"Today we face a world polarized with a win-lose mindset," explained Shamil Idriss, co-founder of the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations and CEO of Soliya. "This win-lose mentality is simply not sustainable."
"The Cairo speech by President Barack Obama opened the window of opportunity to actually do something, people-to-people, between the Moslem and Western worlds," the highly intelligent and well spoken Shamil emphasized.
Soliya is an organization, united with the Alliance of Civilizations Media Fund last fall, focused on one-to-one transformation between individual in the Arab communities and those in North America and Europe.
Shamil Idriss, co-founder of the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations and new CEO of Soliya.
"The World Bank estimates that world governments spend 170 times the resources on military than on education. 95% of casualties in war are civilian, with only 7% of the casualties from the military," Shamil explained to the standing room-only crowd.
At an event entitled "11-9: From Hate to Hope" held at SoHo House in New York City with H.M. Queen Noor, two important organizations announced that they had merged. The Alliance of Civilizations Media Fund and Soliya have united to combine strengths to better focus on their common mission.
H.M. Queen Noor of Jordan co-founded of The Alliance of Civilizations Media Fund.
Chris Cox of Facebook joined the gathering by satellite from his desk in Palo Alto. "Just by giving every single person a voice, making it free, safe, efficient – and giving people control, is my mission," he told us.
Chris Cox of Facebook joined the gathering by satellite from his desk in Palo Alto.
"We need to use the tools at our disposal to connect Kansas to Cairo. In this way, Facebook and Soliya complement each other," Chris said.
"Now that all can say, ‘I’m here!,’ how do we connect these voices and visions together most effectively?," the young Facebook director asked.
"It is important to challenge the assumptions of our world," Chris explained. When we began Facebook, many said ‘no one will put their name, face or opinion on-line.’ They will. People want to be heard! They just need the tools to do so."
"I have been very inspired by Soliya for creating such a strong platform for social change," Chris added.
Lucas Welch, Soliya’s founder, stated, "Understanding itself is action."
Lucas Welch, Soliya’s founder, spoke about how far the world had moved since 9/11. He remembered – as many of those gathered did – the terrifying smell of September 11, 2001.
Lucas stressed that we cannot be complacent. To build world connectivity to avoid another 9/11, we need to do something. But he stated, "Understanding itself is action."
Lucas spoke about the need to model behavior and learn respect, and leveraging the crowd to find best decisions in the collective.
"It’s not how many people you can touch, but how many people you can inspire to touch others," Lucas shared.
Paul Stevers, founder of CharityHelp International, discussing ideas with H.M. Queen Noor of Jordan.
Queen Noor was co-founder of The Alliance of Civilizations Media Fund, an unprecedented initiative formed out of a partnership between private media, the U.N., and global philanthropists.
Its mission is to promote and support media content that enhances mutual understanding and respect within and among different societies and cultures.
Soliya is about "Connecting tomorrow's global leaders" today. It was founded by the talented thought leader and global citizen Lucas Welch.