A common vision for a progressive Arab world

President Massimo D’Alema welcomes the establishment in Cairo of the Arab Social Democratic Forum. The historical creation of the Arab Social Democratic Forum sends a strong internationalist message.  Progressive forces in the region, as everywhere, should strive for the creation of unified left wing, of stable and long-lasting political parties, open, and inclusive, allowing for the active participation of women and young people, and proposing ambitious governmental programmes.

Listening to the Progressive Mediterranean initiative

The Arab Spring resulted from social movements and revolutions that demanded social justice, democracy, freedom, independence and equality. Despite the challenging path ahead and the difficult events that still affect our quest for democracy and social justice, we remain committed to reach our goal of building a new Arab World and unite the efforts of all the progressive forces; old and new.

FEPS with the Arab Social Democratic Forum, S&D Group, GPF and PES believe that a united Arab social democratic front is a cornerstone to achieve this goal and is urgently needed at this crucial moment of building true democracies in the Arab World. The potential of partnership of the existing parties and the support that can be provided to the ones being established as well as strengthening the coordination with international partners to promote our common principles cannot be underestimated.

For this historic purpose, they took the initiative to start the process of inaugurating the Arab Social Democratic Forum.

Read the article ‘Arab Spring two years on – time for a regional progressive alliance‘, by Sergei Stanishev (Party of European Socialists), Mohamed Aboulghar (Egyptian Social Democratic Party), Hannes Swoboda (S&D Group in the European Parliament), Massimo D’Alema (FEPS), Nabil Shaath (Fatah Organization) and Mustapha Ben Jaafar (Etakattol Tunisia), published in the Egypt Independent.

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