Reflections on the Experience of Working on

Arabic Edition of SIPRI Yearbook

A Presentation to the Seminar on Peace Studies in the Middle East

Alexandria, 22nd 25th April 2007

Peace up till the 18th century was a main concern of

philosophers more than strategists or military leaders. From Plato,
Aristotle and from Sophists to Kant and Hegel there are philosophical
writings on peace. As if all of a sudden the topic turned into a main
concern of strategic thinkers, or rather planners.
There is in the air a feeling we are entering a new phase of
Orientalism together with a launching of a sort of Arab and Islamic
Occidentalism.
A new Orientalism where the field of research taken by the
western culture is not an outcome of military, economic and cultural
domination, colonialism in a nutshell, instead it is based on
understanding the other, looking at him and his history and culture
respectfully as equal.
Sweden looks here to be the bearer of this new different type of
Orientalism. The field of research is not history, not the past, but the
present, the factual. The now-here of the Arab and Islamic world.
It may sound strange, even unbelievable, when I say that SIPRI
Yearbook introduced me to Swedish Orientalism and Swedish
Orientalism.
In light of my experience of four years of SIPRI Yearbook text I
started to ask myself if Orientalism did have its particular version of
Swedish Orientalism. How? This may have a long answer, but the
short one I can mention here is the different approach of Swedish
scholars (and other European contributors to the Yearbook) to issues
and topic related to our world, whether dealt with as the Middle East
and North Africa or the Arab world or the Islamic world.
Here we are faced with a different way of looking at us from the
way of the British, the French, the German, in one word the former
colonialists.
It goes without saying that I am not saying that all Orientalists
were pro-colonialism or pro-imperialism in their approach to our
world, but that in general the Swedish represented a non-colonialist
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approach. This is to say that SIPRI Yearbook awakened me, without

being itself by any mean a work of orientalism to the fact that
Swedish thought must have been so orientated long time ago, and thus
must have dealt with oriental studies in the same spirit.
Starting looking for Swedish Orientalists I discovered that I am
sailing in a stream of unknown figures, scholars, philosophers,
linguistsetc. who were there all the time without me knowing of
their existence. Although I did know of Russian Orientalists, this was
as far I could go.
I know for sure I am not here to lecture on the roots or the
history of Swedish Orientalism and its distinguished traits from
traditional Orientalism. Sufficient to quote Stein Tennesson, research
professor and Chairman of the International Peace Research Instuitue,
Oslo. He says:
Assuming there really is something we may call a Western
cultural hegemony or cultural imperialism, then Orientalism is its
literary and social scientific form and Occidentalism is a programme
for revenge.
Asian and European who study each other rare at the same time
agents of and students of the relationship between East and West. It
can, no doubt, be an exchange based on equality and mutual respect,
but the danger always exists that the studies and research programmes
in Europe, the United States and Australia will represent a
continuation of an Orientalist tradition of cultural domination and,
consequently, that research centers in Asia will try to formulate some
kind of genuinely Asian approach to culture and science, in
opposition to the basic ideas of the occident.
We are asked here not to take Asia in its narrow sense, if there
can be any narrow sense of Asia, but in its wider meaning: the east
and or the orient. At the same time we can take professor Tonnesson
not as a Norwegian, no doubt he is, but as representative of the
approach I call here Swedish approach.

