Gr8 Xpectations: Youth and Youth Cultures in the Middle East

1. Gr8 Xpectations: Youth and Youth Cultures in the Middle East Barbara Petzen Middle East Policy Council

2. Aspects of Youth Culture • Seen as both in danger and dangerous by insiders and outsiders • Demographics • Space • Consumer Culture • Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll (and Sufi Cool) • Politics

3. Youth as the Future • Children seen as the future of the country • Schools cultivate ardent nationalism (as in USA) • The economic, political, social future of the nation

4. Youth as the Threat • Leftist student violence in Turkey 1970s • Revolutionary fervor in Iran 1979 • Seen as vulnerable recruits to Islamist groups • Victimized or violent? • Disenfranchised or decadent?

5. Demographic Trends • High youth populations: 60% under 24; Iran 70% born since 1979; Egypt 33% 14 and under; Yemen 66% under 25, 20% 15-24 • Education leads to higher aspirations • High unemployment • 85-90% unemployment among youth • Worst among most educated • Class divide

6. The Young Middle East Percentage of Population Aged 15-24 (2005) • Algeria 22.6 • Bahrain 16.1 • Egypt 20.8 • Iran 25.2 • Iraq 20.1 • Israel 16.1 • Jordan 20.4 • Kuwait 16.0 • Lebanon 18.0 • Libya 21.7 • Morocco 21.1 • Oman 21.5 • Palestine 19.3 • Qatar 13.9 • Saudi Arabia 18.5 • Sudan 20.1 • Syria 23.2 • Tunisia 20.9 • Turkey 18.6 • UAE 16.3 • Yemen 21.6 • World 17.1 • United States 14.3 Source: UN Population Division, World Population Prospects: The 2006 Revision (2007), www.esa.un.org/unpp.

7. Urbanization: Turkey The Turkish population increased 5 times from 1927 to 2000. It multiplied by 3 between 1945 and 1990, whereas urban population increased 7 times. *“urban”= territories with a population over 10,000

8. Kustepe* youth survey More than half declare that they are unhappy with their life: • 57% explain their difficulties by unemployment or by precariousness of their work conditions • 52% by lack of formal education • 42% by poverty * Low-income neighborhood in Istanbul

9. Case Study: Iran • Demographic problems as result of own successful and unsuccessful policies • 70% of population born after 1979 • Successful in encouraging people to have lots of babies during Iran-Iraq war—5.6% TFR (Total Fertility Rate) 80-88 • Then started new national family planning program, with birth control counseling mandatory before marriage • Brought TFR down to 2.5%

10. Case Study: Iran • Youth literacy 94%, higher for girls • Only 10% accepted to university • Serious drug problem • Unemployment 11-16%, much higher for youth • Politically active--15-18 year olds instrumental in 2001 election of Khatemi--some disillusionment; big youth support for Mousavi in 2009

11. Case Study: Egypt • 44.4% in “poverty tunnel”—cannot or can just fulfill basic calorie needs, or add basic non-food expenses • 10% unemployment, 87.2 percent of the unemployed are between the ages of 15 and 29, unemployment among college graduates 10 times higher than non-graduates • Food prices going up

12. Where does this lead?

13. Where does this lead?

14. Youth Spaces • Real and virtual • Class differentiation • Corner vs. Campus spaces • The basement and the street • The mall

15. Iranian youth culture

16. Cultural encounters in urban Turkey • Emergence of new money with economic transformations • “Fear of falling” of the old middle classes • A discourse of derision and scornfulness toward newcomers in Istanbul: creation of the “maganda”

17. Class and Spatial Differentiation • Differentiation and distancing among youth as a result of socio-economic and cultural transformations Cem (19) and Can (19), in the Radar Live Festival at Kilyos Beach. (Radikal, July 2007) Erhan (20) is originally from Siirt. His parents first moved to Aydin than to Istanbul. He is working on Istiklal Street, selling corn in summer and chestnuts in winter. He is living in one of the distant gecekondu areas and his main contact with the city center is his work. (Radikal, July 2007)

18. 1990s : Socio-spatial fragmentation in Istanbul Rapid suburbanisation • Gated communities in the urban periphery in conflict for land with gecekondu zones (urban regeneration projects) Inner city : • Gentrification • Slummification Shopping malls: new public spaces & consumption temples Olivium shopping mall, Zeytinburnu Bahçesehir residential complex, Büyükçekmece

