We imagine a future for our children, a much better future, and a much better world. The world we imagine is a world without cruelty and oppression. We imagine a safe future for our children. Until now this has been a distant dream, but we are on the verge of bringing to reality this new world, a “utopia”. In fact, I can already imagine it happening very soon. I am so optimistic about this new and better world, that I feel this may happen within the next few decades. Have I gone bonkers? No certainly not (and giggles). What makes me so certain that this will happen, you may ask? Well, the answer is very simple, the full development of human brainpower. I feel that the masses will soon be able to gain the freedom to unleash their full brainpower.
To fully appreciate and understand my thesis we need only look at world affairs and then look at the progress and development of the human mind. The key point to look at is the surge in brainpower in the Middle East. This surge was not there one hundred years ago. One hundred years ago, as far as the Arabs and Jews are concerned, the Arabs were no match for Jewish brainpower. And the British prudently recognised this point and sided with the stronger group. They promised Palestine to both Arabs and Jews but gave Palestine to the group with the brainpower, even though there were not many Jews living in Palestine at the time. What the British did was to apply the Darwinian rule of “survival of the fittest”, where the weaker suffer. Unfortunately, there is no place for sentiments in the global arena and global politics. The Arabs as a result suffered and continue to suffer the consequences of the Balfour Agreement. The Arabs have been unable to free the occupied lands because they lacked the brainpower. I publish below the entry for the Balfour Agreement from A Dictionary of Contemporary World History (OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2008).
The West and the Zionists have benefitted far beyond their expectations from this alliance. However, now the West and particularly the Europeans, are beginning to recognise a new surge in brainpower in the Middle East. The events that have played a key role in capturing the attention of the West include:
Ø In January 2005 Hamas wins elections in Gaza, under Israeli occupation.
Ø In the summer of 2006 Israel losing the war with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Ø In January 2008 the Palestinians break through the Israeli siege wall to shop for food in Egypt.
Other key events include:
Ø America’s failure and defeat in Iraq.
Ø Persian Iran’s increasing influence in the region and particularly in Iraq.
Arabs and Persians are obviously taking the fear out of the equation now. And such changes are always the result of surges in brainpower. The EU is now acknowledging this surge in brainpower in the Middle East. This is evident by the EU’s lack of enthusiasm to be involved in wars in Muslim countries. The EU nations are reluctant to send further NATO troops into war zones. And then there is the statement made by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, in February 2008, in which he argued that Sharia law was “unavoidable” in the UK. In my view, Dr. Williams’s statement was intended as an acknowledgment of the surge in brainpower in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East. Whatever may seem on the surface, the ground underneath is definitely shifting. The Europeans are in the early stages of a policy shift regarding the Middle East.
Soon the Zionists’ suppression of the Arab civil rights and liberties will no longer seem amusing to the West. The Western economies desperately need oil, and Israel seems incapable now of guaranteeing cheap oil from the Middle East. A change in policy and change of alliances is therefore inevitable. As I have said before, “In politics, there is no such thing as permanent alliances, only permanent interests.” This new reality does leave Israel under increasing pressure to carve a new role for itself. And since the US imperial forces are themselves involved in a costly war in the Middle East that does leave Israel redundant from its two primary roles: (1) subjugating Arabs (2) ensuring cheap oil for the Western economies. So, the question has to be asked what function and what role Israel will have in the new emerging world where freedom and creativity will rule.
Israel is in retreat now, and its bullying days are almost over, so it will disintegrate. The Arab dictators must also be feeling vulnerable now. Perhaps the puppets and dictators of the Arabian Peninsula will be the first casualties of the surge in brainpower in the region.
NATURE OF THE BEAST
The surge in brainpower is usually unstoppable. It is full of energy, raw power and it is lethal; it destroys the existing but obsolescent system. The surge in brainpower will change the face of the Middle East, just like it did in France, during the French Revolution (1789–1799). This is why I would say that the dictators and feudal lords everywhere are living on borrowed time. Brainpower thrives on freedom, the freedom to express creative ideas. The reason there is scarcity of creativity in the Arabian Peninsula is that the dictators there are only interested in dogma and conformity and their power. A dictator rules by employing (1) censorship at the expense of creativity and creative ideas (2) ruthlessness and fear to control their population (3) concentration of power invested in few cronies who are not accountable to anyone. The Freedom and creativity become a rare commodity where ever there is a concentration of power. We can say that there is an inverse relationship between creativity and power.
I wonder what would happen when the obstructers and the obstructions to creativity were removed. Just imagine if the brakes that slow down human progress were removed and creativity flourished, and as a direct result, the economy flourished. Just imagine a world where the brain is allowed to unleash its full potential, and I mean over six billion brains. Imagine a “utopia”.
NOSTALGIA
The Arabs did once have freedom of thought, and creativity did find a home in the Fertile Crescent. The Arabs then understood the meaning of freedom and that creativity is essential for the health of the mind and health of the world. They understood that the mind is the world and the world is the mind. They knew that unless we understand the mind, we can never come out of our quandary. “By no coincidence, all of the great thinkers, inventors and artists of Muslim civilization were creative minds,” says Michael Hamilton Morgan in his latest book Lost History The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers, and Artists (NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, 2007). His book gives a concise account of most of the creative minds of the Muslim world, including Ibn Sina, Omar Khayyam, and many more. Morgan takes the reader on an intellectual journey to discover the Lost History. The book is well worth reading, it is useful and informative for new learners as well as experts of Muslim history. I publish below a few paragraphs from the book Lost History.
