{"id":42016,"date":"2019-12-21T07:22:16","date_gmt":"2019-12-21T07:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=42016"},"modified":"2019-12-21T07:22:16","modified_gmt":"2019-12-21T07:22:16","slug":"iraqs-top-cleric-calls-for-quick-formation-of-government","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=42016","title":{"rendered":"Iraq\u2019s top cleric calls for quick formation of government"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\nDUBAI: Higher education will play a major role in fostering tolerance throughout the world, Arab intellectuals and academics have predicted.<\/p>\n

\nExperts believe the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which in recent years has been wracked by religious radicalism, violent extremism and sectarian strife, will be one of the major beneficiaries.<\/p>\n

\nTolerance as a state policy received a big boost in 2019 after the UAE proclaimed it the Year of Tolerance in the country.<\/p>\n

\nThe initiative has seen a number of events promoting the UAE as \u201ca global capital for tolerance,\u201d with the emphasis on \u201clegislation and policies aimed at entrenching the values of tolerance, dialogue, coexistence and openness to different cultures, especially among youth, which will reflect positively on society as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nProf. Einas Sulaiman Al-Eisa, rector at the Princess Nourah bint Abdulrahman University (PNU) in Riyadh, said higher education had a crucial role to play, as it was in a good position to promote tolerant societies.<\/p>\n

\nPNU is the largest university for women in the world, with 59,000 students and more than 2,000 faculty members. Speaking at the recently held World Tolerance Summit in Dubai, Al-Eisa noted that encouraging tolerance, among other values, was deeply rooted in the university.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cMost of our efforts were scattered and fragmented up until the launch of Saudi Arabia\u2019s Vision 2030, which placed tolerance, among others, at its root,\u201d she said. \u201cWe took these values to heart and rose to the challenge of promoting tolerance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThrough different approaches, the university has been spreading the theme. \u201cIf you have an inclusive agenda across all faculties in your admission policies, are merit-based in your recruitment, and hire talent irrespective of their backgrounds, then you are heading in the right direction.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIt\u2019s a journey from admissions to graduation across academia, a prejudice-free curriculum, and programs instilling values and skills,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

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\nAl-Eisa highlighted the role of a global citizen education, in which education empowered learners to become active promoters of sustainable, tolerant, inclusive, safe and secure societies.<\/p>\n

\nBy 2020, PNU aims to send every student on campus on one experience abroad, she said.<\/p>\n

\nRecently, a group of students from the university took part in a female scouts program, joining an international community as the first girls from a Gulf nation. \u201cWe can never underestimate the role of sports in promoting tolerance,\u201d Al-Eisa added.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe are now running an ambitious program across the campus using cognitive behavioral theory to promote positive behavior, exhibiting true values. From the beginning, students are tested for certain skills, and there are customized activities for promoting these skills until they graduate.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe rector described Saudi Arabia\u2019s leadership as supportive, committed and visionary in spreading the value of tolerance.<\/p>\n

\nThe UAE, home to more than 200 nationalities and a multi-religious expatriate community that outnumbers the population of Emirati nationals, is viewed as a beacon of tolerance and peaceful coexistence for millions of people in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\nThe year 2019 saw the UAE create a special Ministry of Tolerance, establish the International Institute for Tolerance, introduce an anti-discrimination and hate act, and set up centers against extremism and terrorism.<\/p>\n

\nSpeaking at the World Tolerance Summit, Dr. Abdulatif Mohammed Al-Shamsi, president and CEO of the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) in the UAE, said: \u201cSheikh Zayed (founding father of the UAE) built the basis of the country on tolerance.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cBack in 1974, he ordered the building of three churches in the UAE, and there are many examples. Being open and welcoming is in the DNA of Emiratis.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\nThe ghaf was chosen as a symbol of the Year of Tolerance by the UAE because of its great significance as an indigenous tree. (SPA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\nAl-Shamsi pointed out the need for such sentiments to be carried on through today\u2019s youth and delivered via the academic system, particularly in the age of social media and fake news.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe HCT have 23,000 students and 84 different nationalities who teach our students,\u201d he told conference delegates. \u201cWe conduct different activities and practices all year round (related to tolerance).\u201d<\/p>\n

