Ahmed Shaaban (Cairo)
The “Trends” Center for Research and Consultation, in cooperation with the Information and Decision Support Center at the Egyptian Cabinet, held a symposium entitled “Culture and Identity in the Light of Globalization and the Knowledge Revolution”, within the activities of the Cairo International Book Fair, in the “Guest of Honor” hall. The symposium addressed one of the most important issues facing the Arab countries as a result of the current digital revolution, by listening to a distinguished group of Egyptian and Arab experts, thinkers and academics.
The symposium began with an opening and welcoming speech by Osama Al-Gohari, Assistant to the Prime Minister, Head of the Information Center, and Dr. Muhammad Abdullah Al-Ali, CEO of the Trends Center for Research and Consultations, and was moderated by Kuwaiti media figure, Muhammad Al-Mulla.
Dr. Muhammad Abdullah Al-Ali expressed his happiness to participate with the Council of Ministers and the Decision-Making Support Center in Egypt to organize this symposium, through the themes discussed, which shed light on all the ideas of this symposium, in terms of relationships and influences, and how we can benefit from them in serving the human being wherever he is. It is a qualitative addition to the cultural and cognitive movement.
He stressed the need for think tanks, opinion and studies to play their important role in the pioneering contribution to creating a healthy and nurturing environment that includes important and accurate inputs towards sustainable development and the establishment of tolerance systems towards coexistence between different cultures as the basis for achieving peace and prosperity in the world.
He stressed that in light of the vast information state and the rapid pace of technological progress, the responsibility on think tanks and opinion is multiplied, and what is required of them is growing, pointing out that these rapid transformations require that think tanks be in the forefront, give them special importance, and constitute a qualitative support for decision-makers, to give them Required and useful information about the societies they seek to promote to help them design and plan the required policies.
Al-Ali pointed out that there is an exciting call for cultural identities stemming from low awareness, stressing the need to reject and respond to these claims and to define the concept of identity and culture that form from the process of influence and influence, and from the process of responding to many factors that make up the knowledge revolution and globalization, stressing that there is a relationship Turbulent between identity and culture on the one hand, and globalization and the knowledge revolution on the other hand, and that this relationship takes a reciprocal nature at its hypothetical level, stressing that culture and identity should benefit from the potential of globalization and knowledge wealth, which allows the exchange of influence and vulnerability between them.
In turn, Osama El-Gohary said: The most important feature of this symposium is the constructive partnership between the Council and the Trends Center, as well as the participation of a distinguished elite of intellectuals, with the aim of addressing the most important challenges facing us.
El-Gohary pointed out that the Egyptian identity is not always separated from the Arab identity, and solidarity can only be achieved through sincere efforts between us, continuing: Our discussion today is to consolidate our common cultural identity.
Hamad Al-Kaabi, Editor-in-Chief of Al-Ittihad newspaper, highlighted the topic of “The Role of Culture and Media in Strengthening National Identity: How to Activate.” He began his speech with a sentence by Joseph Goebbels: “Give me media without a conscience, and I will give you a people without awareness,” adding: “I think that conscience is The culture of society, which is the component of all forms of society, including clothing, food, literature, texts, culture, and everything that the society contains is culture.
Al Kaabi added: “When we talk about the role of culture and media in promoting national identity, we realize the importance of media in the lives of peoples, as well as culture, but from the reality of our experience as Emiratis, we have many experiences that have strengthened our national identity, despite the multiculturalism in the UAE from Various spectra, where more than 200 nationalities live in the Emirates, with different religions, cultures, ethnicities, languages and literatures. Despite this, we find that the national identity in the Emirates is becoming increasingly consolidated.
Al Kaabi listed some practical steps in the field of media in promoting national identity, noting that in 2017, the wise leaders in the UAE launched an entire year dedicated to the Year of Giving, noting that this year was an opportunity to consolidate the value of humanitarian giving, which is one of the components and features of the Emirati identity. He noted that in the same year 2017, the Year of Sheikh Zayed was launched, stressing that the personality of Sheikh Zayed is a major part of the identity and formation of the UAE in all its stages, and an opportunity to retain the founders in this year, adding, “It was also a great opportunity for the Emirati media to present the achievements of this founding leader to new generations. And strengthening identity within the size of the historical steps that have been achieved in establishing, developing and empowering.”
Al Kaabi pointed out that the Emirati media has always focused on success stories in many areas, for example, when the Hope Probe was launched to discover Mars 2021, and this coincided with the formation of an Emirati Arab identity through this important and major global event, referring to other models in the media that were Presenting it to the world, in 2019, the Emirati media presented extensive knowledge content on the importance of tolerance and positive communication between followers of religions, thus establishing the roots of openness and tolerance as an essential component of Emirati culture.
