Annual Report 2010
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ANNUAL REPORT 2010 Respect Sejarah Kebenaran Verd Dialog Diálogo nce Berdampingan Convivencia Birlikte Yaş Kedamaian Paz Barış ce Toleransi Tolerancia Hoşgörü edge Pengetahuan Conocimiento Bilgi ct Respect Respeto Saygı ry Sejarah Historia Tarih h Kebenaran Verdad Gerçek ogue Dialog Diálogo Diyalog existence Berdampingan Convivencia Birliktee ace Kedamaian Paz Barış olerance Toleransi Tolerancia Hoşgögö Knowledge Pengetahuan Conocimiento Bilgi Respect Respect Respeto Saygg History Sejarah Historia Tar Truth Kebenaran Verdad Gee Dialogue Dialog Diálogo D Coexistence Berdampingan Convivencia B Peace Kedamaian Paz Tolerance Toleransi Tolerancia Knowledge Pengetahuan Conocimientoo Respect Respect Respeto History Sejarah Historia Truth Kebenaran Verdad Dialogue Dialog Diálogo Coexistence Berdampingan Convivencc Peace Kedamaian Paz Tolerance Toleransi Tolerancc wledge Pengetahuan Conocim Respect Respett Sejarah Historr n Verda Diálo ANNUAL REPORT 2010 The Aladdin Project The Aladdin Project’s goal is to promote harmonious intercultural relations, particularly among Jews and Muslims, through dialogue, mutual respect, education and knowledge of History. Through its initiatives, it strives to reject denial and trivialization of the Holocaust, competing memories, anti- Semitism and all forms of racism, discrimination and exclusion. Patrons Abdoualye Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal Jacques Chirac, former President of the French Republic HRH Prince Hassan of Jordan Gerhard Schroeder, Former Chancellor of Germany Sheikha Haya Al-Khalifa of Bahrain Ely Ould Mohammed Vall, Former President of Mauritania Presidents Anne-Marie Revcolevschi, President of the Aladdin Project (NGO) David de Rothschild, President of the Aladdin Project Fund 5 Table Of Contents President’s Letter page 7 Executive Director’s Message page 9 Year in Review page 11 • Raising awareness: Holocaust-related conferences in the page 12 Muslim world • Reaching a broad audience: Use of the Internet, cinema and page 16 television to disseminate knowledge • Reversing the trend: Countering denial and trivialization page 21 • Educating the young: The past, a bridge to the future page 25 • Media monitoring: Exposing purveyors of hate, encouraging page 28 voices of reason • Finding partners: Development of our network page 29 Looking ahead page 33 Governance page 36 Financial Statements page 39 Recognition page 41 Annexes page 42 © Agnès Anne Agnès © President’s Letter Presenting this first Annual Report 2010 is an emotional moment for me. Indeed, the Aladdin Project, born under the auspices of the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah and independent since late 2009, is a bold initiative: that of embarking on a long but absolutely necessary journey on an almost unbeaten track, fraught with risks, with no guarantee of success. The field? The Arab-Muslim world, a universe into which I had not previously ventured. The goal? To pass on the history of the Holocaust with rigor, refusing all denials, amalgams and trivializations, while respecting the memory of others. To reconnect the thread of coexistence between Muslims and Jews by teaching the centuries-long history, happy and violent, of their past relationships. Finally, to promote the values of mutual respect and dignity, opposing anti-Semitism, xenophobia and all forms of racism. The method? Passing on knowledge of history and cultures to those who have no access to them. The means were self-evident: books, the Internet, art, meetings, discussions ... here ... there ... in the languages of those to whom we were reaching out. To this general framework, we had to add other key elements: finding enlightened partners among Muslims, Jews and others, attached to the same values and goals; and working with a competent team with diverse skills and cultures. And all this without complacence, without looking at the world through rose-tinted glasses, but with lucidity and by staying on course. Presenting this first report is, I repeat, very emotional, because I think our approach has been vindicated. I do not mean, of course, that in a year and a half, we have managed to achieve all the goals I have outlined, but because the various projects that we have completed and are briefly described in the following pages, represent the first successful steps in a medium and long-term strategy. We have passed on, and we have received. We invited our interlocutors to come to us, and we went to them. We talked about books that speak of places, and we showed these places. We spoke the language of those we addressed, and they listened to us. We welcomed debate and did not shy away from confrontation: and every time we profited by learning how best to convey what we wanted to share. We thus established trust and partnership with more and more people, from all cultures and different countries. 