How Capitalism & Entrepreneurship Can Bring Peace To the Middle East
Faisal Saeed Al Mutar of Ideas Beyond Borders says there is "no better independence than economic independence."
This week’s Reason Interview podcast is up and it features
, the co-founder of (IBB), a nonprofit that translates books and articles about limited government, freedom of thought, and market economics into Arabic and other languages, and distributes them for free in the Middle East and other parts of the world.It’s a great outfit (full disclosure: I’m on its board of trustees). They’re doing phenomenal work not just by bringing the works of people like
and Adam Smith to new audiences starved for rational, Enlightenment-based discourse but also by translating thousands of Wikipedia pages into Arabic, including many on basic economics topics. As Faisal notes in our conversation, the Arabic world is starved for content, with just a few thousand books being published in that language annually. Censorship is the rule rather than the exception and a lot of what’s available from Western sources is pretty rancid. “If you go to a bookstore in Jordan right now, you’ll see Mein Kampf, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and The Communist Manifesto,” he says. “What was—is—unavailable are the values of freedom, of classical liberalism, of science and critical thinking.” One of the challenges IBB faces is translating terms from thinkers like Smith and F.A. Hayek into Arabic.IBB also operates schools for girls in Afghanistan, where the Taliban once again restricted female education upon its return to power. And IBB runs an “innovation hub” out of Kurdistan, where they give small grants and business help to entrepreneurs, and supplies Starlink to dissidents in Iran.
I talked with Faisal about IBB's new book, Untold Stories of the Middle East, which celebrates entrepreneurs in Kurdistan, Afghanistan, and elsewhere whom IBB has given startup grants; how the October 7 attacks on Israel and fighting in Gaza and Lebanon will affect the region for decades; and what it was like to grow up in Baghdad under Saddam Hussein, various Islamic terrorist groups, and the U.S. occupation.
Faisal’s description of growing up under violent authoritarianism is immensely moving and powerful. His parents were educated in the United Kingdom but came back to Iraq because they wanted to be part of building a new world there. Saddam Hussein, he explains, was a secular tyrant before becoming much devout toward Islam after losing the first Gulf War in the early ‘90s (as you may recall, at one point, Saddam printed an edition of the Koran in ink that was mixed with his blood—a gimmick I’ve always been convinced he stole from the rock band Kiss and Marvel Comics circa 1977). Faisal’s description of having to carry multiple IDs to show to different religious militias and to having to keep quiet about his parents’ disbelief in the regime is chilling and a reminder of how oppression operates.
This conversation was taped in front of a live audience in New York. Here are chapter heading:
0:00—Introduction
1:26—Untold Stories Of The Middle East
4:20—Micro grants in the Middle East
6:20—The hope of Kurdistan
9:00—Beirut's post-explosion struggles & recovery
11:12—Oil vs. the entrepreneurial spirit in the Middle East
14:20—Building a vocabulary of freedom with Ideas Beyond Borders
18:20—Censorship & internet access in the Middle East
19:39—Hiring Middle Eastern translators
22:16—A brief history of political upheaval in the Middle East
30:12—The 'liberal minority' in Lebanon
33:29—U.S. intervention in the Middle East
39:45—Impact of October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel on peace processes in the region 44:00—Funding schools for girls in Afghanistan
46:05—The tragedy & hope of Afghanistan: The Graveyard of Empires
49:43—'Sanctions Boy': Growing up in 90s Baghdad
59:04—'We don't have the privilege to be depressed (about the Middle East)'
1:01:35—Economic freedom & self-determination restore agency
Previous appearances:
Faisal Saeed Al Mutar, Melissa Chen: Bringing Enlightenment Values to the Middle East, May 25, 2022
Faisal Al Mutar Fights Radical Islam with Western Bestsellers, September 21, 2018
Today's sponsor:
The Reason Speakeasy. The Reason Speakeasy is a monthly, unscripted conversation in New York City with outspoken defenders of free thinking and heterodoxy that doubles as a taping of The Reason Interview with Nick Gillespie. Go to reason.com/events for information and tickets to the next one.
If you like the stuff I’m posting here, please check out Reason. Since 1968, it’s been the world’s leading source for libertarian news, views, and opinion on politics, culture, and ideas. I’ve worked there since 1993 and I think our perspective has gotten more vital and relevant with every passing year.
Please let me know how you think I’m doing. And if you have ideas of people you think I should interview, send them my way!