# Transcript: Arabs and the others

## Description

Who is Lenka Hrabalová



Lenka Hrabalová is an Arabist, Iranist, and traveler with an undying love for the Sahara and the Middle East. She is the author of the books Saharan stories, Mosaic of Iran, History in ruins, The barren crescent, and Heroes of the Orient.

## Transcript

**[00:00:00]** Good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good day, good

**[00:00:30]** Good day to all of you who took the time and came here to join us at the Magenta Experience Center.

**[00:00:38]** Good day to all of you watching us live. Today is a bit unusual because people aren't seated yet, so I'm a bit nervous about that.

**[00:00:47]** Welcome to another classic Brain & Breakfast. Just a reminder, besides the classic breakfasts, we also have business breakfasts,

**[00:00:55]** so if you need to develop some competencies in your company, you can check those out.

**[00:01:01]** But today it's about the classic format. We should thank the breakfast partners, which is the Magenta Experience Center hosting us today.

**[00:01:10]** Frutissimo, the healthy breakfast partner, which those of you watching live from some library might not appreciate much,

**[00:01:19]** but those registered here on site will. Then there's Slajdu, the interactivity partner, so you can slowly take out your mobile phones,

**[00:01:28]** and I'll tell you what to do with them. That big beautiful QR code you see will occasionally appear during this broadcast

**[00:01:38]** and will take you to the newsletter called Shortcut. Shortcut is the newsletter of the Red Button network,

**[00:01:47]** which is behind not only Brain and Breakfast, business, classic, but many other activities, so if you want to stay in touch with us

**[00:01:54]** and see what the network and its members are doing, this is the right place.

**[00:02:00]** As I said, the breakfast is interactive. I firmly believe there will be a lot of questions today.

**[00:02:07]** So please take your mobile phone, go to www.slajdu.com, or scan this QR code, enter the hashtag Brain,

**[00:02:19]** and it will take you to the first question I prepared, which is traditional: whether you have been to a breakfast before

**[00:02:29]** or if you are having breakfast with us for the first time today. Let me see how it looks there.

**[00:02:35]** So today it looks like the regular fans. That always makes me a bit sad that the bubble isn't expanding,

**[00:02:45]** but anyway, I think those who have been to breakfasts before are leading very, very clearly.

**[00:02:51]** Well, you know what you came for, what kind of lecture, so I won't keep you waiting long,

**[00:02:57]** I'm looking forward to the lecture just like you, so let me welcome Lenka Hrabalová.

**[00:03:02]** Lenka, come join us here, I welcome you, good day.

**[00:03:11]** Arabist, Iranist, traveler, writer, I feel the topic is very current,

**[00:03:18]** so Lenka, I'm really looking forward to the lecture, here is a symbolic chisel for you, and thank you very much.