Al Kaabi pointed out that the “Document on Human Fraternity” signed by the Sheikh of Al-Azhar and the Pope of the Catholic Church on February 4, 2019 in Abu Dhabi, has become an important tributary that consolidates the component of tolerance, dialogue and openness to the Emirati identity, noting that in October 2021 the activities of “Expo 2020 Dubai” were launched in The continuation of the “Corona” pandemic as a global platform for communication with the other for a better future for humanity, and his slogan was “Connecting Minds for the Future”, stressing that the participation of 194 countries in the “Expo” consolidates in the Emirati identity the value of positive work and thinking in facing the challenges facing the scientist. He stressed that the “Corona” pandemic is another example of identity strengthening, as the Emirati media focused heavily on unity among all institutions to confront this pandemic, stressing that media and culture are two tributaries that create identity by emphasizing the achievements, and recalling what the founders of the state presented, concluding his participation by emphasizing that identity Patriotism grows stronger the more it is presented to an audience that does not know the impossible, “and this is what the UAE has been doing for the past 50 years, and it will continue to do so in the next fifty years.”
global hub
Dr. Sultan Faisal Al-Rumaithi, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Elders, spoke on the topic of “The Knowledge Revolution: Limits of Influence on Culture and National Identity”, stressing that we are required to take a position on globalization. Al-Rumaithi pointed out that globalization today presented itself as a cross-border economic and commercial movement, and its goal was to remove the borders between the producer and the consumer, and then the situation developed after that, noting that decision-makers in capitalist systems realized that it was not possible to continue economic or commercial activity without culture, and without An environment that accepts this product, adding: “Globalization has created a kind of societal acceptance and a pattern of systematic thinking, and has created values and morals called global moral values,” stressing that globalization today in its current form aims to manage national and societal identities. Al Rumaithi pointed out that the UAE presents itself to the world as a country of tolerance and coexistence, noting that some believe that these slogans “tolerance and coexistence” are luxuries and luxuries, but if we look at them in the context of globalization, we find the importance of tolerance and coexistence that the UAE believes in. Which confirms that it can deal with globalization. He added: “Tolerance and coexistence confirm the acceptance of idiosyncrasies, while globalization is trying to unify the world in one color, but tolerance and coexistence begins with accepting cultural awareness of societies, religions and customs, preserving cultural diversity and investing it, as well as encouraging a culture of joint work, and dialogue between the diverse and not only the different, to generalize understanding between Diverse cultural identities to understand the other,” stressing that all this confirms the necessity of coexistence and tolerance in countries to deal with international changes.
inspiring model
Eng. Gomaa Mubarak Al-Junaibi, the former UAE ambassador to Egypt, a member of the global “Trends” experts initiative, stressed during a session entitled “Global Citizenship and the Issue of National Identity” that the UAE represents an inspiring model for countries that believe that good and positive citizenship embodies the meanings of identity. True patriotism within societies, integrates and reinforces the goals that global citizenship works to achieve, especially in the field of promoting development, stability and global prosperity.
Al Junaibi added: “The UAE is working on both tracks with constructive policies and creative initiatives aimed at strengthening national identity at home, while at the same time supporting global efforts and initiatives aimed at creating a positive global citizen who is keen to achieve the security and prosperity of all humanity and support the values of tolerance and dialogue between cultures, religions and civilizations, in A framework of intellectual and cultural pluralism that the UAE believes in.”
Al Junaibi pointed out that the UAE represents a creative model internally in the unique national cohesion that is embodied by the people’s support for their leadership, loyalty to them and their belonging to their homeland, and the wise leadership’s interest in achieving the people’s aspirations for prosperity, development and prosperity, until the Emirati people became one of the happiest people on earth.
Al-Junaibi monitored many creative initiatives launched by the state aimed at achieving the goals sought by positive global citizenship, most notably: the Abu Dhabi Declaration on Human Fraternity issued during the visit of His Holiness Pope Francis, Pope of the Catholic Church and His Eminence the Grand Imam, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Tayeb, Sheikh of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, to the UAE in February 2019 Which constituted a qualitative leap in the concept of tolerance and the embodiment of the concept of citizenship in its global dimension.
Al-Junaibi said: The difference between human entities and cultures that exist in today’s world is a real reality that is difficult to ignore, and this reality imposes on all humanity the necessity of aligning behind a tolerant culture that believes in cultural pluralism as a basis for coexistence between humans and working together to face the common challenges facing humanity in An atmosphere of tolerance and acceptance of others.
He added: “What we seek and believe in is a single global citizenship with multiple identities that are more tolerant, coexisting, respectful and open to the other, seeking behind that integration into the global community without being overly optimistic, or neglecting our cultural specificity and national affiliations.” There are many and we can work through them for a safer society, a more sustainable environment, and a more open and aware person.