Human Development
Anyone who monitors the current pattern of development in the Arab world in general, and the Arabian Gulf in particular, is struck by a strange phenomenon: The large number of signs of nominal modernity seen in the styles of foreign architecture, modern road networks, high-rise towers and huge buildings on vast areas of land with American-style shopping malls which have become a sign of avid consumerism.
The signs
of modernity are also found in the artificial islands in the Gulf waters
designed to attract tourists and new tenants from outside the region. But when
we look at the realities of human development and the quality of the products
of cultural, educational, academic and media development, the picture is
different in terms of attention and speed. The type of development which the
Gulf area has witnessed since most of its countries gained independence
attached considerable importance to physical development, consumerism and
welfare at the expense of human development.
Contradictory realities
The
current situation is full of contradictions as a result of neglecting human, in
favour of physical, development. This is found in countless signs, e. g.
replicating prominent international museums in the heart of some countries in
the region rather than academies of arts and heritage or national museums to
exhibit Arab and Islamic artistic heritage, which many prominent European
museums boast of having, in order to train citizens who are able to investigate
their national antiquities and develop arts.
Other
signs are hurrying to open private universities and institutes instead of
raising the academic standard of the neglected national universities, most of
which are only concerned with awarding degrees and graduation ceremonies and
organizing international film festivals! instead of opening film academies for
graduating a generation of Gulf specialists to contribute to the march of this
art in the Arab world and worldwide In this connection I invite the reader to
look at the current Iranian film industry and its achievements at global level.
The Gulf countries should also open music academies to establish a music
movement adapted to the region's heritage and the world's current music. The
region lacks drama academies as well, which delays the rise of an advanced Gulf
drama movement to match the rapid pace of development which the region has
witnessed for almost half a century.
Anyone
who monitors real successful development and modernization movement like the
ones in East Asia and Latin America will realize that they fulfil two basic
conditions: Building free citizens who enjoy full rights in a democrat state;
and full involvement in the products of modernity and openness to contemporary
science and technology.
The conditions for development
Looking
at the above conditions shows that they are rather ignored in the development
process as seen in a comparison between the number of graduates who contributed
to development at the desirable maximum level of Gulf aspirations on the one
hand, and the overall pattern of Gulf city planning, on the other. The latter
pattern has replicated the American model with ultra- modern buildings,
high-rise towers called "skyscrapers" with glass fronts that do not
suit our weather conditions. In addition, all signs of the life of our
forefathers have been destroyed, and so have traditional buildings, souks,
shops and houses as well as old tracks which were landmarks in the past and
components of the heritage of generations who lived and established social and
economic systems which no longer exist, even in memory!
Furthermore,
we are lagging behind as far as the second condition (keeping up with the
latest developments in science and technology) is concerned. Establishing
research centres has also been neglected, which resulted in reducing the number
of scientists. There is also serious negligence in establishing public and
private libraries, museums, publishing houses and other cultural institutions
which show the interest of society and the state in man's cultural development.
Curiously
enough, all development experiments in the Gulf began by striking a balance
between human and personality development, albeit in theory, and economic and
technological development. Almost all experiments had repaid rates of application
of the set development and progress plans stressing the exclusivity of each
country. However, this balance was fast upset in favour of physical
development. Educational and training institutions deteriorated, with the
collapse of most of those which were established earlier. As can now be seen,
development of Gulf citizens' awareness and cultural abilities as envisaged in
the set strategies and plans has not fulfilled its conditions.
The products of cultural revival
As a
matter of fact, my discussion of the phenomenon in question is set in the
context of the experiment of the State of Kuwait which was relatively different
in the beginning as it maintained a balance between educational and cultural
development, and economic and urban development, with full support from
Kuwait's leadership who believed that urban development and building a
well-educated generation should go side by side. Accordingly, Kuwait has
witnessed a cultural revival since the early 1950s as it benefitted from the
expertise of leading thinkers and prominent figures in arts, economics and
education from most Arab countries who were invited to give lectures in Kuwait.
