São Paulo – In September 28 and 29, the Santos chapter of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) will promote the Symposium on Law and Citizenship in the Arab World. The event will include several talks on political and cultural aspects of the Arab world, trade relations between Brazil and Middle Eastern and North African countries, human rights in the region and the influence of their culture in Western society.
According to the coordinator of the Citizenship Committee at OAB Santos, Esaú Cobra Ribeiro, the main objective of the event is to help Brazilians understand the values of Middle Eastern countries and the relationship that people in the region have with religion and politics. “There is a large number of Arab descendants in Brazil. Here in Santos there is a participative colony. The news cause a confusion that needs clarifying,” says Ribeiro.
According to him, people have a hard time separating political issues from religious and cultural ones. “We want to show that Arab countries have constitutions, citizenship, law and struggle for justice. The actions are not arbitrary. Here in Brazil we see events to the benefit of all types of people. We also need to show what the Arabs have done [in Brazil] and boost their self-esteem. We want to help the Arabs who live here,” says Ribeiro.
The event’s coordinator, Carlos Tebecherani Haddad, claims that the talks will help make it clear to the audience which are the countries in the region, their features and their differences compared with the West. “People do not know Islam, they think Iran is an Arab country (Iran is Persian). The OAB is impacted much more strongly by these problems, this lack of information. Thus, Dr Esaú, of the Citizenship Committee, suggested for us to promote an event to address the characteristics of the Arab world,” he says.
The symposium will be held at the OAB headquarters in Santos, starting at 09:00 pm on September 28. On the first day, participants will watch lectures on the geography of the Arab world; political and social aspects; human rights, citizenship and well-being; the influence of Arab literature and culture on Western society; geopolitics and perspectives for the region.
On Thursday, the second day of the event, the CEO of the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby, will give a talk on trade relations between Brazil and the Arab countries. On the same day, there will be talks on the importance of women in the Arab world; the influence of Arab music and dancing in Western society; the main international treaties common to Brazil and Arab countries; and the establishing of the Palestinian state. The talk will be given by the Palestinian ambassador to Brazil, Ibrahim Al Zeben. The event will be closed with a get-together dinner featuring a music performance and typical Arab dancing.
The symposium is open to the general public. For further information call OAB Santos, (+55 13) 3226-5900. OAB Santos is located at Praça José Bonifácio, 55, Centre.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
