Video Transcript: Globalizing the Local and Localizing the Global

Both myself and my brother belong to the under 30 demographic, which Pat said makes 70 percent, but according to our statistics it makes 60 percent of the  region's population. Qatar is no exception to the region. It's a very young nation  led by young people. We have been reminiscing about the latest technologies  and the iPods, and for me the abaya, my traditional dress that I'm wearing today. Now this is not a religious garment, nor is it a religious statement. Instead, it's a  diverse cultural statement that we choose to wear. Now I remember a few years  ago, a journalist asked Dr. Sheikha, who's sitting here, president of Qatar  University -- who, by the way, is a woman -- he asked her whether she thought  the abaya hindered or infringed her freedom in any way. Her answer was quite  the contrary. Instead, she felt more free, more free because she could wear  whatever she wanted under the abaya. She could come to work in her pajamas  and nobody would care. Not that you do; I'm just saying. My point is here,  people have a choice -- just like the Indian lady could wear her sari or the  Japanese woman could wear her kimono. We are changing our culture from  within, but at the same time we are reconnecting with our traditions. We know  that modernization is happening. And yes, Qatar wants to be a modern nation.  But at the same time we are reconnecting and reasserting our Arab heritage.  It's important for us to grow organically. And we continuously make the  conscious decision to reach that balance. In fact, research has shown that the  more the world is flat, if I use Tom Friedman's analogy, or global, the more and  more people are wanting to be different. And for us young people, they're  looking to become individuals and find their differences amongst themselves.  Which is why I prefer the Richard Wilk analogy of globalizing the local and  localizing the global. We don't want to be all the same, but we want to respect  each other and understand each other. And therefore tradition becomes more  important, not less important. Life necessitates a universal world, however, we  believe in the security of having a local identity. And this is what the leaders of  this region are trying to do. We're trying to be part of this global village, but at  the same time we're revising ourselves through our cultural institutions and  cultural development. I'm a representation of that phenomenon. And I think a lot  of people in this room, I can see a lot of you are in the same position as myself.  And I'm sure, although we can't see the people in Washington, they are in the  same position. We're continuously trying to straddle different worlds, different  cultures and trying to meet the challenges of a different expectation from  ourselves and from others. So I want to ask a question: What should culture in  the 21st century look like? In a time where the world is becoming personalized,  when the mobile phone, the burger, the telephone, everything has its own  personal identity, how should we perceive ourselves and how should we  perceive others? How does that impact our desert culture? I'm not sure of how  many of you in Washington are aware of the cultural developments happening in the region and, the more recent, Museum of Islamic Art opened in Qatar in 

2008. I myself am personalizing these cultural developments, but I also  understand that this has to be done organically. Yes, we do have all the  resources that we need in order to develop new cultural institutions, but what I  think is more important is that we are very fortunate to have visionary leaders  who understand that this can't happen from outside, it has to come from within.  And guess what? You might be surprised to know that most people in the Gulf  who are leading these cultural initiatives happen to be women. I want to ask  you, why do you think this is? Is it because it's a soft option; we have nothing  else to do? No, I don't think so. I think that women in this part of the world  realize that culture is an important component to connect people both locally  and regionally. It's a natural component for bringing people together, discussing  ideas -- in the same way we're doing here at TED. We're here, we're part of a  community, sharing out ideas and discussing them. Art becomes a very  important part of our national identity. The existential and social and political  impact an artist has on his nation's development of cultural identity is very  important. You know, art and culture is big business. Ask me. Ask the  chairpersons and CEOs of Sotheby's and Christie's. Ask Charles Saatchi about  great art. They make a lot of money. So I think women in our society are  becoming leaders, because they realize that for their future generations, it's very important to maintain our cultural identities. Why else do Greeks demand the  return of the Elgin Marbles? And why is there an uproar when a private collector  tries to sell his collection to a foreign museum? Why does it take me months on  end to get an export license from London or New York in order to get pieces into my country? In few hours, Shirin Neshat, my friend from Iran who's a very  important artist for us will be talking to you. She lives in New York City, but she  doesn't try to be a Western artist. Instead, she tries to engage in a very  important dialogue about her culture, nation and heritage. She does that through important visual forms of photography and film. In the same way, Qatar is trying  to grow its national museums through an organic process from within. Our  mission is of cultural integration and independence. We don't want to have what  there is in the West. We don't want their collections. We want to build our own  identities, our own fabric, create an open dialogue so that we share our ideas  and share yours with us. In a few days, we will be opening the Arab Museum of  Modern Art. We have done extensive research to ensure that Arab and Muslim  artists, and Arabs who are not Muslims -- not all Arabs are Muslims, by the way  -- but we make sure that they are represented in this new institution. This  institution is government-backed and it has been the case for the past three  decades. We will open the museum in a few days, and I welcome all of you to  get on Qatar Airways and come and join us. Now this museum is just as  important to us as the West. Some of you might have heard of the Algerian artist Baya Mahieddine, but I doubt a lot of people know that this artist worked in  Picasso's studio in Paris in the 1930s. For me it was a new discovery. And I 

think with time, in the years to come we'll be learning a lot about our Picassos,  our Legers and our Cezannes. We do have artists, but unfortunately we have  not discovered them yet. Now visual expression is just one form of culture  integration. We have realized that recently more and more people are using the  means of YouTube and social networking to express their stories, share their  photos and tell their own stories through their own voices. In a similar way,  we have created the Doha Film Institute. Now the Doha Film Institute is an  organization to teach people about film and filmmaking. Last year we didn't have one Qatari woman filmmaker. Today I am proud to say we have trained and  educated over 66 Qatari women filmmakers to edit, tell their own stories in their  own voices. Now if you'll allow me, I would love to share a one-minute film that  has proven to show that a 60-second film can be as powerful as a haiku in  telling a big picture. And this is one of our filmmakers' products.  

(Video) Boy: Hey listen! Did you know that the stocks are up? Who are you  playing?  

Girl: Uncle Khaled. Here, put on the headscarf.  

Khaled: Why would I want to put it on?  

Girl: Do as you're told, young girl.  

Boy: No, you play mom and I play dad.  

(Girl: But it's my game.) Play by yourself then.  

Girl: Women! One word and they get upset. Useless.  

Thank you. Thank you!  

SM: Going back to straddling between East and West, last month we had our  second Doha Tribeca Film Festival here in Doha. The Doha Tribeca Film  Festival was held at our new cultural hub, Katara. It attracted 42,000 people,  and we showcased 51 films. Now the Doha Tribeca Film Festival is not an  imported festival, but rather an important festival between the cities of New York  and Doha. It's important for two things. First, it allows us to showcase  our Arab filmmakers and voices to one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the  world, New York City. At the same time, we are inviting them to come and  explore our part of the world. They're learning our culture, our language, our  heritage and realizing we're just as different and just the same as each other.  Now over and over again, people have said, "Let's build bridges," and frankly, I  want to do more than that. I would like break the walls of ignorance between  East and West -- no, not the soft option that we have discussed before, but  rather the soft power that Joseph Nye has spoken about before. Culture's a very important tool to bring people together. We should not underestimate it. "Know  thyself," that is the journey of self-expression and self-realization that we are  traveling. Now I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I know that me as an  individual and we as a nation welcome this community of ideas worth spreading.

This is a very interesting journey. I welcome you on board for us to engage and  discuss new ideas of how to bring people together through cultural initiatives  and discussions. Familiarity destroys and trumps fear. Try it. Ladies and  gentlemen, thank you very much. Shokran.