There are many people in the Middle East who hold an opinion on the region’s ills, but whatever their view, very few choose introspection over finger pointing. Brian Whitaker, the former Middle East editor of The Guardian, in his new book “What’s Really Wrong With The Middle East” aims to realign the trend of shifting blame.
“The problems of the Middle East are always someone else’s fault,” writes Whitaker. “While the West blames dictators and extremists, Arabs often turn the tables, blaming centuries of foreign interference. Both sides are right, up to a point, but they both also ignore a large part of the picture.”
Education, education
The picture that Whitaker offers after interviewing “intelligent, independent minded people” (meaning not government officials or religious extremists) covers four central issues: knowledge, equal rights, secularism and citizenship.
In surveying these four topics, Whitaker leaves no doubt that there is something deeply wrong with the region, underlining his views with a damning array of statistics.
Whitaker explains that, “Arab societies have, in the past, [balanced] science and Islam very successfully. But many of Islam’s contemporary manifestations are backward looking and anti-intellectual, while the high value placed on conformity in Arab societies is suffocating change.”
A lack of freedom is the fundamental problem that cuts through all the issues discussed in the book. Unlike the neoconservatives, Whitaker does not believe that regime change is the solution: “It is not enough simply to point to the prevalence of authoritarian regimes and imagine that whoever cuts off the monster’s head will be welcomed with flowers.”
Operation family freedom
Instead, Whitaker comes to a controversial conclusion that puts the problems of the Middle East into the homes of everyone in the region. “The regimes — even the most unpopular ones — are products of the societies they govern and to grasp the nature of the problem we have to start by looking at society’s buildings blocks.”
For Whitaker the family is the essential building block of society and he views “the Arab family as a microcosm of the Arab state.”
The book outlines the Arab family to be suffocating, patriarchal and authoritarian, and a structure, much like the Arab state, which suppresses individuality and imposes conformity. Whitaker does draw striking parallels between the family and the state but does not fully and convincingly explain his logical jump from the family as a microcosm of the state.
This is further complicated when Whitaker explores the issue of citizenship. As Egyptian journalist Khaled Diab, quoted in the book, states: “Arab regimes are more akin to those of colonial rulers than a government which has genuine roots among the people.”
It is no secret that the lifestyles of the ruling elite in the Arab world bear little resemblance to those they rule over. This gap of course is often caused by external powers propping up the various regimes in the Middle East, which is why some have called Whitaker’s argument an insult to the people of the region.
But of course this is just the kind of argument that Whitaker is trying to move away from. While not ignoring the issues of foreign interference, this book is an important call to focus on issues that are more immediate and malleable. Far from insulting the people of the region, this is a book that illustrates how people in the region can be empowered. In many ways Whitaker’s book is an important call to action, and highlights the fact that true regime change not only “starts at home,” but in everyone’s homes.