**[00:03:23]** Thank you.

**[00:03:27]** Good morning, I'll start with an apology, I flew back from Afghanistan on Sunday,

**[00:03:32]** and caught some nasty cold, so if I cough a bit or so,

**[00:03:37]** I apologize, there's nothing I can do about it,

**[00:03:40]** but I really hope we can get through this properly and without any stronger attacks,

**[00:03:46]** that would be nice, illnesses.

**[00:03:48]** So, let's get started, Arabs and the rest.

**[00:03:51]** This lecture was created, I've been giving it for at least 10 years,

**[00:03:55]** it was created at the request of an elementary school that wanted an introduction to the Middle East,

**[00:04:00]** an introduction to the cultures, to the religions that exist there,

**[00:04:03]** and it turned out it's not just a matter for 6th or 7th graders,

**[00:04:06]** but many adults also have problems or questions about many of these topics,

**[00:04:11]** so the lecture grew, I currently have about five versions,

**[00:04:15]** short, long, medium, basic, adult,

**[00:04:18]** so this one is of course intended for adults,

**[00:04:22]** we'll discuss together what the Middle East actually is,

**[00:04:25]** how people live there, how the problems that currently exist came about

**[00:04:29]** and how we can even deal with them.

**[00:04:34]** So, I start all my lectures with a map,

**[00:04:37]** so that we are all on the same page.

**[00:04:40]** These countries you see here are countries or regions,

**[00:04:43]** not all of them states, with a significant Muslim minority,

**[00:04:48]** usually depending on the country.

**[00:04:50]** Currently, there are about two billion Muslims worldwide.

**[00:04:54]** Islam is the second largest religion in the world

**[00:04:58]** and it originated in a relatively small, or rather,

**[00:05:02]** an absolutely small area, the Arabian Peninsula,

**[00:05:06]** around the cities of Mecca and Medina.

**[00:05:11]** Islam as a religion began in the 7th century.

**[00:05:14]** At the end of the 6th century, in the Year of the Elephant, a man named Muhammad was born.

**[00:05:19]** Muhammad was not born into a very good family,

**[00:05:21]** or the family was good, but he was unlucky

**[00:05:23]** to become an orphan early on, so he had to work hard.

**[00:05:27]** He worked as a caravan trader and one fine day

**[00:05:31]** he significantly raised his social status by

**[00:05:33]** marrying an older, well-off woman.

**[00:05:36]** This woman, Khadijah, allowed him to devote himself

**[00:05:40]** to some spiritual pursuits.

**[00:05:42]** He was oriented this way and often

**[00:05:45]** went to meditate in the Hira cave above Mecca.

**[00:05:48]** One day in this cave, the angel Gabriel appeared to him,

**[00:05:51]** called Jibril in Arabic, and said, 'Hey, our God has chosen you,'

**[00:05:56]** whom the Arabs call Allah, to be a divine prophet.

**[00:06:01]** Gabriel was not very gentle with him,

**[00:06:03]** he pushed him hard, which scared Muhammad,

**[00:06:05]** so he ran to his wife, who reassured him

**[00:06:08]** that he would be a good prophet, so eventually they made peace with the angel,

**[00:06:11]** and Muhammad began to prophesy.

**[00:06:13]** Muhammad prophesied something absolutely scandalous.

**[00:06:16]** At that time, Mecca prospered from two sources.

**[00:06:19]** One was as a caravan city, caravans came,

**[00:06:21]** traders brought money.

**[00:06:23]** The second reason was that Mecca was a religious center,

**[00:06:27]** long before Islam.

**[00:06:28]** The black Kaaba already stood there,

**[00:06:30]** the cube that is still in the center of Mecca today.

**[00:06:34]** That photo is huge, the Kaaba is that tiny thing over there,

**[00:06:38]** black, with those big stones in the middle.

**[00:06:40]** This is the so-called house of God.

**[00:06:42]** They believe it was built by the prophet Abraham,

**[00:06:44]** so several thousand years ago.

**[00:06:46]** And already in Muhammad's time,

**[00:06:48]** I'll go back a photo,

**[00:06:50]** this place attracted pilgrims.

**[00:06:52]** Around the Kaaba stood hundreds of wooden and stone statues of various gods and idols,

**[00:06:57]** and people would come to pray to them.

**[00:06:59]** Muhammad came with an idea,

**[00:07:01]** which was to abolish this.

**[00:07:03]** He came with the idea of one god,

**[00:07:05]** otherwise I talk about Allah as God,

**[00:07:08]** I am a pure atheist,

**[00:07:09]** from my perspective it's a linguistic question.

**[00:07:12]** In Arabic, Allah means the God,

**[00:07:15]** so simply God with a capital G.

**[00:07:17]** And according to Muslims, what Muhammad taught,

**[00:07:19]** this God is the same bearded guy on a cloud,

**[00:07:23]** who came to the Jews and gave them Judaism,

**[00:07:25]** and after the Jews strayed from the path,

**[00:07:27]** God came with an upgrade of that religion,

**[00:07:29]** which is Christianity,

**[00:07:31]** and then the final upgrade of the still one religion,

**[00:07:34]** which is Islam.

**[00:07:35]** So according to them, God is still the same entity,

**[00:07:38]** still the same, well entity is probably the best word.

**[00:07:41]** And in any case, Muhammad began preaching faith in one God,

**[00:07:45]** which completely disrupted religious,

**[00:07:47]** but also social orders.

**[00:07:49]** He wanted to completely overhaul Mecca,

**[00:07:51]** and the rule of the Quraysh tribe feared,

**[00:07:53]** that they would lose power,

**[00:07:55]** that Mecca would lose its importance,

**[00:07:58]** and they opposed Muhammad very strongly.

**[00:08:01]** So strongly that in 622 Muhammad

**[00:08:04]** and his group of followers were forced to flee Mecca.

**[00:08:07]** They were very lucky,

**[00:08:09]** because at that moment an invitation came from a neighboring oasis

**[00:08:12]** called Yathrib, inviting Muhammad and his friends to come

**[00:08:15]** and created some common framework

**[00:08:17]** in the functioning of the inhabitants in Yathrib.

**[00:08:20]** So Mohamed moved

**[00:08:22]** and Yathrib got a new name,

**[00:08:24]** called Madinatu Nabi, the city of the Prophet.

**[00:08:27]** This is how the second most important city in Islam was founded,

**[00:08:30]** Medina, located just north of Mecca on the map.

**[00:08:33]** This year is also important because

**[00:08:35]** since 622 Muslims count their calendar.

**[00:08:39]** I'll skip the question of whether it is a solar or lunar calendar.

**[00:08:41]** You actually have two calendars for that,

**[00:08:43]** but for example, when you travel and visit Iran,

**[00:08:45]** you stand in front of a beautiful, magnificent building

**[00:08:48]** and it was built in 1258,

**[00:08:50]** so you think it's an 800-year-old building

**[00:08:52]** in such imperfect condition, and then you realize

**[00:08:54]** that the 1258 includes the letters AH, Ano Hijri,

**[00:08:57]** the year of Hijra, the year of Mohamed's departure from Mecca to Medina.

**[00:09:01]** So the building is 1258 plus 622,

**[00:09:06]** it's not just 800 years old,

**[00:09:10]** I don't really get the math,

**[00:09:12]** but anyway, the building is about 100-150 years old.

**[00:09:14]** Mohamed settled in Medina

**[00:09:18]** and began creating a religious community there.

**[00:09:22]** He finally started to succeed,

**[00:09:25]** he conquered Mecca,

**[00:09:27]** united the Arab tribes of the Arabian Peninsula,

**[00:09:29]** and his soldiers began to move beyond the borders

**[00:09:31]** of old Arabia.

**[00:09:34]** Mohamed died in 632.

**[00:09:36]** No one expected it; it was a huge surprise.

**[00:09:39]** A crucial question arose,

**[00:09:42]** who would take over the leadership role after Mohamed,

**[00:09:45]** of this community.

**[00:09:49]** I would ask you, the countdown timer isn't working

**[00:09:51]** and I have no idea at all, thank you.

**[00:09:53]** The question arose who would become the new leader.

**[00:09:55]** That Mohamed is the last prophet was clearly established by God.

**[00:10:00]** Two main groups emerged, negotiating over this,

**[00:10:10]** who will be the leader of this community now.

**[00:10:13]** The first group believed that, according to the old Arab way,

**[00:10:17]** the leader of the religious group should be chosen by a council of elders

**[00:10:20]** within Muhammad's wider tribe.

**[00:10:23]** These people were called traditionalists.

**[00:10:26]** In Arabic, tradition is Sunna.

**[00:10:29]** This is how the majority, eternal branch of the Islamic world, the Sunnis, was formed.

**[00:10:33]** Then there was a smaller branch that believed

**[00:10:35]** that Muhammad passed some mission, some divine spark

**[00:10:38]** to his closest male relative,

**[00:10:41]** his cousin Ali, who was also the husband of his daughter Fatima.

**[00:10:45]** And here Ali and his sons, a kind of dynasty,

**[00:10:48]** should rule the Islamic world with that divine blessing.

**[00:10:52]** Those who believed this were called Ali's party.

**[00:10:56]** In Arabic, Shiat Ali. This is how Shia was formed.

**[00:10:59]** Two main branches. It wasn't about theology or dogma,

**[00:11:02]** the essence of God, the essence of Muhammad.

**[00:11:05]** That wasn't really discussed then. It was about who would be the boss.

**[00:11:08]** This happened in the year 632 and the years after.

**[00:11:11]** But at the same time, as they argued about who would rule them,

**[00:11:15]** the Islamic community began to split very quickly.

**[00:11:19]** The map you see in front of you, with all the arrows,

**[00:11:22]** shows from China to Mauritania.

**[00:11:26]** About 120 years after Muhammad's death, Muslims ruled

**[00:11:30]** a huge part of the world.

**[00:11:33]** What is important is that this empire that arose

**[00:11:40]** So Islam was the main religion of the elites.

**[00:11:44]** At that time, Muslims and Arabs believed

**[00:11:47]** that Islam was a religion meant for Arabs.

**[00:11:50]** For example, they did not want other ethnic groups,

**[00:11:52]** especially Persians in Iran, to convert to it.

**[00:11:55]** Because Persians were simply disliked and Islam was to remain

**[00:11:58]** an Arab nomadic, tribal affair.

**[00:12:02]** And the empire they controlled was Arab.

**[00:12:05]** So Arab culture, the Arabic language was Arabized,

**[00:12:08]** but not Islamized.

**[00:12:10]** How is it possible that in the 7th century a bunch of simple,

**[00:12:14]** primitive camel herders, and let's be honest,

**[00:12:17]** their culture was not very advanced, conquered such an amazing part of the world.

**[00:12:22]** If you look at the map, we have it marked in red,

**[00:12:25]** that's the realm of Christianity, Europe and especially Turkey.

**[00:12:29]** Here we have Turkey and then Persia, the area around Baghdad,

**[00:12:33]** a bit to the right of them.

**[00:12:35]** We are in the 7th century at the start of all this, and all of us

**[00:12:39]** have heard of the Greco-Persian wars.

**[00:12:42]** These are the old Greek states Athens, Sparta,

**[00:12:45]** against the evil Persians Darius, Cyrus, Xerxes,

**[00:12:48]** two huge powers that clashed

**[00:12:51]** sometime in the 5th century BC.

**[00:12:53]** Basically, during this millennium that passed,

**[00:12:56]** those in Turkey, Greece, and those in Persia

**[00:13:00]** were in constant conflict.

**[00:13:03]** There was always war, and between them were buffer zones.

**[00:13:07]** Various cities, different states, walls constantly fell,

**[00:13:12]** diseases, a constant long-term war conflict,

**[00:13:15]** and people were exhausted.

**[00:13:17]** Another thing.

**[00:13:19]** The Byzantine Empire adopted Christianity.

**[00:13:22]** The Byzantine Empire made Christianity its official religion,

**[00:13:26]** but only at the end of the 5th century,

**[00:13:29]** about 500 years after Christianity began.

**[00:13:33]** And that is a huge problem,

**[00:13:35]** because those 500 years Christians did not sleep,

**[00:13:38]** but argued about the nature of God.

**[00:13:40]** So by the 5th century, there were already many,

**[00:13:44]** a large number of different groups and subgroups of religious sects.

**[00:13:49]** And the Byzantines chose one

**[00:13:52]** and labeled all the others as heretics.

**[00:13:55]** The Middle East was home to many Christian churches,

**[00:13:59]** which suddenly were persecuted in their own state

**[00:14:03]** and their practice was banned.

**[00:14:05]** And then a third power appeared,

**[00:14:08]** and that was the Arabs.

**[00:14:10]** Arabs, Muslims, well, it was basically the same,

**[00:14:13]** or almost synonymous back then,

**[00:14:16]** so they didn’t care if a Christian was this or that.

**[00:14:20]** They wanted Christians to pay taxes,

**[00:14:22]** which were set in some way,

**[00:14:24]** but otherwise it didn’t matter what they believed in.

**[00:14:27]** So many Christian cities, or not many,

**[00:14:30]** were simply Christian territories that voluntarily joined the Arabs.

**[00:14:35]** The Arabs had several brilliant military minds,

**[00:14:39]** who were able to crush the tired, devastated armies of Persia

**[00:14:42]** and North Africa, as well as those Christian empires,

**[00:14:45]** simply overwhelm them.

**[00:14:47]** So excellent timing, great luck,

**[00:14:51]** excellent minds, they grew up on horses,

**[00:14:57]** so they were able to work with them amazingly well.

**[00:15:00]** So the Islamic Muslim empire, the Arab empire,

**[00:15:04]** expanded very, very quickly.

**[00:15:07]** Around the year 750, really from the borders of Mauritania,

**[00:15:11]** Spain to China.

**[00:15:13]** At the center of it all, at least religiously, stood

**[00:15:16]** and still stands today, Mecca.

**[00:15:18]** Here is Mecca, in Mecca everyone prays.

**[00:15:23]** In the past, they counted stars to know where Mecca was.

**[00:15:26]** Now they have an app on their phone called Show Mecca,

**[00:15:28]** so it's much easier.

**[00:15:30]** Mecca did not remain a political center for long.

**[00:15:33]** In Arabia, it's simply difficult to govern from Mecca.

**[00:15:37]** So power shifted to cities like Baghdad,

**[00:15:41]** like Raqqa, like Damascus.

**[00:15:43]** There was simply the home of the Arab ummah,

**[00:15:45]** that unified Arab world,

**[00:15:47]** which remained united for a relatively short time.

**[00:15:49]** Such a large chunk of the world can't be maintained long-term.

**[00:15:52]** In any case, today Islam obviously includes many other ethnicities.

**[00:15:56]** So this conversion of other ethnic groups,

**[00:15:58]** like the Persians,

**[00:16:02]** or later the Turks,

**[00:16:04]** came around the 9th century, and from the 10th century onward

**[00:16:08]** conversion was even encouraged by various governments,

**[00:16:13]** especially by governments of Turkish origin,

**[00:16:18]** which ruled the Middle East

**[00:16:21]** much more harshly than the Arabs had.

**[00:16:24]** I now have a terrible chart,

**[00:16:28]** which none of you have to read.

**[00:16:31]** Just look at the little boxes there

**[00:16:35]** and there are quite a lot of them.

**[00:16:37]** Here, if you listened to various thinkers,

**[00:16:41]** like Mr. Okamura, for example,

**[00:16:43]** they would often tell you that Islam is like this,

**[00:16:48]** Islam is like that, Islam is this.

**[00:16:51]** Imagine if someone from the Sahara, from central Africa, a Muslim,

**[00:16:54]** came to the Czech Republic and told you that you Christians are like that.

**[00:16:58]** And they lumped together all those historically and culturally associated with Christianity.

**[00:17:01]** They would include us Czech atheists,

**[00:17:04]** Russian Orthodox, American Amish,

**[00:17:07]** Nigerian Protestants dancing in church,

**[00:17:09]** and said, this is what you Christians are.

**[00:17:12]** And all of us, sitting here now or listening,

**[00:17:17]** We have different worldviews, different opinions,

**[00:17:19]** different cultures, different ways of faith or lack of faith.

**[00:17:21]** We are simply different. It's the same with Islam.

**[00:17:23]** There are two billion Muslims,

**[00:17:26]** currently spread across all continents,

**[00:17:29]** who perceive and experience their faith and existence differently.

**[00:17:32]** Islam can only be unified by three things.

**[00:17:34]** It is belief in God, Allah,

**[00:17:37]** belief that Muhammad is the last prophet,

**[00:17:41]** and their sacred book is the Quran.

**[00:17:43]** Otherwise, they differ completely in everything else,

**[00:17:46]** and under no circumstances can they be,

**[00:17:49]** lumped together,

**[00:17:51]** or unified.

**[00:17:53]** So people who tell you or like to shout things like

**[00:17:55]** they have united against us to destroy us,

**[00:17:58]** that's nonsense.

**[00:18:00]** These people have more problems with themselves

**[00:18:02]** than they ever would with us.

**[00:18:04]** The sacred book of Islam,

**[00:18:06]** as I said, is the Quran.

**[00:18:18]** The Quran is much stronger

**[00:18:20]** than Christian and Jewish texts in that

**[00:18:23]** the Quran is perceived as

**[00:18:25]** the word of God.

**[00:18:27]** Arab culture at the time Islam emerged

**[00:18:30]** was an oral culture,

**[00:18:32]** meaning a culture of spoken transmission.

**[00:18:35]** So God said something to Gabriel,

**[00:18:38]** Gabriel told Muhammad,

**[00:18:40]** and Muhammad preached it to his followers.

**[00:18:42]** The followers didn't write it down,

**[00:18:44]** but memorized it word for word.

**[00:18:46]** Human memory can be amazingly trained.

**[00:18:49]** Imagine if I talked here for an hour,

**[00:18:51]** which I actually will,

**[00:18:53]** and then you could recite word for word what I told you.

**[00:18:56]** That's how it worked.

**[00:18:58]** But it turned out logically,

**[00:19:00]** that human memory is not infallible.

**[00:19:02]** They recited the Quran like this for a hundred years,

**[00:19:04]** and then it became clear

**[00:19:07]** that there were too many versions of the sacred word.

**[00:19:09]** So about 120 years after Muhammad's death,

**[00:19:12]** the Quran began to be written down.

**[00:19:15]** Of course, there were many questions

**[00:19:17]** about exactly what Muhammad said,

**[00:19:20]** which led to wars over the true version of the Quran.

**[00:19:22]** It got a bit muddled again, classic.

**[00:19:25]** Then one sacred book was created,

**[00:19:27]** mainly agreed upon by the one

**[00:19:29]** who had the bigger army.

**[00:19:31]** So for Muslims, it is perfect, unchanging, great.

**[00:19:33]** For us with historical perspective,

**[00:19:37]** we can of course think about it a bit more.

**[00:19:39]** What is important for Muslims

**[00:19:41]** is the perfect Quran in Arabic.

**[00:19:43]** When I buy a beautiful Quran

**[00:19:45]** and want it to be really high quality,

**[00:19:51]** So the Quran will be written in Arabic.

**[00:19:53]** There will be a smaller translation into my language.

**[00:19:56]** And along the margins like this,

**[00:19:58]** there will be explanations written out.

**[00:20:00]** The Quran is written in archaic

**[00:20:00]** old human Arabic, which is difficult even for Arabs and is also multi-layered and multi-meaning.

**[00:20:06]** So every word in the Quran has its explanation. Every word in the Quran needs its explanation.

**[00:20:12]** And besides those explanations along the margins, so you have the Quran like this, you also have several stacks of books,

