Sheikha Al Mayassa: Globalizing the local, localizing the global

346,435 views ・ 2012-02-08

TED


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

00:15
Both myself and my brother
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belong to the under 30 demographic,
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which Pat said makes 70 percent,
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but according to our statistics
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it makes 60 percent of the region's population.
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Qatar is no exception to the region.
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It's a very young nation led by young people.
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We have been reminiscing about the latest technologies
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and the iPods,
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and for me the abaya,
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my traditional dress that I'm wearing today.
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Now this is not a religious garment,
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nor is it a religious statement.
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Instead, it's a diverse cultural statement
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that we choose to wear.
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Now I remember a few years ago,
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a journalist asked Dr. Sheikha, who's sitting here,
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president of Qatar University --
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who, by the way, is a woman --
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he asked her whether she thought
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the abaya hindered or infringed her freedom in any way.
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Her answer was quite the contrary.
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Instead, she felt more free,
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more free because she could wear whatever she wanted
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under the abaya.
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She could come to work in her pajamas and nobody would care.
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(Laughter)
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Not that you do; I'm just saying.
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(Laughter)
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My point is here, people have a choice --
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just like the Indian lady could wear her sari
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or the Japanese woman could wear her kimono.
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We are changing our culture from within,
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but at the same time
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we are reconnecting with our traditions.
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We know that modernization is happening.
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And yes, Qatar wants to be a modern nation.
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But at the same time
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we are reconnecting and reasserting our Arab heritage.
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It's important for us to grow organically.
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And we continuously make the conscious decision
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to reach that balance.
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In fact, research has shown
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that the more the world is flat,
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if I use Tom Friedman's analogy,
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or global,
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the more and more people are wanting to be different.
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And for us young people,
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they're looking to become individuals
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and find their differences amongst themselves.
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Which is why I prefer the Richard Wilk analogy
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of globalizing the local
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and localizing the global.
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We don't want to be all the same,
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but we want to respect each other and understand each other.
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And therefore tradition becomes more important,
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not less important.
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Life necessitates a universal world,
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however, we believe in the security
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of having a local identity.
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And this is what the leaders of this region
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are trying to do.
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We're trying to be part of this global village,
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but at the same time we're revising ourselves
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through our cultural institutions and cultural development.
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I'm a representation of that phenomenon.
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And I think a lot of people in this room,
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I can see a lot of you are in the same position as myself.
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And I'm sure, although we can't see the people in Washington,
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they are in the same position.
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We're continuously trying to straddle
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different worlds, different cultures
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and trying to meet the challenges
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of a different expectation
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from ourselves and from others.
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So I want to ask a question:
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What should culture in the 21st century look like?
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In a time where the world is becoming personalized,
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when the mobile phone, the burger, the telephone,
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everything has its own personal identity,
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how should we perceive ourselves
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and how should we perceive others?
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How does that impact our desert culture?
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I'm not sure of how many of you in Washington
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are aware of the cultural developments happening in the region
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and, the more recent, Museum of Islamic Art
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opened in Qatar in 2008.
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I myself am personalizing these cultural developments,
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but I also understand
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that this has to be done organically.
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Yes, we do have all the resources that we need
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in order to develop new cultural institutions,
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but what I think is more important
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is that we are very fortunate
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to have visionary leaders
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who understand that this can't happen from outside,
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it has to come from within.
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And guess what?
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You might be surprised to know that most people in the Gulf
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who are leading these cultural initiatives
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happen to be women.
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I want to ask you, why do you think this is?
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Is it because it's a soft option;
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we have nothing else to do?
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No, I don't think so.
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I think that women in this part of the world
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realize that culture is an important component
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to connect people
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both locally and regionally.
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It's a natural component
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for bringing people together, discussing ideas --
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in the same way we're doing here at TED.
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We're here, we're part of a community,
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sharing out ideas and discussing them.
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Art becomes a very important part
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of our national identity.
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The existential and social and political impact
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an artist has
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on his nation's development of cultural identity
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is very important.
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You know, art and culture is big business.
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Ask me.
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Ask the chairpersons and CEOs
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of Sotheby's and Christie's.
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Ask Charles Saatchi about great art.
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They make a lot of money.
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So I think women in our society
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are becoming leaders,
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because they realize
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that for their future generations,
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it's very important
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to maintain our cultural identities.
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Why else do Greeks demand the return
