São Paulo – A group of Brazilian intellectuals of Arab descent launched last week the Institute of Geopolitical Studies on the Middle East (Instituto de Estudos Geopolíticos do Oriente Médio, in Portuguese). With support from Brazilian Foreign Affair students, the organization’s objective is to use the internet to discuss political issues of the Arab world using information from the region itself.
“The subjects will cover Middle Eastern problems with a more independent view of the news we receive from there. The news and analyses will be direct translations from Middle Eastern sources, without going through European and North American information centres,” explains Assad Frangieh, the manager of the institute.
He points out that, currently, the political analyses on Middle East which come to Brazil are originally from North American and European thinkers. “[Ideas of] Arab thinkers do not reach Brazil or reach it late,” says Frangieh, about the analyses of intellectuals from Middle East.
The main communication channel of the institute will be forums available on the website www.orientemedio.org, which should be launched later this week. The website will promote discussions based on articles from Arab information sources. The participants should register and then they can give their opinions and debate the issues.
Another communication channel of the organization is the website www.orientepress.net, created nearly a year ago by Foreign Affair students at the Fundação Santo André and which features news and analyses on Middle East. The Fundação Santo André is an institute of higher education based in Santo André, a municipality of São Paulo.
The students will help maintain the debate forums, posting articles and also working as mediators in the debates. The registered participants will also be able to suggest topics for the discussions.
Besides the internet, the institute will organize face-to-face lectures on geopolitical issues of Middle East. The first one is set to take place on November 1st, at Fundação Santo André, and will discuss the Kurdish issue.
“Many people all over Brazil are interested in discussing the Middle East,” says Frangieh, stressing that most activities of the institute will take place online to reach the largest possible number of people.
The creation of the institute has the support of the Federation of Arab-Brazilian Organizations (Fearab). The organization is run in a partnership between José Farhat, head of the International Relations of the Institute of Arab Culture, and Rezkalla Tuma, advisor to the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.
Those interested in contacting the institute staff can write an email to contato@orientepress.net.
*Translated by Rodrigo Mendonça
