Skoll World Forum 2016: Fierce Compassion
Video Description
Is “fierce compassion” an oxymoron? Is it possible to be both fierce and compassionate? What other seemingly contradictory ideas do we accept at face value? Based on the theme of the 2016 Skoll World Forum, this film invites you to explore our norms and biases. Provocative events like the Syrian refugee crisis and Black Lives Matter protests are juxtaposed with moments inspired by change agents like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malala Yousafzai. Watch the film and please share your thoughts on how we can find unity in a world filled with dualities.
Speakers
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Director of the Arabic Language and Cultural Studies Program, Fordham University
MOHAMED A. ALSIADI was born in Syria and lived and worked in the Middle East before moving to NYC. He received his B.A. from Syrian’s most prestigious Institute of Music. As a gifted composer and artist he collaborated with some of the most renowned artists and musicians of the Damascus Spring. He is currently the Director of the US-MidEast Program for the Center for the Study of Genocide, Conflict Resolution and Coordinator and Senior Lecturer in the Arabic Language and Cultural Studies Program at Fordham University. He is also presently a doctoral candidate in the Program in American Studies at Rutgers University-Newark. His research interests include, Arabic language, literature, culture, Arab-American issues, issues related to Arab-American identity post-9/11; the impact of East-West relations on contemporary Arabic music and literature; Aleppian Waslah performance in the Diaspora; Arabic music composition, theory, and practice; and use of Islam to democratize groups and nations. Alsiadi has co-authored an Arabic language and culture book, articles on music and music theory in addition to translation of key works of important social and political figures of the Arab Spring and the Syrian revolution.
Professor Alsiadi has spent the last five years facilitating discussions, hosting meetings and conducting research with key members of the Syrian leadership in the diaspora. Since the start of the conflict in Syria he has provided academic leadership, engaged in discussions and offered advice and support to fellow Syrians in civic society, academia and political parties across Europe, the Middle East and the United States. He has also provided important commentary for journalists in the USA and around the world based on his research and expertise and reports from his contacts with academics and journalists within Syria. He has been interviewed and been an analyst on TV and radio for a wide range of media sources including appearances on PBS, HuffPost LIVE, ABC In
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Cellist,
Sophie, originally from Cardiff, began learning the cello at the age of 8. By the age of 17 she had progressed through all of the local youth orchestras and gained a place in the National Youth Orchestra of Wales. In 2014, her final year, she was principal cello, under the direction of Jac Van Steen.
Sophie studied at the RWCMD under the tuition of Rosie Biss and Richard May During her time there, she was a keen chamber musician and a member of the Scott Quartet. In April 2014, the quartet won the first annual Bridgewood & Neitzert String Quartet prize at RWCMD and were awarded scholarships to study at the Wintergreen Academy, Virginia, USA in summer 2014. They were also put forward for the prestigious Cavatina Intercollegiate String Quartet Prize 2014 in London and have given a wealth of performances around Cardiff and beyond.
Since graduating in 2015, Sophie is performing across Wales and England with various ensembles, including British Sinfonietta, Sinfonia Cymru, Welsh Sinfonia and acting as principal cello for the Young Musicians Symphony Orchestra.
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Executive Director, Ripple Effect Images
One of the first women photographers to work for National Geographic, Annie Griffiths has photographed in nearly 150 countries during her illustrious career. She has worked on dozens of magazine and book projects for National Geographic, including stories on Lawrence of Arabia, Baja California, Galilee, Petra, Sydney, New Zealand, and Jerusalem.
In addition to her magazine work, Griffiths is deeply committed to photographing for aid organizations around the world. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Ripple Effect Images, a collective of photographers who document the programs that are empowering women and girls in the developing world, especially as they deal with the devastating effects of climate change. In less than five years, Ripple’s work has helped 24 non-profits raise over a million dollars.
Griffiths’ work has also appeared in LIFE, Geo, Smithsonian, Fortune, Stern, and many other publications. Along with author Barbara Kingsolver, she produced Last Stand: America’s Virgin Lands, a book celebrating the last pristine wilderness in North America. Proceeds from the book raised more than a quarter of a million dollars for grassroots land conservation. Griffiths is an accomplished speaker and a regular guest on NPR, The Today Show and other media outlets.
