It’s obvious that the Middle East is going through tough times currently. Gulf states are trying to make the best political decisions to achieve justice, a better quality of life and peace in the region. One important element to achieve this goal is to have political awareness among young people. It’s important, especially in the past few years that the youth understands and is aware of the political issues around them. Unfortunately, they don’t.
There are issues that young people get false information and knowledge about, from terrorist groups posting online and these groups make them, young people, have hate in their hearts against other innocent people and a perfect example is Daesh.
Talking to many young Khaleeji people, many don’t understand how important it is for the region to find a solution to this crisis. People should be aware of neighbouring issues since it might affect them in the future, too.
Do people really know about Daesh’s plans, motivations and how they can turn the Middle East into a big graveyard? Youth in the GCC get most of their knowledge about these issues from various social media sites and that’s not always a good thing. People from around the world are travelling to join Daesh because someone on social media instigated and brainwashed them to do so by trying to convince them that Daesh represents true Islam, which it really doesn’t.
Gulf states should make plans for young people in order to make them more aware of what’s really going on around them, instead of letting other groups or media control the information. The GCC wants and need their young people to be more aware and gain a wider understanding of what’s going on around them. We need to introduce more lectures in schools and universities on current issues and discuss these issues with students in order to make sure that they have a clear understanding. Currently, there are very few seminars on the GCC, and that’s why we need more of them and we need to make sure that it is actually appealing to young people.
Spreading awareness on issues in the GCC and the region will help the Gulf achieve its goal of regional peace and stability.
- The reader is an Emirati engineer based in Abu Dhabi.
