In 2002 I authorised a publication with the apparently inoffensive title of The Arab Human Development Report. Within days of its release, a million copies of the Arabic language edition had been downloaded, and the new al-Jazeera television channel was debating it endlessly. Shortly afterwards, a closed door ministerial meeting of the Arab League condemned its calls for democracy, women’s rights and secular education – and its warnings about the region’s stagnation and youth unemployment. The region was becalmed, even as democratisation and economic liberalisation swept through so much of the rest of the world.
2002年，我批準發(fā)布了《阿拉伯社會發(fā)展報告》(The Arab Human Development Report)。該報告的名稱顯然毫無不敬之意。報告發(fā)布數(shù)天之后，阿拉伯文版的下載量就達到100萬次。剛開播的半島電視臺(Al-Jazeera)頻道一刻不停地圍繞該報告展開辯論。不久之后，阿拉伯聯(lián)盟(Arab League)部長級閉門會議對該報告發(fā)出的呼吁（實現(xiàn)民主、確保婦女權(quán)利和世俗教育）和警告（該地區(qū)的增長停滯和青年失業(yè)問題）表示了譴責(zé)。盡管當時民主化和經(jīng)濟自由化浪潮正席卷世界其它大部分地區(qū)，但該地區(qū)紋絲不動。