On Wednesday (15 May 2013) I had the honor of introducing a documentary film ‘Words of Witness’ as it premiered as part of the Human Right Arts and Film Festival (HRAFF).   The documentary was made during the Egyptian uprising, by Filmmaker Mai Iskander. The film follows Heba Affy, an online journalist reporting from the front-line of the revolution. I was asked by the Festival organisers to introduce the film and provide the audience with some updated reflections on the current political situation in Egypt and across the Arab Spring countries.

Increasing cultural and religious diversity does not and should not have a detrimental effect on social cohesion. Diversity should not be linked to a loss of a sense of collective action, but rather to a stronger community bonding and mutual trust. Under no circumstances, should cultural diversity be invoked to justify infringements on domestic laws and accepted norms of human rights. Indeed, cultural diversity should be employed as a key lever to engendering intercultural understanding in our increasingly multicultural society.  Yet this is not always the case as recent events have shown.

Young people have been the focal point in recent debates about immigration, multiculturalism, cultural diversity, and the notion of living with difference. We have seen recently (March 2013) the release of the Federal government inquiry into ‘Multiculturalism in Australia’ with a sharper emphasis on social cohesion and successful integration for migrant youth. But within the broader multicultural debate, cultural identity and articulations of belonging and attachment remain central issues for migrant youth, regardless of how much time has elapsed since leaving their country of origin.

When I first received the invitation to present the Occasional Address for Deakin University’s graduation ceremony, I happened to be in the middle of a field trip to North Africa (more specifically Tunisia, the birth of the Arab spring and where the World Social Forum was held) and also Vienna (where I took part in the UN Alliance of Civilisations annual global forum). Both events were dominated and shaped by youth social entrepreneurship, their intercultural creativity and personal ingenuity. I will come back to the momentous events sweeping the Middle East and North Africa region in a moment. But in relation to the UN event in Vienna, I had the honour and pleasure of being a member of the jury for the UN intercultural innovation awards (sponsored by BMW and presented by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon).

‘Innovation’ has become a buzz word for government, corporate and civil society sectors striving to respond to more complex social realities and seeking to improve overall productivity and performance within their respective domains. At its most basic level and from a very general perspective, ‘innovation’ can be seen as the capacity to harness invention and creativity among people within any particular organization or context.

Much has already been said and written about the wave of protests about the anti-Islam trashy trailer ‘The Innocence of Muslims’. So as expected, many so-called Muslim ‘leaders’ have sprung up to explain, contextualise, restrain and advise. Some are even offering apologies to the wider society about the actions of the radical few who as always succeed in making Islam itself the subject of scrutiny here and not the amateurish, poorly produced ‘video’ that most of them have not even seen. And an equal number of so-called experts and commentators have also offered, to everyone and anyone who cares to receive, their well-informed nuanced and sophisticated analyses.

Australia recently signed a deal with the United Arab Emirates to provide uranium for the Persian Gulf country’s planned nuclear power plants. In an email interview, Fethi Mansouri, the director of the Center for Citizenship and Globalization at Deakin University, Australia, and the author of “Australia and the Middle East: a Front line Relationship,” discussed Australia-Middle East relations.

So the very definition of a ‘refugee’ entails human movement from a country of origin, sometimes via a transitory second country, towards a destination country where protection might be sought. Australia like all signatories to the Convention has legal and moral obligations to provide this protection regardless of how asylum seekers reach its shores and airports.