The jigsaw

I remember the first gift my mother ever bought for me, 55 years ago. It was a jigsaw cube set, before jigsaw puzzles were readily available in Egypt. It had an image from a fairytale- with a king and queen, a knight in shining armour on a white horse, a dragon and a princess.

This memory came to me, as I was thinking our focus for society in the MENA region is like that of a child observing a jigsaw cube. Instead of looking at the overall picture on 8/16/32 cubes, we are looking at the bracelet the princess is wearing, or the horse’s hooves or the prince’s hairstyle. That is only a part of the cube, but not the whole image.

In my opinion, “WE” need to sit down and put all the cubes needed by the society together before we get to the stage of looking at the details on each cube. It is not too late to think collectively, focus collectively and deliver collectively as a nation.

Recipe for disaster Part 2

Thinking about civil society in the Middle East and North Africa, I had an idea this morning and discussed it with my wife. I told her I wanted to host a big lunch and invite 50 of our friends and acquaintances. The twist was, we’d tell them they would bring whatever ingredients they would see fit, without any guidance from us, and we would cook whatever they would get.

Under these circumstances, we might find some buy rice and no meat, some may buy aubergines and no bread, some may bring us fish and no vegetables etc. Or they could all come with the same item, who knows?! It’s possible. After all, they have no idea if we originally wanted to cook lasagne, chicken curry, fish and chips, kebab etc. as we didn’t communicate with them.

My wife was bewildered. She asked: “If we don’t know what the people will bring, then how do we know what to cook?”

I answered: “I don’t know. It will create a mess and chaos in the kitchen.”

In my view, uncoordinated efforts are a recipe for disaster, whether in the kitchen, or in a nation’s “internal kitchen”. I believe we have to decide first what we want to eat, as a nation, and what we want our future to be. The chef responsible for the kitchen must cook what the nation wants, sticking to the recipe for success and avoiding the non-coordination recipe for disaster.

Food for thought Part 1

I was thinking about the new society products in the MENA region, specifically what future we are going to draw for this area. The changes we have been witnessing made me think about the answers to some pertinent questions, such as: How? Why? When? How long? Another vital question is: Are we ready or not? If we are ready, where is the change taking us?

The easiest thing in life is to say “NO”, forbid people to do things and criticise others. The most difficult thing is to say “YES”, allow, encourage and lead. The NO philosophy will keep everyone at a standstill, with no way forward. The Yes philosophy will inspire people to act individually and collectively. When that happens, another set of questions arises:

a.    How do we manage the masses?
b.    Where are we taking them?
c.    What are they doing when they get there?
d.    Do we have the overall picture of what will be delivered in 5 or 10 years time?

We have been witnessing only the first phase of social change, taking the lid of the pot. The second phase is the most difficult- what do we do with the boiling water? Boiling water can help make good noodle soup, if you add the right ingredients. If you’re not careful, boiling water can also do lots of damage.

It is up to us to work together and make the best noodle soup for our society.

The vacuum cleaner

At first people are enthusiastic when they buy a new “toy”, such as a vacuum cleaner. They use it all the time, keep their homes clean and the vacuum full. What happens after a while, is that the novelty wears off, and the vacuum stays empty.

I believe it happens the same when a country goes through a popular revolution. People are enthusiastic at first about removing the regime, but then they realise there is a vacuum, which cannot be filled immediately. Problems amount and the house gets dirty.

In my view, the steps to be taken to fill the vacuum and keep the home clean are:

•    Focus on the huge gaps, not the ones between the furniture- the ones in civil society.
•    Look holistically at the needs of the country, without a personal political, religious, philosophical or economic agenda.
•    See us as a dot in the digital image of our nation, whether we are an individual or organisation.
•    Enable ourselves to think constructively and channel our creative energies into building a new nation, higher than a skyscraper

Let us keep the nation, our home, tidy and the vacuum full!

Bridge over troubled water...

The whole world is watching the birth of new society spirit in the Middle East-North Africa region. The spirit is flying high at the speed of light; however we must prepare its foundation and secure its landing to make sure it doesn’t break its neck.

I have been recently to some major towns in Libya: Benghazi, Shahad, Albayda and Derna. I went there to facilitate a series of workshops and give some speeches for the local non-governmental organisations. What pleased me the most was the participation of women (40-45%) and youth (20-25%). There was even one organisation for people with special needs.

I saw the potential of the Libyan society within the hundreds of people that attended the workshops and the speeches. I believe the society spirit can fly high. People have asked me how. My answer is quite simple, really: we must start building the civil society in Libya and create bonds between organisations, citizens and state. This will help create a better future for the society as a whole.

We are creating a bridge for society to cross to safety. Join us!

TV on/ TV off

A while back, I was visiting an Arab country. I turned the TV on to have a quick look at the news. As I was switching between channels, I realised there were only 4 channels in the local language, out of a total of 18 TV channels. There wasn’t even a movie channel in the local language!

When I checked into a hotel, I realised things weren’t right there either, as in this Arab country, there were rent-girls everywhere. It seems to be a new “normal culture” in a certain growing city, located in a very conservative area.

My amazement continued to be fuelled on the streets, as there were hardly any locals in the shops or in company offices. In my view, countries should cherish their human resources, their citizens, as much as they cherish their natural resources.

The price to pay for losing our values, heritage and identity is far higher than the all the money in the world. Let us rethink our identity as individuals, communities, nations and heads of nations.

The great country of extremes

While I was at the UNFPA conference in New York, I met an old friend who was security checked for such a long time, he missed his flight. Read the full story here. To cut a long story short, in the end, he managed to get on another flight and beat the “Computer says NO” virus. This is one extreme.

Today I want to talk to you about the other extreme, a very pleasant surprise for me. I was invited by the Imam of a mosque in New Jersey to attend a debate on Islam. Naturally, I agreed, and was picked up from Manhattan and dropped off in a run-down area of New Jersey.

I was stunned to see 20 young American military officers in the mosque, four of which were women. I was pleasantly surprised with the length of the discussion (2 hours) and the fact that the military officers asked questions on human rights, democracy, radicalism, the hijab, jihad, polygamy in Islam. They watched the sunset prayer and the late evening prayer.

After the debate, we talked privately, swapped business cards and promised Facebook adds. Then, the most amazing thing happened! The imam told me they were stopping overnight at the mosque, to learn more. They were also present at the 5am morning prayer.

I couldn’t believe it and I kept on comparing with what happened to my friend, who was checked until he missed his flight. It seems that military officers are taken from Thursday to Sunday to various churches, synagogues, mosques to understand different cultures and religions.

In my view, this initiative is welcome. However, I believe it takes time to heal a scar and even more time to heal a fracture. The US is healing the 9/11 bone fracture. We need to help America heal it and not let them be afraid of another fracture. We should be wound healers, not inflamers. Our role is to stitch back the wound and soothe the burning inflammation.