The promotion of a political dialogue between members of civil societies in Europe and the Arab world is an important objective of the project work of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF) in the Middle East and Northern Africa. Together with liberal political parties NGOs pushing a liberal agenda are the main partners of the Foundation in this part of the world.

In cooperation with the Foundation these groups are striving for more freedom of expression, the rule of law and the freedom of assembly and association – to name but the most important political rights.

"The Freedom of Association is a precondition for non-violent political participation and thus also political reforms", argues Dr. Ronald Meinardus, FNF’s Regional Director in Cairo. For several years, the Foundation has sponsored a regional project aimed at promoting the freedom of association in selected Arab states. Members of the recently established Arab Council for the Freedom of Association have now participated in a visiting program to Germany sponsored by FNF: In Berlin, the delegation got a first-hand and in depth overview of the constitutional, legal and also political handling of this basic political right in Germany. The Arab NGO leaders spoke with government officials, police officers, legal experts, party politicians and civil society members.

"If you look at the texts, our constitutions are very similar", said Dr. Arous Zoubeir from Algeria. "The main difference between Germany and our part of the world is that in Germany the constitution is applied. This is not the case in our countries."

Not a One-Time Event

Following the program in Berlin, the group joined an international conference at the Foundation’s headquarters titled "Civil Society in Europe and the Arab World – Towards a Sustainable Dialogue".

A delegation of leaders of member parties and observers of the Network of Arab Liberals (NAL) is visited Germany for a study tour titled "The Organization of Modern Political Parties". Sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF) the main objective of the one-week program has been to introduce to the Arab party leaders the internal organizational structures and procedures of a modern European liberal Party – the Free Democratic Party of Germany or FDP. A further objective was to discuss all issues related to electoral politics and strategies and campaigning.

The Arab delegation was headed by Mr. Mohamed Tamaldou, the President of the Network of Arab Liberals (NAL) and main regional partner of the Foundation in the Arab world.

One important objective of the program was to give the Arab guests a first-hand impression of the highly decentralized political system of the Federal Republic of Germany. This decentralization is also reflected in the organizational structure of the major political parties, which have more or less self-governing units on the municipal, the regional and the national levels. The group travelled to the regional capital of Düsseldorf for talks with regional and municipal party leaders. This being election time in the federal state of North Rhine Westfalia, the group witnessed the final days of the electoral campaign and also visited a polling station on election day.

"The visit was successful beyond measure. It helped the Arab leaders see and learn from the German experience in democracy", said NAL-President Mohamed Tamaldou in a statement at the end of the visit. Regional Director Dr. Ronald Meinardus highlighted another point: "This one-week tour has also strengthened the bonds of friendship between senior leaders of the Arab Network and the Foundation and this personal dimension is crucial for our work."

On the sidelines of the visiting program, the Arabic Program of Radio Deutsche Welle hosted a panel discussion with members of the delegation on liberalism in the Arab world. You may listen to the 30-minute-program here.

Twenty-six liberal youth leaders from the Arab world came together in Tunis from April 26 to 29, 2010 for a workshop entitled "Strategies to Empower and to Strengthen liberal youth organizations in the Arab world".

Organized by the Regional Office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF) in cooperation with the Foundation’s office in Tunis and co-sponsored by the Parti Social Liberal (PSL) of Tunisia, the three-day activity brought together young liberal activists from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, Jordan and Lebanon.

Bonds for the Future

Board members of the Union of Arab Liberal Youth (UALY), which was set up last year in Cairo, attended the Tunis event and benefited from the opportunity to promote the network and discuss future plans and activities. On day three, the delegates engaged in strategic planning and discussed weaknesses and strengths and developed plans aimed at empowering their groups. Judging from the evaluation at the end, the program was a big success: "The atmosphere was simply excellent, all participants were eager and committed to learn and we established bonds that will carry on into the future" wrote one participant from Palestine.

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty’s (FNF) Regional Office in Cairo has for the past years cooperated with the Egyptian Information Technology Support Center in an effort to make comprehensive information on political reform initiatives and social movements in this country available online. You may find this valuable data at our partner’s main website http://www.id3m.com.

To make the data available also in printed form, our partners have published four comprehensive bibliographies on "Freedom of Press and of Expression", "Political Parties and Syndicates", "Civil Society" and "Social Movements".

The books contain bibliographical data and abstracts from journalistic articles, academic papers, NGO publications and books published during the past ten years.

The books have been published at Merit Publishing House. If you are interested, you can buy it at the Merit book store, or send an e-mail to egypt@fnst.org and let us know which of the books we should send you by mail for FREE.

Senior members of the Network of Arab Liberals (NAL) convened in Rabat on March 26 and 27, 2010 for a conference titled "Parliaments in the Arab World. Chances and Challenges for Liberal Political Parties". The opening ceremony was held in the main hall of the Assembly of Councillors, the Upper House of the Moroccan Parliament.