**[00:20:18]** that explain its meaning. The problem is, because the Quran is so multi-layered and complex,

**[00:20:24]** there are many interpretations of it. In Islam, there is no central authority, no equivalent of the pope,

**[00:20:32]** so many wise men in the past created their own interpretations that matched their views.

**[00:20:40]** Even today, if we look at what Islamic life looks like, for example feminism,

**[00:20:45]** feminism is a big thing in Islam. Women fight for their rights, and men also fight for rights.

**[00:20:51]** And everything that happens there, they seek support within that feminism precisely in the Quran

**[00:20:59]** and in other texts associated with it.

**[00:21:02]** Then we have, for example, the Taliban movement, very conservative.

**[00:21:07]** And again, they can find support in the Quran for what they say.

**[00:21:13]** So the Quran, or Islam in general, is exactly what the people who believe in it are like.

**[00:21:20]** It can be liberal, it can be good, and it can also be the radical crap,

**[00:21:25]** which currently in the world we thankfully consider a bad thing,

**[00:21:29]** and thankfully the side we don't like is in an absolute minority.

**[00:21:35]** I mentioned that the Quran is written in Arabic, so here’s how Arabic works.

**[00:21:40]** I studied modern standard Arabic at university.

**[00:21:44]** If I put it into our cultural context, imagine

**[00:21:49]** that we have some Slavic language, a universal language for all Slavs.

**[00:21:53]** And under that, we have dialects.

**[00:21:55]** Those dialects are Czech, Polish, Russian, etc.

**[00:21:58]** This is exactly how Arabic is.

**[00:22:00]** We have modern standard Arabic and under that Moroccan, Iraqi, Egyptian.

**[00:22:06]** When I lived in Morocco, I learned Moroccan Arabic well.

**[00:22:09]** However, Moroccan Arabic is influenced by French, Spanish,

**[00:22:12]** and is influenced by Berber and African languages.

**[00:22:15]** When I flew from Morocco to Iraq and started speaking Moroccan Arabic in Iraq,

**[00:22:19]** people looked at me and didn’t believe it was Arabic.

**[00:22:22]** Arabic is a language you can study your whole life

**[00:22:26]** and still not master its full breadth.

**[00:22:29]** But it’s an amazing language for traveling.

**[00:22:32]** Everywhere Islam reached, and you know that’s quite far,

**[00:22:37]** you can find someone who speaks Arabic.

**[00:22:40]** And where Arabic has influenced local languages.

**[00:22:43]** Whether in Central Africa, Central Asia, or a bit further away.

**[00:22:46]** For me, words that help me function there are still important,

**[00:22:49]** and somehow being able to communicate well with hands, feet, and a few words

**[00:22:53]** with the local people.

**[00:22:57]** And I think we can get started...

**[00:23:01]** No, we have one more photo.

**[00:23:04]** Regarding Arabic as such, believe it or not,

**[00:23:07]** Arabic and Arabic writers have significantly influenced

**[00:23:12]** our culture and civilization.

**[00:23:16]** In this photo, you see my friend Abdullah.

**[00:23:19]** Abdullah is one of the guardians of the library in Chingeti,

**[00:23:22]** a city in West Africa, an old caravan town,

**[00:23:28]** a center in the middle of the desert.

**[00:23:31]** It’s a city with some of the harshest living conditions.

**[00:23:34]** High temperatures, sand, and now the city is being overwhelmed.

**[00:23:37]** And in that city, there are 16 libraries.

**[00:23:39]** When you enter, there are books from the 9th, 10th, and 15th centuries.

**[00:23:43]** And these are not just copies of the Quran or Quranic interpretations.

**[00:23:47]** They include law, geometry, arithmetic, botany,

**[00:23:51]** astrology, astronomy.

**[00:23:53]** I’m a complete barbarian when it comes to math,

**[00:23:55]** but even so, you see those Arabic texts

**[00:23:58]** and the Pythagoreans, the triangles.

**[00:24:00]** And they are five or six hundred years old.

**[00:24:02]** If you look at our European and Middle Eastern history,

**[00:24:06]** when the Byzantine Empire adopted Christianity,

**[00:24:09]** pre-Christian texts were seen as inappropriate and unwanted.

**[00:24:14]** So books or works by Pythagoras, Socrates,

**[00:24:18]** all of these were destroyed as insufficiently Christian.

**[00:24:23]** Which they weren’t, but they wanted to completely destroy them.

**[00:24:27]** At that time, or a bit later, in the ninth century,

**[00:24:31]** the Bayt al-Hikma was established in Baghdad, meaning the House of Wisdom.

**[00:24:35]** It was an educational institution founded by local kings

**[00:24:38]** with the goal of gathering knowledge.

**[00:24:41]** They collected books from China, India, Central Asia, Africa,

**[00:24:45]** and also from Europe.

**[00:24:47]** They translated them into Arabic and other languages

**[00:24:49]** and created a huge synthesis of wisdom.

**[00:24:51]** They especially loved buying old Greek philosophers’ works,

**[00:24:54]** and the Byzantine Empire, when it needed to now and then

**[00:24:57]** to send some delegation to the caliphs in Baghdad

**[00:25:00]** and try to get on their good side,

**[00:25:02]** so they threw in those books, the old Greek ones,

**[00:25:05]** which would have otherwise been burned.

**[00:25:06]** So they saved on matches and also got on the good side

**[00:25:10]** of their enemies here.

**[00:25:12]** Anyway, the Arabs translated them, and in the Arab world,

**[00:25:17]** these books circulated through North Africa to Spain,

**[00:25:20]** where Islam was also present at the time.

**[00:25:22]** There, Jewish scholars worked on them,

**[00:25:24]** and there were a huge number of them.

**[00:25:26]** I recommend a beautiful book, Layla Means Night,

**[00:25:28]** which describes this cycle of wisdom in Spain.

**[00:25:32]** And in Spain, it flourished greatly, in Cordoba and elsewhere.

**[00:25:36]** And suddenly Europe began to awaken a bit,

**[00:25:39]** kings like Friedrich Barbarossa started showing signs

**[00:25:43]** that Europe might also start educating itself.

**[00:25:45]** And they sent their people to Spain to buy those books,

**[00:25:49]** brought them to Germany, to Italy,

**[00:25:51]** and on their basis, the Renaissance arose there.

**[00:25:53]** A cycle of knowledge around the entire Mediterranean.

**[00:25:56]** I note that the amazing Baitul Hikma was destroyed in 1258,

**[00:26:01]** when Baghdad was conquered by the Mongols.

**[00:26:04]** And it is said that the Mongols, on the advice of their Christian advisors,

**[00:26:08]** who were Nestorian Christians from Central Asia,

**[00:26:11]** threw so many books into the Tigris,

**[00:26:13]** that the water in the Tigris was blue for several days.

**[00:26:16]** At least that's what the local story says.

**[00:26:20]** Who actually lives in the Middle East now?

**[00:26:23]** We associate the Middle East with conflicts, with problems.

**[00:26:27]** And these are often connected precisely with religion,

**[00:26:31]** or nowadays often connected with religion.

**[00:26:34]** When we say Muslim countries,

**[00:26:36]** it definitely does not mean

**[00:26:38]** that only Muslims live there.

**[00:26:40]** You see Sunnis in light green, that's the majority.

**[00:26:43]** In dark green, you see Shiites, that's mainly in Iran

**[00:26:46]** and in this area of the Middle East.

**[00:26:51]** But there are many other dots as well.

**[00:26:54]** For example, Christians in Egypt make up about 10% of the population.

**[00:26:58]** Iraq has the Iraqi constitution.

**[00:27:01]** Now we associate Iraq with religious persecution,

**[00:27:05]** total hell, a war-torn country.

**[00:27:08]** Iraq's constitution recognizes 14 Christian churches,

**[00:27:12]** which were there before the arrival of Islam

**[00:27:14]** and after its arrival.

**[00:27:15]** Some came later.

**[00:27:16]** There are also Christians in Iran, especially Armenian Christians.

**[00:27:21]** Then in Africa, it blends beautifully.

**[00:27:23]** Christianity and animism create Islam with African flavors,

**[00:27:28]** lots of amulets, lots of colors.

**[00:27:31]** In the Persian Gulf, you can notice

**[00:27:33]** there are many Hindus and Buddhists.

**[00:27:35]** This is because the Persian Gulf has tons of oil,

**[00:27:37]** making it a destination for guest workers,

**[00:27:40]** who go there to work.

**[00:27:42]** Unfortunately, often under terrible conditions.

**[00:27:45]** This is called modern slavery,

**[00:27:49]** because these people are terribly exploited.

**[00:27:53]** Yet paradoxically, they are grateful for the work,

**[00:27:56]** because it's their only way to support their families back home.

**[00:28:01]** In the Middle East, you also see red dots.

**[00:28:03]** These are Jewish communities.

**[00:28:05]** For example, Morocco's constitution historically recognizes

**[00:28:08]** that a Moroccan can only be Muslim or Jewish,

**[00:28:11]** because they have a historical presence there.

**[00:28:13]** After Spain was Catholicized,

**[00:28:16]** many Jews were expelled and ended up in North Africa.

**[00:28:21]** Even in the 1920s, there were villages in Morocco

**[00:28:25]** where 15th-century Jewish dialects were spoken.

**[00:28:29]** In the mountains, somewhere high in the Atlas.

**[00:28:31]** Jews also live in Iran.

**[00:28:33]** That might surprise some.

**[00:28:34]** You probably guess that the Iranian government now hates America and Israel.

**[00:28:40]** But hating Israel doesn't mean hating Jews.

**[00:28:43]** Unfortunately, in our Czech Republic, these often get confused.

**[00:28:47]** Jewish communities exist in Iran.

**[00:28:49]** There are Jewish monuments there.

**[00:28:51]** For example, in Hamadan, there is the tomb of Esther and Mordechai.

**[00:28:54]** How is it possible that the Islamic Republic of Iran has no problem with Jews?

**[00:29:00]** This is because, as I told you at the beginning,

**[00:29:03]** in Islam, Jews, Christians, and Muslims share one God.

**[00:29:09]** Jews and Christians are referred to in Islam as People of the Book.

**[00:29:12]** People who have that book from the one God.

**[00:29:15]** And People of the Book should have certain rights in the Muslim world,

**[00:29:20]** some duties.

**[00:29:21]** They pay a head tax, which is somewhat higher than the Muslim tax,

**[00:29:27]** but the tax shouldn't be, for example, devastating.

**[00:29:30]** Unfortunately, that also depended on who ruled at the time.

**[00:29:34]** But the fact that the Middle East,

**[00:29:37]** that these communities have existed there for 16, 14, 15 years,

**[00:29:41]** I’m not good at math,

**[00:29:43]** that they have existed there despite Islam since the 7th century

**[00:29:47]** until today shows that

**[00:29:49]** the conditions were set so that these communities could survive.

**[00:29:53]** We in Europe, it may not seem so now,

**[00:29:56]** have historically been less tolerant towards other religious groups

**[00:30:00]** than Muslims were. In fact, from the 17th century, we have texts describing Moravian peasants fleeing to the Ottomans,

**[00:30:08]** because the Ottomans had lower taxes than the Habsburgs, which is quite absurd.

**[00:30:13]** Anyway, the conditions were always set more or less reasonably.

**[00:30:17]** Of course, we won’t pretend that unicorns were jumping around and there were rainbows everywhere

**[00:30:21]** throughout those 14 centuries, but mostly it was fine.

**[00:30:26]** In any case, for me, a symbol of that coexistence is this gentleman here.

**[00:30:30]** He is from the Nusaybe family, lives in Jerusalem, and when Saladin conquered Jerusalem,

**[00:30:36]** the great knight and conqueror who took Jerusalem back from the Crusaders in the 12th century,

**[00:30:42]** when he took the throne, representatives of several Christian churches gathered around him,

**[00:30:50]** and they started arguing very disrespectfully about which church would hold the keys

**[00:30:54]** to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

**[00:30:56]** Saladin listened to the argument for a while, then took the keys from them and gave them to this family 800 years ago.

