Qatar’s
Promise
Having moved to
Doha some time back, I have been trying to observe and understand this new land
and the dynamics and cultures of people who live here. While one can definitely
encounter people fitting various stereotypes, but my personal experience so far
is that there are far too many of the exceptions for each of those stereotypes
that generalizing the group traits is certainly an exercise in futility. Easiest
claim to make would be that all groups and communities here have quite similar
distribution of various behavioral traits and beliefs as most of the world
would. Again, opinions can always vary because an American might be tempted to
say that s/he doesn’t see much of amalgamation of cultures happening here. At
the same time, as an Indian I could argue that I see so many commonalities in
the culture and even language, that I cannot refuse that as evidence for
amalgamation of cultures.
While it is
tempting for many to accept preconceived notions (based on hearsay from the
people in their social networks) about Qatari youth as over-indulged brats from
a conservative society, willingness to look at Qatar with an open mind gives a
different picture.
It probably is
hard for the some people to be able to relate to the pace of change and values
of the cultures not like theirs. What is most interesting to me is that people
here are trying really well to push the boundaries in many different ways in an
organic/natural manner. That is, they are doing so without losing a touch from
their heritage or destabilizing the peace and prosperity they have. Don’t
believe me, but just go watch any sci-fi or other American movie in theaters
here and count the number of Burqa clad women in the theater. Some (often from the
West), who perceive themselves as liberated ones do not seem to be realizing
that there could be something wrong (not everything) in their ways too, which
other cultures maybe doing rightly. Cultures and beliefs always everywhere keep
evolving at different paces in different places depending on the ideas which
can be called the zeitgeist at that place and time. Often these ideas are
technological and hence driven currently by the technologically more advanced nations/civilizations
of West, but these ideas could also be spiritual or based on other beliefs or
experiences of the communities.
The above
discussion could be considered valid for many other countries and cultures too;
so it probably would make more sense now to focus on the aspects which are
unique for Qatar. Without doubt, the range of opportunities (as an outcome of
diversity of the economy and size of market) is increasing slowly in terms of
pace (though not acceleration which depends on investment) in Qatar relative to
places like Dubai. This often gets reflected as decreased incentive to nurture
innovation and inflow of entrepreneurial migrants with ideas and capacity to
compete in most countries. But Qatar seems to be opening up steadily without
creating destructive waves to achieve its national vision for 2030 – which was
drafted by the youngest sovereign and the current Emir himself when he was the
Crown Prince. In fact, his authorship of the Qatar National Vision 2030 [1]document
clearly conveys that the leadership and institutions of the country are fully committed
to realize that vision.
In the past two
decades, Qatar’s leadership – through its continuous efforts – has ensured that
the natural endowment it has doesn’t turn into a resource curse, as has been
the case in some of the African countries. Qatar’s investments – made with long
term horizons in mind – in areas like education and research have now started
showing promise. The leadership has also been making sincere efforts to build
and maintain trust of subsequent generations of citizens in the institutions
being created, which seems to be working well – something which can’t be said
for the millennials in most other countries where youth and teenagers just
can’t relate to the institutions there. Youth of Qatar feels that they are
getting a fair shot and that's what you need in a country to make its citizen's
to believe in and work towards building a strong future.
It is normal for
some youth will be interested in fast cars or other such materialistic
pleasures. In fact that is the case everywhere in the world – i.e. in both rich
and poor countries. And while some may say that higher levels of faith in
religion is a harmful thing, Islam – more so if not just as much as other
religions – makes its believers to prize austere ways of life, having
compassion and value the fulfilling pursuits like those of knowledge and
spirituality. The western ideas of extreme materialism and consumerism are not
approved by the devout Muslims. Ethos of Islam value experiences, knowledge and
greater common good much more than the things one can buy. Qatar is rated as
one of the most peaceful countries [2]in
the world and the compassionate faith of people is definitely one of the big
reasons for that.
All this leads
me to a simple hypothesis:- Qatar and its citizens have a unique opportunity to
change the world in ways which other countries can’t. Citizens of Qatar don’t
have to worry about the basic necessities of life and/or even some luxuries. Such
a situation, combined with the peaceful and conducive environment to aspire
along with the examples/ role models set by the Qatar’s leadership, is a
perfect hotbed for the youth to become ambitious and do things that can both
change the world and change world’s perception of this dot on the globe.
When people’s
faith prizes austerity and they don’t have to worry about basic necessities,
the human instinct to find a purpose for the life would lead to development of
passion and excellence in different areas among such people. Given the
interconnectedness of today’s world, it is fair to say that many will get
attracted to working towards tackling the great challenges our world faces
today. So is the human nature, everywhere.
Qatar’s
leadership is already a role model for the people here through their pioneering
and ambitious initiatives in areas like research, education, sports, culture,
and their efforts at geopolitical level on different fronts and initiatives
like Educate A Child[3]
or Silatech [4] to
show their commitment to global and regional causes.
Some may claim
that a lot more can be done or should be done – which as per the newspapers here
is also in the pipeline. Everywhere, regardless of what earlier generations
think off or say, some youngsters make bad choices, a large number make safe
but pragmatically good choices and some gamble it all on the good choices they
make. Add to this the Qatar’s nurturing environment as explained above, and it
won’t be too much to hope that Qatar and its people will rise up to opportunity
they have and make their contributions to the history at different levels and
in different places or fields.
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