… is in a few days. It will be held in Washington DC and it’s going to have quite a huge international attendance of about 700 people.
The conference is organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think-tank based in Washington DC, in partnership with numerous institutes which include Princeton University. The conference’s name is ”Overcoming Extremism: Protecting Civilians from Terrorist Violence“.
I have been invited as a guest. I have come to find out that there are like-minded people watching my humble blog from far away and are impressed by it. 
Two people I know about fairly well are going to be present as speakers. Firstly, Ammar Abdulhamid and secondly, the notorious and misunderstood Irshad Manji. I look forward to conversing with them and also attending the numerous sessions which will include one about the impact of new media on society and politics. As a blogger and a person interested in new media and Web 2.0 technologies, that’s where I’m most relevant.
You can view the impressive list of speakers who will be sharing their perspectives with everyone during the event right here. They range from bloggers, Professors, journalists, counterterrorism experts to victims of terror, film directors, sociopolitical analysts, Al-Azhar educated Muslim scholars and human rights activists. This should be a lot of fun.
Meanwhile, I’m enjoying Chicago and still finishing up my drafts. I’ll begin publishing them as soon as I’m done.
I leave to Washington DC early this Saturday. I might then go to NYC to meet one of my best friends and return to DC on Sunday. The conference begins on Monday.
If anyone who lives in New York is interested, I can try to make some time early Sunday and meet up somewhere in Manhattan (if I do go).
Oh and by the way, I’ve tagged all my posts from last year’s trip to the United States under: US June ‘06. Reading them now after all this time is funny. One year can make such a huge difference in a person’s way of thinking. More on that in upcoming posts.
Anyways, cheers yo! Ama go and try to find me a bagel.
SudaneseThinker
SudaneseThinker
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Drima!!!!! You have GOT to tell me what it was like meeting Irshad Manji ok!!!
LoL, yes, yes Sheema, no problemo but before I can do that I need to meet her first.
If you’re in Chicago you should be going for pizza, not bagels. I see that meals are part of the Conference - you can probably get your bagel fix there.
I’ve been having enough pizza. If I should be going for anything again then it’s Brazilian Fogo De Chao. Yummy!
Dude… respect for being invited in the first place.
And man, I think I am speaking for all your readers when I say WE WANT DETAILED REPORTS! Especially on Manji, but the whole thing sounds delicious in the extreme
Yesh yesh my Raccoonish friend. It also looks like Sandmonkey might be going. I wonder how many bloggers have been invited.
ya Drima ya’7i ma ta3zeebna:( I freakin miss bagels! btw, the best bagels are in NY! you should try the blue berry bagel yummy! when I move to NY for grad school, my daily breakfast will be bagels with cream cheese”:)
HAVE FUN!
Hahaha, thanks Kizzie. Btw, I’ll most probably be moving here or to Canada for grad school too, so who knows maybe we’ll end up chilling together as neighbors or something.
Drima - the question is… when and how can you meet your Israeli readers?
*cough cough* LOSER
I’m jealous! I want a bagel. Bring me back a bagel.
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