The Middle East Crisis: Impact on the Global Community and the Way Forward

Wadah Khanfar   Friday 10 March

Watch the YouTube video HERE

Over the last two decades, the Middle East has witnessed some of the worst wars and destructions, due to various reasons including foreign intervention and despotic regimes. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, and millions became refugees leading to world crisis with multiple consequences. In response, we have witnessed a rise of right wing politics in the western world and Europe, violent extremism in the form of ISIL, and the rise of Islamophobia.

In this lecture, Wadah Khanfar will be discussing the possible reasons for the disarray in the Middle East, the consequences of western foreign interventions, and the way forward for two seemingly opposite entities: the Islamic and western worlds. 

Wadah Khanfar is the President of Al Sharq Forum, an independent network dedicated to developing long-term strategies for political development, social justice and economic prosperity for the people of the Middle East. He is a Board Member of the International Crisis Group, President of the Common Action Forum in Madrid, and Chairman of Huffington Post Arabi. 

Wadah previously served as the Director General of Al Jazeera Media Network for 8 years. He has been ranked by Foreign Policy Magazine in 2011 as the first in The FP Top 100 Global Thinkers, and in Fast Company as the first in the 100 Most Creative People in Business (2011) and as one of the most ‘Powerful People in the World’ by Forbes magazine. During his tenure Al Jazeera went from a single channel to a media network with multiple properties including the Al Jazeera Arabic, English, Balkans, Documentary, Sport, and Al Jazeera Centre for Studies.

YouTube Clips:

Wadah Khanfar: The Middle East and Change
Wadah Khanfar: A historic moment in the Arab world
Steps of Progress in Times of Crisis
Analysis of the failed coup in Turkey by Wadah Khanfar
Exclusive video of Wadah Khanfar and the Al Jazeera newsroom
CASBAA Convention Rewind: Wadah Khanfar, Managing Director, Al Jazeera (2004)
Wadah Khanfar's New Media Initiative
Wadah Khanfar delivering Keynote at Al Jazeera Forum 2015, Doha

Press:

Fast Company #1 Most Creative Person
#54 Forbes Most Powerful People 2009
Wadah Khanfar - Huffington Post Profile
Why I had to resign

More Information:

Al Sharq Forum
Wadah Khanfar Twitter: @khanfarw

 Presented by The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre and the Centre for Islamic Thought and Education

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