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We need to realize, with absolute certainty, that the youth of today, have the ultimate responsibility of developing the Arab world
My generation, as well as the generation that succeeded mine, failed to accomplish anything. When we were your age, we were filled with excitement and motivation
and we had specific goals of what needs to be done for the development of the Arab world, and we all believed that we can achieve such goals. At that time,
we created the Arab Student Organization. We were very active and organized conferences just like you did. We invited ambassadors and professors to discuss with us
and we used to write articles for the New York Times and many other establishments. We had four specific goals in mind. The first goal
was the unification of the Arab countries into one entity. The second goal was the liberation of Palestine.
The third goal was implementing social justice in all Arab countries. Finally, the fourth goal was the eradication of illiteracy in the Arab world. We believed that we had all the necessary resources to achieve these goals.
We were working towards bettering our communities and felt that we can achieve it. Our main fault was that we depended on institutions to solve those issues.
How will we achieve Pan-Arabism? We had the Arab League. The leaders of the Arab countries were expected to meet and state that we will not be powerful unless we
were unified and that we had to form a strong federation and they would appoint a leader for that federation, and only then can we be considered a strong nation
The Arab League convened regularly but how I wish they never did! The meetings brought nothing but disgrace! The second goal was the Liberation of Palestine
How did we think we will achieve this goal? The armed forces of the different Arab nations can do that! In Egypt at the time we had 350,000 soldiers, Iraq had 250,000, Syria-200,000
We had magnificent armies that started the great Arab military revolutions.
So we depended on the military institutions to liberate Palestine. Instead of doing what? Instead of telling the world that
Our Jewish brothers in Europe suffered there, but then came here to our region, even though there were Arabs already living there
“Why should our Palestinian brothers have to suffer too?” We should have told the world:
“Come see for yourself how our Palestinian brothers are suffering as well!” We shouldn’t have tried to solve it militarily; we should have solved it like that.
As for social justice, we thought we can take the money for the rich and elite, and spread it among the poor. What happened instead was, the institutions took the money from the rich, and spread it amongst themselves
Finally, eradicating illiteracy. We had Ministries of Education, and we thought that they can definitely eradicate illiteracy in a matter of three to four years!
It turned out that the Ministries of Education don’t even know what education is! In all the Arab countries where the revolutions happened, the ministries were very weak and failed miserably!
Just look at university graduates in the Arab world today! They barely know anything! So if the ministry itself isn’t a strong institution, how can you depend on them to solve the problem at hand?
We depended on institutions, and forgot about the individual. At the same time, when the individual wanted to say something and express an opinion, we shut him up
Let’s say you were a fresh engineering graduate and went on to work in a factory and you felt you can fix and improve something in that factory.
If you had went to your supervisor at work and suggested an idea that would increase productivity or decrease cost
your suggestion would not be met with encouragement, but rather with ridicule. “You just graduated from school !” they would say.
“How can you possibly know more than your supervisor who has 20 years of experience? Go finish your job as you are told!” And every time you have another suggestion, they would say the same thing
until they kill the individual’s creativity. This deprived people from the notion that they can contribute towards progress.
This entire process, was completely wrong, and could have never lead to the development of the Arab world.
Those countries failed for these specific reasons. This situation must be fundamentally changed, and all those recent revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya,
Yemen and Syria. These are countries that need a real “renaissance” and should open the door for the youth. They should allow the youth to express themselves, and take leadership,
and govern their nations. Yes, the youth will make mistakes but they will learn from them and will do better in the future, because they will then have dignity and self-esteem
and intellect. And so their mentality will change so that whatever they learn from past experiences they will apply in real life, whatever they do has to be for the sake of improving their nation. The young people who started the revolution in Egypt are saying that
“we discovered that we love our country”. They discovered that. It wasn’t something they knew before, but rather, they found out that they love their country. So because
they love their country then they will work for the sake of its progress. So just leave it to them, for it is their turn to take on the burden of reform and mend the flaws
of the past fifty to sixty years throughout the whole Arab World. The youth should be the ones to lead and improve the condition and status of the Arab nations, and the youth are the ones who will create a unified Arab Nation
and all what we aspired to achieve, they will accomplish; as they will have the chance to utilize this new mentality and make their own laws and apply their ideas to develop the nation.
“Host”: We are witnessing the start of a new era in the Arab World and so how do you propose that we nurture this new mentality amongst present youth and in future generations?
