Al-Bayan Center for Planning and Studies, in cooperation with the Economic Research Forum, participated in a third international seminar on socio-political mobility in some Arab countries, including Iraq.
The seminar, entitled: “Where is the movement going? Understanding the historical transformations of the protests.” dealt with a reading of the combined political and economic of the protest movements in Iraq, Algeria, Lebanon, and Sudan, and what they have achieved until today.
In this international seminar, Al-Bayan Center was represented by Dr. Ali Taher Alhammood, who referred to a number of lessons learned from the October (Tishreen) movement, including the weakness of leadership mechanisms and programs, while leftist concepts constitute an obstacle to this day from turning the protest into real political action. Alhammood pointed out that the new phenomenon in the Iraqi arena is represented in the increasing interest of civil society organizations and small youth groups towards political development, which may form the basis for a comprehensive political transformation in Iraqi society in the coming years.
For her part, Dr. Karima Dersh from Algeria pointed to the impact of the economic aspect on the trends of trade and professional unions in leading the protests in this country, while Dr. Ibrahim Badawi, former Sudanese Minister of Economy, referred to the party interactions of a leftist and nationalist nature with the social movement in this country. Dr. Sari Hanafi, Professor of Sociology at the American University of Beirut, also addressed the intellectual transformations of the movement in Arab countries, including Lebanon, and the necessity of a realistic understanding of the conservative aspect in societies when analyzing and directing the democratic movement in different countries.