**[00:31:02]** The family is Muslim and every morning they open the church for the Christians,

**[00:31:06]** and every evening they kick them out and lock the church.

**[00:31:09]** So this is a nice example from Jerusalem.

**[00:31:14]** This is what a Christian cathedral in Iran looks like.

**[00:31:18]** It is one of the most beautiful cathedrals I know in the Middle East, from the bottom to the top.

**[00:31:23]** Painted with a mix of Armenian, Persian, and European art.

**[00:31:29]** It dates from the 16th century and I really love this place.

**[00:31:34]** From the outside, it looks very dull, almost plain, I would say.

**[00:31:38]** When I have clients, I take them there at 8 in the morning,

**[00:31:42]** they are tired, grumpy, wanting coffee,

**[00:31:45]** because they are not interested in some church or standing by an expensive monument,

**[00:31:48]** which looks brown from the wreath.

**[00:31:51]** I step up first, take a step aside, and look over my clients,

**[00:31:55]** watching them enter the door with a bored expression,

**[00:31:59]** they take a step in, their jaws drop, and they just stare for a moment.

**[00:32:02]** It's like a very powerful religious place.

**[00:32:05]** In the Middle East, it was believed that 10 merchants equaled one Jew,

**[00:32:09]** and 10 Jews equaled one Armenian.

**[00:32:11]** Armenians were the best traders in the Orient,

**[00:32:14]** so the capital needed its Armenian communities.

**[00:32:18]** Here, for example, are Christian women in Iraq.

**[00:32:20]** If you've been there for a while,

**[00:32:22]** you can tell by their faces, hairstyles,

**[00:32:25]** and even by how their eyebrows are shaped,

**[00:32:29]** where these girls come from,

**[00:32:32]** and which religious group they might belong to.

**[00:32:35]** And this is what a rabbi looks like in Iran.

**[00:32:38]** He is right at the tomb of Esther and Mordechai.

**[00:32:40]** Unfortunately, we were there on a Saturday,

**[00:32:43]** so the man wasn't able to unlock or hand us the keys,

**[00:32:45]** because his faith forbade it.

**[00:32:48]** So we only took photos from outside.

**[00:32:50]** This is what Islam looks like in Africa.

**[00:32:54]** Of course, it's a completely different story than in the Middle East.

**[00:32:59]** The man on the left belongs to one of the religious orders in Senegal.

**[00:33:03]** This person is covered with many amulets.

**[00:33:06]** The amulets contain blessings, some animal hair,

**[00:33:10]** a bit of sacred clay, basically whatever can be stuffed into an amulet.

**[00:33:14]** And as I always say, it's Islam with an African flavor.

**[00:33:16]** Without amulets, you can't go to war, or you'll be killed,

**[00:33:18]** you can't run for office, or you won't be elected.

**[00:33:21]** Amulets are a central part of this cult.

**[00:33:23]** But if you travel with these amulets among Arabs,

**[00:33:27]** they'll be completely shocked by what kind of person you are.

**[00:33:29]** The man on the left is not Muslim; he is an animist.

**[00:33:33]** He is the animist king of the Djola group.

**[00:33:35]** I did several interviews with him,

**[00:33:37]** and his story is very moving.

**[00:33:39]** This man, I mean, is an animist.

**[00:33:43]** He lives by performing secret rituals,

**[00:33:46]** and pours palm wine to the old gods,

**[00:33:49]** And Christians and Muslims come to him,

**[00:33:52]** to pray for them.

**[00:33:53]** There is a religious world,

**[00:33:55]** that looks a bit more intertwined than elsewhere.

**[00:34:00]** This is what the Fulbe look like, also Muslims, I should add.

**[00:34:05]** They are men, in case you weren't sure,

**[00:34:07]** these are gentlemen photographed during the Gareval festival,

**[00:34:11]** which takes place at the end of the rainy season.

**[00:34:13]** The men paint themselves beautifully and dance,

**[00:34:16]** to attract women, either as wives,

**[00:34:19]** or as sexual partners.

**[00:34:22]** It's probably the most bizarre form of Islam,

**[00:34:25]** I've seen, but they claim it is also Islam.

**[00:34:29]** This is what their partners look like.

**[00:34:32]** If you look from the ground at the woman on the right,

**[00:34:34]** she is scarred.

**[00:34:36]** They believe they are the most beautiful nation in the world.

**[00:34:39]** In Africa, they really look a bit different.

**[00:34:41]** And they like to stick prickly pear thorns,

**[00:34:44]** ink from the fruit, to have completely black, swollen bumps.

**[00:34:48]** Then they cut themselves and put ash or ink into it.

**[00:34:51]** If you ever go there, the best gift for the Fulbe

**[00:34:54]** is a clean razor blade, because of course there are many skin infections,

**[00:34:57]** linked to a very dirty environment, nomadic,

**[00:35:00]** or non-sterile, no, dirty.

**[00:35:02]** That would be the word describing their environment.

**[00:35:04]** Anyway, the Fulbe are absolutely incredible for photography.

**[00:35:08]** Into this religious mess, we also have an ethnic mess.

**[00:35:12]** Why is it important to talk about ethnicities?

**[00:35:15]** Here, the words Arab and Muslim often get mixed up.

**[00:35:18]** 2 billion people, 2 billion Muslims are not all Arabs.

**[00:35:23]** In red, you have marked 22 Muslim Arab countries,

**[00:35:28]** that is North Africa and the small Middle East.

**[00:35:31]** And then there are different colors for a few different ethnicities.

**[00:35:35]** There are many more ethnicities.

**[00:35:37]** For example, in Senegal alone, a small African country, there are 47 ethnic groups

**[00:35:40]** and all of them are Muslim, each with their own language.

**[00:35:43]** And that added to the color of the country for me.

**[00:35:46]** Ethnicities are important because there are some

**[00:35:49]** historical and current hostilities between them.

**[00:35:51]** Imagine you're going to Iran.

**[00:35:53]** Iran is ancient Persia.

**[00:35:55]** If you tell an Iranian that he's an Arab, you'll deeply offend him.

**[00:35:59]** They believe they are bearers of 5,000 years of culture and civilization.

**[00:36:04]** Which is true.

**[00:36:06]** And to them, being called an Arab is an insult.

**[00:36:08]** They think Arabs are loud, resentful, annoying,

**[00:36:11]** and they don't like them.

**[00:36:13]** So they don't want to be confused with them.

**[00:36:15]** If you go to Turks and tell a Turk he's an Arab,

**[00:36:18]** he'll be offended too.

**[00:36:20]** Because the Turks, the Ottoman Empire, ruled the Arabs for 500 years.

**[00:36:25]** If you go to Kurds and tell a Kurd he's a Turk,

**[00:36:28]** he'll punch you, because Turks simply don't treat Kurds well.

**[00:36:31]** So ethnicities still play a role there.

**[00:36:34]** And you need to keep that in mind, because currently

**[00:36:37]** many ethnic groups are experiencing a renaissance.

**[00:36:40]** Look at historical photos of Berber women.

**[00:36:44]** Berbers are an ethnic group living in the Sahara.

**[00:36:47]** They speak one of the world's oldest continuously spoken languages.

**[00:36:50]** Their culture was overwritten for 1,300 years

**[00:36:54]** by Arab culture.

**[00:37:00]** So now they are fighting for their renaissance, fighting for their script,

**[00:37:02]** their language, their culture.

**[00:37:05]** Especially in Morocco, Algeria, Libya, and Tunisia,

**[00:37:07]** in these areas, to have a stronger voice

**[00:37:12]** and more participation in government and governance.

**[00:37:15]** At the same time, very racist policies still exist in some other countries.

**[00:37:19]** The photo in the middle is just there for fun,

**[00:37:23]** because she's a beautiful girl.

**[00:37:26]** She's a Persian woman in Iran.

**[00:37:28]** Iran is incredibly dear to me, I love Iran,

**[00:37:30]** but it's a very frustrating country.

**[00:37:33]** Iranians are absolutely beautiful people.

**[00:37:37]** They help each other with makeup, with plastic surgery,

**[00:37:39]** and dress very stylishly.

**[00:37:41]** I don't know about you, but when I travel,

**[00:37:45]** I travel like a slob.

**[00:37:50]** I'm just wearing sweatpants and a pulled-out shirt.

**[00:37:52]** And I'm always the biggest slob in the whole street in Iran.

**[00:37:55]** But it's a country where you can take amazing photos.

**[00:37:57]** Iranians love taking pictures.

**[00:38:01]** You pull out a camera and there are five Iranians in front of it,

**[00:38:02]** all eager to get their photo taken.

**[00:38:05]** So this beauty is being chased by her poor partner,

**[00:38:07]** who's taking her photo, and you can just join in,

**[00:38:09]** which is nice.

**[00:38:12]** I'll give a quiz question.

**[00:38:14]** I think I actually can't.

**[00:38:17]** We only have yes or no.

**[00:38:20]** So I'll try the audience.

**[00:38:21]** Try to guess what the most popular surgery is,

**[00:38:23]** or the most popular surgery in Iran.

**[00:38:27]** They currently have two popular ones.

**[00:38:31]** One popular one is the nose.

**[00:38:34]** Iranians have perfect noses.

**[00:38:36]** The ideal Iranian nose is narrow, straight,

**[00:38:38]** and slightly pointed, the opposite of my snub nose.

**[00:38:41]** They often get it operated on,

**[00:38:44]** so they walk around with bandages on their noses.

**[00:38:45]** And then there's the second surgery.

**[00:38:47]** I'll leave it to the audience to guess.

**[00:38:48]** What could be popular in these countries?

**[00:38:51]** No guesses?

**[00:38:56]** The lips. That's good. Lips are popular too.

**[00:38:57]** It's possibly a global trend.

**[00:38:59]** Try a bit lower, guess again.

**[00:39:01]** It's hymen restoration surgery.

**[00:39:06]** We're talking about a religious world.

**[00:39:09]** Iran, an Islamic republic.

**[00:39:11]** But of course, we all like sex,

**[00:39:13]** most of us.

**[00:39:15]** And premarital sex even in Iran,

**[00:39:16]** where it's forbidden, has some added value.

**[00:39:19]** But men only want to marry virgins.

**[00:39:22]** So girls go to Turkey or somewhere anonymous

**[00:39:24]** to get it restored.

**[00:39:29]** It's a beautiful little book.

**[00:39:31]** It's a comic called Šitičko.

**[00:39:33]** And it's interviews about what Iranian women talk about,

**[00:39:37]** when the men go away for tea.

**[00:39:38]** The main topic is a grandmother who longs

**[00:39:40]** for a hymen restoration surgery,

**[00:39:42]** to give it to her grandfather for his sixtieth birthday.

**[00:39:44]** It's basically the bizarre side of oriental cultures,

**[00:39:48]** so you know what some women have to live through there.

**[00:39:51]** Anyway, as I said, the cat in the middle

**[00:39:53]** is there just as an example.

**[00:39:54]** The girls on the left and right are from Mauritania.

**[00:39:56]** Mauritania is currently the most racist country

**[00:40:00]** I know. The Mauritanian population is divided into three groups – Bídán, Súdán, and Hartán.

**[00:40:07]** Now excuse me, we're getting into racist terminology.

**[00:40:10]** Bídán means white, Súdán means black, and Hartán, I don't have a translation for that.

**[00:40:15]** What does it mean? In Mauritania, white Mauritanians have ruled since ancient times.

**[00:40:20]** Arabs, Moors, not white to us, just brown.

**[00:40:26]** How about that little group on the left? They are nomads.

**[00:40:29]** These nomads worked with slaves for centuries, millennia.

**[00:40:34]** And these slaves in Mauritania in the 1980s,

**[00:40:38]** because I think it was 1987, gained their freedom.

**[00:40:41]** Mauritania is the last country in the world to abolish slavery.

**[00:40:45]** And the descendants of freed slaves are called Hartán.

**[00:40:53]** And these Hartán, and this is the tricky part, have black skin,

**[00:40:58]** but adopted white culture.

**[00:41:00]** So currently in Mauritania there is a social conflict

**[00:41:04]** between the white nomads and the black southern inhabitants,

**[00:41:08]** two free groups that make up about 20% together.

**[00:41:12]** And then there are eighty percent Hartán,

**[00:41:15]** who are black but have white culture.

**[00:41:18]** And they are fighting over which identity the Hartán will adopt,

**[00:41:21]** whether black or white,

**[00:41:23]** whether Mauritania will be an Arab country or an African country.

**[00:41:27]** So things like this still happen in the 21st century.

**[00:41:34]** Fortunately for us, even in the 21st century, fortunately for us photographers,

**[00:41:38]** many ethnic and religious groups

**[00:41:41]** still maintain their original identities,

**[00:41:44]** keep their traditional costumes, keep their old beauty.

**[00:41:49]** This collage is from Iraq.

**[00:41:51]** The woman in the top right is an Iraqi Christian.

**[00:41:54]** In the top left, those are Yazidis.

**[00:41:57]** They are a small religious group in northern Iraq,

**[00:42:02]** where in 2014 the Islamic State committed a horrific genocide,

**[00:42:06]** so the Yazidis are still experiencing that.

**[00:42:08]** The genocide has of course ended, the massacres no longer happen,

**[00:42:11]** but people talk about a continuing genocide in the sense that

**[00:42:14]** no help came afterward.

**[00:42:16]** So the trauma in that community still persists.

**[00:42:19]** In the bottom left are the Shabak.

**[00:42:21]** This is an ethnic or religious group,

**[00:42:24]** which will soon disappear because there are very few of them.

**[00:42:27]** And if, for example, a woman marries someone outside the community,

**[00:42:31]** she loses the original religion,

**[00:42:33]** so these old communities slowly vanish

**[00:42:36]** and dissolve into the majority.

**[00:42:38]** In the center is a soldier.

**[00:42:40]** It’s important to know that each of these communities,

**[00:42:42]** each of these factions, has its own armed group.

