Report :

FNF extended the invitation to the Democratic Front Party to nominate a member to participate in a workshop titled "Chances and Challenges of Liberalism" in Germany. Ahmad Ibrahim was nominated after having an interview with the first vice-president of the Party, Dr. Osama al-Ghazaly Harb.

The following is an evaluation of the themes discussed during the workshop:

Monday 6th August 2008, Liberalism worldwide: success, failures, problems, and the future.

The participants were divided into five groups on geographical basis:

1. Central and Eastern Europe (Bulgaria, Hungary, Rumania, Ukraine, Georgia)
2. The Mediterranean (Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Turkey)
3. Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua)
4. Africa (Ghana, South Africa)
5. Asia (the Philippines, Thailand, Pakistan, Malaysia, Cambodia, Sri Lanka)

Egypt was categorized with the Mediterranean rather than African countries.
This grouping was continued for one day to discuss the topic on geographical basis, later groups were divided either randomly or by volunteering.
The Democratic Front Party representative presented the Mediterranean countries to the rest of the group.

The representative noticed that most of the political, economic, and social information the participants had about Egypt is mistaken. This was the case especially with the economic system, because most of the participants believed that Egypt is still under the socialist economic system, and most believed that the different levels of society are connected on the basis of religion. The Democratic Front Party representative corrected this information.  

Tuesday 7th August 2008

Liberalism vs. its opponents, conservatism and socialism
The participants were divided randomly into three groups each of which deals with the political principles of liberalism, socialism, or conservatism. The DFP representative was a member of the group dealing with liberalism.

Wednesday 8th August 2007

Property: Guardian of Liberalism and the basis for the market prosperity
The participants were divided randomly into three groups based on the economic performance of the state according to the World Bank Report, in order to discuss three economic political issues from three perspectives.

The first group discusses the problem of a large farmer with a group of individuals who expelled him and his family from the land.
The second group discusses the problem of a small farmer whom the state is about to expropriate part of his land for the establishment of a public road without paying compensation.
The third group discusses the problem of a small businessman who works in the field of technology and who stole a project from a competing company and sold it to a company after making changes to it.

All the groups were asked to respond to the three issues and provide justification based on the economic and political status of the countries.
The following activity was for each group to indicate whether the members are interested in investment within their countries or not, giving reasons for their answers.
A film was displayed about the opponents of globalization and the Taiwanese experience in free economy.

Thursday 9th August 2007

Democracy: Human Rights and the Role of law from a Liberal Viewpoint
The group was randomly divided into three smaller groups each of which discusses the previous concepts from a liberal viewpoint.
Democracy vs. Freedom: which do you prefer democracy without freedom, or freedom without democracy.
The group was randomly divided into two separate groups, one discussing democracy, and the other discussing freedom. The two groups held a debate.

Friday 10th August 2007

Competition, the Market and Choice: Prerequisites to Wealth and Progress
Training was conducted on leadership.
The group was divided into four smaller groups. The task was for each group to organize a number of geometrical pieces to form some patterns, taking speed and accuracy into account.
Another activity was conducted about the free market.
7 bags of candy or 10 monetary coins were distributed to each of the participants. Sales transactions were conducted among the members without specifying a specific price for the bags of candy, provided that each individual tries to get the largest number of bags while keeping the largest amount of coins.
An itinerary of the trip was reviewed.

Saturday 11th August 2007

The group departed the town to Weimar for a tour.
One of the concentration camps was visited in Buchenwald.
The group then departed to Dresden.

Sunday 12th August 2007

A tour was conducted in the city.
An official visit was made to Lommatzsch and a visit was made to the Mayer Ms. Anita Maaß, the member of the German Liberal Party. She stated that she was primarily able to win the local elections due to her personal connections, not due to being a member of the party, which is the case with all elections.

Monday 13th August 2007

A visit to the headquarters of the German Liberal party.
We were received by Mr. Torsten Herbst Mdl, the Secretary General and the spokesman of the Parliamentary Fraction of the party in the state of Saxony. The party ranks fourth in the representation of the opposition in the parliament of Saxony, filling 7 seats. It is clear that in 1999 and after disappointing results, the youth front decided to depose the leadership producing such results. As such, all leaderships on all levels, as well as administrative posts were changed, and by that the Party was able to achieve the minimum representation within the Parliament, which enabled them to be represented within the Federal Parliament.

