Santos – The Brazilian Bar Association, São Paulo Chapter (OAB-SP), promoted the “Symposium on the right to citizenship in the Arab world” in Santos, on the coast of São Paulo, on Wednesday and yesterday (29). The event was aimed at showing the reality of the countries of the Middle East and North Africa. Specialists in the region gave talks about economics, politics and citizenship. The ambassador of Palestine to Brasília, Ibrahim Al Zeben, gave the last talk and defended the creation of the Palestinian state, to be evaluated by the United Nations (UN).
The organizer of the event, lawyer Carlos Tebecherani Haddad, stated that the target is to provide correct information about the Arab nations to spectators. “People confuse things about the Arabs very much. We want to discuss the legislation of those countries and their influence on Western society. Many people do not know, for example, that the trade surplus between Brazil and the Arab countries helps cover the deficit we have in trade with the United States,” he said.
The CEO at the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce, Michel Alaby, spoke about “Trade relations between Brazil and the Arab nations”. He believes he helped the organizers take important information to the audience. “Events like this demystify the Arab world to a different public, made up of lawyers and students. Some people have a slightly distorted point of view [of the countries of that region]”, he said.
On Thursday, the joint professor of the Philosophy, Letters and Humanities College at the University of São Paulo (USP), Paulo Farah, spoke about Arab literature. The director of the Syrian Arab Cultural Centre of São Paulo, Majda Al Shara’a, spoke about the importance of women in the Arab world. Márcia Dib, a master in Arab culture, took presentation “Orientalism, the western society’s mistaken view of Arab women: the case of odalisques”. Facamp professor Ali Al-Khatib presented the international treaties between Brazil and the Arab countries. On Wednesday, the talks covered human rights, religion and geopolitics.
Ambassador Ibrahim Al Zeben defended the initiative of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) at the UN. “We are awaiting justice and want our part in history. We no longer want to be called terrorists and suicide bombers. We do not want to return to hearing these words. We want our state alongside Israel,” he said.
Part of the audience, of some 50 people, was made up of lawyers, but there were also participants from other areas. A student in the second year of the Foreign Relations course at Unilus college, in Santos, Thayze Duarte stated that the talks will help her understand the world better. “The Arab nations are surrounded by stereotypes. I have always found it hard to understand the characteristics of the region, to separate Arabs from Muslims. These talks clarified some doubts,” he said. Another International Relations student, Thais Rodrigues, recalled the protests in countries of the region. “Having these talks at this moment is enriching and clarifying,” she said.
*Translated by Mark Ament
