إصلاح الأجندة or better yet, reformat!

[Nadine Toukan]

Does the language we choose sometimes stifle our ability? Do words mislead our expectation and misrepresent our needs, consequently misguiding our actions?

Why do we use the non Arabic word أجندة when more appropriate options may exist? Hasn't our Arab frame of mind grown weary of it? We seem to associate it more and more to something that's about the other and not us. It could work for them but not her. Him but not the others. You but not me. It seems non inclusive and has grown more suspicious than the spy next door, the deceitful companion, the conniving intruder, and the corrupt partner.

From a Jordan-centric perspective, there seems to be a subliminal rejection of the National Agenda الأجندة الوطنية because of the label. A conspiracy grew around whose agenda is it? Who are the people who worked on it and are they representative of the needs of all others? Who are the foreign consultants who worked on it? These questions send us spiraling downward long before we know and understand, learn, process, analyze and evaluate whether it indeed works or not. It seems the label killed it long before those who should've read it did. 

Does the choice of word confine us? Does it shroud our intellect and dull our imagination? Does it deceive us into assumption before allowing us to cast a new and wider view for consideration?

Why do we use the word reform الاصلاح? Don't some things need total reengineering? What if we imagined situations in the forward and created solutions and plans to get there? And what if they are brand new rather than a reformed version of what we assumed worked? How about we allow some things to be put to rest rather than try to reform the non-reformable that has expired and serves no more? Can we open up new possibility by inviting ourselves and each other to start anew where needed?

What if we create a charter? خلق ميثاق

What if we have a work plan rather than an agenda? خطة عمل بدل أجندة

What if we revolutionize thinking rather than reform the defunct? ثورة فكرية بدل إصلاح الذي لا يصلح

 

 

[Bahjat Tabbara]

Languages tend to change over time; they reflect mindsets & ways of thinking. Arabic has not really been able to keep up with scientific advances, but even the French or Russians are concerned about the increasing use of English in their own languages. In fact, the British or Australians even cite growing use of 'American English' as well. Ironically enough, English is flexible in that it can absorb words & expressions from other languages with relative ease; perhaps given its domination as Latin once was.

In our case, we do not (as Arabs) create knowledge, therefore our language has adopted English (& indeed Indo-European) styles of syntax & even vocabulary or terminology that seems dubious in that it corrupts the flow of the Arabic language. In similar manner, many cite Israeli (Modern) Hebrew is but a syntactically incorrect version of ancient Hebrew & Aramaic. We don't think in Arabic because Arabic (especially Classical Arabic or Modern Standard Arabic) is a non-knowledge producing language.

I believe that the only way to resolve this problem is to further simplify & improve the instruction of MSA & narrow the gap between spoken dialects & MSA in order to encourage its use. CA should remain an example & taught, but not over-taught. We need to talk about contemporary issues in MSA.