**[00:42:47]** So when I was in Iraq in 2017,

**[00:42:50]** I told you there are 14 Christian churches in Iraq.

**[00:42:53]** At that time, there were 12 Christian political parties

**[00:42:56]** and 9 Christian armed groups,

**[00:42:59]** which not only defended themselves against radical attacks,

**[00:43:01]** but also fought among themselves.

**[00:43:03]** Because the essence of that religion is still

**[00:43:06]** a current issue for them.

**[00:43:10]** Even within those religious ethnic groups,

**[00:43:13]** there are big differences.

**[00:43:15]** In the photo, you see Kurds.

**[00:43:17]** There is a huge difference between the city and the countryside.

**[00:43:19]** Of course, the grandfather lives somewhere in the mountains,

**[00:43:21]** the girl lives in the city.

**[00:43:23]** So the old traditions disappear along with the new generation.

**[00:43:26]** Currently, there is a big identity conflict.

**[00:43:29]** Many young people are trying to live a Western lifestyle,

**[00:43:34]** and unfortunately, many traditions are disappearing with it.

**[00:43:37]** Can we play the video?

**[00:43:40]** This is a video we just made in Afghanistan.

**[00:43:44]** A nomadic video.

**[00:43:46]** Nomads are still a reality in many countries, many regions.

**[00:43:50]** These were some of the most beautiful I've ever encountered.

**[00:43:53]** I didn't dare to get out of the car,

**[00:43:55]** because that dog was almost as tall as I felt I was.

**[00:43:58]** In any case, many people currently live in an absolute gray zone,

**[00:44:05]** outside cities, outside villages.

**[00:44:07]** They are not counted, never classified,

**[00:44:10]** and governments practically don't know about them.

**[00:44:13]** For example, here in Afghanistan, there hasn't been,

**[00:44:16]** I don't know if there ever was, a census,

**[00:44:19]** but definitely not in recent years.

**[00:44:22]** It's such a, as she said, huge barrier

**[00:44:28]** both for progress and for any development

**[00:44:32]** in these individual regions.

**[00:44:36]** At the same time, as I said, also for us,

**[00:44:39]** for travelers, we are happy

**[00:44:41]** that these people still exist here

**[00:44:43]** and that we can see such a gateway to the past.

**[00:44:47]** Why is there such huge diversity here?

**[00:44:50]** Why are there so many people here?

**[00:44:52]** Why are there so many colors?

**[00:44:53]** Why are there so many ethnic groups?

**[00:44:54]** So many religious groups?

**[00:44:55]** Otherwise, also related to this is the Ziggurat in Ur,

**[00:44:58]** also a Sumerian religious structure,

**[00:45:00]** 4,000 years old.

**[00:45:02]** Firstly, the Middle East is a crossroads.

**[00:45:06]** Asia, Africa, Europe.

**[00:45:09]** People were always coming and going, always migrating.

**[00:45:12]** But into this natural process,

**[00:45:17]** people themselves also intervened.

**[00:45:20]** It is a world of slavery, a world of forced population migration.

**[00:45:24]** Arab slavery, European slavery

**[00:45:27]** greatly mixed local cultures, local religions,

**[00:45:31]** and it still reflects in those societies today.

**[00:45:35]** Here I have two historical images

**[00:45:37]** and two terms: Sakaliba and Mamluks.

**[00:45:40]** Arab slavery also affected us Czechs

**[00:45:43]** or our Czech territory.

**[00:45:45]** The first mention of Prague comes from the pen of the traveler Ibn Jakub,

**[00:45:49]** which reached Prague around the 9th or 10th century, I apologize,

**[00:45:54]** and describes Vyšehrad, the immoral customs of Czech women,

**[00:45:58]** and it was probably about a slave trader for the Cordoban caliph.

**[00:46:04]** At that time, Slavic slaves were highly valued,

**[00:46:07]** and the Přemyslids, as we learn in schools, which is not exactly something to boast about,

**[00:46:11]** maintained their state partly by selling slaves,

**[00:46:14]** whom they hunted in the Galicia region and, of course, elsewhere as well.

**[00:46:17]** These slaves were then delivered to Spain and other places,

**[00:46:21]** where they were Islamized and became soldiers.

**[00:46:27]** In the photo on the left, you see red-haired Bedouins, those are exactly them.

**[00:46:31]** They also reached far into North Africa, where there used to be so-called Madinat and Sakáliba,

**[00:46:37]** Slavic cities.

**[00:46:39]** The man on the right is a Mamluk.

**[00:46:41]** Mamluks were of Turkish, Albanian origin,

**[00:46:45]** and from the 9th and 10th centuries, rulers like emirs, sultans, and caliphs favored having personal guards.

**[00:46:50]** These guards were young boys who were enslaved in distant lands,

**[00:46:52]** brought to the ruler and taught absolute loyalty to the king.

**[00:46:56]** They were called Mamluks, owned slaves, and from them arose the military elites of states.

**[00:47:01]** In Egypt, the Mamluks ruled for 300 years; they also ruled in places like India.

**[00:47:07]** Mamluks were former slaves and had a huge impact on the history of the Middle East,

**[00:47:12]** not only ethnically but also politically and culturally.

**[00:47:17]** Of course, they brought many of their Turkish, Central Asian,

**[00:47:21]** or Crimean customs, depending on where they were brought from.

**[00:47:25]** In Morocco, there are two groups in North Africa, not Arga and Haratín.

**[00:47:29]** In Morocco, local kings liked to bring slaves from Africa,

**[00:47:35]** and in the 16th century, King Mulay Ismail brought 10,000 African women

**[00:47:41]** to place in his personal guard to bear super soldiers for him.

**[00:47:49]** So soldiers were possibly born, among others, but also palace servants.

**[00:47:53]** Palace servants were called tvarga, and these tvargas were the most beautiful of the beautiful,

**[00:47:59]** the best of the best, and to this day slavery no longer exists in Morocco,

**[00:48:04]** so tvargas have their own quarters in the royal cities of Morocco

**[00:48:08]** and hold very high status, they are still beautiful, amazing, and great,

**[00:48:12]** and since Moroccan society is quite racist,

**[00:48:17]** they do not face racism.

**[00:48:21]** The exact opposite are the Haratíns, descendants of poor slaves,

**[00:48:24]** who are at the very bottom of society, mostly in rural areas.

**[00:48:29]** What does the world of the Middle East look like?

**[00:48:35]** It's not just war, it's not just desert,

**[00:48:38]** there are also many mountains, lots of water, and great beauty.

**[00:48:44]** Top left is a war zone in Iraq,

**[00:48:47]** top right is 60 kilometers from the war,

**[00:48:50]** beautiful mountains, amazing lakes,

**[00:48:52]** bottom right is the Sahara, what else,

**[00:48:55]** on the left is a blue lake in Afghanistan.

**[00:48:58]** In this region, once on the Euphrates and Tigris basin in the photo,

**[00:49:03]** human civilization was born.

**[00:49:06]** This world wasn’t like it is today.

**[00:49:09]** Today’s Iraq is a parched desert,

**[00:49:12]** the environmental problem there is huge.

**[00:49:15]** But when everything blooms here in spring in April,

**[00:49:18]** you exactly understand why the Sumerians settled here.

**[00:49:21]** It’s really covered in blossoms, I’m a severe allergy sufferer,

**[00:49:24]** so I suffer terribly every April.

**[00:49:27]** But it’s paradise, literally, here you think,

**[00:49:30]** that it is, until you realize it’s 50 degrees in summer.

**[00:49:33]** The Middle East is a land of amazing blooming landscapes in spring.

**[00:49:36]** It’s home to many biotopes, like Socotra

**[00:49:39]** and its dragon trees. This is a global unique.

**[00:49:42]** This particular type of dragon tree exists nowhere else.

**[00:49:46]** So you get an amazing landscape here,

**[00:49:49]** and the lands are still simply growing here.

**[00:49:52]** They are mapped here, can be discovered,

**[00:49:55]** and can still be studied.

**[00:49:58]** Well, mostly...

**[00:50:00]** and I thought of a better way, what you will discover, so I ended up messing that sentence completely.

**[00:50:03]** Nevertheless, this diversity of the landscape corresponds to the diversity of people and opinions.

**[00:50:10]** These four photos are from Iran. On the left is spiritual, on the right are people who are not really spiritual

**[00:50:15]** or religiously oriented. Bottom right is Tehran, a modern, bright city full of luxury.

**[00:50:21]** On the left, a hundred kilometers from that, is a village made of clay.

**[00:50:25]** If you are rich in the Middle East, you are very rich.

**[00:50:28]** If you are poor, you are also very poor.

**[00:50:31]** The differences are huge. At the same time, an identity crisis.

**[00:50:35]** Many people seek their identity in modernization, in modernity, in the Western lifestyle.

**[00:50:41]** Many turn to Islam, because Islam means if you are Arab,

**[00:50:45]** Arab identity is connected with Islam, which of course contributes to greater conservatism.

**[00:50:54]** My friends in Jordan wear headscarves and their mothers forbid it.

**[00:50:59]** The mothers grew up in liberal seventies, but now times are different.

**[00:51:03]** Now Islam is simply in, whether we like it or not.

**[00:51:08]** Here they talk about the modernity of cities.

**[00:51:11]** Huge amounts of money are invested in public spaces, for example in Iran.

**[00:51:15]** It's not really invested in people. The money goes into monuments.

**[00:51:20]** You can find all of that in an amazingly restored condition,

**[00:51:23]** but unfortunately, in between, there are people who don't have enough to eat.

**[00:51:27]** The lifestyle naturally reflects that.

**[00:51:30]** Those with money live in absolute opulence.

**[00:51:33]** My friend once worked as a nanny in Lebanon,

**[00:51:35]** before the crisis in Lebanon,

**[00:51:37]** taking care of a child with Down syndrome.

**[00:51:42]** Her salary exceeded two hundred thousand a month,

**[00:51:45]** which is typical for the richest Lebanese families.

**[00:51:49]** But for many people, a real salary of 50 dollars is enough.

**[00:51:55]** In countries like Iran, alcohol is banned,

**[00:52:00]** female singing is banned, dancing is banned.

**[00:52:03]** These are religious extremes,

**[00:52:05]** which apply only to a few countries in the world.

**[00:52:08]** Despite that, people still seek some beauty

**[00:52:13]** and manage to enjoy life as it is.

**[00:52:49]** It looks like people won't have a life,

**[00:52:52]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:52:54]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:52:56]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:52:58]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:00]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:02]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:04]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:06]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:08]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:10]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:12]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:14]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:16]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:18]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:20]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:22]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:24]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:26]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:28]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:30]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:32]** that they won't have a life,

**[00:53:34]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:53:36]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:53:38]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:53:40]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:53:42]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:53:44]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:53:46]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:53:48]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:53:50]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:53:52]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:53:54]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:53:56]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:53:58]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:00]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:02]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:04]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:06]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:08]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:10]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:12]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:14]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:16]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:18]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:20]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:22]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:24]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:26]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:28]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:30]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:32]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:34]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:36]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:38]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:40]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:42]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:44]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:46]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:48]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:50]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:52]** that they will not have in life,

