Working Retreat Report August 2020
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WORKING RETREAT REPORT AUGUST 2020 1 BUILDING & UNITING A MOVEMENT IN THE ARAB WORLD 2 T A B L E OF CONTENTS 1 Executive Summary 4 Oslo Freedom Forum Community & the Arab World 10 Introduction 13 Report Overview 14 Legal 20 Funding 27 Media 32 Mental Health 37 Retreat Impact 42 Conclusion 44 Testimonials 47 Appendix A: Gene Sharp’s 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action 50 Appendix B: Additional Resources 52 Sponsors EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 In November 2019, HRF held its first Oslo The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) is Freedom Forum (OFF) Working Retreat a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization for the Arab World, bringing together a that promotes and protects human rights group of 60 human rights advocates. The globally, with a focus on closed societies. global community established by OFF be- HRF is one of the few international or- lieves that all people are entitled to live ganizations that focuses exclusively on freely without fear of government op- countries under authoritarian rule. We pression. In that spirit, we are dedicated believe that our resources can make the to representing a diverse group of voices greatest impact in countries where in- and bringing their stories to the world. dependent media, activists, think tanks, In addition to our global experts, partici- opposition parties, and NGOs are under pants at the OFF Working Retreat hailed constant threat and are systematically from 13 countries within the Middle East prevented from expressing themselves and North Africa: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, regarding domestic policy. This is the Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Mo- case in most of the countries in the Arab rocco, Oman, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, and World, and we believe that authoritarian- Tunisia. Given the revolutionary devel- ism is at the structural root of the major opments that took place throughout 2019 issues this region is facing today: corrup- in the region, including countrywide tion, poverty, wars, and refugee crises. Bloomberg journalist Bobby Ghosh held a media session with participants at the OFF Working Retreat. 2 protests demanding representative gov- nity may also include leveraging region- ernance, this event could not have been al and/or international solidarity with a more timely. cause. Advocates from the Arab World need to mobilize around shared objec- Our main objective for this Retreat was to tives to accomplish them in the most ef- unite a community of individuals work- fective and strategic ways, and in spite of ing on and in the Arab World, who can the massive repression that regimes in inspire one another and share best prac- the region carry out. tices for fortifying human rights under authoritarian rule. Therefore, the event With this report, we want to maintain was off-the-record, and conducted fol- the momentum from the OFF Working lowing Chatham House rules, to provide Retreat by providing a roadmap for ac- a space for participants to freely express tivism in the Arab World that can serve themselves during programming and to as an initial step in identifying strengths ensure their safety. We also wanted to and similarities in the struggles of advo- connect human rights advocates with dig- cates from the region. ital security, movement-building, media, and mental health experts in order to pro- vide them with the support and access to resources and tools that they need to car- ry out their important work. We held a series of workshops and exer- cises that brought together participants to think about the strengths, weakness- es, opportunities, and threats they face in their work — and then brainstorm ways to capitalize on these strengths and over- come the weaknesses and threats. Key issues that participants identified as de- cisive to their work included: legal imped- iments, access to funding, relationships with the media, healing from the trauma OFF Working Retreat participants engaged in an of living under a repressive police state, introductory networking exercise, sharing strengths, and wellbeing. Digital privacy and sur- on the Retreat’s opening day. veillance, government and self-censor- ship, the role of public and private spaces, and partnerships also emerged as import- ant topics during the Retreat. A main takeaway on which participants agreed, is that advocates from the Arab World need a community. They need al- lies from within their own countries and beyond, and members of their diasporic communities to help them bring about sustainable change. Building this commu- 3 OSLO FREEDOM FORUM COMMUNITY & THE ARAB WORLD 4 HRF’s annual conference, the Oslo Free- dom Forum (OFF), is a transformative conference and a global community that “ brings together the world’s most engag- HONOR THE ing human rights advocates, artists, tech entrepreneurs, journalists, and world DEAD, FIGHT leaders to share their stories and brain- “ storm ways to expand freedom and un- LIKE HELL FOR leash human potential across the globe. Over the years, it has grown and ex- THE LIVING. panded into a series of events around the world, including the OFF Working Re- treat for the Arab World. Along the way, we have sadly lost mem- bers of our community from the Arab World whose work continues to inspire us in our commitment to create a better and freer world. 