I am pleased to announce that Maison du Futur (MdF) has resumed its mission and activities after a forced hiatus, imposed by conditions of the Lebanese War and a resulting eclipse of civilization.  Today, MdF has returned to its roots dating back to the mid-1970s, when it was a leading center of research and study in Lebanon and the wider Middle East.  Always a haven for an intellectual vanguard eager to engage in civil discourse and substantive dialogue, Maison du Futur has reopened its doors in a new venue: the historic Serail of Bikfaya, a prominent district of Beirut since the mid-nineteenth century.

Maison du Futur resumes its role amid a set of disastrous circumstances prevailing in Lebanon, the Arab world and the Middle East generally.  This state of affairs can be encapsulated as self-inflicted paralysis, wars without borders, and regimes with no future.  The Arab Spring ushered in a moment of hope characterized by a fleeting consensus that, unharnessed, was rapidly supplanted by disillusionment and conflict. 

In the face of prevailing and looming threats that cloud the present and future of Lebanon and the Arab region—and that even call into question global peace—let us search for real solutions that will break the cycle of wars and crises.  An earnest movement for real change can begin with a cadre of scholars and thought leaders who join together to forge a new vision, a new strategy and a new bundle of solutions. 

Arab peoples will neither thrive nor survive if they are captured by mindsets and doctrines that hinder progress.  Instead, what is needed and urgent at this juncture is a series of ideas and programs that propel societies from stagnation to modernity and innovation, from a triptych of illiteracy, ignorance and violence to a trinity of education, development and values. 

My ambition for Maison du Futur is to create a dynamic forum for generating innovative thought as the basis of genuine reform.  MdF will be an open and sustainable platform where leaders, scholars and experts from various fields can pause to reflect, debate and forge new ideas and concepts for creating a world of stability, peace and human dignity.

Let us join together and pool our efforts towards this great endeavor.