The ideas that have long shaped the region can be reexamined in light of the ongoing conflict and the Gulf and international solidarity that emerged around it. The conflicts of this region have been fueled by misguided priorities for a century.
Totalitarian movements like the Muslim Brotherhood, not to mention the more recent revolutionary hybrids, have conceived of their homeland as secondary. A swift overview of the long speeches they deliver to audiences in attendance against their will - as Moammar al-Gaddafi had done - leaves no doubt about this. This obsolete totalitarian discourse neglects domestic projects, renders the land on which we live secondary, and disregards the human beings who cultivate it.
That is why prosperity and growth only peaked after decades of difficult development policies undertaken despite the fires surrounding the fresh and flourishing garden of the Gulf. Vision 2030, which has had a significantly positive impact on the countries of the region and is steering them toward development, is a case in point.
Many leaders have tried to extinguish the fires, but some seek to undermine these efforts, which have taken two tracks. The first political peace in the region that reduces the political tax on its states and societies, and the second cultural peace consolidated through interfaith dialogue.
The violent ongoing developments in the region are the result of a historical legacy: a mixture of intellectual, social, and political burdens and historical disputes. For this reason, the confrontations have been violent and disheartening, and they undermine the development pursued by the emerging and leading states of the region.
Indeed, these developments could shift the balance against development for years to come, but should we despair? Despair is certainly not an option.
However long it lasts, the conflict will eventually come to an end. The catastrophe lies in the consequences it will have on the region, and unsurprisingly, they have already led to a resurgence of extremist activism.
Yes, preachers are advocating a revival of the chaotic spirit that had fallen a little more than a decade ago. The cost, then, will be severe for the parties to the conflict there. The lesson for the Arabs, however, is that they must reconsider their priorities. Placing the interests of ideological parties - by they Islamist, Arab nationalist, or revolutionary leftists - above the homeland is a crime. We are seeing its results: economic, security, and political collapses in several Arab countries that placed ideology before development. Every day, visible lessons emerge, but they are rarely examined with any genuine reflection.
In conclusion, the developmental projects driven by the rising Gulf states will not be defeated by totalitarian ideologies. These states have come to believe that development is the pillar of their politics and that their people are the pillars of the social order. The fraternal solidarity we are witnessing breathes life into many of these ambitions, most of which have already been realized with others and more to be realized in the future. There are those who envy this region for its progress, which they cannot match or attain. Ideas are the material of beneficial projects.
The current phase is certainly not easy, but it must be seen as an opportunity to alter the priorities of all Arab states. They could move beyond ideological and totalitarian ideas, turning toward developmental ideas. Those who push these ideologies will be humbled, and the Gulf states will become a model. They have produced successful examples at every level - models that no other country in the region has matched.
