Tag: Arabs
Peace Picks | September 6 – 10, 2021
Notice: Due to public health concerns, upcoming events are only available via live stream.
- Iraq’s October ElectionsL A Game Changer or More of the Same? | September 7, 2021 | 10:00 AM EST | The Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington | Register Here
Two years after massive protests erupted in Iraq, early parliamentary elections will be held in October. Although the elections were one of the demands of the demonstrators, they are likely to be boycotted by these same activists as well as a large part of the Iraqi electorate. Yet, formal and informal coalitions have registered to run candidates with the hope of influencing the formation of the next government. If a massive boycott occurs, will the election be a gamechanger to address the new demands of Iraqi society, or will the results preserve the status quo and further de-legitimize the Iraqi state?
Speakers:
Munqith Dagher
CEO and Founder, Independent Institute of Administration and Civil Society Studies
Rahman Al-Jebouri
Senior Fellow, Institute of Regional and International Studies, American University of Iraq Sulaimani
Patricia Karam
Regional Director, Middle East North Africa Division, International Republican Institute
- Taliban 2.0: What we Should Expect for Afghanistan’s New Rulers | September 8, 2021 | 9:30 AM EST | The Middle East Institute | Register Here
A quarter-century ago, the Taliban established a theocratic authoritarian Islamist regime that engaged in systematic internal repression, denial of human rights to Afghans and remained an international pariah. Initial indications are mixed at best whether their new government will be different this time around. While the Taliban have refrained from large-scale reprisal killings, their return has prompted a mass exodus and mounting worries over how they will treat free media, women, minorities, and dissent.
Will the Taliban now act on their statements of forming an inclusive government, respecting Afghanistan’s diversity, and ensuring services and jobs for all Afghans including women, or return to establishing a Sunni clerical dictatorship? Will they honor their counterterrorism commitments and work with the West to ensure aid flows or once again adopt isolation? How can Washington and its allies still influence the Taliban’s behavior?
Speakers:
Hameed Hakimi
Research Associate, Chatham House
Sahar Halaimzai
Co-founder and Leader Tiem4RealPeace; Nonresident senior fellow, Atlantic Council
Abubakar Siddique
Editor, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Gandhara website
Iulia Joja (moderator)
Project Director, Afghanistan Watch; Senior fellow, Frontier Europe Initiative, MEI
- The Global Impact of 9/11: Twenty Years On | September 9, 2021 | 10:00 AM EST | The Wilson Center | Register Here
The September 11, 2001, attack on the United States redefined international security threats and altered the nature of warfare globally. To commemorate the 20th anniversary, the Wilson Center examines the lasting impact of 9/11 and the global war on terror internationally, with a specific regional focus on the Middle East, South Asia, and Europe. Experts will discuss the enduring legacy of 9/11 in terms of conflict and regional instability, jihadism, politics, and U.S. global leadership.
Speakers:
Bruce Hoffman
Global Fellow; Professor, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service; Visiting Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations; Senior Fellow, U.S. Military Academy’s Combating Terrorism Center
Michael Kugelman
Deputy Director and Senior Associate for South Asia
Fernando Reinares
Global Fellow; Senior Analyst and Director, Program on Violent Radicalization and Global Terrorism at the Elcano Royal Institute; Professor of Political Science and Security Studies, Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid
Nadia Oweidat
Assistant Professor of History and Security Studies, Kansas State University
Robin Wright
USIP-Wilson Center Distinguished Fellow; Author and Columnist for The New Yorker
- Palestinian Protests and the Future of the Palestinian Struggle | September 9, 2021 | 11:00 AM EST | The Middle East Institute | Register Here
Since the Palestinian Authority’s killing of political activist Nizar Banat in June, Palestinians have been holding protests in Ramallah and other parts of the West Bank. The PA has responded with tear gas, stun grenades, and harassment of human rights defenders and journalists, in what has been described as a “concerted crackdown on freedom of speech and the right to peaceful protest.” In recent weeks, dozens of protesters – including prominent human rights activists – were detained by PA security forces.
While the detainees have since been released, the crackdown highlights the Palestinian leadership’s diminishing tolerance for dissent as well as a deeper crisis of legitimacy. What’s behind these latest protests as well as the PA’s crackdown against them? What is the relationship between the protests in Ramallah and recent Palestinian popular political mobilizations in Gaza, Jerusalem, and inside the Green Line? And what do these Palestinian initiatives mean for the overarching struggle against ongoing Israeli occupation and dispossession?
Speakers:
Hanan Ashrawi
Spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East Peace Process; member of the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO)
Fadi Quran
Campaigns Director, Avaaz
Khaled Elgindy (moderator)
Senior Fellow, Middle East Institute; Director, MEI Program on Palestine and Israeli-Palestinian Affairs
Lara Friedman (moderator)
President, Foundation for Middle East Peace
- Two Decades Later: Reflecting on Terrorism & Counterterrorism Since 9/11 | September 10, 2021 | 10:30 AM EST | The Middle East Institute | Register Here
In the 20 years since al-Qaeda dramatically struck the United States on September 11, 2001, counterterrorism campaigns have sought to neutralize and contain terrorist threats in every corner of the globe. Over time, counterterrorism strategy and tactics have evolved, adapting to differing threats. Despite enormous investment in counterterrorism, however, the scope, sophistication, and scale of terrorism threats have arguably increased, not declined. The world now faces not one but two global jihadist movements and a proliferating array of other groups, ideologies, and challenges.
What lessons can we learn from two decades of U.S. and allied counterterrorism efforts? What is the next wave of terrorism threats likely to look like? How should the U.S. respond most effectively to new and evolving threats? And how might the global terrorism landscape be affected by the drive to ‘end forever wars?’
