BEIRUT, 3 December 2003 — Arabs must learn to think for themselves and not rely on others if they want to prosper, says Asir Governor Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, who is president of the Foundation for Arab Thought. “If we do not unite our efforts to save this nation, the ship will sink with all passengers on board, both governments and people,” he told reporters in the Lebanese capital ahead of a three-day conference on the Arab world’s future.
“Money should be put at the service of thought... We should reflect on our future and the future of our youth instead of always counting on others,” he said in a televised debate Monday night.
Among the participants will be Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, along with Lebanon’s Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Arab League chief Amr Moussa and numerous ministers and university students from around the Arab world.
“We have no research institutes that are independent and worthy of the name, no libraries, no museums, and we are all responsible for the situation,” Prince Khaled said. “Arab governments should rethink the question of education,” beginning with young children, said the British-educated prince. “We accustom our children not to know how to engage in dialogue, but to obey blindly. This is a problem of the Muslim Arab world that we must resolve quickly.
“Our educational system is sterile, because we do not make room for experience. We should not fear to take from the West what can be useful for us, as it did from us in the past.”
