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Courtesy of Doha Debates
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| Live audience of Doha Debates. |
The Doha Debates are a public forum for dialogue
and freedom of speech in Qatar. Each month speakers
are invited from around the world to debate the
burning issues of the Arab and Islamic world in
front of an audience who are encouraged to participate
by asking questions. The debates are chaired by
the internationally renowned broadcaster Tim Sebastian,
formerly of the BBC's Hard Talk program.
The Doha Debates are held at the headquarters of
the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and
Community Development in Doha, which is headed by
Her Highness, Sheikha Mozah bin Nasser al Missned.
The second series of Doha Debates was launched in
the Fall of 2005.
As a decision-making tool, the medium of debate
has its roots in the early democracies of ancient
Greece and Rome and remains the essential method
by which parliamentary democracies today conduct
their legislative process. Debates are frequently
used in schools and universities to train young
people to speak in public and to enhance their education
in democracy and freedom of speech.
The purpose of the Doha Debates is to allow a public
exploration of the important issues in the Arab
and Islamic worlds and apply the principles of free
speech and democratic decision-making through the
use of this traditional debating format. The purpose
is also to create a sense of social responsibility
that will carry through to real life. To that end,
the Qatar Foundation is well known as a venue where
people of various backgrounds, expertise and opinions
can share knowledge and exchange views.
The Doha Debates have a format similar to the traditional
Oxford Union debate in Britain, where discussion
centers on a "motion", usually a controversial
statement. Two teams argue for and against the motion;
the discussion is then thrown open to the audience,
directed by the chairman. At the end of the debate,
a vote is taken and the chairman announces the result,
declaring the motion to have been passed or rejected
by "the house." Tim Sebastian's international
reputation of tough questioning and straight talking
sets the tone of this ground-breaking enterprise.
The guest speakers strive to be eloquent, witty
and provocative. They may attack their opponent's
arguments - but not the person. The aim is to test
the logic of an argument, examine complex subjects
from a variety of angles and reach a vote among
the audience that tests the effectiveness of what
they have heard.
It is hoped that the audience might be liberated
from well-worn ideological clichés and inspired
to fresh insights. At the very least, they will
learn that an ideological opponent's view can also
be valid. Recent topics of debate included an analysis
of Iraq and should foreign troops withdraw there
immediately; the plight of the Palestinian people
and whether Arab governments have failed them; and
a spirited discussion of whether Arab women should
have full equality with men.
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Courtesy of Doha Debates
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Tim Sebastian
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Debate chairman Tim Sebastian’s
credentials are unimpeachable. The Oxford graduate
is best known as the former presenter of the BBC's
international flagship interview program, Hard Talk
with Tim Sebastian. He has spent the last seven
years traveling the world for Hard Talk, interviewing
the world's newsmakers and personalities - from
presidents, prime ministers and kings to authors,
actors & musicians.
Mr. Sebastian has worked for the
BBC for 25 years, starting his career in Poland
before moving on to become the BBC's Europe Correspondent
in 1982. Two years later he was posted to Moscow
before moving to Washington, D.C., in 1986.
In 1982, Mr. Sebastian was awarded
the British Academy of Film and Television Arts
Richard Dimbleby Award and was named Television
Journalist of the Year by the Royal Television Society.
Additionally he has twice won the Royal Television
Society's Interviewer of the Year Award for his
Hard Talk interviews. For the past two years, he
has been working with the Qatar Foundation on the
Doha Debates.
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