Closing Lunch Remarks
At the 2006 U.S.-Islamic World Forum
Doha, Qatar
Peter W. Singer
Senior Fellow of Foreign Policy Studies, and Director of the
Project on U.S. Policy towards the Islamic World in the Saban Center
at the Brookings Institution.
February 20, 2006
[STARTS]
As we bring this forum to a close, I think it is useful to reflect
back to the themes that brought us here. Change and leadership.
There are always two sides to change. Change can be positive and
welcome, change can be dangerous and stressful.
Change can solve problems and improve conditions. There is a popular
saying in South Asia "Barkat Hey Harkat Mey"—"There is blessing in
change."
Change can result in more fulfillment and happiness. Growth is
change. All forms of life move towards growth. Growth is natural.
Change is natural.
But change be feared. Just as life is change, death is change as
well. Just as change can improve, change can be disruptive and
destructive.
There was great debate at this forum about whether the changes we
are witnessing are positive or negative. For example, what is
interesting is that both American and Muslim leaders here are
divided over whether the changes we are seeing in the Palestinian
Territories and Iraq are of the positive or the negative.
I think part of this is that change in and of itself can be
overwhelming. Any kind of transition increases anxiety, fear of
change, a worry about result. I spend much time on planes and a
magazine article I read compared change diving off a swimming board
–Standing on the board isn’t scary, being in the water is fine. It’s
the period in between. It is the falling part that is scary. Change
is like that.
Sometimes change happens from specific plans for change, from what
we call "agents of change." It can come from the outside, such as
through a new American interest in democratization, or from within,
which is essentially what the entire agenda of reform in the Middle
East is about, be it from governments or civil society.
Sometimes, change is led by forces outside any one agent's controls.
The discussion of how technology are changing security, markets
shaping development and the arts, and the massive demographic
changes—100 million new jobseekers!—altering politics and the
economy, all reflect that.
Sometimes change can be easily predicted. There are so many issues
that we discussed that we can see will harken great changes. For
example, at the phenomenal session yesterday at lunch we heard about
a new generation of women leaders, moving into business and
politics. It is clear that this will create change.
Sometimes, changes should be predictable and yet we act surprised at
this. The victory by Hamas has seemed so shocking, not merely to
American leaders, but also to Arab and Muslim leaders, but indeed to
Hamas itself, that no one seemed prepared for something that now
seems so blindingly obvious.
Sometimes change is truly unpredictable. Who gathered here last year
would have predicted that a central issue that we would have to deal
with in U.S. Muslim relations would be an insulting and tasteless
cartoon in a Danish newspaper? And yet we must.
Perhaps the only thing we can say is that change is inevitable and
change inevitably changes the way we view each other and ourselves.
As we gather here, I think back to the forces that bring us together
almost 5 years since 9-11. For me personally and for my generation
9-11 was a force that changed my generation. It reshaped global
politics, creating as our colleague Shibley Telhami puts it, a new
prism through which we both view the world and act within it.
For myself, I lost two friends on 9-11, Rama and Mickey, who were a
couple on board the flight from Los Angeles that was crashed into
the World Trade Center. Rama and Mickey were both Muslim.
They were all that was noble about both Islam and change. They were
Muslims who had founded their own computer software company, based
in the U.S. and South Asia, they were models of how Muslim could
thrive in the 21st century economy. At the same time, Rama was
pregnant, timeless change.
So for me 9-11 was about change, about those that could not accept
change trying to fight change, to bring back the dark ages rather
than accept the 21st century.
But you cannot defeat change.
And that to me is what this Forum is about. It is about American and
Muslim world leaders gathering and saying that we accept that change
is happening and want to understand it better. We are creatures of
habit. But change requires new ways of thinking, breaking old
habits. We wrap ourselves in the garments of status quo concepts as
if we could not live without them. And yet, now we must
change—change our way of thinking and interacting.
The Forum is also about American and Muslim world leaders from all
sectors gathering and saying that they want to do something about
change to ensure that it is positive not negative. As our arts panel
would have it, it is appropriate that I reference the true agent of
change of America—Hollywood. The most popular TV show right now
among American youth is the show "The OC." In it, a character had
this saying: "You can either ride change, or change can ride you."
And that is what the leaders gathered here the last 3 days have
done. They have focused on how they can develop strategies for
managing change in a positive direction, in areas ranging from youth
and development to reform and security.
They have also sparked a series of actions that are exciting and
inspiring. One of the most fun aspects of this meeting for me is
visiting each of the sessions and hearing about the developments and
linkages that are taking place.
Ones that I have listened to range from large-scale agendas like:
-
the science and technology partnership session's 10 point action
plan that will begin in May,
-
a new initiative on public and private partnerships in youth
development,
-
an American media organization developing a partnership with TV
channels in the Arab world and Pakistan,
-
the linkages made between American and Muslim arts and culture
leaders which have raised discussions of follow-up arts
festivals, seminars for catalytic funding, and similar
gatherings in Hollywood and Washington to widen the discussion,
-
to contacts made on a personal basis, from the discussion in the
hallways and over meals,
Thus change is inspiring. You are all inspiring.
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