What have the Arabs ever done for us?

#ThrowbackThursday:  Like London buses, you wait all year for a post... Anyhow, I wrote this for www.bluerubicon.com nearly a year ago, and I think it's as true today as it was then. Over and out for the weekend.

Blue Rubicon Qatar MD Neil Daugherty shares his observations from eight years working in – and two years living in – the Gulf

I am showing my age referencing Monty Python’s film the Life of Brian (1979) in the title of this article. The pejorative question posed in that comic film was, “what have the Romans ever done for us?”. And the answer was, apart from creating some of the major infrastructure of modern societies – sanitation, medicine, education, public order, irrigation and public health – nothing much.

It’s hard to believe watching that film in 2015, that it caused heated public debates around religious tolerance for satirising Biblical scenes. In some ways, the world changes a lot in 35 years, and in some ways, plus ?a change, plus (Charlie) c’est la même chose.

Building stronger bridges of understanding between cultures has never been more necessary. Perhaps, as you sat down this morning to read an article in the Times about extremism in the Middle East you sipped coffee (derived from the Arabic word gahwa, originated in Yemen), maybe with sugar (from sucar) and wearing some item of cotton (qutun), you would be forgiven for thinking that the Arab and western worlds had never been further apart.

If Qatar itself can help bust some of the myths around the Arab world over the next few years, then – insh’allah – the provocative title to this article will be seen as a redundant question

In Doha, Qatar, the perspective is slightly different. Not only have my fumbling attempts to learn Arabic taught me the provenance of many essentials we take for granted, but also our Arab staff – drawn from many nationalities throughout the Middle East – daily remind me of the region’s strong heritage of education, innovation and science. Surgery, hospitals and medicine, universities, optics and telescopes, arguably algebra, aeroplanes and bicycles all owe at least some of their origin to the Arab world. When it comes to religion, Islam is practiced largely peaceably by 1.5 billion people the world over, and yet often harshly judged because of the actions of a minority of disaffected obscurantists.

In the modern day, it’s fair to say that Qatar – which only became an independent nation like many Gulf States in the early 1970s – was little known outside the worlds of policy-making and the energy industry much before 2006, when Doha hosted the Asian Games (the younger Asian brother of the Olympics). Since then, Qatar has thrust itself, often uncomfortably, into the global consciousness with some of its ambitious plans to become a global educational, scientific and sporting hub. Most notably in 2010 it won the rights to host the FIFA World Cup? in 2022 – which we now know will be held in winter at FIFA’s behest. Since then Qatar has felt the glare of the international media spotlight.

This spotlight does, however, illuminate some important questions.

Can the Middle East disprove the resource curse theory?

There is a view that countries with abundant natural mineral resources perform worse economically than those without them. Qatar has a great chance to be perhaps the first country on earth to disprove this theory categorically, by showing how a knowledge-based economy can rise from the mineral wealth of the desert. World class universities have been attracted to Education City under the vision and patronage of HH Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned, some of whom we partner with.

Can Qatar reinvent itself as a global sports hub?

In doing so, can it help address some of the major social problems – notably type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer – that result from a turbo-charged injection of wealth into developing economies the world over? The signs are that it can, through successfully hosting the Asian Cup in football and world championships in handball, swimming (and boxing and cycling to come), as well as world standard tennis and motorsport. There is a way to go to generate interest and drive participation, but the will is there.

How and at what pace will sustainable labour reforms arrive in the Gulf?

There is every hope that the spotlight of hosting the 2022 World Cup and events such as the 2019 IAAF World Championships (in Qatar) and the World Expo in 2020 (in Dubai), will continue to act as a catalyst for reform of some of the more outdated labour practices in the Middle East. Certainly this change will happen more rapidly with these events here than without their presence.

What will be the lasting impact of building a sustainable culture of artistic appreciation and participation in the Middle East?

Abu Dhabi and Sharjah have notable projects and in Qatar we are proud to work for Qatar Museums. Projects such as the Fire Station artists in residence programme, and world-class museums such as the Museum of Islamic Art, Mathaf Museum of Modern Arab Art and soon to be opened National Museum of Qatar are supplemented by an investment in public art exceeding cities such as Chicago. Some say it is on a scale unseen since the Medicis in Renaissance Italy. Art, like sport, has no passport and is a bridge to mutual understanding.

Can Arab countries break the mould of globalisation?

How can they embrace progress and change without diluting their cultures and traditions, in societies where they are often significant minorities in their own countries? No country is an island (or Jazeera, the Arabic word) detached from globalisation, and while the Qataris are doing all the right things, it will be fascinating to watch how this plays out.

The vision and scale of construction in Doha – in road and rail alone – is unparalleled since Victorian England or perhaps the Roman era (what did they ever do for us?). It’s fair to say some of these societies stumbled and tripped along their paths to development – the difference being that 24 / 7 international news and social media did not exist in their eras. Major legislative and social change in any country takes time if it is to be lasting and sustainable. Obama Care in the USA, the introduction of the minimum wage in the UK (as recently 1998), themselves resisted by certain interest groups, are an example. The Gulf nations are little more than 40 years old (and 70% of the population in the Middle East is under 30). Critics may be justified but should also retain some historical perspective and self-awareness.

I have observed in Qatar a ‘just do it’ culture of letting actions speak louder than words. This may be admirable, but on occasion in a vacuum of information, humility and silence can be wrongly construed as arrogance and indifference. In this silence, misunderstandings are amplified.

We are proud to help some of Qatar’s major institutions which are facing the outside world (Qatar Museums, Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy) step up to some or all of these challenges. We're also proud to support some of the major inward investors in Qatar (Maersk Oil, Shell) to communicate with cultural sensitivity their commitment to and support of Qatar’s goals and admirable National Vision. Mutual respect, trust, willingness to listen and learn – allied with no little patience – are an essential part of living and doing business here.

More, rather than less, understanding is required between societies, now more than ever. If Qatar itself can help bust some of the myths around the Arab world over the next few years, then – insh’allah – the provocative title to this article will be seen as a redundant question.