Doha Debates: Surprising!

Bill Clinton in the Doha Debates

In the summer of 2011, fourteen teachers, myself included, ventured to the Middle East to visit the countries of Bahrain and Qatar.  The 11 day trip was sponsored (and largely paid for) by the governments of those 2 countries in an effort to influence American educators to tear down many stereotypes that they felt we had about Arabs, Islam and the Middle East in general.   I’ll write about that trip at some point in the future. 

                One thing I definitely learned on the trip is that there is more public debate than we had thought previously, at least in parts of the Middle East.  This was particularly evident in Qatar, which is scheduled to host the 2022 World Cup, by the way.  Nowhere was this dialogue more in evidence than in the Doha Debates which we learned about firsthand.

                Google” Doha debates” and you’ll find an archive of video debates on many sensitive Middle East topics.

                The debates are held in an auditorium on the Georgetown campus in Qatar.  (Carnegie-Mellon, Cornell, Texas A&M, Virginia Commonwealth and Northwestern also have campuses in Doha, the capital of Qatar.)   The 350 people in the audience are largely students at these 6 universities who are from all parts of the globe, including US students studying in   After 2 speakers on either side speak to the motion to be debated, the floor is open to questions and comments from the audience, and this is where you behold dramatic diversity in the discussion of the motion, as well as in the dress of the audience members.  

Below is a list of “motions” that were debated in the recent past:

1) This House believes marriage between close family members should be discouraged

2) This House believes censorship makes a mockery of the arts

3) This House believes women will be worse off after the Arab revolutions

4) This House believes President Assad must resign

5) This House believes that Arab revolutions will just produce different dictators

6) This House believes education is worthless without freedom of speech

7) This House believes women are superior to men

8) This House believes France is right to ban the face veil

                Below is a description of the Doha debates from their home page.  You can read it below, or google “Doha debates” and read it on line, before you click on the debate you might like to watch.  I have used these debates in my URI International Politics classes, and the students have found it fascinating.

            “The Doha Debates are chaired by the award-winning former BBC correspondent and interviewer Tim Sebastian, who founded them in 2004 and secured their editorial independence.  Although the Debates are financed by the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, no government, official body or broadcaster has any control over what is said at the sessions or who is invited.  Televised eight times a year by BBC World News, the Debates are based on a centuries-old format, refined by the famous Oxford Union. They focus on a single, controversial motion, with two speakers for and against. Once they have outlined their arguments, each speaker is questioned by the chairman and the discussion is then opened up to the audience for argument and a final electronic vote.

The 350-strong audiences are drawn mainly from Qatar’s student body and come from all over the Arab and Islamic worlds. In several debates they have adopted radical and unexpected positions.  Clear majorities have stated that Muslims are failing to combat extremism and that the Palestinians risk becoming their own worst enemy. A student at Texas A&M Qatar says the Doha Debates have taught her things of great importance. 'I have learned not to judge, but to think with maturity and logic, and not to accept things straight away; instead I require proof and evidence.'

Internationally, The Doha Debates have attracted wide attention and are broadcast to more than 400 million homes globally on numerous broadcasters.  The Doha Debates are a unique venture in the Arab world, providing a battleground for conflicting opinions and arguments about the major political topics of the region.  While governments around the world tighten restrictions on press freedom, the Doha Debates openly dissect the vital issues of the Middle East in front of its people and on global TV.  For the first time in their life, many young Arabs are having their say on key political questions – challenging politicians and experts face to face.  They engage in time-honoured rivalry – where the only weapons are words.  They practice the art of peaceful disagreement: understanding and respecting different views.”