A while ago I read about King Abdullah’s initiative to promote national dialogue, this is different from the international faith dialog… and to me at least, more important.

You see, having our differences in opinions, food, music, looks, languages… etc, is what makes this world beautiful, learning to respect those things, is what enables us to appreciate that beauty.

It is sad that things went down that road many years ago, but dwelling on the past will never fix the future, acknowledging a problem and working on fixing it will. I was also surprised to know that the initiative was years in the making, since King Abdullah was Crown Prince.

In a country where one of my friends told me that marrying a foreign girl to his family meant marrying a girl/woman from the other village, even though the other village was only within a half hour drive by car, and the two villages are inhabited by the same tribe but different clans.

Most of Saudi never had to interact with the “other”. I was even asked by a co-worker how could I marry a woman that was not related to me and did now know my family customs… I asked him how he could live such a boring life where nothing changed. To each other, we in Saudi… are the “others”.

However, do to economics, the world in Saudi had to change… while the regions of Jeddah/Makkah/Madinah had the luxury of interacting with the world for hundreds of years, other areas did not… basically their world (and to a certain extent our world did not change a bit for centuries until a little over fifty years ago).

I am happy that this is happening, that the educators are being educated on the issue of the importance of dialogue and respecting other’s opinions… even if they do not agree with them at all… maybe then… just maybe… we will not see this happen anymore.

Yet I do not expect changes to happen anytime soon (if at all), and I think that the interfaith dialogue is a waste of time and money… every religion has many divisions in it, and a history of rivalry between the sects, each claiming that it, and only it, are on the straight and narrow… so trying to get them all on the same table, to agree on something… well, if anything fruitful happens, I would be… ecstatic and elated and all the words that the thesaurus can come up… but they wont… pessimism? Nope! I just know history repeats its self.

However, I also know we live in an age unlike any other before, where walls of ignorance are being knocked down by knowledge… the difference this time, is that this knowledge is not controlled by Church or State or any other organization, this knowledge is straight from each and every individual who is willing to participate in this torrent of knowledge sharing through new media outlets… and that… to me… is wonderful.

I have a drawer in my house that contains a collection of miscellaneous documents: past-due bills, soon-to-expire magazine subscription notices, important tax forms, etc. You know the drawer that I’m talking about; you probably have one yourself. It’s the “later drawer”: the drawer of important tasks postponed.

As it turns out, Lebanon has its own later drawer, also known as the national dialogue talks.

Every thorny political issue eventually seems to exhaust the deliberative avenues available for its resolution within parliament and ends up being penciled onto the agenda of the national dialogue talks, a series of private high-level round-table discussions between the leaders of Lebanon’s different confessional communities.

I’ve often wondered what happens in these dialogue sessions. Who moderates the discussions? What do they actually talk about? What is the mood like?

Well dear readers, the investigative sleuths on staff here at qifanabki.com have managed to lay their hands on a leaked tape of the most recent national dialogue session, held in a secret location immediately after the election. I’ve transcribed some of the most interesting bits below. Among those present were: Saad al-Hariri, Fouad Siniora, Nabih Berri, Walid Jumblatt, Mohammed Raad (representing Hassan Nasrallah), Michel Aoun, Amin Gemayel, Samir Geagea, Suleiman Frangieh, and Michel al-Murr.

**

Siniora: I’d like to call this round table to order. Gentlemen, please… If I could have your attention…

Aoun: (muttering) Let’s get this over with.

Siniora: Excuse me?

Aoun: Nothing.

Siniora: Did you say something?

Aoun: No.

Siniora: I’m sure I heard you say something.

Geagea: Me too.

Frangieh: I didn’t hear him say anything.

Berri: Me neither.

Hariri: Well I did.

Siniora: He definitely said something.

(15 minutes later…)

Berri: He didn’t say anything! Can we please just move it along?

Siniora: Yes let’s. Turning to the first item on the agenda…

Aoun: (muttering) What an incredible waste of time…

Siniora: What?

Aoun: Nothing.

Siniora: There he goes again! Don’t tell me you said nothing! I heard you say something!

(20 minutes later. Everyone is shouting.)

