There is something fortuitous about anniversaries. This week provides a reminder of the moment the poorly named Arab Spring began to be taken seriously five years ago. Until then, most people outside Tunisia thought that Ben Ali fleeing Tunis was a fluke – that change in the Arab world was unlikely and undesirable. Most people were wrong about the first, change happened. Were most people right about the second? Was it actually undesirable?
Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to visit the University of Warwick, my alma mater and former employer. I’d not had the opportunity to go back there since 2008 – and had been invited to address the student body on an interesting topic. The subject I was given was tantalisingly provocative: “Demystifying the Orient”.
I suspect the students left only more confused than before they listened to my talk, in part because the Arab world defies simple answers. Indeed, one of the questions I received was even more provocative: “Are Arabs simply better suited to having strongmen dictators rule over them?”
On its own, the question is challenging. It becomes even more so when one realises that the question came from an Arab. It wasn’t the retort of a bigot, which in many ways makes it all the more depressing. The essential point of the question is rather simple: to disavow the need for any kind of positive change in the Arab world, sacrificing it on the altar of stability. There are more than a few who would be perfectly willing to do so.
When one looks at Libya, for example, one sees chaos – and it is difficult to ignore that this chaos began in the aftermath of the removal of Libya’s own “strongman”.
Muammar Qaddafi liked to describe himself as the “King of Kings” and it seemed that after his removal there were many who have sought to lead Libya and fill the vacuum that he left behind. Is that, one wonders, proof of the original notion – that Arabs cannot function without a strongman, Pharoah-like dictator?
It’s a tempting idea and it leads to certain policy prescriptions.
This kind of thinking has persisted for years and it feeds into the idea that stability is based merely on a simplistic definition of security.
Of course, that misses the reality that Qaddafi did not simply leave a vacuum – he created it. There wasn’t a vacuum when he came to power in Libya. On the contrary, there was a thriving civil society.
Over the years, he and his brand of leadership decimated civil society and created the vacuum.
When he was gone, there was nothing but a shell – and in the wake of upheaval and no institutions, it’s hardly surprising that there would be a crisis.
The only way to avoid such a scenario is to have a vibrant civil society – which is no easy task, for sure – so that when crisis does hit, it is not simply state structures that are left to keep the country together.
Of course, there are conditions to that kind of societal strengthening – and that is a sense of ownership.
I remember being in Tahrir Square in 2011, and being impressed and inspired by the way in which Egyptian citizens took care of that space.
It was a dignified declaration of citizenship. They had a stake in it – and thus, they wanted to take care of it. What the Egyptian authorities considered to be a threat to stability and order was nothing of the kind.
Rather, it was – and remains – something to be celebrated. A real and genuine social contract requires a sense of ownership – and with it comes a resilience that nothing else can provide.
As I left Warwick, I thought to myself – you can’t go home again. Indeed, after almost a decade away, things have changed a great deal. New people, new challenges – but all still thirsting for an education, and a way to enter the world. In a way, that’s the same in the Arab world.
There may be some in the region who think they can put the genie back in the bottle – but indeed, you can’t go home again. There is a generation who still yearn and thirst for the right to build their own futures – and they will not be denied. Rather than resist that, we ought to embrace it. The alternative is only delaying the inevitable.
Dr HA Hellyer is an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London, and a non-resident senior fellow at the Rafik Hariri Centre for the Middle East at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC
On Twitter: @hahellyer
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20APPLE%20M3%20MACBOOK%20AIR%20(13%22)
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Married Malala
Malala Yousafzai is enjoying married life, her father said.
The 24-year-old married Pakistan cricket executive Asser Malik last year in a small ceremony in the UK.
Ziauddin Yousafzai told The National his daughter was ‘very happy’ with her husband.
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Overall standings
1. Christopher Froome (GBR/Sky) 68hr 18min 36sec,
2. Fabio Aru (ITA/AST) at 0:18.
3. Romain Bardet (FRA/ALM) 0:23.
4. Rigoberto Uran (COL/CAN) 0:29.
5. Mikel Landa (ESP/SKY) 1:17.
INFO
Everton 0
Arsenal 0
Man of the Match: Djibril Sidibe (Everton)
Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Result:
1. Cecilie Hatteland (NOR) atop Alex - 31.46 seconds
2. Anna Gorbacheva (RUS) atop Curt 13 - 31.82 seconds
3. Georgia Tame (GBR) atop Cash Up - 32.81 seconds
4. Sheikha Latifa bint Ahmed Al Maktoum (UAE) atop Peanuts de Beaufour - 35.85 seconds
5. Miriam Schneider (GER) atop Benur du Romet - 37.53 seconds
6. Annika Sande (NOR) atop For Cash 2 - 31.42 seconds (4 penalties)
6.30pm Meydan Classic Trial US$100,000 (Turf) 1,400m
Winner Bella Fever, Dane O’Neill (jockey), Mike de Kock (trainer).
7.05pm Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner Woven, Harry Bentley, David Simcock.
7.40pm UAE 2000 Guineas Group Three $250,000 (Dirt) 1,600m
Winner Fore Left, William Buick, Doug O’Neill.
8.15pm Dubai Sprint Listed Handicap $175,000 (T) 1,200m
Winner Rusumaat, Dane O’Neill, Musabah Al Muhairi.
8.50pm Al Maktoum Challenge Round-2 Group Two $450,000 (D) 1,900m
Winner Benbatl, Christophe Soumillon, Saeed bin Suroor.
9.25pm Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,800m
Winner Art Du Val, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
10pm Handicap $135,000 (T) 1,400m
Winner Beyond Reason, William Buick, Charlie Appleby.
2021 World Triathlon Championship Series
May 15: Yokohama, Japan
June 5: Leeds, UK
June 24: Montreal, Canada
July 10: Hamburg, Germany
Aug 17-22: Edmonton, Canada (World Triathlon Championship Final)
Nov 5-6 : Abu Dhabi, UAE
Date TBC: Chengdu, China
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
FA CUP FINAL
Manchester City 6
(D Silva 26', Sterling 38', 81', 87', De Bruyne 61', Jesus 68')
Watford 0
Man of the match: Bernardo Silva (Manchester City)
Dirham Stretcher tips for having a baby in the UAE
Selma Abdelhamid, the group's moderator, offers her guide to guide the cost of having a young family:
• Buy second hand stuff
They grow so fast. Don't get a second hand car seat though, unless you 100 per cent know it's not expired and hasn't been in an accident.
• Get a health card and vaccinate your child for free at government health centres
Ms Ma says she discovered this after spending thousands on vaccinations at private clinics.
• Join mum and baby coffee mornings provided by clinics, babysitting companies or nurseries.
Before joining baby classes ask for a free trial session. This way you will know if it's for you or not. You'll be surprised how great some classes are and how bad others are.
• Once baby is ready for solids, cook at home
Take the food with you in reusable pouches or jars. You'll save a fortune and you'll know exactly what you're feeding your child.
How%20champions%20are%20made
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