In 2008, Griffiths published A Camera, Two Kids and a Camel, a photo memoir about balance, and the joy of creating a meaningful life. In 2010, Annie authored the book, Simply Beautiful Photographs, which was named the top photo/art book of the year by both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Annie is currently at work on two new books.
Annie is a Fellow with The International League of Conservation Photographers and has received awards from the National Press Photographers Association, Heifer International, the National Organization of Women, The University of Minnesota and the White House News Photographers Association.
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Student, UWC Robert Bosch College
Selina Neirok Leem, an islander from the Republic of the Marshall Islands, is currently attending her last year of high school in the UWC (United World College) Robert Bosch College in Freiburg, Germany. The school is a prestigious international program that offers the International Baccalaureate Diploma. Prior to her coming to Germany, she was a student of the Marshall Islands High School.
Until she was 16 and moved to Germany, she spent her entire life on her home atoll, Majuro, also the capital of the country. She grew up with her large family; her grandparents, her parents, her uncles and aunts, her cousins, and her six siblings. Selina was influenced a lot by her grandparents who would tell her Marshallese stories and legends before she went to bed. They also emphasized the importance of education, taught her Marshallese values, and so much more.
She credits her grandfather for her deep awareness of the increasing fate of her island home through his stories about how the ice in the North Pole and South Pole were melting and would soon flood the Marshall Islands. He helped her become much more aware of her surroundings, of the fact that she was literally surrounded by water.
Coming to Germany, Selina took on the role of a climate change advocate for her country. She saw all that had happened throughout her years of living on her atoll as the changing of the climate became more prominent and wanted to share with whomever she came across. She was even more inspired when she saw that she could reach a much wider audience here in Europe in order to spread more awareness.
Representing the Marshall Islands, Selina was the youngest delegate at the COP21 in Paris. During the closing remarks, then Marshall Islands Foreign Minister Tony deBrum gave her the opportunity to give the final statement on behalf of her country. She told the world that Paris agreement, “should be the turning point in our story; a turning point for all of us.”
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Composer, Pianos for Peace
Hailed by BBC WorldNews as “an acclaimed pianist”, the music of German born, Syrian-American composer and pianist Malek Jandali has been described as “moving and thought provoking” by Bob Stevenson of NPR and “inspiring” by the Huffington Post. His most recent symphony was described by Thomas Ludwig of the LSO as a “new symphonic mastery that was clearly not brought about only by a reaction to contemporary events, but also by sustained contact with the well-springs of polyphonic elegant music.”
Malek’s hit album “Echoes from Ugarit” was recorded in Moscow with The Russian Philharmonic Orchestra and released in 2008. It includes original compositions based on the oldest music notation in the world discovered on a clay tablet in the ancient Mediterranean city of Ugarit. His 2012 album “Emessa” has received critical acclaim in major newspapers and is “hauntingly beautiful” according to The Stream AJ America.
Malek was the recipient of the 2011 “Freedom of Expression” award in Los Angeles and was recognized in New York City with the 2012 Arab-American Cultural Achievement Award. He was honored with the 2013 GUSI Peace Prize for his dedication to peace and the humanitarian causes featured in his 2013-2014 world tour “The Voice of the Free Syrian Children”. Malek was the recipient of the 2014 Global Music Humanitarian Award and in 2015, The Carnegie Corporation of New York honored him as a Great Immigrant, joining the ranks of other great American immigrants such as Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and Ambassador Samantha Power.
Malek’s compositions not only integrate Middle-Eastern modes into Western classical forms and harmony, they echo UNESCO’s call to preserve and protect the rich cultural heritage of Syria and the Silk Road at a time when it is being eradicated. They range from chamber music to large-scale orchestral works including three symphonies and concertos for violin and piano. His compositions have been performed by numerous leading orchestras such as the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra, The Stockholm Solister, and the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra. David Firman of the RPO describes Jandali’s music as “gorgeous, haunting, yearning and full of hope, with a pain more personal than that of Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff.”
His album “SoHo” was premiered on January 31, 2015 at Carnegie Hall. Featuring The Malek Jandali Trio and his chamber works for piano, oud and cello, “SoHo” is a departure from his previous albums. While it honors the rich heritage of traditional Syrian and Andalusian music and masterpieces of world poetry, it is clearly influenced by the American spirit of creativity and artistic self-expression. From the Silk Road, to Little Syria to SoHo, this album is a continuation of Jandali’s musical journey.