As I was still fascinated with this discovery of Swedish

Orientalism, I had a surprise on a website that had nothing to do with
the topic, except that the name of Sweden came by. It was a website to
defend Arab causes, mainly Palestine, and giving the best image
possible of Islam to the West. There was a column on this site, titled
in French Les Politique, where the writer (blogger I should say)
starts with saying I am personally against veil wearing for Moslem
women who live in the west. I liked this I also liked his saying I
am also against an official ban on the veil except in places where all
religious signs are forbidden by law. I liked this too, kept reading till
I came to the surprise: The blogger adds: I contemplate also the recent
Swedish stamp with two women wearing a veil and one other
unveiled with her child At the stamps top corner an elk appears,
which for many is the very symbol of Swedish nature. It depicts a
meeting in nature, but also a dialogue between cultures.
Summer by the lake are Irina Gebuhrs first stamps. I could
never have imagined being given such an assignment, but as a person
who works with images I have studied many stamps, looking at their
colors and designs and wondering about the small format, says Irina.
She adds, There is a great difference between working on a welldefined stamp assignment and having artistic freedom in the studio. In
the studio I have more freedom to let indistinct, irrational and
mysterious emotions shine through and effect the creative process.
Having said that, I cannot deny that some of this natural flow has also
spilled over into the motifs for Summer by the Lake.
I cant imagine any other western country taking this courageous
initiative. Yes, Tolerance requires courage, courage to let artists speak
and positive emotions flow to connect us with others, courage to not
delve into prejudice, confrontation and the demonisation of the other.
I feel like swimming against the current or, at least, I am out of
context; but the fact is that the SIPRI Yearbook, a very different kind
of document in subject and method, used to give me the same
impressions as those given the blogger by the Swedish stamp
designer.

It happened that I had known SIPRI only by name some years

before the idea of an Arabic edition of its Yearbook came my way as
director of studies at the Centre for Arab Unity Studies. It was
summer 2002. The main question I had to answer, before agreement
between SIPRI represented by Director Jan Henningsson, later dear
Jan and the Centre represented by Director Khair eddin Haseeb, was
if better and more practical publish an Arabic version of the SIPRI
Yearbook not to exceed 300 350 pages, or translate the full text, that
usually comes up to 800 900 pages a volume, taking the heavy
responsibility of translating, revising and editing such a volumatic
book year after year. It took me no time to respond recommending a
full-text, as is, Arabic version of the SIPRI Yearbook. I remember
saying in explaining: This kind of work, if we intend to give mainly to
scholars, researchers, readers interested in such topic can never be
useful summarized. Either to publish it fully or not to publish it in
Arabic. A summarized version would be amputated.
This was the idea that prevailed. This is how the challenge
started. The challenge was, and still, is many sided. Not only finding
capable, specialized translators who can give the text its rights of
faithfulness, accuracy and readability, the same as the English
(original) version.
I do assume that everyone here is familiar with the English
axiom-joke that tells that translation are like women. If beautiful they
are almost unfaithful, and if faithful they are probably ugly. Of course
this is said with due respect and apology to all women, attendants and
non-attendants.
Anyway, saying that we were in need of both beautiful and
faithful translation of the full text of the SIPRI Yearbook did have a
meaning different from saying so about translating Epictetus, the
Greek thinker usually taken as the author most difficult to translate.
Still faithfulness had to have the priority as the text relates to
Armaments, Disarmaments, International Security and, as a higher
objective, Peace as in Stockholm International Peace Research
Institute not Peace as in the Middle East Peace process, for example.

To say it bluntly I believe that Arabic translation of books on

peace, strategy and international relations, etc. does not have a
substantial legacy, the same way as philosophy, astronomy and
medicine for example. This is not only because of the fact that peace
research was not familiar in Platos Dialogues or Aristotle
Metaphysics, but even in modern times Arab publishers did not think
all through that peace was a fashionable subject to adopt when
choosing what to translate for publication. War has always been more
fashionable, more attractive to readers, more profit-making.
Without assuming that I hold figures that prove how many
books dealing with war were translated from living languages, like
English, French, German, to Arabic during say the period from the
time of World War One to time of the end of the cold war, one can
assume that:
First the Second World war created interest and market in Arab
countries for books on war, war planning, strategies, historical battles,
new weapons, atomic bombetc. Then the Arab-Israeli war, the first
one of 1948 added a national type of interest in war and war business.
Later on every other Arab-Israeli war, up to the one numbered the
sixth, the Israeli war on Lebanon in summer 2006, had its contribution
to war literature, authored and translated alike.
All the time from 1967 to the time of the so-called Sadat
initiative in 1977 through Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty (1979), with
Oct. 1973 included war saw a mix of interest in war and peace. It was
rather peace in the shadow of war.
However translation kept a low profile at least when books are
meant to be. Translation, from English, and to a lesser degree from
French, flourished only in the press field. Wars, Middle East and other
regions, especially North East Asia and South East Asia kept coming
one after the other: Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Cuba, Congo,
Algeria, Namibiaetc., all kept feeding pages of Arabic dailies and
radio and T.V. new bulletins, that had to be filled with news, analysis,
comments and columns translated (or half translated if you will) from
news agencies, newspapers, foreign broadcasting news bulletins, etc.
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A new class of translators kept growing. An elite of them was

