Our region resembles a street awash with advertising billboards blocking the view, causing traffic jams and driving people to the point of despair. In our case, the banners and slogans are about reform.
There are so many calls for reform these days that we, the people of the region, are in total confusion. We are being bombarded with proposals calling for changes in the Arab League, initiatives demanding a collective reform of the Middle East, internal restructuring in each country, and external pressure for more democracy.
My view is that all these proposals are too idealistic and would achieve nothing. The proposed Arab League court of justice would not succeed; neither would a unified Arab security apparatus, a single Arab army or even a common Arab market. In fact, none of the fancy proposals put forward by Arab League diplomats would succeed.
The White House initiative, known as the Greater Middle East initiative, will meet the same fate and will never see the light of day. I don’t know why such a project could generate such panic in the region since it does not even draw sympathy or momentum inside the American administration. We have to remember that this is the same American government that failed to enforce smaller projects in the area. How could it ever force its will on every Arab country, especially Iran, Pakistan and Turkey? We must tell our American friends that such projects could only be implemented when pigs fly and elephants roost in trees.
I recently came across a story that will calm the overzealous and reassure the worried. The Egyptian Ministry of Interior said it was dropping a proposal that asked all Egyptians to clearly state their blood type on identity cards. This may seem strange to some people. How could an institution working to ensure peoples’ safety do away with such a vital piece of information that could save lives in medical emergencies?
The ministry justified its decision by saying it found this vital piece of information had caused the deaths of several people rather than saved them. Hospitals discovered that the blood type information on identity cards was usually wrong when patients admitted that they had all registered with blood type A or B. Why? To spare themselves the trouble of long queues at blood-testing centers. All attempts to convince Egyptians of the importance of giving the correct blood type failed.
Based on this, any attempt to reform the state of Arab affairs through various projects will also probably backfire. Any attempt for reform, no matter how good, useful or pressing it may seem, would only succeed under one condition: its sponsors must be convinced of its merits and be ready to implement it.
Several things can be changed on a gradual basis without creating mass panic as happened with the American initiative on a Greater Middle East. A reform that produces modest results is much better than big expectations and fancy dreams.