In 2015 Malek released his album “Syrian Symphony” at Carnegie Hall, described by Fanfare Magazine as “a major new addition to the 21st century’s symphonic literature.” American Record Guide hailed the album as having “heart-rending melodies, lush orchestration, clever transitions and creative textures.” The Syrian children were the inspiration for his second symphony, Luminosity, which was premiered on February 6, 2016 by the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and released in 2017 on his latest album also featuring “Symphony No. 3, Hiraeth”
His causes go beyond those of humanitarian activism, as he is regularly recognized by and invited to speak to key academic audiences at Harvard University, the Skoll World Form, Duke University, Aspen Ideas Festival and the United Nations headquarters in New York City and the Doha Debates at Georgetown University in Qatar. Malek’s diverse career remains truly international, as he continues to captivate audiences in concerts throughout North America and Europe at such prestigious venues as the Kennedy Center, Wiener Konzerthaus, Stockholm Konserthuset and the National Auditorium in Madrid with the Queen of Spain in attendance.
Jandali is a magna cum laude graduate of Queens College and received his MBA from The University of North Carolina. In addition to his demanding tour schedule, he is a strong advocate for peace and human rights. He is the founder and CEO of Pianos for Peace, a non-profit organization dedicated to building peace through music and education. He embraces young talent through the Malek Jandali International Youth Piano Competition. Malek makes his home in both New York City and Atlanta, and is a member of The Recording Academy and The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP). His music is published by Soul b Music and his albums are available on iTunes, CD Baby, Amazon and at Virgin Megastores worldwide.
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Director, The Marshall Institute, London School of Economics
Stephan Chambers is the inaugural director of the Marshall Institute at LSE and Director of the 100x Impact Accelerator. He serves on the steering groups for the Just Transition Finance Lab and the LSE Grantham Research Institute. At LSE he also sits on the governing board for the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity and is Professor in Practice at the Department of Management and Course Director for the Executive Masters in Social Business and Entrepreneurship. Before joining the Marshall Institute Stephan Chambers was the Co-Founder of the Skoll World Forum. From 2000 to 2014 he directed the University of Oxford’s MBA and was the founding Director of Oxford University's Executive MBA programme.
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Founder & Chairman, Jeff Skoll Group
Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Skoll Foundation
Founder and Chairman Emeritus of Participant Media
Founder of Capricorn Investment Group
Co-founder and GP of the RISE Fund
First fulltime employee and President of eBay
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Former Vice President of the United States and Chairman of The Climate Reality Project, Office of the Honorable Al Gore
Al Gore
Former US Vice President and Nobel Laureate
An environmental, business, and tech visionary recognized as one of the world's leading activists, former US Vice President Al Gore was referred to by TIME magazine as “a businessman who is out to change the world.”
VP Gore is the founder and chairman of The Climate Reality Project, a nonprofit devoted to solving the climate crisis, a founding partner and chairman of Generation Investment Management, and a co-founder of Climate TRACE. He is also a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a member of Apple Inc.’s board of directors, and a member of the World Economic Forum’s board of trustees.
VP Gore was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1976, 1978, 1980, and 1982 and to the US Senate in 1984 and 1990. He was inaugurated as the 45th vice president of the United States on January 20, 1993, and served eight years.
The former Vice President is the author of the #1 New York Times best-sellers "An Inconvenient Tru
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Chair of The Elders, The Elders
Mary Robinson is a founding member and Chair of The Elders, an independent group of global leaders founded by Nelson Mandela in 2007, who work together for peace, justice, human rights and a sustainable planet. She has served as Chair since 2018, and is a passionate advocate for gender equality, human rights and climate justice. She has addressed the UN Security Council on multiple occasions and has met with world leaders including President Ramaphosa in South Africa, Pope Francis in the Vatican, President Macron in Paris and President Xi Jinping in Beijing. She was the first woman President of Ireland (1990–1997) and is a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (1997–2002). From 2013- 2016, she served as the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy in three roles; first for the Great Lakes region of Africa, then on Climate Change and then on El Niño and Climate. She was appointed Adjunct Professor for Climate Justice at Trinity College Dublin in 2019.