Hariri: Hello! Yo! C’mon call it off. Let’s focus people. (Everybody ignores him.)

Jumblatt: (sitting in the corner, sending SMS’s with a bored expression on his face. He pulls out a gun, shoots a single shot in the air, and everyone quiets down.) That’s better.

Siniora: Ahem… Thank you Walid Bek.

Jumblatt: (without looking up from his phone) Ahlan wa sahlan.

Siniora: Are you sending text messages?

Jumblatt: No. Surfing the internet.

Siniora: Oh. Anything good?

Jumblatt: Have you seen this blog, qifanabki? It’s highly worth reading.

Frangieh: Oh man, I hate that guy.

Aoun: You know, so did I, but after a while he kinda grows on you. But I agree, he’s annoying.

Siniora: (clears his throat) Okay, first thing on the agenda: Hizbullah’s weapons. Can we talk about them?

Aoun, Frangieh, and Berri: No.

Siniora: Alrighty then. Moving right along. The next item on the agenda is…

Raad: Ahh, actually… yes we can. In my capacity as the representative of Hizbullah, I have a proposal to make.

Hariri: Oh?

Raad: Yes. We have drawn up a national defense strategy. If we could just pass these papers around, you will see what it is that we’re talking about. Basically, we’re willing to dismantle the resistance entirely or incorporate it into the Lebanese Army… whatever works for everyone else.

Geagea: Huh?

Raad: We think that this is what makes the most sense for Lebanon, at this stage.

Hariri: Wait, really?

Raad: No! I’m just messing with you! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…!!!

Hariri: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…!!!

Geagea: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…!!!

(10 minutes later)

Everyone: Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…!!!

Raad: You should… have seen… the look on … your face… Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…!!!

Hariri: (wiping tears of laughter away) Oh my God. You had me there man. Oh damn, that was funny!

Siniora: (serious) Can we turn to the next issue please?

Hariri: Ha ha ha ha… ok ok. (Takes a deep breath). Ok. What’s next?

Siniora: The new electoral law.

Everyone: (groans) Noooooo…!!!

Siniora: I know, I know… But we have to talk about it. I’m under strict orders from the President. Interior Minister Ziad Baroud says that …

(There is a collective eye roll around the room and another round of groaning.)

Hariri: Ziad Baroud says this, Ziad Baroud says that… Who does this guy think he is?

Raad: Seriously. We just passed a new electoral law. Why do we need another one?

Siniora: I don’t know, ok? Something about pre-printed ballots, preventing corruption…

Berri: (snickering) That goody-two-shoes. Someone needs to get him a bag of marbles to play with.

Aoun: Sheikh Saad, can’t you give him a job as president of one of your companies or something? Why does he need to be Interior Minister?

Hariri: I thought of that, but he’s not interested in real estate or investing or… anything, really, other than electoral reform.  The guy’s got a one-track mind. Electoral laws, electoral laws, electoral laws… that’s all he thinks about.

Murr: So create a company for him that produces electoral laws. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…!!!

(Everyone cackles gleefully…)

Berri: I move to table this important discussion until the next national dialogue session.

Everyone: Hear hear!

Hariri: While we’re at it, I move to adjourn this entire session, because I’m hungry.

Everyone: Hear hear!

Aoun: I’m starving. I didn’t have dinner.

Raad: Me neither. What’s everyone in the mood for?

(The room is silent as everyone thinks this over)

Everyone: BARBAR!

Hariri: Someone call ahead. And get the police to shut down all of Hamra, Qoreitem, Sanayeh, and Zoqaq al-Blat.

(Everyone starts filing out of the room)

Frangieh: Oh man, I can’t wait for my spicy lahmbajin with extra pickles.

Siniora: (on the phone, dictating to his press secretary) “…the national dialogue talks were very productive. All parties agreed that progress had been made on a wide range of issues, and we have agreed to resume where we left off, a month from now…”

Raad: (holding open the door for Geagea) After you.

Geagea: No, after you…

Raad: No, I insist…

Geagea: No I insist…

Jumblatt: (firing another shot in the air) Just move it. I’m hungry.

