Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Coed Schools

I happen to meet a person who went to the same school that I went to. We had a chat about various subjects and then he mentioned the fact that he enrolled his son in the same school we both went to because it was right next to house. He pointed, however, one problem for him, our old school has become Coed.

I pointed out to the guy that it is not the horror of horrors he makes it to be. After all, when his kid grows up 12 yrs from now there will be even more women in the work place and in college. So why not have the kid prepared to know how to deal with women.

I am aware of the possible problems of coed schools. However from my point of view, the good outweighs the bad a by a significant margin. In the long run there is some chances that life long friendships might develop between the girls and the boys. I view this as a very positive outcome. Also both the boys and girls would know how to better interact with the opposite sex.

It is worth mentioning that even Arab TV programs portray a society where men and women are not segregated, so why not start with the schools to transform the society.

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Saturday, April 12, 2008

When Will The Mighty Fall

I am slightly optimistic that within my lifetime that Arab conservatism will be a thing of the past.

Why I am I optimistic? First of all, globalism seems to be causing microscopic chinks in the armor of Arab conservatism. And while these chinks might be very small, in time they shall be grand canyon wide.

The second reason is that it took 50yrs+ for communism to fall(not that it was a bad thing per say,) but in the end it fell so spectacularly in a matter of days or hrs. Similarly, Baghdad's collapse(that was a bad thing per say) in the second gulf war was so rapid , it left people scratching their heads.

I am hoping that in the end, that the collapse of Arab conservatism , when it happens(not if it happens,) will happen so rapidly that people will not know exactly what befell them. They will wake up the next morning to find it gone. Something similar to what happened to Kuwait on that morning of August 2nd 1990 when people found the Iraqi army in control of the country (a bad thing.)

I know the last one was a bad analogy and that the Iraqi army was eventually kicked out. I am hoping that the collapse of Arab conservatism will be final without any chance of resurgence. This is a goal that all Arab progressives should work towards.

Friday, April 04, 2008

The KSA facebook murder

I was shocked to read the story of the murder of a Saudi Girl by her father because she was using face book.

http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2008/04/04/saudi-woman-beaten-murdered

So what is the solution for this problem. I think the solution will come from within, but with intense pressure from outside. I do not usually use chemical(or biological metaphors for that matter), but this time around I think that given a catalyst, and the right elements for the reaction, the ingredients will transform to the right kind of compound( a free society.)

So what sort of external pressure am I talking about; something similar to fair trade certification, but related to treatment of women and minimum human rights requirements. This could be a minimum requirement for membership in the WTO or the UN. The UN would deny access to it's various services(UNESCO, WHO, UNDP, UNIDO, etc) if members are not certified. I think this is a more sound idea than issuing stupid security council resolutions that get selectively implemented depending on the interests of the top 5 superpowers.

If Americans care enough that their coffee was purchased from fair trade sources, then maybe they should also care that their oil comes from countries that are certified to this new standard.
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