Political solution needed for Syria, Arab League head says

Dubai: The League of Arab States is doing all that it can to remedy the situation in Syria, Nabeel Al Arabi, Secretary General of the Arab League, said yesterday at the 12th Arab Media Forum taking place in Dubai.

“The Arab League took charge of the [Syrian] case on July 13, 2011. Some of my colleagues from the league and I met with Bashar Al Assad [Syria president] and we spoke about three issues that still stand today: ceasing fire and violence completely; releasing all the prisoners — whose counts are in the tens of thousands; thirdly, going into real political reforms,” said Al Arabi at the forum yesterday.

Al Arabi explained that the Arab League has met Al Assad multiple times since then, and insisted on a cease-fire but the regime still violated that order.

His remarks came during a one-on-one session — that came after his keynote speech — that was part of the formal inauguration of the two-day 12th Arab Media Forum titled “Arab Media: Transitional Phase … Transitional Media”.

The annual forum, which is hosting 3,500 media experts this year, is discussing media phenomena that have resulted from the politically-charged environment as well as the increasingly rapid pace of security and social developments.

“The Arab League then took a number of decisions within the powers it possesses and its limited framework and based on the request of the opposition. The case was then transferred to the Security Council, which is the organisation responsible for keeping international peace and security,” Al Arabi said.

He added that the Security Council has not done anything about it yet.

Al Arabi said that the league’s decisions are not mandatory and cannot be enforced. He said that such powers are not available to any organisation in the world except for the Security Council.

“But there should be some sort of responsibility and accountability when the decisions are not implemented … and that does not exist.”

He added that when he joined the League, during the first ministerial meeting after his appointment, he proposed a number of changes that included updating the League’s Charter, and adding new elements. The changes have been approved, some plans were put in place and were reviewed by the summit and soon they will be put into action, Al Arabi said.

Shaikh Ahmad Mohammad Al Tayeb, Grand Shaikh of Al Azhar, who also gave a keynote speech, emphasised the power of words and the key role the media plays in shaping society and preserving it.

He added that the electronic revolution has made words even more effective, effective enough to fuel an economic, social and political revolution and that it has come with great benefits.

However, Al Tayeb said this revolution was not all good and positive, as it has had some negative effects on cultural values that the Arab Islamic identity is built on.

He said, “Our Arabic Language that [is] about to be eroded by the torrent of entertainment and media material, and the flood of languages, terms and consumerist behaviours and habits as well as the imported culture, and the media’s support of this foreign flood.”

He noted that this flood is not all bad, but said the foreign flood takes over the entire cultural scene.

“If any other language – including English – had faced what the Arabic language had faced from distortion, demolition and contempt campaigns, it would have vanished and become extinct and became an artefact in a museum or a lesson in an extinct languages class,” Al Tayeb said.

He urged Arab mediapeople to respect the Arabic language and change the negative reputation associated with Arabs.

In the past, Al Tayeb said, media outlets taught the audience all about culture. Now all the audience learns is the culture of raised voices and talking over each other without hearing what the other side has to say. He also said that the media uses poor language.

“What is worse is this is engraved in our youth’s minds bit by bit, until it becomes normal involuntary behaviour that they see nothing wrong with.”

He said that mediapeople should practise freedom of the press and expression, but keeping in mind their culture and values, be ethical and truthful, have good intentions and respect each other.