Don Tapscott, author of Grown Up Digital, describes a process he calls the digital brainstorm in a recent article:

Here’s how it would work. The president would say, “We’re going to have a national discussion on revitalizing our cities. It starts on Monday at noon and ends the same week on Friday at noon. Anyone can participate through the Web 2.0 discussion community we’ve set up. If you don’t have Internet access, I’ve partnered with corporations, schools, libraries, community computing centers, and shopping malls to give you access. We’ll post background papers. We’ll organize the discussion by region and also by interest groups. There will be a business discussion, a discussion of public transit users, and so on. As you participate in the discussion rate the ideas that you come across and the best ideas will rise to the top. I’ll participate daily and give my views. At the end of the process we’ll explore our options for further action.”

The goal is to have a conversation in which people become engaged in political life; think about issues; get active in improving their communities; and mobilize society for positive change. Politicians and citizens alike would become more informed and learn from each other. And collectively we would take a step away from broadcast and toward participatory democracy. As an exercise in government 2.0, it could show that power can be exercised through people, not over people.

This is very similar to how we see DeepDebate and other Web 2.0 tools being employed on a large scale.  A key element is ensuring the conversation is also available to people who are not able to be online; an exclusionary conversation simply cannot be called a national conversation.  Both online and offline methods have their advantages and disadvantages; a hybrid model can be far more effective than the sum of its parts.

Online and offline processes can be very effective together (image from Wikipedia)

Many organizations are looking to incorporate online tools into their face-to-face discussions.  This is a field of rapid experimentation where no one claims to have found the answer.

We’ve run several pilot projects in high schools in Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia where students had a chance to discuss a topic both online and face-to-face.  The lessons we learned are here.

Although we focus on online deliberation here at DeepDebate.Org, we believe that in-person discussions are most effective in helping participants learn from each other break through perceived roadblocks.  The difficulty is that in-person discussions cannot happen on a large scale without a massive investment of time and resources– that’s where online deliberative tools can help.

We are looking to expand our online-offline hybrid model by creating a few more case studies.  We will be exploring how online deliberation can seed a face-to-face discussion with great ideas so that the participants do not have to start from scratch; this may make their limited time together much more productive.  We will also look at how the final product of small group discussion stands up to the constructive criticism of all stakeholders; this can serve as a safeguard against skewed results.

By incorporating the strengths of online and offline models, we can create something that is far more valuable than the sum of its parts.

Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, recently discussed emerging technologies which can make sense of massive conversations:

Millions of people might participate in online discussion, providing not only feedback, but also big problems regarding Too Much Information. The challenge will be in the development of software which allows citizens to collectively moderate their discussion, enabling people to filter up the good feedback and ideas, and to vote down the trolling and spam. A version of the craigslist and Wikipedia models, on a global scale.

It’s exciting to see the the growing demand for what has become a small ecosystem of tools to handle very large conversations– essentially the tools for organizing a truly national online dialogue.  The following websites are worth a close look:

• Debategraph- “A web-based, creative commons project to increase the transparency and rigor of public debate everywhere—by making the collective insight and intelligence of the global community freely available to all and filtering out the noise.”
• MixedInk- “It’s a fun, democratic, and elegant way for people to weave best ideas together.”
• Opinion Suite- “An e-consultation system that works for you with our customizable, open-source platform.”
• Google Moderator- “Google Moderator is a tool that allows distributed communities to submit and vote on questions for talks, presentations and events.”
• Salesforce Ideas- “Salesforce CRM Ideas helps you tap into the wisdom of the crowd to capture the best ideas.”
• DemocracyLab- “DemocracyLab is an experiment in direct democracy, powered by open source software, and built on the idea that technology can empower us to harness freedom of speech and the power of the vote to solve today’s most challenging problems.”
• Metagovernment Project- “The goal of the Metagovernment Project is to make the governance of any community as accessible as a free software project. No one is required to participate, but everyone is allowed to participate, just as software developers can contribute to open source projects and editors can contribute to Wikipedia.”  That site has a great list of related projects.
• communityCOUNTS- “CommunityCOUNTS helps spark, collect, rank and compel discussion around an assortment of web-content by leveraging a community’s voice.”