It was the first time the Network held a session in an Arab parliament – and, consequently, more than one speaker highlighted the historic importance and the political symbolism of the event.

This has lead to a diminished role of the opposition parties, thus, in turn, effectively eliminating the prerequisites for a peaceful transfer of power from the ruling party. In a programmatic paper, the delegates plead for a stronger role of parliaments in their respective countries as an independent power in a system of checks and balances; they demand transparent and representative elections and an end to the domination of political life by the ruling party. They also ask for a stronger role of women, the youth and minorities in the respective parliaments and uncensored access to the media, which remain under governmental control in many countries.

Some two-hundred Egyptians from all walks of life joined the launching event of the documentary film entitled "Liberalism: An Egyptian Story" on March 4, 2010 at the Al Sawy Culturewheel in Zamalek/Cairo. The ten-minute-documentary is part of the ongoing campaign "I am liberal" of the Regional Office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF) in Cairo which aims at supporting Egyptians and their organizations communicate to a wider public their liberal ideas and principles. Following the screening of the film, which was shortened to ten minutes so that it may be distributed on the Foundation’s You Tube Channel, Egyptian liberal youth activists joined a panel discussion on the challenges and chances of liberalism in their country.

FNF organized the launching ceremony in cooperation with three media partners: Internet radio Hoytna.net, the mass circulation daily newspaper Al Dostour and the news channel ON TV. Hundreds of CD-copies were distributed to the mostly youthful audience: "It is our clear objective to get the liberal message out to as many people as possible", said the Foundation’s Regional Director Dr. Ronald Meinardus and added that the documentary together with the campaign "I am liberal" focus mainly on the Egyptian youth. "To reach the young people, we must use the modern media they prefer – and we believe that this film is a suitable way to do just that."

The Foundation plans to show the documentary in other parts of Egypt. Send us an email and get your FREE copy of the CD.

View "Liberalism: An Egyptian Story" here

The documentary film "Liberalism – An Egyptian Story" will be aired for the first time at a public event at Al Sawy Culturewheel in Cairo/Zamalek (Book Hall) on Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 19:00 p.m. The documentary aims as presenting recent Egyptian history from a clear liberal perspective. It features important historical events and commentary by liberal Egyptian politicians and activists.
Following the presentation of the film, members of liberal youth organizations featured in the documentary will join a panel discussion on "Liberalism in Egypt – Challenges and Chances".

The documentary and the panel discussion are part of campaign titled "I am liberal" which is sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty’s Cairo office. The aim of this campaign is to support liberal Egyptians to voice their liberal perspectives to a wider audience and to create public spaces for the discussion and dissemination of liberal principles and values. In the context of this campaign, the Foundation has supported liberal publications, seminars and workshops and also the production and dissemination of audio-visual media. The campaign is ongoing and we welcome creative project proposals.

Once more, Cairo came to the fore of the civil society in the Arab world: More than one hundred delegates representing NGOs, political parties, labour unions, international human rights organizations and the European Union joined the Conference on "Freedom of Association. A Roadmap for the Future" organized by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF) from February 10 to 12, 2010. The three-day event marked the formal ending of a three-years regional project aimed at promoting the freedom of association in the Arab world. This project has been supported by the European Union and was – in the initial phase – focused on Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Syria.

In a later stage project activities were also conducted in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. At the recent Cairo conference, FNF could welcome delegates from Bahrain, Yemen, Sudan and Mauritania. "This project has opened many new doors and the Foundation’s image in the Arab civil society has benefited considerably", said Ralf Erbel, FNF’s representative in Amman, who has headed the implementation.

Politically the project received a boost due to the close cooperation with the League of Arab States (LAS). Important meetings were hosted at the Cairo headquarters of the League. The initial and also the final conferences were held under the patronage of LAS-Secretary General Amr Mousa thus giving the project additional political impetus. "The Arab League has opened the door to dialogue with civil society", said Mrs. Nancy Bakeer, the newly appointed Commissioner for Civil Society, at the opening of the conference.

During the three-years project FNF and LAS extended their relations. Both sides have agreed to cooperate in a united effort aimed at promoting dialogue between the European and Arab civil societies. A first joint activity is planned for this summer in Potsdam, Germany.

Following the award-winning essay writing contest "Why I am a Liberal", the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty’s (FNF) Cairo office has published a call for proposal inviting liberal Egyptian individuals and organizations to submit innovative and creative concepts aimed at promoting liberalism particularly among the young generations. All in all 28 proposals were submitted, and we are pleased to announce that of these five have been selected for our sponsorship:

The awarded projects are the following:

A two-day workshop in Fayoum for authors of children books entitled "Promoting liberal values among Egyptian children" in cooperation with the Literature Club House Snuris.

