A large number of Arab researchers, intellectuals, and writers participated in a conference under the theme “Nurturing Extremism: A Reading of the Measures of Intellectual Confrontation”, held from 3 to 5 January 2016 at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA). The conference hosted participants from 18 Arab countries with expertise in topics concerning extremism, terrorism, sociology, political science, and Islamic sciences.
The conference was held in collaboration with Al-Azhar and covered many topics of discussion, including sociology, extremism, terrorism, and new media, as well as presenting counterterrorism methods employed by several countries.
Serageldin said in the conference that the BA is fulfilling its pledge to confront extremism through conferences, discussions, research and activities aimed at combatting this global destructive phenomenon. The first conference on extremism was held in January 2015 where the BA hosted a three day Regional Conference for a Comprehensive Arab Strategy towards the Confrontation of Terrorism and Extremism. Held under the auspices of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the conference had convened also on the invitation of Former Egyptian President Adly Mansour at the Arab Summit in Kuwait in March 2014. President Abdel Fattah El Sisi lauded the positive results of the conference in his speech at the Arab Summit of 2015.
The plan to create an Arab network of research centers concerned with examining extremist thought in the Arab world was announced at the end of the conference
Click here to download Serageldin's book: “The Challenge: A Cultural Program to Reject Extremism and Violence”