Al Jazeera Forum: Forum comes at a crucial time for the region: Participants Sunday, 13 March 2011 01:59

By Fazeena Saleem

Political leaders, intellectuals, media experts and the new generation of activists will again meet  today at the sixth Al Jazeera forum on ‘The Arab World in Transition: Has the future Arrived?’ to discuss the issues faced by the Arab and Muslim worlds and to determine their implications both regionally and globally.

The Peninsula, yesterday spoke to a across section of the participants at the Forum to find their experience.

“This is the first time I’m attending the Forum. It gives the opportunity to interact with people from other Arab states and share and discuss our opinions,” said Sahbi Atig, a political activist from Tunisia.  

Yasin Aktay, a sociology professor and columnist is attending the Al Jazeera Forum for the second time and finds it as a brainstorming event.

“This is a very important Forum held at the correct time in this region. It gives us the opportunity to analyse and discuss about the Arab and Muslim world,” he said.

“Al Jazeera Forum has become a tradition as it is held for six years now,” he said as Al Jazeera Annual Forum was launched in 2004 to provide and opportunity to discuss the critical dynamics of the Middle East as a part of the globalised world.

The successive editions of the forum has aimed to take an in-depth look at alternative visions for the Arab and Muslim worlds from the perspective of socio-political, cultural and geographical change.

Professor Michael C Hudson, Director, Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore who has attended several forum earlier said, “The theme of forum become important due to the events happening across the Arab world.”

“This brings together people from different areas such as politicians, foreign policy makers, intellectuals and people involved in information technology. It’s a very good opportunity for networking among professionals.”

However, Professor Hudson is critical about the forum too, in terms of organising.

“This type of events should be more organized in advance. There should be clear information about the speakers for all panels at least name boards. The participants should know who is speaking,” he said.  The Peninsula