Saudi Gazette MAKKAH — The King Abdul Aziz Center for National Dialogue (KACND) has worked to involve young people and intellectuals in dialogue to promote national unity and reject hatred and intolerance. KACND also has created a platform enabling scholars, researchers, students and writers from all intellectual strains to participate in responsible dialogue. The center has engaged many educational, cultural and intellectual sectors in carrying out its message and goals of spreading a culture of dialogue around the Kingdom and in reinforcing national unity. By reaching out to influential bodies, it has successfully launched many initiatives and joint projects that serve its objectives. The past few weeks have witnessed a massive intellectual movement in most Saudi universities as a reaction to extremism. Taiba University in Al-Madinah has launched, in cooperation with KACND, a program called Tebyan (Clarity): An Initiative to Protect Youth from Extremist Thoughts. This initiative is the result of a previous project launched by the center called "Ambassadors of Moderation". King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah has opened the Ambassadors of Moderation Club, which aims at spreading values of moderation and justice among its students. Last year the center organized its 10th National Conference for Intellectual Dialogue with the theme "Extremism and its Effect on National Unity". About 1,500 young men and women, representing different intellectual and religious viewpoints, participated in the discussion about extremism, its causes and ways to deal with it. Earlier, the center organized a number of preparatory meetings that tackled conditions within the country that have increased extremism and terrorist acts. These conferences took place around the Kingdom and included round-table talks and intellectual gatherings aimed at discussing the reality, causes and risks of extremism, as well as how to protect society from it. Participants agreed that the family is an essential component of any society, and suggested increasing awareness campaigns to help families play a more effective role in guiding their children to lead a healthy lifestyle, far from extremism and terrorism. In 2014, the center dedicated its Fourth National Conference to youth issues. The conference was preceded by 26 preparatory sessions held all over the Kingdom, in which 650 youth representatives participated. After analyzing the role of media in Saudi society and conducting a number of studies, the center discovered that social media networks have a direct effect on youth and their perceptions, replacing the impact of traditional factors, such as the family, the mosque, schools and traditional media. The Ninth National Dialogue Conference dealt with mass media and its role in addressing national issues. The discussions resulted in issuing a media code of conduct that identified basic ideologies to strengthen national unity and intellectual security. The Sixth Saudi Cultural Discourse Meeting addressed new media and invited an elite group of pioneers, intellectuals, leaders and youth representatives to participate in finding solutions to fight the negative effects of social media, instead of blocking websites, which only exacerbated the problem. The conference suggested setting rules and regulations to protect intellectual freedom.
