Dubai Debates

Dubai Debates is an online video debating forum based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. According to its website, Dubai Debates offers "a platform for online opinion leaders, pundits, academics, journalists, politicians, activists and all interested users to exchange ideas through videos." In addition to video debating via its website, regular debates are also held in Dubai, bringing together opinion leaders for panel discussions.

The series was launched in early February 2011, in the midst of the Egyptian revolution. According to The National newspaper, the founder of Dubai Debates, Belabbes Benkredda, "drew inspiration from how opinions were circulated on Twitter and Facebook during the Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings." Dubai Debates was conceived as a contribution to the global discourse in social media, adding a video element and putting a face to the people shaping that discourse. And

A conflicting report in the New York Times states that Dubai Debates was conceived as a reaction to a Doha Debates panel on the motion "Dubai is a bad idea", held on 14 December 2009.

The first Dubai Debates panel discussion was held on 23 February 2011.

A current debate topic is defined and announced through the Dubai Debates website, its YouTube channel, as well as on its Twitter and Facebook feeds. At the same time, a date is announced for a panel debate on the respective issue. Interested users are then requested to submit their video contributions to the topic, which are all featured on the website and on YouTube.

The panel sessions are split into thematic segments, each representing a specific question. All debates are video-filmed and made available after the event on DubaiDebates.com and YouTube. During the panel session, selected videos uploaded by outside contributors are shown. A Twitter hashtag is defined, allowing live discussions about the panel to be incorporated into the discussion. The number of segments was six for the first two editions of Dubai Debates, each between 6–9 minutes in length.

The inaugural Dubai Debates topic was "Mark Zuckerberg - the New Hero of the Arab People?". A panel session on the topic was held on 23 February at the Media One Hotel in Dubai. Participants included Mahmoud Salem, the award-winning Egyptian blogger widely known as Sandmonkey, as well as Daniel Gerlach of Zenith Magazine, Al Arabiya TV anchor Mahmoud Abu Obeid, and American University of Sharjah scholar Mohammed Ibahrine. The debate was filmed and widely viewed on the Internet since. The Goethe Institute was one of the first supporters of the debate.

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