**[00:54:54]** that they will not have life,

**[00:54:56]** that they will not have life,

**[00:54:58]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:00]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:02]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:04]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:06]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:08]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:10]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:12]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:14]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:16]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:18]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:20]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:22]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:24]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:26]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:28]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:30]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:32]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:34]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:36]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:38]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:40]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:42]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:44]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:46]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:48]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:50]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:52]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:54]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:56]** that they will not have life,

**[00:55:58]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:00]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:02]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:04]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:06]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:08]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:10]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:12]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:14]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:16]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:18]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:20]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:22]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:24]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:26]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:28]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:30]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:32]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:34]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:36]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:38]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:40]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:42]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:44]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:46]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:48]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:50]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:52]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:54]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:56]** that they will not have life,

**[00:56:58]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:00]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:02]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:04]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:06]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:08]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:10]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:12]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:14]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:16]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:18]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:20]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:22]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:24]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:26]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:28]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:30]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:32]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:34]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:36]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:38]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:40]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:42]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:44]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:46]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:48]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:50]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:52]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:54]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:56]** that they will not have life,

**[00:57:58]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:00]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:02]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:04]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:06]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:08]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:10]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:12]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:14]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:16]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:18]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:20]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:22]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:24]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:26]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:28]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:30]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:32]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:34]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:36]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:38]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:40]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:42]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:44]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:46]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:48]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:50]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:52]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:54]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:56]** that they will not have life,

**[00:58:58]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:00]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:02]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:04]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:06]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:08]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:10]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:12]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:14]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:16]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:18]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:20]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:22]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:24]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:26]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:28]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:30]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:32]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:34]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:36]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:38]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:40]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:42]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:44]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:46]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:48]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:50]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:52]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:54]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:56]** that they will not have life,