infected by the good virus of specialization, taking special interest in
Strategic Studies or Military Writings and sometimes in certain
regions. Peace was part of that, especially in the closing stages of
conflicts, but it remained for a long time, tens of years, a sort of
byproduct.
Naturally then most of those working on translation, especially
in the fields of politics, war and peace, international relations, all sorts
of what is usually called current affairs, are journalists, press
correspondents and commentators for newspapers, TV channels and
broadcasting stations. This applies to the team working on the
translation from English to Arabic of the SIPRI Yearbook since the
book of 2003. Three of them are permanent members of the team.
Three others, sometimes one more sometimes one less are working
not on a permanent basis. But what I can say, basing on my direct
experience with them is that the permanent members are really
responsible for the standard the Arabic edition is achieving, a standard
the Centre, its Director General and myself are proud of.
Think tanks in the Arab World at large are taking more interest
in the Arabic SIPRI Yearbook year after year. I may give myself the
liberty to say in at least two cases two of the permanent members of
the team of translators got job offers from two of the richest think
tanks in the Arab World; both were told frankly that they were chosen
basing on their contribution to the Arabic translation of SIPRI
Yearbook. The two are still with us, with the Arabic SIPRI as they like
to call the Arabic edition. By the way both are free lancers and when
time comes for a new Yearbook they devote their working time
completely to it. A sort of devotion that is really responsible for the
record time CAUS achieve in publishing every SIPRI Yearbook
before the end of the year included in the title.
I cannot leave this practical point without mentioning the
extraordinary effort done by the staff of the Centre for Arab Unity
Studies, in particular by the staff of the editing section; those
responsible for editing, indexing, revising, reading and re-reading,
polishing the languages, you name it of work to guarantee no line,
figure, word, or a letter is missing.
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What is certain is the impact of the Arabic edition of this yearly

work will deepen and go far beyond competing for translators to
creating new cultural traditions, new culture of peace, of scientific
approach to issues of war prevention, trust building, human needs and
human contributionsetc.
However, by measures of intellectual effort nothing done on its
translation can come close to the original, the English edition. Here
we are dealing with a sort of creative work that surpasses all other
works of similar aims by far.
*

There is a point that should be clear as from now. In ancient

golden times of translation from Greek to Arabic, philosophy was the
master of all subjects, and as we all know Aristotles books were on
top of them all. He was the top teacher, so called by Arab
thinkers of the time. One can simply assume that philosophy did not
keep that status when the golden time of translation ended. It did not
even regain it, totally or partially in recent times of the translation
movement. War took part of the attention, but not Tractus, Julius
Cezar, Sun Tzn, Machiavelli and more recent Liddle Hart were
translated. When international relations took over the bulk of attention
of translators and publishers philosophical works like Kants
Perpetual Peace: A Philosophical Sketch (1795) for example was
not included, up till this moment.
Aside from few exceptions, translation in the Arab world is and
had been for a long time chaotic rather than planned. This could be a
function of market-profit mentality, and/or of the rule of choosing
from a wide variety of subjects and wider variety of titles.
Still certain works that deal with peace, international relations,
security and disarmament, globalizationetc. could not be ignored.
Pressures of the reconstruction and restructuring of the world order,
prevailing since the end of the cold war era oblige the third world
countries, including the Arab region to keep trying to understand what
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is going on, in order to define their role and know the orientations and
aims of external powers and forces.
Here comes the SIPRI Yearbook, as bearer of the political
philosophy of Sweden as embodied in numerous researches that deal
with questions and issues of peace, regional and international, as well
as of conflicts, institutions, civilian and military working on ending
armed conflicts or solving crises, in addition to others dealing with
world security, peace building, peace missions, proliferation and nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, military expenditure,
international and regionaletc.
Knowing that Dr. Ian Anthony will have his presentation to this
event introducing the SIPRI Yearbook 2006, I shall not give myself
the liberty to deal with the same. But there remains the aspect related
to the Arabic version and to how the Arab staff working on it see the
Yearbook in their own perspective.
First of all there is the main feature that makes SIPRI Yearbook
different from other annual reports published by other Western or
Arab think tanks. I mean the fact that SIPRI does not come in a
certain form that repeats itself or is repeated by its creators year after
year. The Military Balance of IISS, for one example, usually confine
itself to fixed classifications and chapters that deal with the same
features year after year. The ME Military Balance of the Jaffe Center
for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University, do the same, put
information and figures in text and tables. It looks like mold, or a
matrix ready to accept updated yearly material.
On the other side SIPRI Yearbook is all new every year, with
new planning, new topics, subjects, points and chapters as well as
appendixes. Every Yearbook coming out of SIPRI is a new book
altogether. It is extremely difficult to compare one with another with
the aim of only seeing figures go up or come down. I should add that
in the very recent years, two or there, there started to be a sort of
coming, albeit, partially, to the SIPRI Yearbook form by other annual
reports.

