DarEmar is currently seeking donors to support this project. Interested donors should contact support@daremar.org

 The Liberal Arab Forum
 

Introduction
Though contemporary observations might belie the assertion, the Arab liberal intellectual current has not exactly been ineffectual in the recent history of the Arab peoples. In fact, this current has had quite a field day in the twenties and thirties, and then again in the fifties and early sixties, and has made quite an impact upon Arab cultural life. Documenting the rise and decline of this current and the ongoing attempts at reviving it, is more necessary today than ever before, considering the wave of fundamentalism sweeping across the region and the fact that the generation of intellectuals and scholars that have given birth to the contemporary Arab liberal current is all too simply dying off with its legacy left in tatters.

Helping in this endeavor is the main thrust of the Arab Liberal Forum.

General Objective
The Liberal Arab Forum  is a project proposed DarEmar to help preserve and revive the Arab Liberal traditions using the freedom available on the Internet. The idea is to create a website that can serve as:

·        an archive of Arab liberal thinkers (academics, activists and literary figures) and their writings,

·        a channel of communications between Arab liberal thinkers and their young audience,

·         an outlet for young Arab liberal thinkers to communicate and dialogue with their mentors, and amongst themselves, pinpointing points of agreements and disagreements, and to be able to gain an audience for their own views as well.

As such, the Liberal Arab Forum  website will serve as an electronic forum on Arab liberalism and a platform for drawing attention to the causes of Arab liberal thinkers (people such as Adonis, Sadiq Jalal Al-Azm, Nasr Hamid Abu Zeid, and Muhammad Arkoun, among many others).

Considering that most Arab intellectuals are currently in their sixties and seventies, and some even older, their knowledge of the Internet and their interest in it as an effective medium of intercommunication has been quite minimal. As such, the DarEmar staff hopes to become the necessary bridge linking the Arab intellectual thinkers and Arab youth, with the Internet playing being the chief mode of communication.

DarEmar is currently undertaking the initial preparations and contacts to this project, scheduled to be launched, funding permitting, in the summer of 2004.

To help support the activities and programs of DarEmar, please contact support@daremar.org.
 

DarEmar

 Current Projects

 The Tharwa Project

 The Liberal Arab Forum

 Arab Education Initiative