He also underscored the importance of the relationship between the party and the youth organization. The law prohibits any activity by the party within universities and schools, as such the liberal youth organization, which is independent and unofficially connected to the Liberal Party, spreads liberal ideas and advocates thought within universities.
Upon the invitation of Mr. Herbst, the Parliament of Saxony was visited.
Also the former headquarters of the State Security police of Eastern Germany. This has been turned into a center for researching the former state security files and identifying its coercive practices against opposition.

Tuesday 14th August 2007

A visit was made to MDR1 television station upon the invitation of Mr. Matthias Gheler the station director. Mr. Axel Wössner, the legal advisor of the station, spoke about the role of the media campaigns in elections. He maintained that television stations provide equal time slots to all parties participating in the elections to display their program free of charge.

Wednesday 15th August 2007

A questionnaire was distributed to investigate the role of the state and the market in managing and setting the rules of some transactions. The outcome of this questionnaire was reviewed.
A discussion was conducted with respect to the advantages of a federation versus central government, through three case studies: Turkey, Thailand, and Mexico.
A meeting was held with post-graduate students from the University of Giessen.

Thursday 16th August 2007

Liberal values and the principles applied to the international market of agricultural products.
Through group work involving both the participants and the German students, 6 topics were proposed for discussion:

1. The protection of agricultural products in industrial countries;
2. The discrimination in the sector of agriculture in developing countries;
3. Combating poverty in developing countries;
4. Globalization versus local solutions in combating poverty;
5. The free market versus controlled trade;
6. Water as an issue of struggle and the source of future wars.

Friday 17th August 2007
Departure
Remarks:

• The topics discussed are important and were tackled from several points of view in an attempt to reach the optimum understanding of each topic.
  
  
• The timing allocated for discussion can be generally speaking said to be very appropriate.
  
  
• The facilitators of the workshop Mr. Wulf Pabst and Ms. Alexandra Juking did not intervene in the discussion for most of the time, allowing the chance to the participants to answer one another, which at times led to the digression of the discussion into personal debate. Moreover, their sparse participation made the participants the source of most of the information. However, the participants felt that it was important to hear the opinion of the facilitators most of the time, which is something that was mentioned in the final evaluation of the training.
  
  
• The visit to one of the small towns and hearing the mayor was useful. However, even according to the Mayor herself, the success of the party was mainly due to personal connections, which is important in such local elections. As such, it would have been more beneficial had the visit been arranged for a relatively larger city, where liberal thinking is more prominent and is having an impact on the political life.
  
  
• The visit to the headquarters of the Liberal Party in Saxony, as well as the Parliament in Saxony was very successful and useful. Through this visit the relationship between the Party and the youth organization was identified, as the law on political work prohibits direct work by parties in universities and schools, which means that the youth organization introduces the ideas of the party to the youth. The participants also realized that any citizen of the state is entitled to attend the parliament discussions without a permit, and that the walls of the building are made of glass so that people can observe without entering into the hall. Moreover, the discussions are broadcast via a special radio frequency. On the other hand, the elections law prohibits the nomination of independent members to the parliament, nonetheless, party members are entitled to resign after election and become independent members.
  
  
• The participant of the DFP received questions, almost on daily basis, from some of the participants, the organizers, and the German students. The questions were about the desire of the Arabs and Muslims to kill Christian Europeans, whether such is mentioned in the Quran, and whether targeting civilians through suicide attacks is a cause for entering paradise. Another set of questions related to whether all Egyptians marry four wives, the number of wives the Prophet (pbuh) had, and the abuse of women in Egypt. Other questions related to refraining from eating pork and other meats of animals not slaughtered according to the Muslim law, the consumption of alcohol, and praying. The DFP participant clarified many of the misconceptions and answered these queries. The participants empathized with the DFP participant due to his open-mindedness to the extent that they wanted to ask the organizers to offer him “Halal” meat, however, he refused politely.
  
  
• The DFP participant purchased 30 papyruses with pharaonic drawings and the name of the party and Egypt in hieroglyphics and in English, as well as 30 bookmarks made of papyrus with pharaonic drawings, and stamps, as well as some statues and crystals, and distributed them on the participants, the organizers and the workers in the Academy, the parliament member, and the Mayor. It was clarified that these gifts are from the party.
  
  
• It is recommended, out of hands-on experience, that the number of nominees from the Party be increased to two or more, which was the case with other countries, because the material covered is very useful.