Born in Cairo, he published several books on the Middle East. For a plural and democratic Middeast, he founded in January 2008 the Middle East Pact (MEP), in order to gather reformist stakeholders involved in the Middle-East society.
Bibliography- Les frontières (avec Charles Tafanelli), Studyrama, Paris, 2011.
- Les conflits du Moyen-Orient, Studyrama, Paris, 2010.
- L’Iran et le Moyen-Orient, géopolitique et enjeux, Studyrama, Paris, 2010.
- L’Iran paradoxal, dogmes et enjeux régionaux (Collectif), L’Harmattan, Paris, 2008.
- Géopolitique du Liban, constats et enjeux, Studyrama, Paris, 2008 (réédité en 2011).
- Géopolitique du Moyen-Orient, Studyrama, Paris, 2008.
- Israël, géopolitique et enjeux, Studyrama, Paris, 2008.
- L’axe irano-syrien, géopolitique et enjeux, Studyrama, Paris, 2007.
- A l’ombre de l’Islam, minorités et minorisés (Collectif), Filipson, Bruxelles, 2005.
After the demonstrations and the riots against high prices (Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt) the “hunger revolution” is spreading and threatening governments. What is your feeling about this social unrest?
I am not an expert on social and health topics and I will give you an opinion based on my personal experience. I think that these riots, some became “revolutions”, are not only against high prices but much more against corruption leading to social inequalities.
People feel that politicians do not help them and foster a climate of widespread corruption, very part of the administrative culture of these countries.
This corruption affects everyone: from the Prime Minister or the President, whose family members control many sectors of the economy, to the schoolboy cheating on his exam. To pay a policeman to avoid a fine has became a commonplace. In Egypt it is called the bakshish. To cross a checkpoint, you need to pay a bakshish, a tip. Everything can be bribed. For an appointment faster at an ophthalmologist, just give £ 5 to the secretary. In order to study in a famous university, to find a job, to avoid a tax audit, to obtain any license, any birth certificate without waiting months, and so on: you need a bakshish. Even when you are a child, you have to deal with corruption. I faced this very problem when I was in school in Cairo. When we were on delay, we give a pound to the gatekeeper in exchange for which he allowed us in. To buy invigilator’s silence, to avoid a warning or when the school asked the parents to come in, to remove a punishment… And the more you are down in the social hierarchy, the more you are confronted with corruption because the leaders are hungry. In this context, if you don’t integrate into this system, you are dead. If you keep out of this, you are automaticaly left behind or beaten. For instance, in most countries, the Bachelor is a selective competition. If you do not cheat, you are automatically beyond half of your class even so less prepared than you. The fight against corruption is a priority need.
Jordan launched a 169-million-dollar plan against “soaring prices” (US immediately grants Jordan 100 million dollars in extra economic aid), to promote health and education and to “improve the daily life” of Jordanians (see our press review). Do you think health is a new strategic stake for MENA countries?
Yes, I think. This is one of the benefits of globalization to have contributed to a general harmonization of global issues, even if the gap between North and South remains very important. Now a good many issues that were in the past unknown or taboos are discussed owing to intense pressure. The issue of female circumcision illustrates my point. Doyou know that in the ’50s we thought only half of Egyptian women were circumcised. In June 2003, the National Council for Motherhood and Childhood held a conference in Cairo in cooperation with several European and Egyptian NGOs and with the participation of representatives of the UN. Based on a demographical, medical & social survey in 1995 among nearly 14,000 Egyptian women, married (14-49 years old), the Council said that 97% of Egyptian women were circumcised. In reality, the number of circumcised women did not increase between years 50 and 90. According to most Egyptians the question was simply unknown or irrelevant before.
I also think that AIDS was a neglected disease and considered for “depraved” people until the end of last century. Many other diseases were known but policy makers were not involved in any public health policies because diseases were out of their country. Today, with the rising migratory interstates flows, the apparition of an epidemic in one area scares all the world. So I think that health stakes are deeply rooted on the globalization. That is why health stakes increases in range as you say.
Concerning education, the crux of the matter is more complex, especially in the conservative Gulf countries. Education is more related to political Islam, religious intolerance and the integration of Islam into the globalization. Educational issue is critical, particularly in countries where there is a real schizophrenia between what is learned in school and the official speeches toward foreign countries. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia seems to be the most striking example: children learn in the Kingdom’s schoolbooks that for Muslims it is a duty to oppress and humiliate Jews and Christians in order to question and reappraise their faith and, under pressure, perhaps to believe in Islam. Albeit King Abdallah is chairman of international think tank on inter-religious dialogue and reconciliation between Islam and Western countries.
Jordan, Lebanon, Tunisia are the most attractive destinations for medical tourism in the world. And it is a rat-race to be more competitive in the the region. But this growth leads to a two-tied healthcare system: the one liberal for rich, the other more basic with primary care for a great number of patients?
I agree with you. I think that this gap has two main explanations. The first is the community break-up: MENA societies are strongly divided, so much so that the meaning of collective solidarity became very weak. These divides are ethnic,religious, cultural, tribal or simply rooted on language. In every country in the region, there are two or more communities that never meet themselves. That’s why the feeling of belonging to a same national community and to a common destiny is not strong enough. The second explanation is the social inequalities, common in developing countries, due to the corruption, the black-market and the underground economy, a lack of long-term development strategy (due to a lack of continuity between the governments of a same country and the chronic instability), the general apathy of people.