Speakers:
Tricia Bacon
Associate Professor, American University; former counterterrorism analyst, U.S. Department of State
Edmund Fitton-Brown
Coordinator, ISIL/Al-Qaida/Taliban Sanctions Monitoring Team, United Nations; former Ambassador of the United Kingdom to Yemen
Michael Nagata
Distinguished senior fellow, MEI; Senior Vice President and Strategic Advisor, CACI International Inc.; former Director of Strategy, U.S. National Counterterrorism Center & former Commander, U.S. Special Operations Command
Charles Lister, moderator
Senior fellow and director, Countering Terrorism & Extremism and Syria Programs, MEI
- Converging Lines: Tracing the Artistic Lineage of the Arab Diaspora in the U.S. | September 10, 2021 | 11:30 AM EST | The Middle East Institute | Register Here
The Middle East Institute Arts and Culture Center is proud to mark its 75th anniversary with the exhibition Converging Lines: Tracing the Artistic Lineage of the Arab Diaspora in the U.S. The exhibit features seventeen leading Arab American and Arab diaspora artists, including pioneering artists Etel Adnan, Hugette Caland, and Kahlil Gibran.
Converging Lines explores some of the aesthetic threads that connect the community of Arab diaspora artists whose contributions to American art have gone largely unrecognized. The artworks are linked by shared themes like exile, memory formation, changing identities, and the state of in-betweenness that often accompanies migration.
Speakers:
Maymanah Farhat
Art history researcher focused on underrepresented artists and forgotten art scenes
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Iraqi trends
The Washington Institute on Near East Policy hosted a panel on emerging political trends in Iraq’s post-election period on November 27th. The panel featured Munqith Dagher, CEO of Baghdad-based Independent Institute for Administration and Civil Society Studies (IIACSS), Ahmed Ali, program officer at the National Endowment for Democracy, and David Pollock, Berinstein Fellow at the Washington Institute and director of its Fikra Forum.
While many Americans are tired of Iraq, Pollock reminded that it is still of strategic importance to American interests, which include preventing the country from incubating terrorism and tipping the region in a hostile, pro-Iran direction. It is also a potential demographic, economic, and religious powerhouse in the region. Iraqi oil exports are half those of the Saudis. Because of the 2003 invasion, the success of Iraq reflects on America’s political clout in the region, with many people seeing Iraq as a US responsibility.
Pollock pointed out the importance of public opinion polling in Iraq, a powerful but underutilized tool. The rise of the Islamic State in 2014 and the divisions arising from Kurdistan’s 2017 independence referendum were in line with Dagher’s polling at the time. To avoid being taken by surprise in the post-election space, public opinion-informed policy is crucial.
Dagher stated that we are at a crossroads in Iraqi attitudes, with three transformative shifts in public opinion.
1. A shift in inter-sectarian dynamics
For the first time since 2003, Sunnis are overall happier than Shi’a and Kurds. More specifically, they have more trust in the central Iraqi government than their Shi’a counterparts, an increase from 20% in 2016 to 50% today. Sunni Arabs have been reluctant to participate in the political process since Saddam’s ousting, and Dagher emphasized that this moment should be capitalized on to get them involved in the political process.
2. From inter to intra-sectarian conflicts
Iraq has a long history of sectarian politics. We are finally seeing a shift towards interest-based politics. Sectarian identity as the most important source of identity has dropped to below 10% for all three groups. It was as high as 61% in 2013 among Kurds. Iraqi citizenship as the most important source of identity has increased significantly among Shi’a. While it is still very low for Kurds at 6%, there are so signs of further decrease. Across various polling questions, namely if Iraq is heading in the wrong direction, geography is playing a more important role than ever. For example, Sunni Arabs in Mosul are significantly more likely to believe that the country is heading in the wrong direction (69%) than Sunni Arabs in general (55%), as are the Shi’a Arabs of Basra than Shi’a at large.
3. Less international polarization
The ability of regional actors to take advantage of Iraq’s traditional sectarian divisions has also diminished. Iran’s popularity, when asked if it is a reliable partner, has dropped from 75% to 44% among Shi’a Arabs in the last two years alone. The most significant drop was between 2017 (70%) and today (44%), which Dagher attributed to the protests in Basra as well as the visible interference of both the US and Iran in the recent election. Access to information has increased as a result of growing internet use among Iraqis. It jas increased from 40% in 2014 to 80% today. Ninety per cent of Iraqi youth have at least one social media account. Among Sunni Arabs, favorable views of Saudi Arabia have decreased from 90% in 2012 to 61% today.
These trends are overshadowed by more alarming shifts under the surface. The population thinks the country is heading in the wrong direction more than ever, with 80% of respondents agreeing compared to 50% in April 2012. The most recent election has been marred by the fact that less than 1 in 5 respondents thought it free and fair. Dagher warned that lack of trust in the democratic political system might explain why 66% prefer a “strong leader who doesn’t care about Parliament nor elections,” accompanied by dramatic decreases in voter turnout. Ali attributed this legitimacy crisis to the gulf between politicians’ and the public’s views. He cited the Basra anti-corruption protests, which were predictable, and the lack of serious response from the Iraqi government.
For Ali, the big area for policy makers is post-ISIS reconstruction. Addressing grievances in post-ISIS regions and reunifying the country requires institutional governance reforms. Most importantly, the electoral process needs to be transparent and accountable to improve public trust, as demonstrated by post-election fraud allegations. The new Iraqi government has its work cut out for it.
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