Eighth Al Jazeera Forum

For the second year in a row, Casa Árabe took part in the Eighth Al Jazeera Forum, organized in Doha from May 26-28 by the Al Jazeera Study Center, with the title of “Change in the Arab World: Where Is It Headed?” 

The featured speakers included notable figures such as Bülent Arinç, Vice-Prime Minister of Turkey; Ali Larayedh, former Prime Minister of Tunisia; Ahmad Tomah, Prime Minister of the Syrian interim government; Ayman Nour, President of the Ghad el Thawra Party in Egypt; Burhan Ghalioun, former President of the Syrian National Council, and Wadah Khanfar, President of Al Sharq Forum, as well as others. Many scholars, activists and journalists from Arab nations also formed part of the discussion panels, as well as others from the EU, US, Russia, Turkey and the Balkans. The last two of these received particular attention, due to the recent launch of the networks Al Jazeera Turk and Al Jazeera Balkans.
 
The main topics of debate were: reviewing processes of change in the Arab world; the role of the media and human rights in the crisis; the barriers to democratic transformation in the Arab world, and the future of change in the Arab world.
 
As part of the Forum, several sessions were held for training journalists and sharing the latest information on topics involving the impact of new media, given by professionals and coordinated by the Al Jazeera Center for training and media development.