Second SIPRI Yearbook is not all Swedish when it comes to its

authors, editors. We all know the Director Dr. Alyson Bailes, a British
former ambassador. We all know the structure of the Governing Board
with only Ambassador Rolf Ekeus as chairman, a Swedish national.
Still SIPRI is well known allover as Swedish. I may say it is Swedish
because of these facts not against them. I may also, and this is a sort
of personal judgment, say it is only in Sweden, because of Swedish
philosophy and policy that such a state of affairs can take place.
Getting closer to the topic of this presentation, it is refreshing to
assert that despite the growing attention given to war over peace in
the business of translation in the Arab World, we should realize that
development in that vicinity did not and does not have negative
affects on the development of Arab terminology on peace. Why, and
more important how? The answer consists simply in the fact that
terminology on peace is almost the same as on war. This may be
called a lesson learned from SIPRI Yearbook, year after year, in
addition to the general experience of translating on both subjects: war
and peace. It sounds like using the word temperature for both warm,
or even hot and cold. The word height for high and low
measurements.
This is surely different from saying that all terms or vocabulary
on war are used on peace, or vise versa. That is because words
indicating to military actions, like air strikes, bombing, assaulting,
invading, terrorizingetc. are particular to describe warring, fighting
activities. The same applies to weapons, arms, all forms of tools of
destruction, killing and causing casualties, like aircrafts, submarines,
tanks, mortars, rockets, missilesetc. These are all direct of
immediate language of war and war relating activities.
But all words, terms, vocabulary relating to non-proliferation,
war preventing, cementing security, trust building etc. relate to
peace by being describing methods of prevention of war. Again this is
not to say that prevention of war equals peace, but to say it is a
perquisite of peace, a pre-condition of peace.
Another lesson one learns from SIPRIs philosophy of peace is
that peace is not the responsibility of strategic planners or politicians
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alone. It is more than that the responsibility of philosophers,

sociologists, educationers, psychologists, anthropologists and scholars
of culture and acculturation. In the same token it is the responsibility,
not only of governments, statesmen, executive and legislative powers,
but also of public opinion leaders, media, civil societies, academians,
men of letters and artists of all trends.
That is because war evolves in a narrow circle of reality, while
peace evolves in the wide, infinitely wide circles of life. Peace means
life, life in all its meanings and manifestations. Peace then deals with,
use and express itself with all terminology of life: social, political,
aesthetic, cultural. That is because peace is synonym with life. Life
has no technical terms, but peace efforts, processes and actions, have
their terminology, and it is expanding with new and crafted terms in
the service of these actions. This takes place to an extent that certain
terms became almost totally associated with peace actions. The word
dialogue for example. The well-known German clergyman scholar
Hans Kung put it, substantively, this way:
Ability to get into dialogue means the ability to peace.
Ability to dialogue needs ability to translate. Translation is a
condition for dialogue.
Translation is a sort of dialogue with the other.
Meanwhile other terms, words, proved to be recalcitrant to
translation. In ancient times a word we can mention as an example is
metaphysics. In modern times another example is: Strategy, Arab
translators are doing today the same as their ancestors keeping
strategy as metaphysics were kept , preferring it
to .
However we live in time when translation movement is not only
gaining momentum in the realm of peace, international relations,
globalization (good and bad), crises management, conflict
preventionetc., but is also entering a new phase of theorizing the
work of translation. Scholars of high caliber in the field of translation
studies are furnishing us especially since early 1990s now with books
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on Translation Theories, where they talk about The Science of

