Thomas Friedman ist zur Recht skeptisch, was den vor uns liegenden Wandel in der arabischen Welt angeht. Er verweist auf den Arab Human Development Report von 2002, in dem die ganze Misere aus Bildungsmangel, Freiheitsentzug und Frauenunterdrückung bereits geschildert wird (und zwar von arabischen Wissenschaftlern), die den arabischen Nahen Osten zurückgeworfen hat. (Damals übersetzte die gesamte arabische Welt jährlich nur ein Fünftel der Anzahl von Büchern, die etwa in Griechenland pro Jahr übersetzt werden). Auch wenn die neue Generation viel Anlass zur Hoffnung bietet, wird es ein steiniger Weg.
Aber dass dieser hier Deal zuende ist, kann nur gut für alle sein:
For the last 50 years, America (and Europe and Asia) have treated the Middle East as if it were just a collection of big gas stations: Saudi station, Iran station, Kuwait station, Bahrain station, Egypt station, Libya station, Iraq station, United Arab Emirates station, etc. Our message to the region has been very consistent: “Guys (it was only guys we spoke with), here’s the deal. Keep your pumps open, your oil prices low, don’t bother the Israelis too much and, as far as we’re concerned, you can do whatever you want out back. You can deprive your people of whatever civil rights you like. You can engage in however much corruption you like. You can preach whatever intolerance from your mosques that you like. You can print whatever conspiracy theories about us in your newspapers that you like. You can keep your women as illiterate as you like. You can create whatever vast welfare-state economies, without any innovative capacity, that you like. You can undereducate your youth as much as you like. Just keep your pumps open, your oil prices low, don’t hassle the Jews too much — and you can do whatever you want out back.
It was that attitude that enabled the Arab world to be insulated from history for the last 50 years — to be ruled for decades by the same kings and dictators. Well, history is back. The combination of rising food prices, huge bulges of unemployed youth and social networks that are enabling those youths to organize against their leaders is breaking down all the barriers of fear that kept these kleptocracies in power.”