Fortunately there is very little overlap, and each tool can be used in a complementary fashion, especially with DeepDebate.  If we’ve missed any other tools, please mention them in the comments section and we’ll be sure to include them in the list above.

In partnership with some great organizations, we have scheduled several pilot projects for the next few weeks.  Our goal is to organize conversations with several hundred simultaneous participants to showcase the unique advantages of the DeepDebate method. Stay tuned!

Press Release on “National Dialogue on the Rights of Women with Disabilities”
A “National Dialogue on the Rights of Women with Disabilities” was held at the Dhaka Press Club VIP Lounge in Dhaka, Bangladesh on 27 November 2008 between 10.00 am to 01.00 pm. The conference was well attended, with over 120 participants, from a wide range of backgrounds— individuals living with disabilities and their families, political leaders, foreign mission/high commission representatives, National/International NGO representatives, providers of disability and social support services. A Number of important government officials and media personnel were also present. The conference opened with a welcoming address from Mr. Abdus Sattar Dulal, the founder and Executive Director of BPKS, the sponsoring agency for the event. Ashrafun Nahar, Coordinator of the Women with Disabilities Network at BPKS presented the key note paper for the program. Also addressing the participants were Mr. Bill Winkley, Executive Director, One Family International and Charles Whitley, First Secretary of the European Commission to Bangladesh, Kamar Munir, Joint Secretary and Alimusshan, Additional Secretary, NGO affairs Buroue. The program was organized by BPKS, with support from the European Union. Mr Rezul Karim, Secretary for Forest and Environment Ministry of Bangladesh spoke as chief guest that we should do our duty properly concerning WWDs right and they should included in mainstream development process strongly. They are the part of our society and nation also.

Information was also provided about the situation for Women with Disabilities, their needs and their rights. The objective of the dialogue was to provide an opportunity for participants to learn about the complex issues facing WWDs at the individual, social and national levels.

The Dialogue resulted in the generation of a number of key recommendations in relation to Women with disabilities and;
• Women’s Development policy
• Women Rights
• Accessible environment
• Education
• Employment and Economic independence
• Political empowerment
• Economical participation
• Justice in relation to violence against women

Established in 1985, BPKS works all over the country. Nationally and internationally, BPKS provides information, guidance and support in forming representative disabled people’s organizations and promoting the self confidence and capacity building of individuals and groups at the grassroots level. It is replicating its own approach, called PSID (Persons with Disability Self Initiative to Development) to build the self-reliance and strength of persons with disabilities. BPKS networks with a variety of other agencies to motivate persons with disabilities so that maximum development impact can be achieved. With the support of its donors, BPKS works improve the quality of life of persons with disabilities throughout the country. To find out more about the work of BPKS and how you can get involved, please visit www.bpksbd.org or call 880-2-2892 3915.

Recommendations on the Rights of Girls and Women with Disabilities

For girls and women with disabilities in Bangladesh to live life with dignity, the following recommendations for action are made;
1. Barriers should be removed so that women with disabilities can access the justice system when crimes or incidents of discrimination are committed against them.
2. Perpetrators of crimes against women should be appropriately trialed and punished and where a crime results in disability, the victim should have access to rehabilitation services and due compensation.
3. Women with disabilities should have access to vocational training programs that take into account their skills and abilities as well as their support needs.
4. Girls and women with disabilities should have access to affordable education. They should also be provided with assistive devices to assist in their social integration and their learning. More scholarships should also be available to support girls with disabilities from poor family backgrounds.
5. Girls and women with disabilities should be actively encouraged to participate in cultural, artistic and sporting activities.
6. Vocational skills training should be provided to women with disabilities so that they may participate more competitively in the labor market.
7. Women with disabilities should have access to appropriate employment that matches their skill and education level. Further job opportunities should be created and current employment quotas should be preserved and adhered to.
8. Based on assessment of need, girls and women with disabilities should be provided with assistive devices to assist them in activities of daily living.
9. Women holding positions of leadership in political parties or other organizations should be supported to maintain their roles in the event that they should become disabled.
10. Quota systems prioritizing employment of women with disabilities should be more widely applied to the labor market.
11. All girls and women with disabilities should have access to affordable and appropriate health care services.
12. All new built environments, including cyclone shelters should be accessible to women with disabilities and those that are not should be modified to accommodate them.
13. Women’s participation in agriculture, fisheries, livestock and forestation sectors should be actively encouraged and likewise, those sectors should also be encouraged to involve women.
14. Publicity in the media that portrays women in an undignified or disempowering manner should be stopped. The media should be encouraged to portray women in ways that demonstrate their contribution to society, their abilities, their power and their agency.
15. Women with disabilities should have equal access to skills training in the mass communication sector so that they can participate more widely in television, radio and print media.
16. Women with disabilities should be actively encouraged and supported to participate in the Women’s Development Implementation and Evaluation Committee.
17. Women with disabilities should be actively encouraged and supported to participate in district and Upazila level committees.
18. Women with disabilities should be actively encouraged and supported to participate in grassroots organizations.
19. The needs and rights of women with disabilities should be incorporated into the work plans and schedules of Government Ministries, National planning bodies, as well as International and National NGOs.

