OK, enough complaining. I made it to Doha in one piece, my bag eventually arrived, and the activities have commenced. I'm not getting wireless in the sessions, so everything over the next few days will have to be from notes and memory, so bear with me.
The opening session focused on trends in public opinion in the United States and in the Islamic world. Shibley Telhami presented the findings of his most recent survey (which I wrote about when he presented them at Brookings, so won't repeat here). Steven Kull presented the findings of the recent joint survey of American and Iranian public opinion, and also noted that on Monday he will release findings of a major survey of public opinion on relations between Islam and the West done for the BBC (about which I expect to have more to say soon -stay tuned). Dalia Mughanim then presented some recent findings from the massive 40 country Gallup survey of the Islamic world carried out from fall 2005 through the end of 2006 (I had seen some of the findings of that project before, but in incomplete form and in an off the record session. One interesting part of her presentation was a pointed comparison between American and Islamic views of the problem (Americans tend to think that Muslims have negative views of the United States due to misinformation about American policies, and to prefer public relations or better communications responses; Muslims naturally tend to think that their negative views are driven by accurate perceptions of American policies, and also to particularly resent perceived disrespect for their faith or their issues). Finally, Khalil Shikaki presented a detailed reconstruction of Palestinian public opinion over the last year, pointing to declining support for Hamas which is not translating really into increased support for Fatah. Shikaki claimed to see grounds for optimism in the survey data, particularly in the high levels of support for peace with Israel and for its recognition under certain basic conditions (a finding Telhami also reported in his six country study).
Before coming out here I had wondered whether what seemed to be a lower level of participation by Islamists this year compared to past forums reflected a decision by the organizers or a growing disillusionment with dialogue on the part of the Islamists. Telhami told me that neither is the case: in fact, he says, they had invited a number of interesting Islamist figures (including a couple of important Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood/Islamic Action Front leaders) and had expected their participation, but then had them back out for various reasons. As it is, Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Sadeq el-Mahdi are pretty big headliners, and there are a number of less well-known but intellectually or politically interesting participants. I will be watching keenly to see whether Qaradawi comes in tonight with pleasant banalities or with the kind of "frank and open exchange" which he has of late been celebrating in his dialogues with Shia figures. Ditto for Amr Musa, who is also addressing the plenary. I'm hoping for the latter, but also hoping that it is a constructive kind of frankness and not just the same old.
Oh, and believe it or not, I ran into Amr Musa again. Literally, again. A potentially disturbing habit. But the Secretary-General was a perfect gentleman, as always, and at least it gave me the chance to ask him a few questions about the Sunni-Shia issue.
This is great bloggy work, Abu A! Glad you are sharing!
Posted by: Nur al-Cubicle | February 17, 2007 at 04:14 PM
It would really be great if Shikaki and Telhami added to their surveys a question on people's feelings about American hiphop, maybe even breaking it down into "leftist," "corporate" and "very ghetto" categories. We badly need some evidence-based goodwill tours.
Posted by: moloch-agonistes | February 17, 2007 at 06:58 PM
So what did you ask Amr about the Sunni-Shia issue and what was his response?
Posted by: Non-Arab Arab | February 17, 2007 at 07:12 PM