I wondered through all the mayhem we are witnessing on daily basis, how easy was it to turn our people against each other.

I mean to say whether the government is working well or not should it be that easy to turn neighbors , countrymen against each other ? what is it about us that make it so easy ? is it easy anywhere in the world or is it a uniquely Arab Thing.

There were plenty of non Arab civil wars. French revolution, US civil war, Spanish civil war, almost all of Africa in one way or another, china , Latin america. so the idea that we are somehow  alone in this desire to kill our own countrymen for whatever reason is wrong.

The reason why it was so easy to turn us against each other , in my opinion, lies in how our society is structured and how our nation is structured.

The modern state is the result of  agricultural revolution, industrial revolution, renaissance, modern  transportation, information revolution ,  technology , medicine, culture over time.

We had no time to grow, rather we were happy to rut with our feudal systems for the last 600 years.

So out comes a colonial Modern nation populated by people living 600 years ago. Sadly , if one is to take this point of view, one would be able to put a lot of whats going on in perspective.

We were forced into the 20th century and the 21st century kicking and screaming. The grass root ideas that permeate through every level of our Arab society  are unable to organize themselves into a modern state.

The two main ideas that shape our society are loyalty and religion.

our loyalty structure is not toward a nation because we , with our beliefs, are unable to come up with one. We have no concept of citizenship. we have fully developed concepts of what it means to be in a family, in a tribe , in a neighborhood, in a city. but this is where it ends, ( just like people 600 years ago)   these are the limits of our loyalty strands.

This might be the reason why it is so easy for us to turn us against each other. We do not see the whole structure of a Nation because we did not go through the nation building exercise.

Traditional loyalty  in Arab society runs something like this, immediate family, extended family, tribe, chief of tribe. The chief of tribe has alliances and loyalties on his level that do not filter down.  There is a root belief that he knows best for his fellow tribesmen. If he says we  are friends with these guys then we are, if he says we are enemies of these guys then we are.  A 600 year old nation is built of the loyalties of the chiefs of different tribes to the king .  and through them their tribes men to the king, but only through them. It is  certainly not built on the loyalties of people to each other or to an idea .

This feudal loyalty system is  still so in Arab countries.  Loyalty is not to  other citizens , or to an idea, or to the concept of  a  nation . Our loyalty is to our leader. The only thing   the modern state changed in respect to this organization is,  it limited the powers of the tribal chiefs and tried to introduce the concept of  direct loyalty to a central leader ( a general , a king, a president for life) that is our only submission to the 21st century.

The other loyalty system that rivals this one is loyalty to a religion or sect. This type of loyalty is to an idea. it cuts through the traditional blood based loyalty system and is today embraced by most revolutions that happened recently.

why is it so popular in my opinion, because blood based loyalty system has failed to meet the aspirations of the general populace. it failed to find solutions to problems.

using a blood based loyalty system to run a complex 21st century nations does not work because people in key positions  will be those trusted to maintain the power structure on blood lines not those who are good at their jobs, brilliant and can  innovate and solve problems.  This system has failed and now we are trying the only other system in our arsenal . religion based loyalty system.

loyalty to a religion means loyalty to an idea. the problem with that is , while it cuts through the old feudal power structure, it introduces a new one based on theological proficiency and falls in the same trap of not using the best man suited for the job but the best man whose religious views  happen to agree with the establishment. This has failed in history and all those who went through this path in the past ended up calling for the separation of church and state.

we as Arab masses, are toying with this idea . the caliphate , the islamic state and today this is fought by the old feudal based systems..

the idea ,to form a nation based on loyalty to a religion has failed the world over and throughout history.  but this is an inevitable exercise we are going through.