VALUES : THERE WAS A TIME.

By: Khairi Janbek


There was a time, when the overwheliming majority in the Arab eorld considered themselves Muslim. There si now a small minority of extremists claiming Islam to themselves and proclaining all other Muslims to be apostates. There was a time when the worst insult that could be directed against anyone in the Arab, world was the accusation of being an agent of the CIA. Now the CIA is orgabnising the security forces and agencies of many countries in the Arab and Islamic worlds. There was a time in the Arab world when the greatest sin ever was to talk to israel, but now, the whole Arab region and beyond, are trying are trying to find the slightest excuse in order to talk to Israe.

There was a time when the Arabs, believed in the existence of an entity called the Arab world. Today Arabs would consider it a great achievement if they can go beyond the tribe, as a refernce of identity and loyalty. Moreover, there was a time when the individual Arab state, was the main provider of jobs and opportunities to its own citizenry. Now the Arab state has reliquished this role to the private sector; in the name of privitization.

These are not written fro the purpose of comparison, or in order to make a vlue judgement on the past or the present, but rather to make the point that processes which had taken generations from start to completion in the civilized world, in the Arab world it took more or less a decade. The result?. The individual Arab state and its citizens, are still under a constant headspin, searching for new values. Unfortunately, this erosion; having happened in a very short period of time, managed to morphe many of the Arab values into totally their opposities. Any new values in the making?.