Dubai is hustling and bustling with visitors, just like I knew it prior to the global financial crisis that affected Dubai, like many other locations. In a chat with a group of participants at the Arab Media Forum and the Arab Press Award, I heard Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid say that the Emirate's infrastructure is solid and was unscathed by the crisis, and that this infrastructure is a sound foundation for economic revival with a new vision and new ideas. After that, I visited the capital's markets and some of its hotels, and saw those huge crowds that I saw in previous years, but which had waned between the crisis's start in 2007 and until last year. It was the Ninth Arab Press Award, and I participated in the launch and each subsequent ceremony, and God willing, I will attend the tenth ceremony next year. During the award ceremony's opening, the young Mariam bin Fahed gave a speech, which reflected a deep sense of self confidence combined with eloquence. In fact, I have witnessed a young generation come to the limelight in Dubai, a generation that has earned the highest degrees in education. In fact, the award ceremony took place in conjunction with the graduation ceremony of 500 students from the American University of Dubai, something that was otherwise a dream in the seventies. The surprise, for me personally, was Dr. Ahmed Zewail. I had heard his name for the first time when he won the Nobel Award in Chemistry in 1999, and I have followed his scientific work ever since. Dubai then brought us together over three days, and I discovered him to be a man of many talents; someone who has political interests and who regularly follows the Arab press, especially in Egypt, as though he works in the press himself. The truth is that some of the private sessions during conferences are more useful and interesting than the dialogue sessions that are part of the official agenda, private sessions such as the dinner that brought me together with Dr. Zewail and the conversation that we had for hours afterwards. We had with us Ibrahim al-Moallem, the Chairman of the Al-Shourouq Publishing House, Ahmad al-Maslamani, the presenter of the television show ‘First Print' on Dream TV, our sister Mariam bin Fahed, in addition to the smart and beautiful anchorwoman Wasila Awlami from Al-Jazeera. At a later time, we were joined by Amr Adib, the famous host from the Orbit channel, as well as several other individuals. I discovered Dr. Zewail's other talents, as he went over the commentary written by Egyptian journalists and offered his criticism and analysis, and debated me on some of my published comments. I told him that he has been abroad for 40 years and wondered how he manages nonetheless to stay in the loop regarding these matters, and it seems that he must have left a part of himself in Egypt. On the following day, Dr. Zewail gave a speech during the start of the award ceremony, a speech that reflected his intellectual worth. As it was extensively covered in the Arab press, I will suffice myself with what personally caught my attention regarding the slow rise and quick demise of civilizations (and empires), as we have seen in the case of the USSR, and also regarding the importance of converting information to knowledge. This is because while people may be able to obtain information, they may not be necessarily able to create new ideas, which reminds me of an old saying [translates as]: Knowledge is acquirement, wisdom is adequateness. But how can we create new ideas when Dr, Zewail says that the Arabs' share from global scientific research is 0.1 percent. But at least, I learned from his speech the meaning of stem cells, and he said that science is now able to determine time to the million-billionth of a second, otherwise called a nanosecond (which is by my estimate the time between the traffic light turning green and the driver behind you sounding his horn in protest against your slow response). Dr. Zewail also said that the political situation ‘must change'; however, he did not specify where. I demand – on his behalf – to change political conditions in all Arab countries, in order to build a knowledge-based society and in order to exercise democracy practically, and not as empty insubstantial words. With the conclusion of the Arab Press Award ceremony, we had another session after a dinner with Dr. Zewail, and we continued our conversation regarding the state of the nation, its hopes and troubles, and the relations with neighbouring countries and the entire outside world. As I was looking around me, I was impressed by the level of knowledge among the brothers, the seriousness of the dialogue and the heated passion for achieving aspirations, then I thought how we as individuals were better than what we are as collective societies. In conclusion, Dubai is seeing its comeback, if not already there. I toured the city one evening with my friend Riad Kamal, and we could not find a parking spot at the Dubai Mall, the biggest shopping centre in the world. We had dinner at a restaurant that was separated from Burj Khalifa by a lake, where a beautiful water show could be seem, with music and lights that reminded me of a similar show at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. I told Riad that I feel that the worst of the financial crisis is over, and he agreed with me as he told me about what he already knew, since his local company, along with a South Korean company and a Danish company, built the colossal tower, or the tallest building in the world. The Emirati company, and not a foreign one, was in fact the project leader. There are huge Arab potentials that need the right climate to be achieved. At any rate, I'll content myself with this much serious talk, and will continue tomorrow with some humour with and about friends. [email protected]
