Once, the Arab world stood tall. In the 1950s and 60s, Gamal Abdel Nasser’s voice thundered across the region, igniting the flames of Pan-Arabism. The 1970s shimmered with cultural brilliance – Fairuz’s voice echoed from Beirut, Umm Kulthum’s anthems stirred souls, and Arab cinema, led by visionaries like Youssef Chahine, captivated the world. Intellectual giants like Edward Said and Mahmoud Darwish gave the Arab cause a voice that resonated far beyond its borders.
What Remains Now? A Landscape of Ruin
Decades later, the Arab world lies shattered—not just in rubble, but in spirit.
- Libya, “liberated” by NATO in 2011, is now a failed state split between warlords, with two rival governments and foreign mercenaries.
- Algeria, an ally of terrorist Russia is bogged down in regional disputes, while its neighbor Mali falls deeper into Moscow’s orbit.
- Egypt, where the West applauded the military coup against a democratically elected government, now languishes under a dictator with sun-glasses, drowning in debt and repression.
- Syria, where the same powers that condemned the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt now welcome a government with Al-Qaeda affiliations…
- Saudi Arabia turned the holy Mecca into a saddening capitalistic hub. Is sawing up critical journalists in poorly planned intelligence stunts, and waged a brutal war in Yemen, while their crown prince MbS is sunbathing.
- Jordan survives on U.S. handouts.
- Morocco’s king is mostly known for his interest in his kickboxing friends?!
- Lebanon, once the Paris of the Middle East, is a bankrupt mafia state.
- Israel bombs Gaza into oblivion.
Was It All for Nothing?
A century ago, Arabs rose against the Ottomans, trusting British promises of freedom. Instead, they got Sykes-Picot—colonialism rebranded. Today, the only Muslim powers with some sort of independence are Iran and Turkey—and Iran is so weak by now, it will make an agreement within the next 2 weeks.
Erdogan’s Turkey, heir to the Ottoman Empire, Arabs once kicked out of muslim ruled Palestine, struggles in domestic disputes.
Trust in God, but tie your camel
The Arab world’s tragedy is the result of foreign meddling. But how did we allow for us, to become so weak, that all this meddling became possible? And what to do about it?
It would certainly help to act united, instead of fixating ourselfes on petty intra-arab conflicts.
- The Failure of Integration
- Intra-Arab trade stagnates at 10-15%, compared to 60% in Europe and Asia
- Border restrictions make travel between Arab nations harder than crossing into Europe
- The Arab League exists only in name, unable to resolve even basic disputes
- Self-Inflicted Wounds
- Petrodollars wasted on rivalries instead of development
- Leaders more focused on personal power than collective progress
- Cultural Decline
- Intellectual life stifled, our children watch tik tok videos instead of reading
- Take responibility! Trust in God, but tie your camel!
A Civilization in Retreat
The Arab world traded anthems for cheap autotune.
God only knows how to change things and if change is even possible. But one thing is certain: the Arab world today is a shadow of what it could have been.
