Camden Conference 2014 Speakers and Topics

Camden, Maine - The 2014 Camden Conference, slated for the weekend of February 21 to 23, will feature a stellar lineup of high-profile experts addressing “The Global Politics of Food and Water.” The speakers, focusing on issues as well as solutions, are guaranteed to stimulate discussion—and perhaps generate controversy—as they present their perspectives on this critical topic.

Fred Kirschenmann

As previously announced, the moderator for the conference will be Jonathan Foley, Director of the Institute on the Environment at the University of Minnesota. Friday evening’s keynote speaker will be Fred Kirschenmann, an expert on sustainable agriculture and food issues as well as an organic farmer.

Saturday morning speakers will address the effects of climate change on food and water supplies. Ann Tutweiler, Director General of Bioversity International, will focus on the effects of climate change on agricultural biodiversity. Calestous Juma, Professor of the Practice of International Development at the Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, will follow with a case study of African efforts to improve food security in the face of climate-change impacts on farming. Wrapping up the morning, Andrew Guzman, Professor at Berkeley Law School, will cover the impacts of climate change on water resources and access to water as well as other effects of existing and potential water scarcity.

Jonathan Foley

Saturday afternoon will feature Andreas Merkl, President of the Ocean Conservancy, who will outline international agreements for managing fisheries practices and examine the consequences for fishery resources as ocean temperatures rise and acidification increases. The afternoon will conclude with a panel of speakers comparing large- and small-scale agriculture as alternatives for future global food security. The pros and cons of the different solutions will be explored by a dynamic group: Kathleen Merrigan, former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture; Dave Gustafson, a Senior Science Fellow at Monsanto; and Jim Harkness, President of the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.

The Sunday-morning program will open with an overview of international food security policies provided by Robert Paarlberg, Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College. He will focus on important challenges facing international trade and finance institutions and multinational organizations to achieve global food security. The closing speaker will be Gus Schumacher, Executive Vice President of Policy at the Wholesome Wave Foundation. He will address key issues on domestic agriculture in terms of both policy and technology and their implications for international and longer-term domestic issues and policy. As always, the Conference will conclude with a panel of all speakers taking questions from the audience and interacting with one another.

This 27th Camden Conference promises to provide an informative and thought-provoking look at this all-important topic that affects everyone on the planet. For more information, visit the website www.camdenconference.org which has full speaker biographies and the latest Conference information. Tickets are now on sale and already on track to duplicate last year’s sellout at the Camden Opera House.

Ann Tutwiler

The Conference’s Global Sponsor is R. M. Davis, Inc., and the Education Sponsor is The Unity Foundation.  Conference sponsors also include Hannaford Bros. Co., Educational Development Center, Down East magazine, and The Free Press. Additional foundation support is provided by The William and Joan Alfond Foundation; The Cascade Foundation; The Emanuel and Pauline A. Lerner Foundation; the Maine Community Foundation; The Mattina R. Proctor Foundation; and the Elmina Sewall Foundation.

The mission of the Camden Conference is to foster informed discourse on world affairs through year-round community events, public and student engagement, and an annual weekend conference. For more information, visit www.camdenconference.org, email info@camdenconference.org, or call 207-236-1034.

Emerging Trends Two Years After The Arab Awakening.

Emerging Trends Two Years After The Arab Awakening.

Presented by Marwan Muasher 

26th Camden Conference

Doug Mills

World and National Editor

RCN America Network

Marwan Muasher is a Jordanian diplomat who currently serves as Vice President for Studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. He began his career as a journalist with the Jordan Times before serving with the Ministry of Planning and in the office of the Prime Minister of Jordan. Foreign postings began as Director of the Jordan Information Bureau in Washington, D.C. In 1995 Muasher was Jordan’s first Ambassador to Israel. A year later he was Minister of Information and government spokesman in Amman. From 1997 to 2002 he was Jordan’s Ambassador to the United States. For two years he was Foreign Minister and then served as Deputy Prime Minister leading a reform and planning agenda for the government. From 2007 to 2010 Muasher was Senior Vice President for External Affairs at the World Bank. He is the author of The Arab Center: The Promise of Moderation (Yale University Press-2008) and is writing a book on the Arab Awakening.

Two years after it's beginning the Arab Awakening has yet to be defined. True, lasting change could take decades. We do , however, see six emerging trends in the Middle East.

1. A battle of ideas. For the first time in 100 years the political space is open. The previous governments ruled with no checks and balances and little regard for the common man. Now the landscape is open. This battle needs to be about more than just the secular vs. Islam, it must be about the people and rights for all regardless of their beliefs.

