Ali: We understand Islamist movements more than the West

MP Abdel Rahim Ali, the Director of the Middle East Center for Studies in Paris (CEMO) and editor-in-chief of Al-Bawaba News, said he had worked on Islamist movement for more than 35 years. Therefore, he has the experience more than anybody to tackle this issue.

“We claim that we understand these Islamist movements more than the West because these movements emerged from the Islam, which is our religion and our Arab history,” Ali told a seminar titled "Human Rights at Time of War on Terrorism and Social Crises: Between Idealism and Realism" on Wednesday.  He wondered how the West would teach us more about the Islamist movements.

“How could the West understand the Islamist movements more than us? How would the West understand the Islam and the Arabic language more than us? We want to conduct a dialogue with the West on human rights,” he added.

Titled "Human Rights at the Time of War on Terrorism and social Crises: Between Idealism and Realism", the seminar is moderated by Ahmed Youssef, CEMO's executive director.

Speaking at the seminar – apart from Ali – will be General Robert Pryce, the former commander of French troops in Yugoslavia, the former director of the Anfalid military museum, and the current president of the Napoleon Foundation.

Gilbert Sinuet, a French journalist and writer who accompanied French President Emmanuel Macaron during his latest visit to Egypt, will also speak at the seminar, along with Roland Lombardi from the French National Institute for Studies and Research of the Islamic and Arab Worlds.