Translation, The Future of Translation Studies, Pragmatics of
Translationetc.
Aside from theories, their considerations, equations and
sometimes contradictions, it is a postulate now that translation bestow
new life to texts by transferring them from one culture to another. It
was said that Freud, for instance, would not have been alive today
without the writings of Lacan. Freud is alive today only because he
speaks French. The same as Aristotle who survived centuries of
history and change only because translation made him speak Arabic,
then Latin and German.
When peace and its surroundings of issues, conditions and
requirements are the subject of translated texts, the new life goes to
every follow up of the text, not only to the text itself. The impact of
translation will be felt on the next Yearbook/s.
Dont tell me that authors of chapters that consists the SIPRI
Yearbook do write there material in the same mood, mentality,
psychological background after knowing it will be translated to other
languages, certain other languages, as before there was any idea of
translating their texts?
I am not saying that the content or the meaning would change;
what I have in mind is the state of mind at writing, and, as a result, the
spirit of their text.
Then the question is: if so why the saying goes for centuries that
translation, every translation, is betrayal, treason. It is good this did
not turn into a theory. This saying claims that translation betrays both
languages, the one translated from and the one translated into.
One thing I know for sure from direct experience, or better say
using Russells term he used in his epistemology: direct acquaintance.
Direct acquaintance of both SIPRI Yearbook in English, and in Arabic
tells me, rather teaches me, that certain text never allow to be
betrayed. The nature of the text itself is its main protection or better
say immunity against treason. I mean by the nature of this text first of
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all its objectivity, the scientific approach to issues dealt with. It may
show difficulty as Arabic is less familiar with technical terms relevant
to strategic studies, either on war or on peace. But difficulty reflects
itself in need to coin new terms and to differentiate terms of different
meaning in pursuit of precision and clarity.
Translating SIPRI Yearbook to Arabic is closer to translating a
scientific reference book of wide variety of interest than to a work of
letters, biography, philosophy, art, poetryetc. SIPRI Yearbook, even
in its chapters interested in analyzing and interpreting events,
situations and/or phenomena of war or peace do not come under
normative judgments or measurements. It follows the logic of science,
sometimes even the mathematical aspect of it. The absence of the
subjective, in the philosophical and psychological meaning, erects
like a shield protecting the text from betrayal.
Writing that deal with normative and abstract values, ethical,
artisticetc. will always be there for the benefit of mental enjoyment.
This applies to philosophy, ethics, cultural themes and the like.
To put it in a nutshell one may say that more writings and
translations of metaphysics from German, English, French to Arabic
may not push human thought one step forward. To the contrary
writing SIPRI Yearbooks for more years to come on peace and
international security, then translating them to different languages of
different cultures will help a lot developing the understanding of
issues of peace, international relations, division of labor in the realm
of spreading peace education, values, and benefits, etc. These by
themselves are tools of achieving a better world, an expression that
proved to be so dear to generations after generations of the human
race.
It should be affirmed here, though briefly, that the nature of
relation between SIPRI, especially as represented by Swed/Alex
Institute, and the Centre for Arab Unity Studies from their very
beginnings in 2002, has a lot to do with the success of this experience
of translating and publishing the SIPRI Yearbook for four consecutive
years now. A relation based on mutual trust, respect and
independency. Co-operating has gone further than the year book, and
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is expected to expand to translating other works of SIPRI. My

