June 3, 2008

Blood Feuds and the Failure to Thrive

Dr. Laina Farhat-Holzman

The past decade has seen the reduction of poverty around the world and the rise of economic growth - Asia and Latin America are starting to catch up with the West and Japan. But there are exceptions to this optimistic picture: most of the Arab world, except for their bonanza of oil money, and sub-Saharan Africa, which remains an intractable case of failure to thrive.

In the case of the Arab world, two behavioral practices hinder progress: resistance to educating and giving women access to professional life, and the prevalence of blood feuds. Saudi and Gulf States women may be educated if their fathers permit, but prohibitions against mixing of the sexes eliminate most women from the work force.Elsewhere in the Arab Muslim world, the literacy rate of women, even by their own figures, is shamefully low.

Blood feuds are a habit overlooked by those attempting to study why the Arabs are failing to thrive. This observation has been published in the UN's Arab Development Report, a report written by Arab intellectuals themselves. They identify the undervaluingof their female populations, but say nothing about blood feuds:

• The ancient Greeks explored this matter in their theatre and religious myths. They describe family feuds so old that the participants could scarcely remember the original cause. The Oresteia, Seven Against Thebes, and Antigone portray three of the more famous family feuds that brought otherwise good people to grief.

• Shakespeare gave us the story of Romeo and Juliet, children of feuding families, lovers who come to grief through the stupidity of their families. At the end of the play, the surviving parents of the children reconcile, bitterly regretting their mindless feuding.

• The Scotts had a terrible history of blood feuds between and among their clans which, along with a harsh climate and infertile land, kept them trapped in poverty until the English conquered and absorbed them. With feuds over, the Scotts engaged in the most amazing reform - in less than a century becoming the leading country in science and medicine and a leader in the Industrial Revolution.

• Our own West Virginia, whose population came largely from Scotland, had a long tradition of clan and family feuds, among them the notorious Hatfields and McCoys. This tradition, among other things, contributed to the failure of this region to thrive until relatively recently.

• Lebanon is a poster child for blood feuds, as we can see today in the news. Lest we think that this is just an internal religious war, we need to know that even within each religion, there are bloodfeuds with real consequences. It took the Syrians to end the last civil war by force - an action that was resented, even though it gave the Lebanese the first peace that they had enjoyed for decades.

• The Palestinians are not only nurturing their blood feud with the Israelis, a feud that they refuse to abandon, but they also suffer failure to thrive because of their innumerable blood feuds among themselves. Tough neighborhood! The Palestinians could have had a state like Israel sixty years ago but instead have wasted the talents of three generations on their cult of resentment and blood feud.

Now what about Sub-Saharan Africa? This region fails to thrive because of three things: gross population explosion (not enough land or food for all these people, as in Rwanda); abuse of their female population physically, intellectually, and economically (women own nothing); and abundant raw materials such as diamonds and minerals, the sale of which finances the thugs in their blood feuds. Neighboring African leadership in countries not afflicted by these practices have shown no leadership in ending these horrors.

Blood feuds are the enemy of social and economic progress. Throwing money at the problem will not resolve it. Change must come from within the society itself.Disaster may be the sternest teacher.