A ten-minute documentary film entitled "Liberalism – An Egyptian Story" submitted by Mr. Ahmad Naggy.

The relationship between economic freedom and social justice was the theme of this year’s Economic Freedom of the Arab World Conference held in Marrakech on November 13 to 15, 2009. As in earlier years, this event was co-organized by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty’s Cairo Office, the Fraser Institute of Canada and the International Research Foundation of Oman. The Association of Young Entrepreneurs of Morocco Centre de Jeunes Dirigents D’Entreprise joined as local partners.

The findings of the 2009 Report on Economic Freedom of the Arab World were the point of reference in most presentations and discussions at this conference. The Report published annually by the Fraser Institute in cooperation with the IRF and FNF was launched in both English and Arabic at the beginning of the two-day conference. The data, once more, substantiates the core liberal message that there exists a correlation between the degree of economic freedom of a country and the level of economic development.

Bahrain first, Egypt tenth

For the first time, enough data was available to include Bahrain in the rankings, which had the best overall score in the 2009 report followed by Kuwait, Lebanon and Oman. Jordan ranks 5^th, Egypt 10^th and Morocco 11^th. According to the data, Algeria, Syria, Mauritania and Tunisia have the weakest levels of economic freedom in the Arab world.

Addressing the conference, Morocco’s Minister of Employment Jamal Aghmani gave an overview of his government’s reform initiatives that took up speed in the last decade. Although the minister was upbeat he conceded that much could still be done to improve the climate for private investment. As in other Arab nations, unemployment is a major challenge in Morocco.

A senior delegation of the Network of Arab Liberals (NAL) visited Brussels for meetings with the European Commission and liberal leaders at the European Parliament. The meetings were part of a program co-sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF) entitled "Liberal Approaches to Sustainable Migration Policies in the Mediterranean Region". At the European Parliament (EP), the Arab delegation held talks with Mrs. Neyts-Uyttebroeck and Baroness Sarah Ludford, members of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).

In her welcoming remarks, Mrs. Neyts, who is also President of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (ELDR), stressed the importance of a political dialogue with the Network of Arab Liberals and praised NAL for what she called "extremely important and remarkable achievements" in developing programmatic principles for a liberal Arab migration policy.

Earlier, Mohamed Tamaldou, the President of the Network of Arab Liberals, had presented the so called Tunis principles on "Migration and Development". These state - among others - that "the relationship between the Arab world and Europe has a multidimensional strategic depth which requires from the liberal family an exceptional effort to fend off the threats of all forms of extremism through constructive and responsible dialogue". In her talk, Baroness Ludford highlighted the need for a common European migration policy: "We know that Europe needs migrants, but immigration must be well managed."

The two sides agreed to continue their dialogue on migration in a meeting which would be held in Morocco next spring. "Our Foundation is committed to promote the political dialogue between Arab and European liberals", said FNF-Regional Director Dr. Ronald Meinardus, who accompanied the delegation to Brussels.

Well over two hundred senior members of liberal political parties from all parts of the world have signed up for the 56. Congress of Liberal International (LI) which will be held in Cairo from October 29 through November 1, 2009. The theme of this year’s Congress, the first ever to be held in Egypt, will be "Education in the 21st Century". This major international political event is hosted by the Egyptian Democratic Front Party (DFP) which has recently joined Liberal International and is an active member of the Network of Arab Liberals (NAL), the regional political partner of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF).

As a liberal political institute, FNF has been an associate member of Liberal International for many years. FNF is strongly committed to the political and programmatic objectives of LI. FNF’s Regional Office in Cairo is planning a series of educative activities on the sideline of the Congress. "The aim of these activities is to strengthen the bonds between the international liberal movement and the Egyptian and other Arab liberal organizations and individuals", said Dr. Ronald Meinardus, FNF’s Regional Director. To achieve this objective, the Foundation is co-sponsoring workshops of the regional Arab liberal networks during the duration of the Congress, thereby enabling the members of these groups to meet and network with their international liberal colleagues.

Kicking off the series of activities will be a three-day workshop of the Union of Arab Liberal Youth (UALY) on "Internal Processes and Procedures" held in cooperation with the Liberal Democrats of the United Kingdom. Just two days later, the leaders of the Network of Arab Liberals (NAL) will convene in Cairo for a one-day workshop on "Freedom of Expression in the Arab World.The Media, the State and Political Parties" to be followed, the next day, by the group’s annual General Assembly. For the first time, a liberal delegation from Iraq will be present at a NAL event.