19. Urban skate culture and beyond • The new, the proud, the cool • Brownbookmag.com (online urban guide to the Middle East)

20. The Street Corner/Corniche/Club

21. Elite aspirations: New Dubai opera house • Architecture = international cool

22. Virtual spaces

23. Virtual space • The Blogosphere in the Middle East: Global Voices • Baghdad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq • Dalia Ziyada: human rights activist in Egypt • Twitter @Sandmonkey Mahmoud Salem • Mustafa Naggar: Islamist blogger in Egypt • 100,000 blogs in Farsi: English language Iranian blogs at http://www.iraniansblogs.com/

24. Virtual space

25. Consumer Culture • Globalized media • Conspicuous consumption • Pop music “clips” • International brands • Tech cool • Not the same as secular--can be Islamic chic as well

26. Beirut consumer culture

27. Café culture

28. Dubai: A Whole New World

29. Islamic haute couture

30. Life Ads Coke • Nancy Ajram Coke ad • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35O3udLS83Y • Parody Coke ad • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGvXpJjqLWc&feature=related

31. Communications Revolution • Egypt: Landline phones: 10.3 million • Cell phones: 55.4 million • Internet users: 20.1 million • state-run TV operates 2 national and 6 regional terrestrial networks as well as a few satellite channels; about 20 private satellite channels and a large number of Arabic satellite channels

32. Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll • Youth exchange cell phone numbers by Bluetooth • Exchange pictures • Surreptitious dating—sex is political • Cell phones, Facebook and the Blog

33. Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll • In Lebanon, many young men emigrate for jobs in the Gulf • The ratio of unmarried young women to men is said to be 5:1 • Great competition amongst women for men visiting home from Gulf to find marriage partners 'They live in a culture where they are supposed to be educated, to work and be pretty,' Khalaf said. 'They have to be sexually attractive but not sexually active and they will do anything to grab a guy's attention.’

34. Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll Youth may be less attracted to state-sponsored religious forms, but that doesn’t mean they are not spiritual or religious themselves—a new “Sufi cool” is apparent across the region Mercan Dede http://www.mercandede.com/EN/ Mohsen Namjoo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rgt5hzMvCI Sami Yusuf: Islamic pop http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5GpBG-k9tk&feature=related O-Hum: Darvish http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeN4kfBPx1k Kiosk : Love for Speed (subtitles) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oi0egvuCRCo Junoon: Dosti http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD59l0e5krY

35. Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll Hich-Kas: Bunch of Soldiers http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU1NNAH6b_g Hoba Hoba Spirit: El Caid Motorhead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIXCI9lmaho Arthimoth Iranian death metal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNav2lzd-TQ Palestinian Rapperz Ya Sayedati http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ciVGfB0L3u8 Egypt: Arabian Knights with Lauryn Hill http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z696QHAbMIA

36. Politics • Disillusionment with politics as usual • Politics through music • Use of new forms (Young Civilians) • New spheres of actions (BGL, environment) • Many protests leading up to the “Arab Spring”

37. Environmental Activism

38. The Cedar Revolution

39. “Freedom’s children” 1990s and 2000s: rapid individualization of youth An “actively unpolitical” younger generation rejecting traditional ways of politics Ex. Young Civilians’ Democracy Class and miniaturk visit as a reaction to recent interventions of the army to the politics

40. New multiculturalism • After Hrant Dink assassination • We are all Armenian • Mass demonstrations

41. New Youth Protests

43. Wellsprings of the “Arab Spring” • Not just about Facebook and Twitter—why did they play the role they played? • Demographic issues key: youth bulge, unemployment, housing • Corruption (economic, political, judicial, internal security), illegitimacy of political leaders (resistance to attempts to make non-monarchical dynasties permanent) • Poverty (income disparity) • Discrimination • Overcoming psychological barrier of fear of regime, fear that things can indeed get worse (that’s not fatalism)

44. Lessons of the “Arab Spring” • It’s not all about religion, despite our stereotypes • Islam is not seen as something old/outdated, seen as positive alternative to corrupt secular regimes • People have very modern aspirations, admire both our freedoms and our technology • Democracy is important to people, but so is stability—both economic and political • Elections aren’t enough, aren’t democracy • Institution building in judiciary, political infrastructure, business will take time