2018-2019 In the spirit of remembrance, we held a vigil during the OFF Working Retreat to honor members of our community who dedicated their work to advocating for free- dom and lost their lives in 2018 and 2019: From left to right: Jamal Khashoggi, Raed Fares, and Suleiman Bakhit 5 Jamal Khashoggi (1958-2018) Raed Fares (1972-2018) Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist, Raed Fares, who spoke at the 2017 Oslo a Washington Post contributing colum- Freedom Forum, first became known out- nist, and one of the most prominent polit- side of Syria in early 2014, when he start- ical commentators of his generation. For ed writing eye-catching, often sarcastic his courageous journalism work, he was protest signs, and sharing photos of them brutally murdered inside the Saudi con- on social media. From there, he expanded sulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018. his activism and journalism and quickly became one of the most trusted sources of Khashoggi was a close advisor to the Sau- on-the-ground footage and information di royal family, who later became critical on Syria’s continuing conflict. In Novem- of Saudi domestic and regional policies, ber 2018, Fares — who had been targeted and particularly Saudi Arabia’s current many times by ISIS, al-Qaeda, and sup- regime under Mohammed bin Salman. porters of the Assad regime — was assas- His final, posthumously-published col- sinated by gunmen in Kafranbel, along umn, “What the Arab world needs most with fellow activist Hamoud Jneed. is free expression” (also published in Arabic), captured what he was most pas- Fares was dedicated to teaching his fel- sionate about: bringing freedom of ex- low Syrians the skills they would need to pression to the Arab World. build democracy in Syria. He founded Ra- dio Fresh out of Kafranbel in 2013 to give In May 2018, just months before his mur- Syrians a source for unbiased reporting, der, Khashoggi attended the Oslo Free- working to counter fundamentalist nar- dom Forum in Norway. He wrote two col- ratives and the Assad regime’s propa- umns inspired by his time in Oslo for the ganda. Radio Fresh trained more than Arabic-language outlet Raseef 22. HRF 2,500 students in journalism, and em- has translated them into English here. ployed more than 600 people. Fares also led trainings in nonviolent activism and devoted special attention to empower- ing the women in his community, whose leadership he felt was essential to Syria’s future. With his death, reporters outside of Syria lost a vital and increasingly rare source of truth. 6 2020 Suleiman Bakhit (1978-2019) Lina Ben Mhenni (1983-2020) In August 2019, Suleiman Bakhit, a Jor- We were very fortunate to have had Tu- danian artist, entrepreneur, and human nisian activist, journalist, educator, and rights activist passed away after battling Nobel-nominee Lina Ben Mhenni partic- cancer. He was the founder of the He- ipate in the Working Retreat just a few ro-Factor project, an organization dedi- months before she passed away in Janu- cated to promoting heroism as an antidote ary 2020, after battling a chronic illness. to extremism for Middle Eastern youth. She is often described as one of the brav- Bakhit believed that cultivating a heroic est bloggers in the world, whose work moral imagination among children is the was instrumental in documenting, in- most effective technique for disrupting forming, and mobilizing citizens during the vast recruitment networks of terror- the Revolution. Ben Mhenni was one of ist organizations. He dedicated his work the only Tunisians to openly criticize the to the development of stories, myths, and repressive government before the 2011 heroes that promoted tolerance and the Jasmine Revolution, and her impactful empowerment of women and girls, and to achievements earned her the 2011 Nobel countering extremist narratives by pro- Peace Prize nomination. She authored viding Arab youth with positive role mod- and published a book the same year en- els. Bakhit was motivated to create his titled, “Tunisian Girl: A Blogger for an company after experiencing a violent at- Arab Spring.” tack in the United States after the 9/11 ter- rorist attacks. Ben Mhenni spoke at the 2011 Oslo Freedom Forum, urging the outside In 2014, Bakhit spoke at the Oslo Freedom world to continue to follow events in Forum, and used the platform to share the Tunisia and other Arab countries where lessons he had learned during his long ca- revolutions appeared to have ended. In reer as an activist.