In the news: 2008

Perhaps, after nearly five years broadcasting debates from the confines of the Middle East, I'm easily pleased. But over that period, no other Arab leader has come close to making a similar, public commitment and all the recent changes affecting the Arab media have led inexorably backward.

So as we continue to wait for changes to the sponsorship law in Qatar employers who violate the existing labour legislation need to be pursued through the courts more rigorously and punished accordingly. After all, three quarters of the Doha Debates audience who believe Gulf Arabs value profit over people cannot be wrong, can they?

Gulf states are seeking to buy people’s silence through state hand-outs while unskilled foreign workers are living in conditions “unacceptable to cats and dogs”, according to a leading Bahraini newspaper editor.

This is a forum where we are using language and discussion to try and reach a solution and better understanding between people. We are giving people a voice on a world stage so they can say what they think and that can be heard.

After three presidential debates between Obama and McCain and one between their VP choices, the most obvious thing to hit me as I sat watching the recording of "The Doha Debates" was that it was the foreign policy debate we never had here in the U.S.

The debate was a lively one, with all the panellists contributing interesting insight into the problems the next US administration will face in the region..

We can’t say [progress towards democracy] has halted. There are people who are doing their best to hamper the process, but it’s up to the other side – to the citizens of every country – to really work hard for it. Of course there are some regimes that wouldn’t like to see their people enjoying more liberties and freedom, but we have to resist. This is what I was trying to explain during the debate.

In the space of four seasons, the Doha Debates have provided a neutral and unbiased platform for discussion
and debate within the Middle East, in a region otherwise unable to express itself in public on issues
covering politics, religion and social issues.

A substantial majority of the audience at the first of the new series of Doha Debates was convinced that progress towards democracy in the Arab world has come to a halt.
 

There's no program other than The Doha Debates in the Middle East that allows Arab audiences to so openly confront a figure such as Zahar, and it's hard to imagine any other place in the Arab world they could do so other than in Qatar. The uniqueness of program is emblematic of Qatar's exceptional role in the region - one sending out ripples of change throughout the Middle East - and generating a strong counterreaction, as well.

Walking outside, [Tim Sebastian] ran into a group of students sitting on the steps... They were using the evening's discussion as the starting point for a broader discussion of Middle Eastern politics and politics in general

I think [the Doha Debates] is a wonderful institution. It encourages people to take other points of view seriously and to engage with other ideas. I appreciated how egalitarian it was. There was no hierarchy about it and that's all for the good

I think it is great to bring to this region debate of this quality. It is progressive and important. We need this debate in our life in this part of the world. It is very positive and I can only admire them. They play an important role in changing society

Students asked whether the West should be blamed for the emergence of extremism and how destitute people in war-ravaged countries such as Palestine or Iraq could fight radicals".

Where else in the Arab world are people discussing whether the Arab League should be shut down, whether Arab states couldn't care less about Darfur, debating the Palestinian question, the Iraqi issue; whether there is genuine reform in the region? These are complex subjects and this is the premier forum in the Arab world where they are discussed.