to have the education required to take part in the decision making process, and in reacting to criticism in general. The youth need to be put in the right educational systems where hatred, extreme nationalism and racism won’t be drummed into their heads the way it currently is.
By your logic – if we introduce democracy overnight, chaos will ensue if the majority don’t understand these freedoms at all (hint: WE DON’T!) Think about the major consequences, not the “ideal” outcome.
Thanks again for your response, always interesting.
-Esra’a
Dear Esra’a,
At this time I can say only that the question of democracy is not satisfied with the discovery of the negative limit of traditional education; it consists, rather, in the absence of a relation to the free and open encounters, and a willingness to abide by whatever view happens to win in a domination-free communication and open encounter.
The following is an example of a domination-ridden communication, which has nothing to do with one’s level of education:
Comment Policy, rule #2.
I am going to defer the matter of situating stupidity (that is, education and discipline) since, anyway, everyone else at some level of education has offered a view on it, which is to say, for the most part, let it go.
But keep keeping on, sister.
Cheers,
middleXeast
That’s not an attack, she merely asked a question because it is very relevant to the argument.
Democracy is also a subjective word. There are many different kinds of democracies: representative, proportional, centralized etc. America is a democracy, so is Bangladesh. Not the same is it? Soviet Union was a democracy and even China is a democracy, but I know what you will say.
When she said education, you are thinking of going to university or college, and if you are, then you are wrong. I don’t think she’s talking about this kind of education.
In the Middle East, people goto jail for blogging. Youth make up the larger portion of the Middle Easter demographic. Best way to bring about democratic change is to educate them so when their generation take power, they’ll have more chance of not repeating the mistakes of the past generations. Also the democracy can’t be brought about overnight. Look at what happened in the former SU. Most of these countries are dictatorships. It doesn’t work because people don’t’ know what democracy is. Educate first then they will want democracy and they will have it.
Sorry, I apologize for the misunderstanding, but I fail to see the point in this assumption. None of what you said so far, in my opinion, is a refutation of my argument, which included having certain democratic rights to strengthen those educational institutions. Please don’t assume that my argument is the same as any other argument involving education in the region, because from your post I can see that a lot of things were missed in my argument. And I have expressed my exceptions quite clearly within the podcast itself.
About your other assumption – An honest, straight-forward question is not an attack at all. The only thing that went through my mind while thinking about your comment was, “this person can’t be from the Middle East,” or at least can’t be living there, because it ignores so much that we have to put up with on a daily basis. It is not an attack, unless you find it insulting that someone would doubt your presense in the Middle East.
In any case, the question remains to be relevant, and not an attack at all. You spoke as if your argument was something new, as if it was a new method of approaching the governments, as if education and democracy can only come in one particular order without no gradual process. Well, it’s not, many activists in the region have failed and continue to fail because their focus is strictly political, so why not try a different route, one that proved to be successful in other countries?
And Jina is right on all accounts, I’m thinking about the broader and more effective definition of education where socializing the youth in the right manner is extremely important. These methods should be put to good use in the institutions, and thus it wouldn’t hurt if we start targeting them instead of taking the in-your-face political approach, which is not useful at all.
If you want democracy, don’t bet on your luck. Don’t assume that any leader will just give you that in a pink ribbon. It takes a lot of work from the people themselves, and if the people aren’t educated in the right manner, well that makes democracy 10 times harder to get, and 50 times harder to fully function. Make sure the people are consistenly mobilized, tolerant, considerate and responsible, and get them started young.
Apologies for the confusion,
Esra’a