“Baz”: we should be a nation of knowledge and education. The first verse that was revealed in the Quran was “Read”, which means that you have to educate yourself and education is extremely important
So the present day youth who are self-confident and feel that they can make revolutions happen anytime they have to know a single crucial point
and that is: we can never progress if we don’t strive to compete with other nations, and the key to that is to be more knowledgeable and better educated
Or else all fails. So the youth themselves should have a personal urge and persistence to always learn and educate
themselves to have sufficient background in all fields of knowledge so that they can have the ability to talk and act based on learned facts and when they undertake any task, they can accomplish it to near perfection
And if they cannot achieve that task on their own then they should ask their colleagues, search the internet, create a blog, etc. till they learn everything they need in order to accomplish that task. If they need to reach a certain objective but can’t, then they should look for answers wherever they can,
Google it if you have to. Learn. Learn and gather all the knowledge you can find from all aspects and fields
whenever possible, because this increases your self-confidence,
and self-confidence earns you respect from others, which in turn also increases your self-confidence and so motivates you to seek more knowledge and education
I saw and experienced this myself when I first came here to the United States and worked on the Apollo project. I come from Egypt, just like you,
my English was had a heavy Egyptian accent , and people found my name difficult to pronounce, calling me: Farak Al Bayeez !
Those were the respectful American geologists who were my colleagues and who have been working in the Apollo program for seven years before I joined
But what would make them talk or even look at me? I’m supposedly a “nobody” compared to them. I mean they’d probably talk to me because of their good manners
But how could they benefit from my knowledge? They certainly know more than I do and can talk better than I do
So I quickly realized that I have to be at least a bit more ,or better yet much more , knowledgeable than my colleagues
, so that when I say something they listen to me, or else how would they listen or even reply to me when I make a suggestion for the project ? And so I started to work twice as hard as they did
I worked double their working hours, I didn’t care till what time I stayed up late. I persisted in this way for the first six months
since I arrived, working amongst them till the time came when I understood my job completely and started to give my own remarks
And when they saw that I contributed to their knowledge, that’s when our friendship started. They would call me and ask me upon what did I base my remarks
I’d reply with confidence and tell them they should refer to that page and look at that image of that robot
then they would say “Ah yes! Thank you!”. Why else would they choose me
as the General Secertary on the Moon Landing Committee if not for the knowledge I had gained and shared? So you must always prove yourself to be worthy of other people’s respect
and the only way to do that is through gathering and gaining as much knowledge and education as you can and share and discuss with each other to increase your level of knowledge.
Fact of the matter is, whoever wants to contribute towards the progress of science and knowledge doesn't seek fame or personal glory
Not at all! For example, I'm a “geologist” and I'm loyal to my profession, when I find something that will enrich and help the human race and my people
then I have to say it, whether they agree with it or not, that’s not my concern.
whether they like me for it or not that’s also not my concern. What concerns me is that I continue contributing and do what I'm supposed to do. For example, I initiated
an institute for desert research for the Arab countries in general, which greatly neglect this field of science. We also need to have leading research in the field of solar energy
In the West they are investing heavily in solar energy while the Arab world has much more resources than the West, and could easily develop and excel in that field
We must have research institutes for the diseases present specifically in the Arab region. We need to have state-of-the-art research centers and we should invest in the issues that relate to us.
Most of the Arab leaders in the past used to hear this sort of advice but never take it.
because the majority of those leaders never truly understood what knowledge and science meant and they didn’t know how valuable knowledge and research are to a nation’s economy.
Most of them have never even read a book before ! So how do you expect them to be able to realize the importance of science and technology?
They just pretend to care about scientific research and education and just attend events that are covered by the media to promote their image
when in reality they don't even know what’s happening there and aren't even concerned. When the leader is ignorant
he can not take the progressive initiatives that can uplift the state of his country and turn it into a leading nation. They would never be like the caliph “El Ma'moun” who initiated the “House of Wisdom”
and gathered all the books and manuscripts at his time that had been translated into Arabic
Not only from Greek but from all sorts of languages! From Sanskrit to Farsi, from all nations!
And then he announced that whoever translates a book into Arabic that hasn’t been translated before
will be offered its weight in gold. That's the role of a true leader, investing wealth for the betterment and development of the nation
investing in science and knowledge so that the people could benefit
When one of the Caliph’s court officials complained that people are starting to translate on thick and heavy paper to gain more money.
the Caliph replied, we are offering them (gold) much less than what they are offering us (knowledge). This goes to show that “El Ma’moun” knew the value and importance of knowledge.
So the Arab world can expect to have world-leading research centers and educational institutions, that would allow science and knowledge to flourish, like in India and South Korea,
but only when the leader of the nation has a sincere interest in the preservation and production of knowledge and is always well informed and
in close contact with scientists and scholars, striving to know what their most recent findings are, even if he spends a whole day or two just for that!
So long as the leaders of the Arab world are not aware of the value and importance of science and research, and if they cannot foresee the benefits they have to offer towards the development and progress of their nation, then the Arab world can never move forward.
I really wish I could be at the Summit in person, but I have a pre-scheduled trip to Egypt that is unavoidable.
However I applaud and support your initiative and I truly believe that this is what is needed from our youth at the moment
You have to meet and get together, share ideas, discuss the issues and obstacles that face the development of the Arab world and come up with solutions to overcome them. And I hope that through this Summit, you, the youth, could offer a better future for the Arab World.