**[00:59:58]** that they will not have life,

**[01:00:00]** that they will not have life,

**[01:00:02]** that they will not have life,

**[01:00:04]** that they will not have life,

**[01:00:06]** that they will not have life,

**[01:00:08]** that they will not have life,

**[01:00:10]** that they will not have life,

**[01:00:12]** that they will not have life,

**[01:00:00]** And for me, while we Czechs were dissatisfied, there was a huge Arab population there.

**[01:00:08]** Arabs hadn't ruled themselves for a thousand years.

**[01:00:11]** They were ruled by some Turk, Turkmen, Kurd, but no Arab ruled, and they had their own revivalists,

**[01:00:17]** their own Havlíček Borovský types and others, who talked about how Arabs should have their own state.

**[01:00:22]** And the British took advantage of that.

**[01:00:24]** The British addressed Arab leaders in the McMahon correspondence,

**[01:00:29]** and in two letters, always one in Arabic and one in English, not exactly translations,

**[01:00:33]** they promised them all sorts of things.

**[01:00:35]** The Arabic letter said, you Arab guys, help us gain our own,

**[01:00:39]** like destroy the Ottomans and we will guarantee you your own state.

**[01:00:43]** That was great, exactly what they wanted.

**[01:00:45]** Then there was the English copy of the letter, which said, you help us, thanks.

**[01:00:49]** No own state.

**[01:00:51]** The Arabs joined the resistance, similar to the Kurds, with the same promise.

**[01:00:57]** Then Emir Faisal and his friend Lawrence of Arabia came to Versailles,

**[01:01:03]** where they were shut out, left standing outside,

**[01:01:07]** and the Middle East was created without them.

**[01:01:10]** The Middle East was divided without the wishes or participation of the local populations,

**[01:01:16]** regardless of ethnicities, religious groups, tribes, clans, history.

**[01:01:22]** Without anything, just as suited the Europeans.

**[01:01:25]** The Sykes-Picot Agreement is the plan for the creation of the Middle East,

**[01:01:29]** and this map, this moment, is the root of external problems.

**[01:01:34]** People who didn't want to be together were shoved into single states,

**[01:01:37]** puppet kings were installed, and above all, there is a constant presence

**[01:01:43]** of a feeling of betrayal.

**[01:01:45]** Yes, similar to us Czechs, again an amazing parallel,

**[01:01:48]** that 8:30 feeling, like about us without us,

**[01:01:53]** but here there is a much larger Arab population,

**[01:01:56]** who remember this well.

**[01:01:58]** Recently, it was the 100th anniversary,

**[01:02:00]** the media were full of it, nothing else was talked about,

**[01:02:03]** except European betrayal in the Middle East.

**[01:02:06]** Anyway, the states were created and had to deal with it somehow.

**[01:02:12]** The original kings were killed, brutally,

**[01:02:16]** as the Middle East is known for, and people came to power

**[01:02:20]** connected with the idea of Arab socialism.

**[01:02:23]** People from whom Saddam Hussein, Anwar Sadat,

**[01:02:27]** Gamal Abdel Nasser, and others like Hafez Assad emerged.

**[01:02:31]** For these people, Islam was old school.

**[01:02:34]** They longed for a modern Western world.

**[01:02:37]** Not in terms of human rights, definitely not,

**[01:02:40]** but in terms of modernity, deep necklines,

**[01:02:43]** electricity, cinemas, and things like that.

**[01:02:46]** So Islam was often pushed underground by force

**[01:02:50]** and driven out of the public sphere, which is a bad approach.

**[01:02:56]** So everything here more or less worked out,

**[01:03:01]** necklines just got deeper.

**[01:03:04]** But then the 70s came.

**[01:03:07]** 1979 was a turning point. The Islamic Revolution happened in Iran,

**[01:03:11]** and that’s important.

**[01:03:13]** Khomeini, a Shia, came to power.

**[01:03:16]** The Islamic Shia Republic was established.

**[01:03:19]** Shia are a minority, and in the majority Sunni world it caused a stir,

**[01:03:23]** because the Shia had created the perfect Islamic republic.

**[01:03:26]** They did it, and we Sunnis didn’t.

**[01:03:29]** So everyone was kind of stunned.

**[01:03:32]** That same year, the Grand Mosque in Mecca was attacked by radicals,

**[01:03:38]** who said Saudi Arabia was too liberal.

**[01:03:41]** Saudi Arabia shot and executed them all. That’s true.

**[01:03:44]** But they said maybe they were right.

**[01:03:46]** So they erased the constitution and replaced it with the Quran.

**[01:03:49]** They started focusing heavily on exporting their interpretation of Islam,

**[01:03:54]** which is Wahhabism, a very hardcore form.

**[01:03:57]** Then in 1980, the Soviets invaded Afghanistan.

**[01:04:01]** Bad timing.

**[01:04:03]** By then, the Sunni world was already boiling,

**[01:04:06]** and a superpower banning religion invaded a Sunni state.

**[01:04:11]** Who took advantage of this? The CIA. Cold War.

**[01:04:15]** So the CIA, together with Saudi money for Islamic propaganda,

**[01:04:19]** joined forces and started massive promotion

**[01:04:22]** and recruited young men from the Sunni world,

**[01:04:25]** who had never even heard of Afghanistan.

**[01:04:28]** Somewhere in the Hindu Kush.

**[01:04:30]** Those guys were taught the 'correct' Islam, armed,

**[01:04:33]** and fought the Soviets for eight years.

**[01:04:36]** I know many of those men...

**[01:04:38]** You can ask, what the hell were you doing there?

**[01:04:40]** Why did you fight for Al-Qaeda, which was formed there?

**[01:04:43]** That was the kind of time when everyone went there.

**[01:04:46]** It was fashionable to go defend Afghanistan.

**[01:04:50]** However, the war ended

**[01:04:52]** and these guys, well indoctrinated and armed,

**[01:04:55]** had three options on what to do.

**[01:04:57]** They could stay there, which no one wanted.

**[01:05:00]** No one wants to stay in Afgoš.

**[01:05:02]** They could go home, which many of them did,

**[01:05:05]** telling friends in the mosque, on the street, family about

**[01:05:08]** what the true Islam looks like.

**[01:05:10]** They spread conservatism and radicalism uncontrollably.

**[01:05:14]** And from that, groups like the Moroccan Afghans formed,

**[01:05:18]** the future base for Al-Qaeda in West Africa,

**[01:05:22]** and in Yemen, also a base for Al-Qaeda.

**[01:05:24]** They were the ones who brought all this there.

**[01:05:26]** Or the third option, to go fight somewhere else.

**[01:05:29]** They were lucky, many battlefields opened up then.

**[01:05:32]** Bosnia, Algeria, and in 2003 the final nail in the coffin,

**[01:05:37]** for this region.

**[01:05:39]** The American coalition invasion of Iraq,

**[01:05:42]** which led to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein,

**[01:05:45]** who was a terrible person, no doubt,

**[01:05:47]** but it also created an absolute power vacuum

**[01:05:51]** and further worsened the situation here connected to radicalism.

**[01:05:55]** So currently, radicalism is a big part

**[01:06:00]** of this world.

**[01:06:02]** Because anti-American slogans appear everywhere.

**[01:06:06]** Anti-American propaganda is,

**[01:06:08]** or anti-Western,

**[01:06:10]** with America as the symbol of the West,

**[01:06:12]** present in many communities.

**[01:06:15]** But again, knock on wood, they are still not the majority,

**[01:06:18]** though of course they are very loud,

**[01:06:20]** very violent, and very disgusting.

**[01:06:23]** This photo is also from Islamic states

**[01:06:26]** and their executions of prisoners,

**[01:06:29]** which were absolutely brutal.

**[01:06:31]** In any case, here it is.

**[01:06:33]** Terrorism, wars, conflicts.

**[01:06:35]** What started in the 1980s

**[01:06:38]** and whose consequences we are now feeling very intensely,

**[01:06:42]** has left the Middle East broken.

**[01:06:44]** This is a photo from Homs in Syria.

**[01:06:47]** It's a residential area, if you don't think

**[01:06:49]** that the apartments are still inhabited.

**[01:06:51]** People live there or rather barely survive.

**[01:06:53]** Of course, we can't talk about any education at all.

**[01:06:56]** It doesn't exist.

**[01:06:57]** So schools are destroyed, hospitals too.

**[01:06:59]** So the living conditions of many people

**[01:07:01]** are now very poor.

**[01:07:03]** A lot is said about Gaza,

**[01:07:05]** but this is where it is happening now.

**[01:07:07]** But there are regions where it already happened

**[01:07:09]** and the situation there is just terrible.

**[01:07:11]** Here it's terrible for how long?

**[01:07:13]** Ten years? Something like that.

**[01:07:15]** Besides the fact that people live in such terrible conditions,

**[01:07:22]** they become ideal targets for recruiters.

**[01:07:27]** The moment the state can't take care of you

**[01:07:31]** and now it can't because it doesn't want to,

**[01:07:33]** maybe because you're not its favorite ethnic group,

**[01:07:36]** or it can't because the state simply doesn't have the means,

**[01:07:39]** then men appear who will help you.

**[01:07:42]** Men, for example, from Al-Qaeda.

**[01:07:44]** The first year they come and offer work.

**[01:07:46]** You, as a man and family provider, can't or simply don't want to work for them.

**[01:07:50]** The second year you still don't have food for the children,

**[01:07:53]** but you still resist.

**[01:07:54]** And the third year you simply have to feed the children.

**[01:07:56]** Savings are gone, so you just have to.

**[01:07:58]** This is how they recruit people, gain more followers,

**[01:08:01]** more support, and basically parasitize on human despair.

**[01:08:04]** I don't focus much on Israel and Palestine,

**[01:08:07]** but this is what happens in Gaza.

**[01:08:09]** Yes, people will be so desperate, so frustrated, and so poor,

**[01:08:13]** that at some point they will simply accept help from whoever offers it,

**[01:08:17]** and I don't think it will be an offer

**[01:08:22]** from someone we would want to help there.

**[01:08:25]** Besides that, there is also radicalization in the context of us, Europe,

**[01:08:29]** or simply the Western world.

**[01:08:31]** These are magazines published by Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.

**[01:08:35]** It's like Cosmopolitan for young jihadists.

**[01:08:37]** It's completely crazy reading, published in several languages.

**[01:08:41]** Why I became a cleric, why I now fight for Al-Qaeda.

**[01:08:44]** Just puppies, literally like in a puppy fighter,

**[01:08:48]** but with weapons, instructions on how to properly armor a bike,

**[01:08:51]** how to add sickles from a scythe to cars and to the fighters.

**[01:08:54]** Crazy stuff, it's all there.

**[01:08:56]** It's freely available.

**[01:08:57]** These groups, I started with the Islamic State,

**[01:09:00]** have amazing media sections.

**[01:09:02]** These media sections don't live in some dugouts in Iraq,

**[01:09:05]** but are in Germany, in America, and they simply create Twitter accounts,

**[01:09:09]** build a presence on social networks and the internet.

**[01:09:13]** And it's for young people, whether from the Muslim environment,

**[01:09:18]** or many white Christians,

**[01:09:21]** to be a bit blunt,

**[01:09:23]** it's a huge lure,

**[01:09:26]** because they offer an easy path.

**[01:09:28]** How many young people around you or us are struggling with this,

**[01:09:32]** not knowing where they belong, not knowing what to do with themselves,

**[01:09:35]** having questions about life, death, and so on.

**[01:09:39]** And no one gives them answers.

**[01:09:41]** Here, the answers are easy, direct, and simple.

**[01:09:45]** So that's a huge lure for these people,

**[01:09:48]** to join similar movements.

**[01:09:51]** This is a photo from Afghanistan.

**[01:09:54]** I already talked about desperate environments,

**[01:09:58]** for example, this is what the Al-Hol camp looks like,

**[01:10:00]** in northern Syria, northeastern Syria, where women of jihadists

**[01:10:06]** of the Islamic State are held. There are about 70,000 people living together without any

**[01:10:12]** deradicalization processes, sharing their ideas about the world.

**[01:10:17]** So when these people are eventually released,

**[01:10:20]** they again represent a huge potential problem for the future security

**[01:10:25]** of the entire region. To not be entirely negative,

**[01:10:29]** there are many deradicalization processes in the Middle East.

**[01:10:32]** For me, it's very interesting that in Morocco,

**[01:10:37]** in 2003 and 2005, terrorist attacks took place, and Morocco faced them head-on.

**[01:10:42]** The Moroccan king, not entirely, I admit, in line with human rights,

**[01:10:47]** arrested many people; if you had a longer beard and a cap, you were suspected.

**[01:10:51]** He also arrested all clerics who preached against the king.

**[01:10:57]** After ten years in prison, they are already preaching in his name what has been nicely managed

**[01:11:01]** but he precisely defined Moroccan Islam.

**[01:11:05]** And it is the kind of Islam that is quite easy to follow, Islam for everyday life,

**[01:11:10]** Islam for business, Islam for family, Islam for a normally functioning society.

**[01:11:15]** And importantly, from this state Islam that he created over the last

**[01:11:19]** 20 years, he created an export product.

**[01:11:23]** So African states dealing with radicalization problems,

**[01:11:26]** many African states have, for example, Saudi clerics.

**[01:11:29]** They flood in and preach their radical worldview,

**[01:11:35]** preaching to people in villages.

**[01:11:37]** So many of these states send their clerics to Morocco

**[01:11:41]** to be trained in Moroccan Islam and then preach Moroccan Islam

**[01:11:45]** back home.

**[01:11:46]** But it's not just Africa.

**[01:11:47]** France, Belgium, Canada, Spain do it,

**[01:11:52]** Moroccan clerics within these deradicalization processes

**[01:11:56]** are quite popular.

**[01:11:58]** For example, Austria has also realized

**[01:12:00]** that some versions of the Quran were not fully aligned with what we would want to have

**[01:12:03]** in the public space.

**[01:12:07]** So this is also one of the paths being taken.

**[01:12:09]** So it's not just about radicalization,

**[01:12:13]** which is constantly talked and written about.

**[01:12:15]** There are quite a few deradicalization processes.

**[01:12:17]** That doesn't change the fact that the Middle East

**[01:12:22]** currently faces a huge problem.

**[01:12:25]** It is a destroyed, frustrated, poor region,

**[01:12:28]** where living conditions are worsening for many people.

**[01:12:32]** We have many refugees fleeing conflicts.

**[01:12:36]** This is what a refugee camp in northern Iraq looks like.

**[01:12:39]** It is one of the better ones.

**[01:12:42]** This is one of the worse ones in Greece.

**[01:12:43]** I actually took this from the agency's website.

**[01:12:46]** In any case, in refugee camps people are born, die, study, trade,

**[01:12:48]** and soon refugee camps will be rebuilt into cities

**[01:12:54]** and people will simply stay there,

**[01:12:58]** because they basically have nowhere to go or return to.

**[01:13:00]** Some camps count 40,000 families.

**[01:13:04]** That is in northern Syria.

**[01:13:09]** This is one of the worst camps I've ever been to.

**[01:13:12]** Because it's on a landfill where local children work with waste.

**[01:13:17]** Mostly with burning waste.

**[01:13:20]** There is a lot of talk about refugees.

**[01:13:22]** There is a lot of talk about us and migrants.

**[01:13:25]** Migration is leaving.

**[01:13:28]** Migration is moving from point A to point B.

**[01:13:30]** I am actually a migrant when I left Olomouc for Prague for work.

**[01:13:34]** A migrant can be from anywhere and leave for any place for economic reasons.

**[01:13:40]** We often see migrants as people who come to exploit us.

**[01:13:44]** That they come to parasitize us.

**[01:13:46]** But we rarely ask what they are leaving behind.

**[01:13:50]** In the Middle East, people don't just die from stakes or shrapnel,

**[01:13:55]** which are exactly the refugees fleeing war.

**[01:13:58]** Climate change is a huge issue in the Middle East.

**[01:14:02]** We will publish a book about it in about a month, so I'm warming up the topic.

**[01:14:07]** Climate change is a big problem.

**[01:14:10]** Two years ago, temperatures of 62 degrees were recorded in southern Iran,

**[01:14:14]** which are temperatures bordering on human survival.

**[01:14:17]** Access to water is also significantly worsening,

**[01:14:22]** because countries are building dams.

**[01:14:24]** Thanks to dams, river pressure is dropping.

**[01:14:27]** This photo is from southern Iraq, where the Euphrates and Tigris have so little water,

**[01:14:31]** so little pressure, that seawater is rising.

**[01:14:35]** So farms where the Sumerians once grew grain,

**[01:14:39]** if there was such a cradle of humanity,

**[01:14:41]** are now simply covered with a thick layer of salt,

**[01:14:44]** and you won't be able to grow anything there anytime soon.

**[01:14:47]** This is a photo from Iran, similar situation there.

