Panellists at the 10th US-Islamic World Forum yesterday.
Doha: Participants in the 10th US-Islamic World Forum yesterday highlighted the power of arts and culture in regions beset by conflict during the second plenary session titled “Politics Demonises, Culture Humanises: Arts, Conflict, and Security”.
The US-Islamic World Forum 2013 opened at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Doha on Sunday.
Speakers at yesterday’s session, moderated by Cynthia Schneider, a nonresident senior fellow in the Project on US Relations with the Islamic World at Brookings, examined the evolving roles of arts, culture and media in areas and situations of conflict and instability.
The panel highlighted how governmental and non-governmental leaders can support the role of arts and culture in promoting human security and in fostering positive political and social change and economic development.
Speakers in the session included Nikahang Kowsar, a cartoonist from Iran, Sultana Siddiqui, the president of Hum TV from Pakistan and Manny Aly Ansar, a musician from Mali.
The annual US-Islamic World Forum, held in Doha, will conclude today. It is held in partnership with Brookings Project on US Relations with the Islamic World.
This year’s forum is titled “A Decade of Dialogue,” heralding the 10-year anniversary of the Forum.
The sessions highlighted the changing landscape in Pakistan and Afghanistan and its effect on internal and regional security, the challenges of democracy and development that have loomed in the aftermath of the Arab Spring, and the conflict in Syria, noting the spiralling effects of the conflict on the Middle East region and the roles played by the US and other outside actors. QNA
