Posted on 07/02/2002 1:13:35 AM PDT by ppaul
A report by Arab intellectuals commissioned by the United Nations warns that Arab societies are being crippled by a lack of political freedom, the repression of women and an isolation from the world of ideas that stifles creativity. The survey, the Arab Human Development Report 2002, is to be released today in Cairo, Egypt.
The report notes that although oil income has transformed the landscapes of some Arab countries, the region remains "richer than it is developed." Per capita income growth has shrunk in the last 20 years to a level just above that of sub-Saharan Africa. Productivity is declining. Research and development are weak or non-existent. Science and technology are dormant.
Intellectuals flee a stultifying -- if not repressive -- political and social environment, it says.
Arab women, the report found, are almost universally denied advancement. Half of them still cannot read or write. The maternal mortality rate is double that of Latin America and four times that of East Asia.
"Sadly, the Arab world is largely depriving itself of the creativity and productivity of half its citizens," the report concluded.
Planning for the report "started over a year ago, when we thought that there was a serious development problem in the Arab countries," Rima Khalaf Hunaidi, director of the U.N. Development Program's Arab regional bureau and the driving force behind the survey, said in an interview in her New York office. "There were some very scary signals that were specific to Arab countries and not other regions."
Then came the attacks on the United States, giving the report unexpected new relevance as explanations for Arab anger against the West are being sought.
The report, the first U.N. Development report devoted to a single region, was prepared by Arab intellectuals from a range of disciplines who do not fault others for what they see as the "deficits" in contemporary Arab culture, Khalaf Hunaidi said.
Khalaf Hunaidi, 49, a former deputy prime minister of Jordan who led its economic policy team, said that she had asked the authors, "to come and look at this problem and decide: Why is Arab culture, why are Arab countries lagging behind?"
"It's not outsiders looking at Arab countries," she said. "It's Arabs deciding for themselves."
There are 280 million people in the 22 Arab countries covered by the report, which was co-sponsored by the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, a development finance institution set up by members of the Arab League.
The number of Arabs is expected to grow to between 410 million and 459 million by 2020.
Despite growing populations, the standard of living in Arab countries on the whole has advanced considerably. Life expectancy is longer than the world average of 67 years, the report noted.
The level of abject poverty is the world's lowest. Education spending is higher than elsewhere in the developing world.
Link to article HERE.
Because Islam is a religion of losers. Because Muslims are inherently uncivilized, barbaric savages who pray to a pedophile fraud and wipe their asses with their hands (those who are fortunate to have hands).
Duh...
It is the religion, and nothing else. Get rid of the religion, and these societies could leap forward centuries.
So what are the pointy-heads at the UN going to do with their lovely report?
I tend to think there is no incentive there and that is the reason. The old profit motive is the reason America is great. Like the black culture, no one gets off thier butts to get ahead or better themselves. Maybe arabs don't want to look like uncle toms.
Not true. They wipe their ass with one hand and eat with the other. I don't know which is which. When a theif gets his hand chopped off they cut off the eating hand.
lack of political freedom = Islam
repression of women = Islam
isolation from the world of ideas = Islam
But because this was a report prepared by Arab intellectuals, I'm sure the above mentioned problems are squarely blamed on the great Satan.
lack of political freedom = Islam
repression of women = Islam
isolation from the world of ideas = Islam
But because this was a report prepared by Arab intellectuals, I'm sure the above mentioned problems are squarely blamed on the great Satan.
Hi...ppaul and All Who Love And Support Israel on this thread,
As far as I'm concerned the HeadLine of the article should have read:
ARABS PRACTICING ISLAM ARE...POSSESSED!
and then again could decrease to 20 million in a matter of hours....
And I thought the Islamic Fundamentalists were evil for supporting the killing of a "mere" 3,000+ innocents...
Be careful not to become just like those who you despise.
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