TODAYS RECOMMENDATION

20. All women throughout the country should have access to quality pre and post natal maternal care and additional support should be available for families where there is a child with a disability. Maternity leave should also be more widely available and extended to six months.
21. WWDs should have greater access to public transport. This should be guaranteed in law, but also addressed through a public awareness raising campaign for the general public.
22. Awareness raising campaigns are also needed to help address the widespread discrimination faced by WWDs. This should also focus on changing attitudes amongst men.
23. Awareness raising campaigns are also needed to encourage families to support their girls with disabilities to attend school.
24. A national survey is needed on the situation of people with disabilities throughout the country. This is essential to assist in district and National level planning processes.
25. A new act is needed for WWD’s and PWDs.
26. Fruitful counseling needed for PWDs and WWDs.
27. Role of media in raising awareness and educating the community should be strengthened.
28. Independent hospital for acid burned women is needed.
29. Day long consultation meeting for Govt. And NGO institute about PWDS rights and needs.



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[Published at wecando.wordpress.com (We Can Do)]

Although I have tried to register to participate at the 7th National Dialogue, I never received to a response from the organizers and therefore I have had to watch the dialogue on television.

This round of the National Dialogue, which took place earlier this week, focused on the dilemma of employment from different angles. The hottest topic, of course, was women’s employment. Now almost everyone agrees that we need to create more job opportunities for women; the disagreement, however, arises when it comes to how to approach and address this problem. More specifically, the disagreement is over how to define the proper work environment for women.

Two trends can be seen here. First, there are those who believe that in order to encourage more women to join the workforce we have to provide separate workplaces for them. They cite the example of the education sector, the field where 85% of working women in the country are in, and argue that the government should push in that direction.

However, I believe these guys are ignoring two important things: the fact that following education, the second field where most women are employed is the healthcare sector which is not segregated, and also the fact that many women chose to work at the education sector simply for the lack of other options, even if that choice means sometimes working in remote areas and being away from their families and putting themselves in danger of lethal car accidents.

The other trend regarding women’s employment in the dialogue argue that strict interpretations of religion and old social norms have only halted the development of the country and slowed down the growth of our economy. The insistence on providing separate work places for women, they say, is costly and impractical as it makes it difficult to keep a smooth workflow. Moreover, even if the government decided to go with that option, they won’t be able to force business to do the same.

Instead of separate workplaces, what they propose instead is writing new laws and regulation to create and maintain safe work environments that give equal opportunities and protect employees, especially women.

I expect this debate to continue, and I think we need to wait and see which argument of these two will attract more followers and prevail, or probably we will have to make some compromises and end up with a third way and a middle ground. The economic factor will be decisive here because, as one participant pointed out, the ever increasing living costs will mean that the one salary (currently the man’s) will no longer be enough to support a family.

I agree with Fatin Bundagji when she says that the idea of the national dialogue, even if it did not amount to obvious immediate results, is a good idea. And even though I was not invited to attend the dialogue at Makarem Ballroom in the Marriott, it was certainly refreshing for me to follow it and see my countrymen and women debate and take part in this conversation, which signifies, among many things, a change in mindset and a newfound respect for diversity, as well as a better understanding between the different faction in our society.