Report Pegs Roots of Arab Knowledge Gap
Nov. 9 -- After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the idea that Arab culture andreligion are responsible for stifling progress, and tolerance toward"the other," in the Arab/Muslim world has gained currency in the United States. According to this idea, Arabs are incapable of embracing modernity and reforming their stagnant societies.
Further, only shock tactics would wake the Arab/Muslim world from its political slumber. In a sense, the Iraq war wasto serve as a laboratory, a case study of forced transformation andadaptation of the Arab region to the modern world and Western democracy.
But this view of Arab culture and religion aren't quite accurate,says this year's Arab Human Development Report, commissioned by the United Nations Development Program and written by more than 40 Arab scholars.
Knowledge Gap
The report, released this week, stresses that the existential crisis facing the Arab world has less to do with religion and culture and more with three key development challenges — deficits in political freedom, empowerment of women, and access to knowledge. These challenges stem from attitudes purveyed by repressive governments and conservative religious groups, but they are not innate to Arab or Muslim thought.
The report (last year's version was criticized by Arab officials andradicals alike) said in the area of freedoms the "challenges may have become graver." Extreme security measures and policies adopted by the United States and Arab governments as part of the "war on terrorism" have led to the erosion of civil and political liberties of Arabs/Muslims.
But the focus of this year's report is on the growing knowledge gapbetween the Arab region and the rest of the world, and the urgent need to build a "knowledge society." Data in the report tell a sad story of continued stagnation and decline in many areas of knowledge production.
The mass media are the most important agents for the public diffusionof knowledge. Yet Arab countries have lower information media to population ratios than other nations. More damaging is that the Arab media operate in a harsh environment that restricts freedom ofexpression and most media institutions are state owned.
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