36 native values and cultures. It was a civilisation of alliance and not of substitution. The cultural relations between Arabs and Africans were built on equal exchanges which made contacts between Arabs and Africans a two-way process. While Arab civilisation left its mark on African peoples, African culture had a huge impact on Arab art and also on Arabic vocabulary. The effect of this cultural exchange is acutely felt in the Gulf and the Arabian Peninsula. Wouldn’t this call for joint projects in art education and in collecting and publishing works of our common heritage? Fourth: if as Arabs and Africans we are part of the Third World, we can say that the Arab world and Africa together constitute a special unit within the Third World, a unit characterised by its middle position between Europe, America and Asia. As the repository of huge and varied resources and of highly strategic materials, and as a huge market for consumer goods and investment, our region acquires added significance. It is also plagued by conflicts that rage within it and over it. The dangers confronting us do not lie only outside us, in the persistent plunder of our resources for the sake of industrial development in colonial countries, but they also lie within us.
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