\nIn recent years, the concept of tolerance has expanded regionally to include women\u2019s issues, with many Arab countries working to ensure that women can find representation in leading positions. But more work in this area still needs to be done.<\/p>\n

\nAl-Eisa said Saudi university campuses were mainly populated by young men and women born after 1980 who were diverse, open-minded and community spirited.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cSo, the challenges in universities are even greater. It\u2019s not just promoting values; it\u2019s how you assess the progress of those students with these values so we can design (suitable) policies and activities. Because, without measuring the impact, we cannot move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe PNU aimed to produce critical and independent thinkers, innovators and creators, she added. \u201cCompassion, empathy and gratitude is what we need to focus on.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cHalf of our faculty is millennials, which is a strength because they are the most open-minded. But we can\u2019t marginalize others; we have to be very conscious of our unconscious biases to eliminate them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nIn order to contain radicalism, experts stress the need for a positive vision of commonalities rather than differences, given that the human mindset is instinctively drawn to disparities.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cDon\u2019t repeat German history in your country,\u201d said Dr. Hubertus Hoffmann, president and founder of the Global Tolerance Institute in Germany, speaking at the World Tolerance Summit.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe have to contain radicalism early. If we let them grow, the major problem is the passive majority. So, we have to stand up for our values.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nEducation led efforts, but more investment was needed for the promotion of tolerance, he said.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cTo have real peace, you need reconciliation and dialogue,\u201d Hoffman added. \u201cWithout this, there is no peace strategy. You need hard and soft factors and we tend to invest in hard factors.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cHowever, it\u2019s not enough to have peace in this region and elsewhere. If we are passive, we won\u2019t succeed. But I am an optimist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nHalfway across the world, in Colombia, a country torn apart by a drug war and conflicts with leftist groups, work is underway through Movilizatorio, a laboratory that aims to build movement, engagement and participation in peacebuilding.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe saw the need for it because we knew that the youth needed to be actively participating in the process we are going through in our region,\u201d said Juliana Uribe Villegas, Movilizatorio\u2019s CEO and founder.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cTechnology is such an important tool right now, but it doesn\u2019t have value. We need to give value to it and bring tolerance and peace-building value to technology and that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nThe company works with young people building platforms to promote peaceful dialogue.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cTolerance and peace need to be intentional at this time across the world, but we\u2019re not being invited by social media platforms to learn from others,\u201d Villegas said. \u201cInstead, we are being driven to confirm our own biases.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cSo intentionally, we need to build a culture and a way of communication which is open to different cultures, dialogue and participation in different things happening in different regions.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nTechnology was described as a double-edged sword by Al-Shamsi, because of its potential for enabling radical groups to disseminate negative values.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIt\u2019s becoming more demanding for us as educators to pay attention to the youth and remind them of the great passion of our ancestors of how tolerance was a practice. Technology spreads a lot of junk, but we have to promote values,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\nBy creating new norms and living and exhibiting them through student contributions and science, Al-Eisa spoke of a changing world. \u201cThis is where we\u2019re heading. I prioritize the role of universities because they lead change in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nHoffmann said a structure to prevent hate, of the kind afflicting countries as far apart as Yemen and Colombia, was of the essence.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunately very easy to incite hate. The cost of recovering from this hatred was enormous. We know it in Europe. So, we have to give young people the oxygen of freedom as well.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThey must have the freedom to express criticism or it doesn\u2019t work. The main tool is dialogue. You must listen. It\u2019s the mother tongue of humanity,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DUBAI: Higher education will play a major role in fostering tolerance throughout the world, Arab intellectuals and academics have predicted. Experts believe the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which in recent years has been wracked by religious radicalism, violent extremism and sectarian strife, will be one of the major beneficiaries. Tolerance as a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":42017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/42017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}