PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
A New Intellectual Voice Between Europe and the Arab World
Giving a Voice to Free Arab Voices: A Vital Urgency
Paris, April 7, 2025
As identity tensions, extremist rhetoric, and binary narratives gain ground across Europe and the Middle East, a new initiative is being launched: Ashteret, an independent forum for the renewal of knowledge and coexistence.
Its primary mission: to provide a platform in Arabic for thinkers, activists, researchers, and engaged citizens — whether from the Middle East or the diaspora — who are fighting against Islamism, the culture of hatred, and regressive ideologies.
Too often marginalized in mainstream media narratives, these critical, rooted, and free voices are essential for understanding the contemporary Arab world.
Founded by Franco-Syrian author Faraj Alexandre Rifai, Ashteret offers a transnational, multilingual (French, Arabic, English) space, free from ideological affiliation, to rethink the fractures of our time.
Ashteret speaks to those who refuse to choose between freedom and memory, spirituality and reason, commitment and nuance.
A Bridge Between Worlds, A Response to Toxic Narratives
Born from a personal journey marked by the dual propaganda of authoritarian Arab nationalism and radical Islamism, Ashteret is built on a strong conviction:
Knowledge, critical thinking, and intercultural dialogue are weapons of massive construction.
Ashteret seeks to respond to today’s intellectual and moral urgency through:
- Educational projects for young people and teachers on the history, cultures, and conflicts of the Middle East;
- A platform of critical content in Arabic, French, and English, aimed at deconstructing hate narratives and promoting moderate interpretations of traditions;
- Conferences, debates, and publications bringing together Arab, Jewish, European, secular, and spiritual thinkers — voices often absent from official platforms and mainstream media.
Against Antisemitism, Obscurantism, and Relativism
One of Ashteret’s pillars is the fight against antisemitism and the political instrumentalization of the Palestinian cause.
The initiative seeks to promote a lucid understanding of Israeli-Arab realities and to highlight progressive voices — Arab, Jewish, secular, and spiritual — working for a peace based on justice and mutual recognition.
“I grew up in a culture of institutionalized hatred. Today, I want to create a space for rupture, transmission, and intellectual reconciliation.”
— Faraj Alexandre Rifai, Founder of Ashteret
Ashteret in Action
Ashteret’s activities are organized around four strategic pillars:
- A knowledge center on the Arab world in Europe, to better understand the region’s cultural, religious, and geopolitical dynamics;
- A laboratory for inclusive secularism, adapted to Arab societies and allied to moderate, non-fundamentalist traditionalism;
- A counter-discourse platform to confront hatred, extremism, and identity-based stereotypes;
- A front against antisemitism, based on education, critical thinking, and shared memory.
A Growing Community
Ashteret is building a vibrant network of thinkers, activists, educators, and artists — rooted both in the Middle East and in the Arab cultural diaspora in Europe.
It offers free Arab voices a platform often denied to them and seeks to reconnect societies with their critical, pluralistic, and spiritual heritage.
Contacts & Information
📍 Website: [www.ashteret.org]
📧 Press Contact:Agence Caradine agencecaradine@gmail.com.
Join the Ashteret community on YouTube, X, and Facebook — where free thought, coexistence, and critical voices come together.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Ashteret_forum
X: https://x.com/ashteret_forum?s=21
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/16W8hBg5gh/?mibextid=wwXIfr