{"id":7358,"date":"2011-05-28T14:29:48","date_gmt":"2011-05-28T10:29:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=7358"},"modified":"2011-05-30T13:39:35","modified_gmt":"2011-05-30T09:39:35","slug":"what-kind-of-new-leaders-do-young-arabs-want","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/showcase\/what-kind-of-new-leaders-do-young-arabs-want\/","title":{"rendered":"What Kind of Leader Do Young Arabs Want?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/a>Osama bin Laden is dead. Bogeyman of western nightmares, and a figure of revulsion for many Muslims, his death brought to a close the ghoulish and virtual reign of an icon \u2013 loathed and despised, but an icon nonetheless \u2013 of leadership.<\/p>\n

This is not to say he was a leader to be emulated, simply that he held a degree of influence. Witness the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre based in Jordan, which placed him on its list of 500 Most Influential Muslims under the category \u201cRadicals\u201d.<\/p>\n

His death came during sweeping changes in the Middle East. Bin Laden wanted these populations to rise up under his charge against the West, but they did it without him. Mubarak is gone. Ben Ali, too. Qaddafi fights for survival. The Arab people didn\u2019t want them, and they didn\u2019t want bin Laden, his philosophy consigned to a compound in Pakistan, his influence diminishing, his ideology rejected by the very people he sought to lead and who on the streets wanted the very democracy he reviled.<\/p>\n

But what kind of leadership do Arabs, particularly young Arabs, actually want?<\/p>\n

The urge for \u201cparticipation and representation in the political life of their country of residence\u201d remains a \u201cpriority\u201d for young Arabs, according to\u00a0Asda\u2019a Burson Marsteller\u2019s<\/a> survey of 2,500 Arab youths in 10 countries, conducted during the recent events. \u201cArab youth have a deep and enduring desire for democracy\u201d was one of their conclusions, obvious in light of events.<\/p>\n

This change is self-driven. The youth are resigned to the fact that their current \u2013 and outgoing \u2013 leaders do nothing for them. Few bother to voice their opinions to public officials, according to the fourth Silatech Index \u201cVoices of Young Arabs\u201d, published in March, of 20 countries and 36,000 people and produced jointly by the\u00a0Gallup Centre for Muslim Studies and Silatech<\/a>, a social enterprise addressing opportunities for young Arabs. They are not convinced their leaders are maximising the potential of young people. Instead, they wish to determine their own lives. This trend is clear in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Morocco.<\/p>\n

OgilvyNoor, the Islamic branding and marketing consultancy division of the Ogilvy & Mather advertising firm, calls the movers and shakers of the current changes \u201cfuturists\u201d, who are \u201cfearless\u201d and \u201cvocal in their beliefs\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir worldview is fundamentally meritocratic, backed by their faith in Islam\u2019s principles of equal brotherhood. Authority is not solely top-down any more. It must make room for equal dialogue,\u201d writes Nazia Hussain, head of strategy for the unit.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that the drive for self-determination, the desire for democracy and the demand that leaders should engage in dialogue are derived from Islam. Additionally, 70 per cent of \u201cfuturists\u201d are extremely proud to be Muslim, according to OgilvyNoor\u2019s research.<\/p>\n

These young people have come of age in the shadow of September 11 and Osama bin Laden. The war on terrorism offered them two mutually exclusive choices: western democracy or bin Laden\u2019s toxic leadership. They have rejected this bipolar caricature, instead creating their own models of leadership for their future: a future that takes pride in both Islam and democracy, a future fuelled by their belief that change is up to them, a future they can and will make happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SHELINA ZAHRA JANMOHAMED: Whether it’s Mubarak, ben Ali or bin Laden it’s clear what sort of leadership Arabs don’t want. It’s far less clear however what they are looking for in their leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":7376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,83,60],"tags":[312,18303,324,125,18300,18321,18305,18309,18332,191,18334,126,583,359,18275,18330],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7358"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7358"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7358\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}