Witnesses:

Panel 1:

The Honorable Madeleine K. Albright
   Former Secretary of State
   Washington, DC

Admiral William J. Fallon, USN (ret.)
   Former Commander of U.S. Central Command
   Cambridge, MA

Panel 2:

Dalia Mogahed
   Executive Director
   Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, Washington, DC

Eboo Patel
   Executive Director
   Interfaith Youth Core, Chicago, IL

Jim Sciutto
   Senior Foreign Correspondent
   ABC News, London, UK

Please join us for a panel discussion with:

Thursday, February 26, 2009
12:00 - 2:00 pm

The Henry L. Stimson Center
1111 19th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036
Twelfth Floor
Lunch will be served.

By Associated Press
 
Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona is hosting a film screening at the Capitol on Thursday for a far-right Dutch lawmaker who claims that Islam inspires terrorism.

Kyl is sponsoring the event for Geert Wilders, who was denied entry to London earlier this month because British officials said he posed a threat to public order.

Wilders' 15-minute film juxtaposes verses from the Quran with images of violence by Muslims. Wilders has called the Quran a "fascist book" and said it should be banned.

Kyl agreed to facilitate the event because "all too often, people who have the courage to point out the dangers of militant Islamists find themselves vilified and endangered," said spokesman Ryan Patmintra.

Thursday's event was being sponsored by the International Free Press Society, headed by Danish activist Lars Hedegaard, and the Center for Security Policy, a think tank in Washington led by Republican Frank Gaffney.

Wilders' film has sparked protests around the world, and it has inspired a debate on freedom of speech. Wilders had been invited to Britain by a member of Parliament's upper house, the House of Lords, to show his film. But the British government refused his entry into the country, saying he posed a threat to "community harmony."

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband told the British Broadcasting Corp. that Wilders was guilty of "extreme anti-Muslim hate." He said, "There is no freedom to stir up racial and religious hatred."

Several leading senators, including Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., declined to comment.

Full Article

 

 
On March 2, the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, as a part of the Muslim West Facts Project www.MuslimWestFacts.com, will release the first-ever fully random representative study of Muslim Americans, derived from more than 300,000 national household surveys. Muslim Americans: A National Portrait provides an unprecedented snapshot of this diverse community revealing a uniquely American story of ethnic and political diversity, upward mobility, and entrepreneurship - representing a national reservoir of intellectual capital and creative energy, as well as a valuable brain trust for engaging the Muslim World.

At the same time, the study revealed lingering obstacles to the full integration of Muslim Americans into the nation's political and civic fabric, especially among young people, presenting a challenge to the community and the wider public in reaping the full benefits of this cultural and intellectual resource.
 


RSVP required: 202-715-3147 or via e-mail jason_bough@gallup.com

By PETER BAKER | The New York Times

Fresh from orchestrating a historic victory, President Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, headed to the remote seaside town of Baku for a lucrative speech. For Mr. Plouffe, it was a chance to pocket an easy $50,000. But for the authoritarian government of Azerbaijan, it was a chance to burnish the reputation of a harsh system headed by the son of a K.G.B. general.

An outcry forced Mr. Plouffe to donate the cash to pro-democracy groups in the former Soviet Union, but to some policy experts it spotlighted a shift in American attitudes toward advancing the cause of democracy abroad. Mr. Plouffe did not intend to give succor to a despot, friends said, but evidently did not think to determine whether the supposed civic group forking over the money had ties to an anti-democratic regime.

Four years after President George W. Bush declared it the mission of America to spread democracy with the goal of "ending tyranny in our world," his successor's team has not picked up the mantle. Since taking office, neither Mr. Obama nor his advisers have made much mention of democracy-building as a goal. While not directly repudiating Mr. Bush's grand, even grandiose vision, Mr. Obama appears poised to return to a more traditional American policy of dealing with the world as it is rather than as it might be.

The essential tension for the Obama team is whether to let Mr. Bush's strong association discredit the very idea of spreading democracy. "It's sadly ironic that an administration that put democracy promotion at the forefront of its foreign policy has created such controversy about what has been a bipartisan ambition," said Kenneth Wollack, president of the National Democratic Institute, a government-financed group, affiliated with the Democratic Party, that promotes democracy abroad.

Where Mr. Bush called the spread of freedom the central goal of American policy, Mr. Obama made just passing reference to those who silence dissent being on "the wrong side of history." Indeed, his secretary of state, Hillary Rodham Clinton, outlined a policy of the "Three D's" - defense, diplomacy and development. The fourth D, democracy, did not make the list.

And if that were not clear, during her trip to Asia last week, she said that human rights violations by China "can't interfere" with cooperation between Washington and Beijing on other issues. That may simply be a more honest statement of longstanding reality in the Chinese-American relationship, but it still seemed jarring.

"As a Democrat, I am particularly troubled," said Jennifer Windsor, executive director of Freedom House, a group that promotes democracy and liberty abroad. "To see democracy promotion as particularly Republican or Bush policy is to misunderstand our country's foreign policy history."

Mr. Obama, Ms. Windsor said, should find his own way to advance the cause. "The challenge for the Obama team is to find words and concepts that enable the administration to distinguish itself from the Bush administration, but not to downgrade support for democracy and civil and political rights," she said. "So far, I haven't seen them even try."

Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy, said Mr. Obama should retool the agenda to make it more of a long-term goal instead of an immediate policy instrument. He argued "for lowering the profile of the issue without abandoning the commitment, especially in the Middle East, which is the toughest region, but where more progress was achieved in the last period than is generally recognized."

Mr. Inboden said Mr. Obama has the chance to rebrand democracy. His own election generated enormous good will around the world, an "incredibly profound and incredibly potent" statement about American democracy, Mr. Inboden said. And so, he said, "There's real opportunity there."

Maybe others see it that way, too. Last week, in what some saw as a goodwill gesture toward Mr. Obama, Egypt released Mr. Nour again.

Full Article

 
WHO SHOULD APPLY?
Members of local and international NGOs, journalists, staff members of international institutions, think-tanks and research groups, and interested policy analysts and advisors.

FEES
Participants or their sponsoring organizations will be expected to cover their own travel expenses to and from Boston.

Registration fees are as follows:
$500       Corporations, government, media
$350       Non profit int'l orgs, foundations
$200       Non profit local or community-based organizations


INQUIRIES & APPLICATIONS
Please direct inquiries for more information about the curriculum and faculty to Althea Middleton-Detzner, Assistant Director, Programs and Research, International Center on Nonviolent Conflict, icnc@nonviolent-conflict.org

Only a limited number of applicants will be invited to participate in the Summer Institute. Applicants should send a copy of their CV, along with completing the application form, no later than March 13, 2009, to Althea Middleton-Detzner, icnc@nonviolent-conflict.org.

DOWNLOAD THE FSI APPLICATION FORM

What needs to be done to develop a sense of citizenship in young people and help them realize their role in a democratic society?

How can you reform your country's education system so that graduates have the necessary skills for employment in the public and private sectors?

What needs to be done in your country to provide youth with the opportunity to become entrepreneurs and/or leaders in their communities?