personal hope is for this expansion to include translating Swedish
books (classics) of philosophy, orientalism, culture and acculturation.
We Arabs surely need to know more about Sweden, the other west,
as I like to call her.
Why the Arabic edition of SIPRI Yearbook was a success?
A short answer starts by stating with a fact that distribution of
the Arab SIPRI year book superseded that of the year before; better
put it that during the four years since 2003 each one superseded the
one before. We in the Centre for Arab Unity Studies were particularly
happy at the marketing achievement of the Yearbook-2006 as much as
we were happy with messages, written and oral, from friends and
readers who assured us of their good impressions, to say the least, of
the Arabic edition of SIPRI Yearbook, both in the translation of
content and performance in form and technicalities of the press, even
more on the span time it took CAUS to translate and publish such a
volume.
CAUS came out with specific explanation to the successful
advance of marketing of the Arabic edition:
1- It is a function of more attention the Yearbook is getting from
scholars and other interested readership.
2- It reflects a recognition by both scholars and laymen of what
distinguishes SIPRI Yearbook from other annual reports published
by other think tanks, Arab and Western, in respect of
comprehensiveness, objectivity, and orientation.
3- There is a rising degree of curiosity on the side of Arab
readership to know more about Sweden. Though the SIPRI Yearbook
itself do not talk much about Sweden, it gives indications as to her
philosophical attitudes in general and visa vis the Arab and Moslem
world, strategic vision on peace and world order. The Yearbook
secured its place among publications compensating, in a way, for the
absence of other literature translated to Arabic from Swedish.
4- There is recognition by the readership to the concrete
development of the Yearbook itself year after year, that touches the
data, the analyses and the attitudes toward topics dealt with.
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Although the number of citations of Sweden is always low there

are answers, direct and indirect, are there in the SIPRI Yearbook on
specific questions on Sweden, attitudes toward Arabs and Moslems,
foreign policy, relations to countries of importance like U.S., U.K.,
France, Russia, China, Iran, Israeletc., positions on issues like
globalization, poverty, development of the third world, terrorism,
world war on terrorism, military alliances, cultural exchange,
immigrants in Europe, clash of civilization, dialogue of civilization.
Swedens attitudes vis avis peace and war were always clear
from war on Vietnam to war on Iraq and other events in between.
Swedens attitude on Islam, conflict and terrorism. (An Appendix to
Yearbook-2006 written by Neil J. Melvin) is answering the related
questions, and may stand as one reason, among many, for the
marketing success of the Arabic SIPRI Yearbook-2006.
It is a matter of time for the SIPRI Yearbook to turn into the
point of departure for interest among Arab intellectuals, and a wider
public, in Sweden thought and role, may be the same way as the
Arabic translation centuries ago, during the Abbaside dynasty, of
Greek thought as embodied in books of philosophy, astronomy,
medicine, mathematicsetc. Those translations helped transform the
world to a higher stage of evolution.
It is also a matter of time for the Arabic edition of the same to
accumulate knowledge of Sweden vision of the world in peace,
harmony, co-operation between Europe and an Arab World closely
acquainted to Swedish thought on various fronts of knowledge:
science, philosophy, arts, sociology, economics, humanities and more.
We can put it in a nutshell by saying that the Arab World will
acquire more and better knowledge of Sweden as the other West,
the non-colonialist, non-imperialist. Quoting a Swedish thinker for
this we have what Dr. Christer Lundh, Professor of Economic history
said, not so far ago Sweden is without a colonialist history, without
ties with countries of those who migrated to her land Today we are
a multi-ethnic society, and will never be back to the position where
we were before. (International Herald Tribune, 17/2/2006).
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Finally, a word that must be said from this podium to have the
highest chance to get to the so called the high places: Reading the
SIPRI Yearbook is a must for decision makers of the world and their
closest assistants. The Arab edition is made available to a wide
selection of the Arab decision makers and policy planners and more in
the inner circle. It avails them of the most detailed analysed
information they need in dealing with the questions and issues of
international relations, regional problems as well as challenges and
chances present in todays world.
The more of decision-makers read SIPRI Yearbook, and the
more they read in it year after year will make a difference in their
understanding, as well as their views to many questions.
The Arabic edition of SIPRI Yearbook-2006 took the pains to
expand the index of the edition. It used to be a selection made in the
light of conceived needs of scholars, research people and the general
readership. Realizing that decision-makers and policy planners have
wider needs, and truly less time, was reason enough for Dr. Haseeb to
decide to expand the index at the end of the edition in the light of the
English origin, to avail more of the cited terms, names of persons,
places, organizations, treaties, agreements, conflicts, etc. Still the
Arab edition did not add any citation that was not mentioned in the
English original edition.
The abiding by the original text is the supreme rule adopted in
CAUS work on translating SIPRI Yearbook. It will thus remain.

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