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This Might Be What Broke the Deadlock at COP28 This Might Be What Broke the Deadlock at COP28
(about 1 hour later)
When the person who presided over the fairly successful climate talks in Dubai looked back on Wednesday at the two-week parley, he pinpointed one day, and one event, that he thought put it on the right path. It was the majlis that he convened this past Sunday. A majlis, from the Arabic word for sitting place, is a tradition in the Persian Gulf region that’s older than Islam.When the person who presided over the fairly successful climate talks in Dubai looked back on Wednesday at the two-week parley, he pinpointed one day, and one event, that he thought put it on the right path. It was the majlis that he convened this past Sunday. A majlis, from the Arabic word for sitting place, is a tradition in the Persian Gulf region that’s older than Islam.
For much of COP — as the Conference of the Parties, the United Nations-sponsored gathering dedicated to fighting climate change, is called — Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber was all over the place trying to form what he termed the United Arab Emirates “consensus.” He had come under fire for having said last month that there was “no science” behind the idea that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures would require ending fossil fuel production.For much of COP — as the Conference of the Parties, the United Nations-sponsored gathering dedicated to fighting climate change, is called — Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber was all over the place trying to form what he termed the United Arab Emirates “consensus.” He had come under fire for having said last month that there was “no science” behind the idea that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial temperatures would require ending fossil fuel production.
“And then we became the first COP to host a change-makers majlis,” Al Jaber said in his prepared closing speech. “And I felt that that was the turning point in our negotiations. You reconnected with your spirit of collaboration, you got out of your comfort zones and started speaking to each other from the heart.”“And then we became the first COP to host a change-makers majlis,” Al Jaber said in his prepared closing speech. “And I felt that that was the turning point in our negotiations. You reconnected with your spirit of collaboration, you got out of your comfort zones and started speaking to each other from the heart.”
“That,” he said, “made the difference.”“That,” he said, “made the difference.”
Could a majlis really do all that? Or did Al Jaber overstate the benefits of the majlis because it was kind of his thing? I looked into these questions and came away thinking that Al Jaber was on to something. The majlis is a tradition of the Arab world that just might have a role on the world stage.Could a majlis really do all that? Or did Al Jaber overstate the benefits of the majlis because it was kind of his thing? I looked into these questions and came away thinking that Al Jaber was on to something. The majlis is a tradition of the Arab world that just might have a role on the world stage.
A majlis (pronounced MAHJ-liss) is both a place and an event. It is the place in an Arab home where people sit with guests. Often the richer the homeowner, the bigger the majlis. Traditionally there are carpets, cushions, a teapot, an incense burner. In a majlis, people don’t rush to do business. Sociably sitting is part of the experience.
There are different majalis (that’s the plural, pronounced mah-JAH-liss) for different purposes. Sometimes they are family oriented. Sometimes they serve a religious or judicial function. Fishermen or farmers might have a majlis to work out disputes over fishing grounds or watering holes. Hamza Yusuf, the president of Zaytuna College in Berkeley, Calif., told me he once attended a majlis in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia that involved a deep discussion of “The Brothers Karamazov,” the Russian novel.