அரபிய ஜாதி உணர்வு வலிமையாகி வருகிறது

செல்போன்கள், தொழில்நுட்பம் என்று வாழ்க்கை வசதிகள் அதிகரித்தாலும் அரபு ஜாதி உணர்வு வலிமையாகிவருகிறது என்று கூறுகிறது செய்தி.

அரபிய தீபகற்பத்தில், ஒருவர் என்ன ஜாதியைச் சேர்ந்தவர் என்ப்துதான் அவரது சம்பளம், அவரது மனைவி, அவரது திருமணத்தில்செலவு செய்யப்படும் தொகை அனைத்தினையும் நிர்ணயிக்கிறது.



Arab Tribalism Is Growing Stronger
By Megan K. Stack , Los Angeles Times


Published on 5/28/2007

Shibam-Kawkabam, Yemen — The slender, somber-faced 18-year-old wears two crucial tokens tucked against his belly, beneath the embroidered belt: The cellphone that links him to the modern world. And the short, curled dagger that binds him to the ancient system that is the only thing, he says, that he would die for — his tribe.
Hussein is one of a new generation of young Arabs, the vanguard of a massive baby boom. With synthesized gulf pop in his ears and the Internet at his fingertips, he enjoys access to technology that his parents could probably never have imagined. But from the moment dawn sears the dusty hills until the last wash of sunlight fades over his mud and brick house, Hussein's life is ruled by the codes hammered out by his ancestors.

“I serve my tribe in everything they ask,” Hussein said, blinking seriously in the brilliant morning sunlight. “If I'm alone, it means I'm weak. If I'm with the tribe, it means I have some power, I am strong.”

Tribal connections will decide Hussein's job opportunities; his marriage; how much of his salary he can keep; whose wedding party he will pay to host; whether he will have to risk his life fighting over tribal grievances.

Pervasive and often overlooked by outsiders, the ancient network of tribes remains one of the most potent forces in the Middle East. They are older than the nations and borders that carve up the Arab world, older than the oil industry, older than the governments in the United States or Europe. They are older, and some believe an even stronger social force, than Islam.

Rather than withering away as the Arab world succumbs to modernity, tribes are only getting stronger. Weak central governments; civil war in Iraq; an identity crisis born of the clash between modernity and tradition — all of these factors have fortified the role of the tribes.

But in the clanging streets of the capital, Sana, there is a growing debate about the role of Yemen's tribes. In some quarters, tribalism is blamed for holding the country back, crippling development and disrupting the nation's ability to be taken seriously by the rest of the world. To many Yemenis who'd like to see their country evolve into a place with robust civil society and strong institutions, the power wielded by the tribes is too heavy.

Even within the tribal leadership, some sheiks admit reservations about the role of clans. But they say they don't see an alternative to operating within a deeply entrenched tribal system.

“The culture of the elite, the people on top, is of tribes,” said Ali Ahmed al Imrani, a Yemeni lawmaker and tribal leader. “You need weapons. You need maneuvers to show force. Even here, in the halls of government, people like to show that they could kill each other.”

And that culture, he said, has only gotten stronger.

“During the late 1970s, I never went out of the house in Sana with a knife or traditional clothes,” the lawmaker said. “At that time we had a dream to modernize the country. But now my children, they chose to wear their traditional clothes, to have knives and weapons.”

Shibam-Kawkabam