They wanted us to change, yet we remain unchanged, says Sheikha Moza

More than five months into the illegal siege of Qatar, the country has endured without moving an inch from their declared position.

If the four siege nations expected Qatar to easily fold under pressure, they could not have been more mistaken.

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, Qatar Foundation (QF) chairperson, touched upon the subject during her opening address during the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE) 2017.

“A blockade is imposed on Qatar since the 5th of June. Some wanted to make matters difficult for us, yet it was only difficult for them. They wanted us to change, yet we remain unchanged,” she said, according to Gulf Times.

Sheikha Moza pointed out the usage of ‘fake news’ to manufacture crisis in different countries.

“It’s a world where objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. It’s when truth is manufactured to take a different form to fit the image of those who want to reshape the world on fake news, fake images, fake truths and the pretense of representing the truth,” she said.

“Iraq was besieged for 13 years using tools of deception, and excuses were fabricated to justify invasion in 2003. It was so strange that the invasion was dubbed as liberation. Instead of finding weapons of mass destruction, Iraq saw massive destruction. Iraq’s education system, one of the best in the region in 1990, was in complete ruins. A country that was on the verge of eradicating illiteracy, was caught in the midst of wars and conflicts that dragged progress back to the unfortunate conditions of the past,” Sheikha Moza explained.

According to the QF chairperson, social media has become cluttered with organised activities that spread propaganda, rumours and lies to divert people’s attention away from reality and truth, and towards what is propagated as real or true.

More than 2,000 attendees, from nearly 100 countries, are taking  part in the WISE summit, which, since 2009, has become a global reference in new approaches to education.

“Let us be inspired by this year’s WISE theme of coexistence, and place it at the core of solutions for different challenges,” Sheikha Moza was quoted as saying by The Peninsula.

Sheikha Moza presented this year’s $500,000 WISE Prize for Education to Patrick Awuah of Ghana, recognising his great effort in the education field in his country.