PROGRAM

 

The Heinrich Böll Foundation supports people and projects around the world who are working for meaningful participation, solidarity and peaceful change towards equality and justice in social and international relations. In the Middle East, our work is centered around four major axis of inquiry and intervention: Statehood and Participation, Power and Identity, War and Peace and Sustainable Development. Under these headlines, and in cooperation with our local and regional partners, we support long-term projects that aim at achieving an impact through intervention over a sustained period of time, and specific activities and events designed to improve capacities among forces of change and to create awareness for and  debate over pressing issues.

 

 

Statehood and Participation

Throughout the countries of the Middle East, citizens view the state with suspicion. State institutions are often experienced as biased towards the powerful, corrupt and predatory, and as a sometimes violent means to safeguard the position of a ruling elite, or the domination of one part of the population over others. Participation, on the other hand, is mostly reduced to elections of questionable representational value, or relies on informal channels and structures and primordial relations, and thus reinforces existing patterns of subordination and power. The program Statehood and Participation supports initiatives that demand accountability and due process and encourage citizens to become aware, active and organized around issues of (gender-)democratic participation and sustainable development.

Current Projects:

Improving Electoral Standards in Lebanon
Women's Right to Nationality
Iraqi Civil Society – Pushing for Change


Recent & Upcoming Activities:

New Approaches to Reform in the Arab Region
Independence of the Judiciary
Youth on the Margin Create their World

 

War and Peace

Conflict and crisis continue to be the double term  most consistently associated with the region. A multitude of fault lines today run across the region, springing from unresolved grievances past and present. As flash points continue to erupt, such conflicts radiate out and reach those who once considered themselves safely away over the sea. Accordingly, international efforts and intervention are being stepped up to set things right - but all too often, they get it all wrong. The program War and Peace is designed to analyze the roots of conflict, encourage constructive engagement with the memory and repercussions of conflict, and inquire into avenues to peaceful and cooperative solutions.

Recent & Upcoming Activities:

Giving Voice to Muslim Democrats

How to Deal with the Islamist Advance

Culture, Conflict, and Democracy

 
 

 

Power and Identity

National, political and religious identities remain subjects of contention around the region.  People in the Middle East are called upon to rally around narrowly defined values that are deployed in struggles over markets, power and cultural hegemony, and often have little opportunity to choose and decide how to define themselves, where to look for sources of inspiration and pride. The program Power and Identity wants to widen understanding about the cultural, confessional and ethnic dimensions of conflict and their relation to globalization and inequality of power, and supports cultural expressions and perspectives of socio-political issues and cross-cultural exchange.

Current Projects:

Building Platforms for Intellectual and Cultural Practice
Cultural Magazine Zawaya

Establishing Public Libraries as Social Spaces

 

Recent & Upcoming Activities:

Negotiating Diversity

Trans-Cultural Iconography

Well Played - Arab-Iranian Film Week

 

Sustainable Development

The Middle East is divided between high income economies relying on energy exports, and middle to low income economies struggling to provide for their populations. Both developmental models tend to neglect sustainability - but pollution, climate change and loss of natural resources will be back to haunt future generations anyway. Pushing for sustainable development is also a question of justice: between current and future generations, but also between those who have the means to isolate themselves from the negative repercussions of unsustainable practices, and those who have to bear the brunt of it.

The program Sustainable Development puts special emphasis on the issues of climate change and renewable energies, and supports sustainable agriculture through training for marketing and production skills.

 

Current Projects:

Mobile Agricultural Training Center for South Lebanon

Promoting Renewable Energies in Lebanon

 

Recent & Upcoming Activities:

Bada'el - Special Issue on Renewable Energy

Green Wars - Conflicts over Resources?

Arab Climate Campaign

 
 

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OTHER VOICES

 Mahmood MamdaniOn Blasphemy, Bigotry and the Politics of Culture Talk

More readings available from the hbf translation project
Other Voices

UPCOMING

Power, Governmentality, Resistance and State of Exception in the Arab World
Beirut, August 29-30, 2008

 

Emerging Powers and the Middle East

Beirut, October 24-25, 2008 

DOSSIER

Iraqi Refugee Crisis

 

Climate Change and the Middle East

 

War in Darfur

NEW PUBLICATIONS

Cities of the South: Citizenship and Exclusion in the 21st Century

Edited volume published in cooperation with the Institute Français du Proche Orient (IFPO) by Saqi Books