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of the Elgin Marbles?
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And why is there an uproar
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when a private collector tries to sell his collection
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to a foreign museum?
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Why does it take me months on end
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to get an export license from London or New York
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in order to get pieces into my country?
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In few hours, Shirin Neshat, my friend from Iran
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who's a very important artist for us
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will be talking to you.
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She lives in New York City, but she doesn't try to be a Western artist.
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Instead, she tries to engage
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in a very important dialogue
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about her culture, nation and heritage.
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She does that through important visual forms
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of photography and film.
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In the same way, Qatar is trying to grow its national museums
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through an organic process from within.
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Our mission is of cultural integration and independence.
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We don't want to have what there is in the West.
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We don't want their collections.
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We want to build our own identities, our own fabric,
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create an open dialogue
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so that we share our ideas
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and share yours with us.
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In a few days,
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we will be opening the Arab Museum of Modern Art.
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We have done extensive research
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to ensure that Arab and Muslim artists,
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and Arabs who are not Muslims --
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not all Arabs are Muslims, by the way --
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but we make sure that they are represented
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in this new institution.
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This institution is government-backed
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and it has been the case
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for the past three decades.
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We will open the museum in a few days,
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and I welcome all of you to get on Qatar Airways
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and come and join us.
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(Laughter)
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Now this museum is just as important to us as the West.
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Some of you might have heard
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of the Algerian artist Baya Mahieddine,
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but I doubt a lot of people know
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that this artist worked in Picasso's studio
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in Paris in the 1930s.
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For me it was a new discovery.
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And I think with time, in the years to come
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we'll be learning a lot about our Picassos,
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our Legers and our Cezannes.
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We do have artists,
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but unfortunately we have not discovered them yet.
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Now visual expression is just one form
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of culture integration.
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We have realized that recently
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more and more people
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are using the means of YouTube and social networking
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to express their stories, share their photos
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and tell their own stories through their own voices.
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In a similar way,
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we have created the Doha Film Institute.
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Now the Doha Film Institute is an organization
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to teach people about film and filmmaking.
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Last year we didn't have one Qatari woman filmmaker.
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Today I am proud to say
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we have trained and educated
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over 66 Qatari women filmmakers
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to edit, tell their own stories
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in their own voices.
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(Applause)
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Now if you'll allow me, I would love to share a one-minute film
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that has proven to show
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that a 60-sec film can be as powerful as a haiku
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in telling a big picture.
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And this is one of our filmmakers' products.
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(Video) Boy: Hey listen! Did you know that the stocks are up?
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Who are you playing?
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Girl: Uncle Khaled. Here, put on the headscarf.
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Khaled: Why would I want to put it on?
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Girl: Do as you're told, young girl.
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Boy: No, you play mom and I play dad. (Girl: But it's my game.)
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Play by yourself then.
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Girl: Women! One word and they get upset.
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Useless.
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Thank you. Thank you!
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(Applause)
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SM: Going back to straddling between East and West,
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last month we had our second Doha Tribeca Film Festival
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here in Doha.
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The Doha Tribeca Film Festival
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was held at our new cultural hub, Katara.
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It attracted 42,000 people,
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and we showcased 51 films.
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Now the Doha Tribeca Film Festival
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is not an imported festival,
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but rather an important festival
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between the cities of New York and Doha.
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It's important for two things.
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First, it allows us to showcase
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our Arab filmmakers and voices
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to one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world,
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New York City.
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At the same time, we are inviting them
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to come and explore our part of the world.
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They're learning our culture, our language, our heritage
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and realizing we're just as different
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and just the same as each other.
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Now over and over again,
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people have said, "Let's build bridges,"
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and frankly, I want to do more than that.
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I would like break the walls of ignorance
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between East and West --
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no, not the soft option that we have discussed before,
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but rather the soft power
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that Joseph Nye has spoken about before.
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Culture's a very important tool to bring people together.
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We should not underestimate it.
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"Know thyself,"
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that is the journey of self-expression and self-realization
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that we are traveling.
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Now I don't pretend to have all the answers,
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but I know that me as an individual
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and we as a nation
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welcome this community
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of ideas worth spreading.
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This is a very interesting journey.
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I welcome you on board
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for us to engage and discuss new ideas
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of how to bring people together
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through cultural initiatives and discussions.
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Familiarity destroys and trumps fear. Try it.
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Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much. Shokran.
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(Applause)
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