At the 14th Doha forum speakers were concerned about the stability of the MiddleEast and human rights. They argued West must give up double standards on democracy It can wait till the region stabilizes.
By M Ajmal Khan
Doha, the capital of Qatar has emerged as conference capital of Middle East. Every year hundreds ofconference and brain storming sessions take place in the beautiful city of Doha. Doha forum of latehas established one of the primary centre stages for discussing the issues of Middle East and indeedof the world. Democracy, Economic development, regional politics and media were some of the maintopics of the discussion in this year’s forum held for three days.
More than Over 500 delegates from 80 countries debated everything from democracy to human rightsto media to social development over three days. Many of the key themes were highlighted in the opening keynote speech of HE the Foreign Minister of Qatar. His passionate appeal on Syria was echoed by many other speakers. Jacek Protasiewicz, vice President of the European Parliamentargued that democracy must come after a country reached a point when its traditional structures can absorb the democratic values. “Indeed democracy cannot be thrust upon people; we have many cases
of disaster of such a practice”
Many of the sessions focused on the failure of the international community take up the timely action toavert crisis. Tariq Ahmed, a Sudanese delegate was of the view Western nations have indeedcomplicated the problems of Middle East. “True people of Egypt and Syria clamored for change and good governance but the western intervention spoiled their chances by over speeding it” Do thewestern countries have right understanding of the issues of the Middle East? Are they playing games to further their own vested interests? These are the questions that did not have definitive answer. Then there was the issue of IsraelPalestine. Former British foreign minister, Alistair Burt made a poignantappeal not to give up on peace. It would also be impossible to disagree with former French foreignminister Michel Ricard that the success of the Iran nuclear talks was vital to the Middle East.
On both the issue of democracy and human rights many speakers opined that west had absolutely noright to lecture middle eastern countries on these issues and were all too frequently guilty of doublestandards and hypocrisy on democracy. Lord Williams eloquently argued that much of Europe hasonly recently adopted democracy. As always Egypt was hotly debated, many pointing out the dangersof supporting a coup and the ousting of an elected government.
In the session on Economy and Free Trade, experts looked at the inequalities between north andsouth, how to reform banking, the future of the dollar and the existential issue.
In the media session there were fascinating discussions on the role of social media and the pros andcons of citizen journalism and user generated content. There was a telling reminder that it was thepeople who brought about the uprising. The digital media was only a tool. One speaker highlighted therisks journalists take and the response of the governments. The detention of journalists especially inEgypt including four from Al Jazeera figured in the discussion.
Kamahl Santamaria, news and program presenter from Al Jazeera argued that it was very important togive balance coverage. He quipped that if a journalist was being criticized for his work by both partiesinvolved then he was on the right track. Journalists are accountable to the people and the risk theytake is their professional hazard.
The vital role of women and youth were rightly highlighted in the final session on societaltransformation in the Middle East. Women are part of the solution, and we ignore the youth in allsocieties at our peril. As one speaker, said they are the voice of the future.
All too often in this fast paced world, of instant, onthespot, analysis of major historic events andtrends, we lack the time to reflect properly. That is why such fora are vital to force us to sit back, pauseand reflect. For those of us not from the Middle East we know we must listen and learn.Story released by INMPLC India