2. The Secular need to work on the ground. In the past the secular governments have been elitist and looking out for their own interests, apart from the common man. The new secular groups need to work with the people, create a plan and follow through on that plan.

3. Secular Religious Holiness is over. In the past to criticize the government leaders was considered a crime against god. Now the landscape is open and leaders are being held accountable. You are able to openly criticize the leaders.

4. Political reform must accompany Economic reform. Previous economic reform was to benefit the leaders not the common man. The people need to know that they will have a say in this reform and that they will see benefit from it.

5. The need for a 3^rd political party who is willing to pursue a true democratic process to benefit all. In the past there have been to parties, The Political Elite and the Islamist. They both talk democratic change but only what will benefit them and their views.

6. Talk of change alone will not work any more. The people are looking for results.

In light of these trends what should we the western world be doing? Marwan Muasher stated that we should stop trying to pick the winner and try to work with all to help produce an environment where each person and viewpoint is important. This may take decades but, the process has started and is very exciting.

The Middle East What Next? 2013 Camden Conference Part 1

26th Camden Conference
by Doug Mills
World and National News Editor
RCN America Network

As a writer I am always happy When I cover a convention or meeting with high expectations and those expectations are met. Then there is that rare instance when those high expectations are not only met but are blown away! Such was the case for the Camden Conference this past week. So often the hype does not match the reality.

The 26^th Camden Conference included an amazing array of speakers who were the best in their field from Egypt, Israel, Iran and many others. If you think these were long dry speeches you should have been there when R. Nicholas Burns one of our former top diplomats in the State Department sat down on the same stage with Seyed Hossein Mousavian Iran’s former diplomat in charge of nuclear negotiations with Europe you would be dead wrong, the fireworks had everyone in the auditorium on the edge of their seats. But I am getting ahead of myself.

As a writer I am always happy When I cover a convention or meeting with high expectations and those expectations are met. Then there is that rare instance when those high expectations are not only met but are blown away! Such was the case for the Camden Conference this past week. So often the hype does not match the reality.

The topic for the 26th Annual Camden Conference, “The Middle East - What Next?”. The keynote address was presented by Robin Wright. Robin Wright is a journalist, author, and foreign policy analyst. She has reported from more than 140 countries on six continents for the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, the Sunday Times of London, CBS News, and the Christian Science Monitor. She won the National Magazine Award for The New Yorker. She has also written for The Atlantic Monthly, the New York Times Magazine, TIME, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and many others. Wright has been a foreign correspondent in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, and spent several years as a roving correspondent in Asia and Latin America. She most recently covered U.S. foreign policy for the Washington Post. Besides a long career in journalism, Wright has been a fellow at the Brookings Institution, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Yale, Duke, Stanford, the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the University of Southern California. She received her B.A. and M.A. from the University of Michigan. Wright has held a joint appointment as a United States Institute of Peace Senior Fellow and Wilson Center Distinguished Scholar during which she produced three books: The Iran Primer: Power, Politics, and U.S. Policy (2010), Rock the Casbah: Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World (2011), and The Islamists Are Coming: Who They Really Are(2012).

Rock The Casbah: What Next In The Middle East?

It had been two years since the Arab Spring movement. What is the state of the Middle East today? Are things better or worse? Robin gave us 5 Positives of Change in the Middle East.

1. Music: Music has helped to fuel change especially in the rap community. Music very often plays a part in social change.
2. New Roll Models: Young people are being presented new positive roll models to follow.
3. New Muslim Comedians: A new crop of Muslim comedians have emerged providing comic relief and pointing out some of the more negative aspects of jehadism.
4. New Muslim Theater: Many new theater productions are being produced teaching the positive side of the Muslim religion.
5. Women are on the front lines of the change that is taking place.

However after two years there is still very much to be concerned about.

1. 120,000,000 are now struggling to gain rights. The old order is gone and the new order has not taken shape. It is “the law of the jungle” in the streets of the Middle East.
2. Every one of these countries is worse off economically today than it was two years ago.
3. The proliferation of democracy. This new freedom has caused the rise of hundreds of political parties, all with different priorities.
4. The proliferation of Islamist ideas. Many new Islamist groups have emerged and with the old line groups are all seeking to foll the vacuum left by the Arab Spring Movement.
5. Security of the region has been affected by the rise of new militant groups.
6. Tribes are reemerging as a defining forge in society.
7. Demographics, government leaders are older, the population is young and the economy is down.
8. Corruption is rampant.
9. Women are not fairing well and are often targeted for violence.
10. The map of the Middle East could change drasticly as countries break up into tribal factions.

Bad news? Scarey news? Robin reminded us how long after the American Revolution it was till all people in this country were truly free. “Change takes time.”