Dubai Debates

According to its website, Dubai Debates offers "a platform for online opinion leaders, pundits, academics, journalists, politicians, activists and all interested users to exchange ideas through videos."

According to The National newspaper, the founder of Dubai Debates, Belabbes Benkredda, "drew inspiration from how opinions were circulated on Twitter and Facebook during the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings."

Interested users are then requested to submit their video contributions to the topic, which are all featured on the website and on YouTube.

Participants included Mahmoud Salem, the award-winning Egyptian blogger widely known as Sandmonkey, as well as Daniel Gerlach of Zenith Magazine, Al Arabiya TV anchor Mahmoud Abu Obeid, and American University of Sharjah scholar Mohammed Ibahrine.

A panel debate on 31 May was initially planned to be held in co-operation with the American University in Dubai (AUD), in the main auditorium.

On 28 May, three days before the debate, the event was moved to the Kempinski Hotel Dubai and co-operation with AUD terminated without further comment.

In cooperation with Vital Voices Global Partnership, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and CNN International, Dubai Debates held its fourth edition on the topic Women, Civil Society and Leadership in the New Arab World.

The panel brought together Amira Yahyaoui, a Tunisian blogger, Dr. Ebtisam Al Kitbi, professor of political science at UAE University, and Mohamed Abu Obeid a Palestinian women’s rights advocate and a TV presenter on Al Arabiya on 18 December 2011, for the first debate in Arabic language simultaneously translated into English, at the Dubai Knowledge Village Auditorium.