The Great Transformation

The Arab countries should lead the Muslim world including the Arabs into the 21 Century mentality of cooperation, democracy, free market, the rights of individuals including women and minorities. As I mentioned in previous articles or thoughts, we should start from the very beginning, from the curriculums that are in our schools and universities. Those curriculums that focus on struggle and conflict as a way of life for our people rather than just recording history as it was, unbiased. The outlook to the world should be different, rather than being the victim and wait for help, we should stand as many Asian countries did , and before that Europe and The US, and create a political, social and business models that focus on the future. It all should start by creating grass root social movements that use peaceful means to achieve democracy. A real democracy with freely elected parliaments. The process started in Iraq, with all its deficiencies, and it should continue all over. Syria and Egypt probably will be next to start the democratization process. The Middle Eastern countries should not be afraid of the political movements that use religion as its mantra or slogan. As long as everybody agrees that changes must be achieved peacefully. Turkey is another example. The ruling party now is an Islamic party that does not want or at least agrees that it's possible to combine the beliefs of the religion with the requirements of the modern state. In Europe and the US we have seen conservative parties rule with strong faith background. The Republican Party in the US and the Christian Democrats in Europe. The most important is that we must embrace faith as a private bond between the individual and God, not to be imposed on others, and must guarantee the freedom of religion. Evil and extremism will continue as mankind continues. But it's possible to transform the society where extremism can no longer penetrate the disgruntled layers of its people; that extremism will continue to live on the fringes. Disgruntled people would eventually know that change is possible through the ballots and not the bullets. The bottom line is that the Middle East, the cradle of civilizations and the great three divine religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam should not be lift alone or labeled as the bad son. It should be included in the civilized world. It's the job of the Middle Eastern countries to ensure its place in the train of civility. Last but not least, both Israel and Palestine are integral parts of the new Middle East. The Middle Eastern countries should continue to be separate political entities but can cooperate and integrate policies, especially economic policies through institutions similar to that of the European Union.