7 With this confidence, this common conviction that we must act in the name of truth and justice, public and private institutions, intellectuals, politicians, men of faith, teachers and students came in ever increasing numbers, often with great courage, to join us or to encourage us. Their names are on the pages of this report or on our website. Today, in fact, the Aladdin Project is cited as an example in many national and international forums because of the bold, novel actions we are undertaking. Already affiliate organizations are being set up in the United States, Belgium, Spain, and Turkey by those who wish to expand and broaden our actions and their impact. We have also been asked to carry out projects in France and Europe, and to partner with others in the United Kingdom and the United States: more about this in the following pages. To all of them, I want to say thank you. I also want to thank all members of our Board and all the different personalities who sit on the committees that nourish our efforts with their expert advice and sharp reflections. They have been indispensable to the success of our initiatives. And I am pleased that I have succeeded in bringing together an equal number of women and men, all of them of great quality. Our thanks also go to the French Government, and in particular the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for their support, and to UNESCO and in particular its Director General, Irena Bokova, for the trust they have placed in us. Finally, I wish to thank our talented Executive Director, Abe Radkin, and his (too) small team, as well as my friends and volunteers, who have implemented the projects that were entrusted to them with such skill and dedication. A note of concern: we have so far relied first and foremost on the generosity of several private foundations, particularly the French Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah and the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation, but we need more financial resources to allow us to implement the important projects that have been proposed. I must also point out that so far we have begun to pass on the knowledge of Judaism, its history and culture to the Arab and Muslim world because a state, Iran, and some extremist fringe in other countries, poison public opinion with their denial and anti-Semitic propaganda, the principal aim being to delegitimize the State of Israel, but also going as far as incitement to murder. We will, of course, continue. But in a world where ignorance is combined with Islamophobia, it is also necessary to pass on the knowledge of Islam, Muslim cultures and civilizations, and the history of countries that have a Muslim majority population. We have already begun to do so by explaining the fundamentals of Islam on our website. We do not seek here a cosmetic balance or a trivial reciprocity; we simply know that for dialogue, understanding and respect to take root, everyone must know the other in its truth and its own history. I hope that reading our first annual report will give readers the desire to join us and help us... And if some of the projects completed or in progress give you new ideas, please share them with us. Anne-Marie Revcolevschi 8 The Year that Showed the Way In many ways, 2010 was a decisive year for the Aladdin Project. Having experienced initial success the previous year with a high-profile launch conference and statements of support from prominent figures in the Muslim world, we were now stepping into unchartered territory by organizing ten Holocaust-related conferences across the Middle East and North Africa. In the early days of 2010, questions abounded: Would a virulent backlash dissuade Arab and Muslim personalities from cooperating with the Aladdin Project and “burn” it? How many books would be downloaded by Arab and Persian readers? How would Iranians react to Claude Lanzmann’s Shoah? And what if the Muslim personalities and leaders didn’t show up for the visit to Auschwitz? We now know the answers to all these questions and you will find them on the pages of this report. They show that in the modern world of globalized communications a young organization with a small but highly motivated staff and a meagre budget can make a serious difference, if it has original ideas and connects the right dots. On the basis of these results, and judging by the growing number of proposals for cooperation we receive from individuals, institutions, international organizations and governments, I can safely say that the Aladdin Project has established itself as a credible platform and a facilitator of intercultural exchange and cooperation, particularly between Jews and Muslims. All this would not have been possible, however, without the courage and commitment of our friends and partners across the Muslim world. We are also indebted to the generosity of our donors and the trust of our institutional partners, some of which, like the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, UNESCO and the City of Paris, took part in funding our joint activities, thus helping us implement projects that required far greater financial resources than that reflected on our balance sheet.