Parallel
to the cultural revival which a generation of Kuwait who studied in Iraq,
Syria, Lebanon and Egypt initiated by establishing cultural clubs and
publishing monthly and weekly magazines, the government had its own cultural
and educational project. It soon opened a large number of modern schools and
developed educational and complementary cultural programmes. As the leader of
educational development and modernization, the then-Director of Education Mr.
Abdul-Aziz Hussein said: "When I was Director of Education my primary
concern was to spread culture along with education. My colleagues in the
Department and I were of the opinion that culture is part of education. We
focused on organizing cultural weeks in Kuwait and inviting Arab thinkers to
give lectures. Our activities included educational publications, school
magazines, cultural events in all schools, in addition to spreading education
in the true sense of the word and authoring appropriate school textbooks. The
Department regarded the culture process as an integral part of the learning
process. That led to introducing school drama and music and art education into the
schools of Kuwait."
All
parties concerned joined forces to spread education and culture, and cultural
weeks arranged by the government started in the mid-1950s in which great
thinkers and prominent literary figures from all over the Arab world took part.
That was followed by founding Kuwait University and institutes of drama and
music. The state took the initiative in publishing books, encyclopedias and
cultural series, such as the monthly "World Drama" and the monthly
book "The World of Knowledge." the largest and most comprehensive
encyclopedia in Arab and world culture published in Arabic so far, in addition
to other world-class books and intellectual and cultural periodicals. Eminent
academics were recruited to establish and lead the university and institutes.
That increased the momentum for human development and public awareness of their
rights and ambitions to keep up with the path of human development in the
world.
That
cultural revival strengthened Kuwait's cultural role in the Arab world, particularly
as its cultural institutions were keen from the outset to build bridges of
cultural development to reach the Gulf states out of its conviction that to
bear fruit, human and cultural development should span the whole region.
The dominance of physical development
A closer
look at the current situation of culture in the region shows that the efforts
made in the pre-independence period in the area of human and personality
development are lagging behind relative to Kuwait's high ambitions at the start
of its development project. I wouldn't like to say that there are signs which
seem in essence to be an attempt to withdraw from the human development project
and focus on the culture of physical development which replicates foreign
models: building high-rise apartment blocks and shopping complexes and turning
the Gulf region into markets for the products of the superpowers and
multinationals. There is no harm in this investment so long as there is
parallel investment in humans and in developing local products and the Gulf
identity. On the other hand, it can be a liability if it does not combine with
similar ambitions for personality development.
A review
of the fields of culture, arts and the media shows not only stagnation in
creative activities and in providing a cultural climate similar to the one in
which several generations of Kuwait and Gulf nationals were brought up in the
1960, 1970s and 1980s, but also severe retrogression in such fields not only at
the level of comparison of ambitions with realities but also in terms of sharp
deterioration in cultural activities, the infrastructure of cultural
development, such as theatres, art institutes, publishing houses, public
libraries, museums, art galleries and music rooms for adults and the young.
Lack of such infrastructure shows how much we neglected man in our quest for
material gains.
A positive relationship
It is no
exaggeration to say that there is a positive relationship between this
deteriorating cultural climate and the rise in extremist voices which call for
social retrogression, arousing tribal and sectarian differences incompatible
with a modern society based on democracy and a modern constitution, as well as
diversity, tolerance and knowledge rather than narrow-mindedness and rejection
of the other's views.
It goes
without saying that culture in our Arab societies corresponds to the role which
institutions of modern science and technology play in placing states on the
development scale. Accordingly, intellectuals play a central role in this respect
and in planning grand strategies based on their overall approach. Culture
cannot play its desirable role unless human development is given priority in
any society where individuals receive first-class, state-of-the-art education
and have free access to knowledge and masterpieces of literature, arts, science
and thought, as well as world knowledge. They should also be trained in
critical thinking to help them acquire discretion, moral values and creativity.
It is
this type of personality that we need to develop in order to promote ideal
development and advancement not only here but in the entire Gulf and Arab
world. Arab societies struggled hard for liberation from colonialism, then they
achieved their current progress, thanks to their citizens' efforts, through the
revival of enlightenment and developing a personality which is capable of
dealing with the language of the age confidently, flexibly and ambitiously to
help our culture and societies reach their rightful status.
Sulaiman Al-Askary
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