Doha: A few days before Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders gather in Doha for their 35th Summit meeting, nearly 200 Arab scholars opened their own conference in the Qatari capital, titled “The GCC Countries: Politics and Economics in Light of the Regional and International Shifts and Changes.”

Academics worried, among other topics, about the Arab identity and how best to protect the region from friend and foe alike.

Several called on their governments to muster the courage to tackle serious internal concerns in addition to worrying about regional security and political challenges.

A few wondered whether Arabs, who represented five per cent of the global population, could, over the long term, preserve their relevance and add value.

In the opening plenary session on Saturday morning, dealing with “identity, state and society in the Arab Gulf,” Ali Fakhro (Bahrain), a leading thinker who served for a quarter century in various ministerial positions, raised the sensitive issue of foreign populations throughout the area, which now averages 69 per cent. He wondered how local governments would respond should foreign workers demand political rights.

This, he reasoned, is a serious matter that can no longer be overlooked. In a frank talk, Fakhro further concentrated on whether GCC governments were ready to give up some of their privileges to the supra-national organisation, which was necessary to preserve the area.

Also on the panel were Professors Asma Abdullah Al Attiyah (Qatar), Fatima Al Sayegh (UAE) and Ashraf Osman (Sudan), all three of whom covered the issue of identity. Dr Al-Sayegh, an erudite and well known scholar, asked the most pertinent question, namely whether GCC citizens were ready to adapt to the dramatic changes underway.

She lamented the very idea of citizenship was no longer associated with land but with authority that, left unattended, could deny many legitimate socio-political aspirations. Like her colleagues, Al-Sayegh stressed that while security and stability were critical, so were attachments to land, culture, and language.

The conference, organised by the Arab Centre for Research and Policy Studies, and which groups leading Arab research centres will debate a variety of concerns until next Monday. GCC officials will gather on Tuesday to reach decisions to preserve, protect, and advance indigenous interests though one wonders how Arab scholars can place their collective wisdom in the hands of senior decision makers.

Naturally, GCC secretariat officials are busy with the preparations of the summit, though taking into account some of the analyses presented at this important conference could surely help smooth differences.