Networking For Freedom

Among the highlights of the various fringe meetings sponsored by FNF will be a half-day workshop on October 31, 2009 entitled "Networking for Freedom. From Regional Cooperation to Global Alliances?". There, senior members of liberal regional and international political networks will discuss their agendas, best practices and the strategic benefits of extending the regional liberal networks to global alliances. Among the political leaders who will speak at this event is Dr. Wolfgang Gerhardt, Member of the German Parliament and President of FNF.

Furthermore, in cooperation with Mahrousa Publishers, FNF will present two new Arabic language liberal publications: On October 30, 2009, wee will launch the book "The Program of Liberal International. Key Documents of the World Federation of Liberal Political Parties"; this is the first Arabic language compilation of the most important programmatic documents of Liberal International. Finally, on November 1, 2009, FNF will launch the book "Liberalism in the Arab World. Views and Perspectives of Political Practitioners"; this book contains essays and commentaries written by the leaders of the Network of Arab Liberals.

How To Join

While some of the activities during the Congress of Liberal International are only open to delegates who have duly registered, the workshops and book-presentations co-sponsored by FNF are open to invited guests also. Please send an email to egypt@fnst.org should you be interested in receiving a personal invitation to one of the mentioned activities.

For more information on the Congress of Liberal International go to: www.liberal-international.org

Senior members of the Network of Arab Liberals (NAL) gathered in Tunis on August 18-19, 2009 for a workshop entitled "Migration and Development. Liberal responses to the Challenges of Migration in the Arab World". During the two-day activity the political leaders presented and discussed current population and migration issues in the Arab world and adopted the "Tunis Declaration on Migration and Development".

This is a programmatic political document which will be the basis for further discussions which a senior delegation of the Network will hold with members of European liberal parties in early November. The aim of this effort, which is co-sponsored by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF), is to reach joint Arab-European policies regarding the issues of migration and development.

The Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Liberty (FNF) and the National Council for Youth (NCY) will continue their cooperation for the next three years. In a formal ceremony, FNF’s Regional Director Dr. Ronald Meinardus and NCY President Dr. Safi-eddin Kharboush signed a protocol that stipulates that the two institutes will continue for another three year period their joint project entitled "Improving Civic Education Techniques to Develop Citizenship for the Youth". This project originated in 2000 and is part of the efforts of FNF to promote modern and participatory methods of civic education in Egypt. In the protocol, the parties agree that the project aims at "increasing political participation" and "strengthening the culture of dialogue, accepting others and developing citizenship".

The Free Youth Front, the youth organization of the Democratic Front Party, and the youth organization of the Al Ghad Party were accepted as candidate members of the International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY), which held its Executive Committee meeting in Beirut on July 17-18, 2009. IFLRY is the association of some 90 liberal youth organizations from over 50 countries representing more than three million individuals.

The conference in Beirut was hosted by the Future Youth of Lebanon, the youth wing of the governing Future Movement. "This is a historical meeting, and a great step for us to engage with the Arab youth", said IFLRY president Paola Silva at the opening of the conference which was attended by some 100 activists from 30 countries. The Beirut meeting was the first held by IFLRY in the Arab world.

Saad Hariri, the leader of the Future Movement and designated prime minister of Lebanon welcomed the young delegates in his residence for a two hours audience during which he presented his vision and plans for promoting liberalism and democracy in this part of the world.

FNF sponsored the participation of delegates from Arab liberal youth organizations who are members of the newly established Union of Arab Liberal Youth (UALY). On the sidelines of the conference, UALY held a half-day workshop on "The Role of the Youth in Promoting Liberalism in the Arab World". At that event, which was co-sponsored by FNF, liberal youth leaders from Lebanon and Morocco presented their organizations’ role in recent electoral campaigns in their countries.

It is expected to be a major event of the international liberal movement: For the first time, the International Federation of Liberal Youth (IFLRY) will hold its annual Executive Committee Meeting in an Arab country. From July 15 though 19, 2009 close to one hundred liberal youth leaders from all parts of the world will be in Beirut for the IFLRY meeting. The Lebanese "Future Youth", who are members of IFLRY, will host this important political conference. FNF is a cosponsor and will support the participation of a large number of young Arab liberal leaders from the Union of Arab Liberal Youth (UALY): Said FNF Regional Director Dr. Ronald Meinardus:" It is our objective to bring as many liberal youth leaders from our region to Lebanon as possible so that they may have the opportunity to network and mingle with liberals from other parts of the world. We are excited that IFLRY has chosen to come to Lebanon."

No less than six young leaders from Egypt will be joining: They are from the Egyptian Union of Liberal Youth (EULY), the first Egyptian member of IFLRY, from the Cairo Liberal Forum (CLF)) and the youth organizations of the Democratic Front Party (DFP) and the liberal Al Ghad party.

For more information on the Beirut event go to: www.iflry.org