**[01:14:51]** On the Afghan side of the border, it's a green paradise.

**[01:14:56]** This is how you imagine the old Mesopotamia,

**[01:14:59]** just like it is in Afghanistan.

**[01:15:01]** Then you take five steps across the line and it looks like this.

**[01:15:04]** Afghans have stopped all water supply to Iran in that area.

**[01:15:08]** So what you're looking at is a photo of a place

**[01:15:11]** where there was a huge lake just a few years ago.

**[01:15:14]** Now you drive seven hours by car and see this kind of landscape.

**[01:15:18]** And in it are dead gardens, abandoned, and abandoned villages.

**[01:15:23]** You can see that people were there recently, but they're no longer there.

**[01:15:30]** This migration linked to climate is often internal,

**[01:15:34]** but of course it is a huge topic.

**[01:15:38]** None of us is stupid enough to sit next to a dried-up well

**[01:15:42]** and wait to die of thirst.

**[01:15:44]** That's not in our human nature.

**[01:15:47]** This is a topic both for North Africa and the Middle East.

**[01:15:52]** This photo was taken in northern Sudan.

**[01:15:55]** Here, villagers walk 15 kilometers for water,

**[01:15:57]** sometimes 20 kilometers, sometimes 30.

**[01:15:59]** They load canisters onto donkeys and cross the Sahara

**[01:16:04]** to fetch water for the whole village, then return.

**[01:16:06]** This is done once a week.

**[01:16:09]** However, this problem is not only about migration,

**[01:16:14]** but also linked to security issues.

**[01:16:18]** Of course, migration that eventually affects us in Europe,

**[01:16:21]** is also a security concern.

**[01:16:23]** But again, in these desperate, parched regions,

**[01:16:26]** where governments don't care, radical groups step in.

**[01:16:31]** In 1990, China bought large stocks of global grain,

**[01:16:39]** and there was real hunger in the Middle East.

**[01:16:42]** Many people migrated to cities, for example in Syria,

**[01:16:45]** and in the countryside, those left behind encountered Al-Qaeda militants,

**[01:16:49]** who offered, "Your farm died, your animals and herds are gone,

**[01:16:54]** come work for us."

**[01:16:56]** This happens not only in Syria, but also in Mali,

**[01:16:59]** and Chad, around Lake Chad, one of the biggest

**[01:17:02]** environmental disasters in North Africa.

**[01:17:05]** The lake you know from maps as a large blue spot

**[01:17:08]** is now just a small blue patch.

**[01:17:10]** People keep moving closer and closer to the water,

**[01:17:13]** which could lead to conflicts over resources.

**[01:17:16]** They say the next war will be over water.

**[01:17:19]** I never fully understood that until I visited those regions,

**[01:17:23]** where I saw that the war really will be literally about water.

**[01:17:27]** However, I try not to end these talks completely negatively.

**[01:17:33]** In conclusion, I want to say that the Middle East is amazing.

**[01:17:37]** The Middle East is historically, culturally,

**[01:17:41]** and geographically a region that is hugely demonized.

**[01:17:47]** The media—and I say this as someone who works in media—

**[01:17:51]** we love scandals, we love blood, we love it

**[01:17:55]** when it makes a big splash, that great clickbait.

**[01:17:58]** But nowhere will you read about that hospitality,

**[01:18:01]** nowhere will you read about that kindness,

**[01:18:03]** nowhere will you read about how I hitchhiked for five weeks

**[01:18:06]** as a solo girl through Iran and Iraq and everyone welcomed me.

**[01:18:09]** Everyone invited me in, saying, come to us, do you have any problems,

**[01:18:12]** we'll take care of you.

**[01:18:13]** Nowhere will you read that when you get into a dirty car,

**[01:18:16]** a young guy will just say,

**[01:18:19]** hey, do you have any problems? Here, I have money,

**[01:18:21]** I'll give it to you, you don't need to.

**[01:18:22]** This is the Middle East as I know it.

**[01:18:25]** And that huge generosity, that kindness, just as a traveler you encounter,

**[01:18:27]** I haven't experienced it anywhere else.

**[01:18:31]** Here is a small hitchhiking collage.

**[01:18:33]** At the same time, the Middle East is incredibly kind,

**[01:18:39]** incredibly fascinating with its complexity.

**[01:18:42]** I am someone who says I worship chaos,

**[01:18:45]** so this is a kind of clear chart of Middle Eastern relations.

**[01:18:49]** It's several years old, but I really like

**[01:18:51]** how intertwined it is.

**[01:18:52]** It's simply a complex system.

**[01:18:55]** So people often ask if I want to travel to South America

**[01:18:59]** or South Africa.

**[01:19:01]** I don't want to.

**[01:19:02]** This is simply home for me, this region,

**[01:19:04]** which is an endless source of knowledge

**[01:19:07]** and exploration for me.

**[01:19:09]** And I just want to stay there, where I keep going

**[01:19:12]** and keep returning to the same places

**[01:19:15]** to see how they change, because they change very fast.

**[01:19:19]** So, I'll finish with warming up some soup.

**[01:19:22]** I have written three books.

**[01:19:24]** This middle one won an award for reportage literature,

**[01:19:29]** or no, factual literature.

**[01:19:31]** On the left is my dissertation, which focuses on

**[01:19:33]** Islamic monuments in the Middle East.

**[01:19:35]** On the right is my first book, which is no longer available.

**[01:19:38]** Next week, I am launching a children's book.

**[01:19:41]** We call it a book for smart kids,

**[01:19:44]** but it turned out that most of my friends my age are Cirovka readers,

**[01:19:48]** that the information there is simply new for many adults.

**[01:19:51]** It's beautifully illustrated by my friend Lenka,

**[01:19:53]** so you can take a look.

**[01:19:55]** Or when it's terribly hot in the summer,

**[01:19:57]** you can check out my book Neurodný plůměsíc.

**[01:20:00]** and read about people who are even hotter than you.

**[01:20:03]** Alright, that's it from me. Thank you.

**[01:20:06]** Applause

**[01:20:13]** Can I move over?

**[01:20:14]** Just a little.

**[01:20:15]** I'll just slide over like this.

**[01:20:18]** I was actually thinking about what you said, Lenka,

**[01:20:23]** that this lecture is fine for adults,

**[01:20:27]** that you could have told people it’s just primitive dirt.

**[01:20:29]** I was actually okay with that, that it’s fine.

**[01:20:33]** You didn’t allow that.

**[01:20:34]** Because we have little time.

**[01:20:37]** I went over time, sorry.

**[01:20:38]** No, that’s totally fine. I’d probably just jump straight to the questions.

**[01:20:43]** There are many questions about your traveling.

**[01:20:45]** You travel alone, try this.

**[01:20:49]** I work as a guide among other things, so I often travel with groups,

**[01:20:53]** and when I have a vacation, I go alone, because if I’m not alone,

**[01:20:56]** with anyone else, I end up as a guide again.

**[01:20:58]** And that’s just a work trip.

**[01:21:00]** So ideally hitchhiking and ideally alone, if I can choose.

**[01:21:03]** And ideally during religious festivals.

**[01:21:05]** Lukáš asks if it’s possible to name the causes that led to

**[01:21:09]** the Arab world, once a peak of civilization, falling and declining?

**[01:21:13]** Yes, I’ve read a lot of different opinions on that.

**[01:21:16]** One is, for example, the huge waves of Turks from the east.

**[01:21:23]** The Turks, for example, if we look at Turks and Mongols,

**[01:21:27]** after Genghis Khan invaded Central Asia around 1220,

**[01:21:32]** he wasn’t exactly gentle.

**[01:21:35]** His armies killed huge populations,

**[01:21:39]** they liked building pyramids of skulls and destroyed entire cities.

**[01:21:43]** But especially they destroyed underground irrigation canals,

**[01:21:47]** which people had built for three thousand years.

**[01:21:49]** That was basically the entire Central Asian economy of those cities.

**[01:21:54]** And since there were so many people, there was no one left to restore what was there.

**[01:22:00]** Then came the shepherds, and their goats ate what was on the surface.

**[01:22:04]** For example, in Iran, deserts expanded massively and the biodiversity of the entire landscape changed.

**[01:22:09]** From Turkey to Central Asia. That's one of the reasons.

**[01:22:12]** Then there is the system of land management.

**[01:22:16]** During the Ottoman era and before, in Syria, Iraq, and these areas,

**[01:22:21]** those who managed the land were not noble families like with us.

**[01:22:25]** Instead, the king would grant his favorite a ten-year right to collect taxes from the land.

**[01:22:33]** This did not lead to development, but to exploitation.

**[01:22:38]** So that's one of the reasons. Simply a lack of interest in development.

**[01:22:42]** Another reason is that in the 11th century, lawyers decided

**[01:22:46]** that precedents existed for everything.

**[01:22:50]** That everything had already happened and legal science, those ideas, no longer needed to develop.

**[01:22:55]** So intellectually, things stagnated in the 11th century.

**[01:22:58]** There are quite a few such minor reasons,

**[01:23:02]** but one big thing is missing there.

**[01:23:06]** I'll go back to the question of whether you fear traveling.

**[01:23:10]** Whether you are afraid of it.

**[01:23:12]** I've been in some unpleasant situations a few times,

**[01:23:15]** but not during my individual travels.

**[01:23:18]** They happened during projects, for example when we were filming about refugees,

**[01:23:22]** which was very unpleasant.

**[01:23:24]** We ended up with the Afghan mafia for several unpleasant days.

**[01:23:28]** And yes, I was scared once.

**[01:23:31]** That was in 2017 in Iraq during the war, when we were in Mosul,

**[01:23:35]** where we also encountered snipers.

**[01:23:38]** So it wasn't exactly pleasant.

**[01:23:40]** But those weren't my vacations.

**[01:23:42]** Alenka, how did you come to engage with these topics

**[01:23:46]** and know so much about them?

**[01:23:48]** I know so much because I've been going there for 15 years,

**[01:23:51]** and I've been reading about it for 15 years.

**[01:23:53]** These are really collected pieces of information over a very long time.

**[01:23:57]** As for going there, I originally wanted,

**[01:23:59]** as my symbol, to be an archaeologist,

**[01:24:01]** to dig up corpses from the soil.

**[01:24:03]** I actually studied archaeology,

**[01:24:05]** and I also studied in France.

**[01:24:07]** I signed up for lectures on the history

**[01:24:09]** of Egypt and Syria in the Middle Ages as an excuse.

**[01:24:11]** At the time, I wasn't interested in it at all.

**[01:24:13]** But in that first class, after about 10 minutes,

**[01:24:16]** my jaw dropped when it completely opened up a world to me,

**[01:24:18]** that I knew nothing about.

**[01:24:20]** And I became fascinated by it.

**[01:24:27]** And the lectures about the Middle East in France,

**[01:24:29]** there were quite a few of those.

**[01:24:31]** And I was 20 then, exactly 15 years ago.

**[01:24:33]** And I stuck with it.

**[01:24:35]** And I never regretted it for a second.

**[01:24:39]** When people ask you about religion,

**[01:24:41]** whether you're Muslim or Christian,

**[01:24:43]** do you try to explain our atheism to them?

**[01:24:45]** Or do you reveal Europe's Christianity and all that?

**[01:24:48]** No, I say I'm Christian.

**[01:24:50]** But it's not about

**[01:24:52]** wanting to disguise myself.

**[01:24:55]** It's because they don't really understand the concept of atheism.

**[01:24:58]** And they keep asking about it.

**[01:25:00]** And I don't enjoy explaining it.

**[01:25:02]** I'm really lazy about it.

**[01:25:04]** They have some kind of template for those questions.

**[01:25:06]** Like, who created the planet?

**[01:25:08]** Who created you?

**[01:25:10]** Who created your beautiful blue eyes?

**[01:25:12]** They always ask the same way.

**[01:25:14]** And I don't enjoy it.

**[01:25:16]** Maybe I...

**[01:25:18]** There's another question here

**[01:25:20]** about Arabic.

**[01:25:22]** Is it possible to use modern standard Arabic?

**[01:25:24]** Definitely yes.

**[01:25:26]** But it's mostly with people

**[01:25:28]** who have studied it at universities.

**[01:25:30]** Or who listen a lot to the news.

**[01:25:32]** So it's possible.

**[01:25:34]** No problem.

**[01:25:36]** But then, if you were at the market

**[01:25:38]** and you start speaking modern standard,

**[01:25:40]** even the market vendor would call a friend,

**[01:25:44]** so he could come and have a laugh too.

**[01:25:46]** So it's kind of a folklore thing.

**[01:25:48]** But of course, my modern standard language

**[01:25:50]** is already somewhat broken.

**[01:25:52]** When someone thinks I'm somewhere in North Africa,

**[01:25:54]** they guess I'm Arab,

**[01:25:56]** but they don't know from where.

**[01:25:58]** Maybe I'll ask,

**[01:26:00]** because I really enjoyed it,

**[01:26:02]** that when we arranged it,

**[01:26:04]** we communicated via WhatsApp.

**[01:26:06]** And now I'm in Somalia,

**[01:26:08]** and now I'm in Afghanistan,

**[01:26:10]** and now I'm here.

**[01:26:12]** How do you actually manage your year?

**[01:26:14]** And also regarding the new, tell me,

**[01:26:16]** how does it actually work?

**[01:26:18]** Which countries do you travel to?

**[01:26:20]** I actually overdid it this year,

**[01:26:22]** so now it will probably be the tenth night

**[01:26:24]** I'll sleep at home this year,

**[01:26:26]** and I'm already looking forward to it.

**[01:26:28]** But I always think about

**[01:26:30]** where I want to go.

**[01:26:32]** I travel to some countries long-term,

**[01:26:34]** like Iran, where I'm going in November,

**[01:26:36]** and that's kind of my main passion.

**[01:26:38]** But then I have a few other countries

**[01:26:40]** that I want to visit.

**[01:26:42]** Like Niger, Burkina, and Mali.

**[01:26:44]** But I won't be going there now, unfortunately.

**[01:26:46]** So I canceled Niger,

**[01:26:48]** because they said they need seventy soldiers

**[01:26:50]** as protection for ten tourists,

**[01:26:52]** which seemed quite a lot to me.

**[01:26:54]** Even I have my personal limits.

**[01:26:56]** But I always imagine some trip,

**[01:26:58]** usually, these are some of my regular clients,

**[01:27:00]** who encourage me.

**[01:27:02]** Recently, some guys came and said, hey, we want to go to South Sudan,

**[01:27:04]** Organize it for us.

**[01:27:06]** So I just organized it myself

**[01:27:08]** and within my community of acquaintances, I found a small group.

**[01:27:10]** So some country that might be more problematic,

**[01:27:12]** like the first time I went to Afghanistan

**[01:27:14]** or South Sudan,

**[01:27:16]** I only take people I know

**[01:27:18]** and I don't post it publicly,

**[01:27:20]** but then there are trips I have as a standard,

**[01:27:22]** where I have been long-term,

**[01:27:24]** or I'm just confident, fully prepared

**[01:27:26]** even in that environment, and then I post those on my website,

**[01:27:28]** where people can normally find them

**[01:27:30]** and sign up.

**[01:27:32]** Without a doubt.

**[01:27:34]** This little promotional window could end here.

**[01:27:36]** That's fine with me.

**[01:27:38]** I think we could discuss this topic

**[01:27:40]** for hours and hours

**[01:27:42]** and we also plan

**[01:27:44]** to do it with Lenka

**[01:27:46]** and you definitely know about it because most of you

**[01:27:48]** have already been to the breakfast.

**[01:27:50]** So I would like to end it here today.

**[01:27:52]** Lenka, thank you very much for this talk

**[01:27:54]** and for the introduction, so thanks a lot.

**[01:27:56]** And I ask you,

**[01:27:58]** if you now

**[01:28:00]** could put into the slide

**[01:28:02]** how you liked it

**[01:28:04]** and maybe a word that popped into your mind

**[01:28:06]** while Lenka was talking,

**[01:28:08]** that would be

**[01:28:10]** really nice.

**[01:28:12]** We'll leave it there for a moment.

**[01:28:14]** As I said, what's important

**[01:28:16]** is to keep these things to yourself,

**[01:28:18]** but rather to discuss them.

**[01:28:20]** What surprised you, on the contrary,

**[01:28:22]** what you agree with, what you disagree with,

**[01:28:24]** So whether you're watching now in the library,

**[01:28:26]** write and have a little chat

**[01:28:28]** with someone sitting next to you,

**[01:28:30]** or whether you're in a team at the company,

**[01:28:32]** where you're watching Brain Breakfast.

**[01:28:34]** I think this is something

**[01:28:36]** that will help it sink in a bit more,

**[01:28:38]** and deepen the learning.

**[01:28:40]** Lenka and I will continue

**[01:28:42]** on June 5th, we'll have

**[01:28:44]** a lunch topic,

**[01:28:46]** Digestive in depth, meaning,

**[01:28:48]** if you'd like to join the follow-up discussion,

**[01:28:50]** we definitely invite you.

**[01:28:52]** Just follow,

**[01:28:54]** either me on LinkedIn or

**[01:28:56]** anything,

**[01:28:58]** or if you're watching on Edu,

**[01:29:00]** you can turn this on here.

**[01:29:02]** So this will be

**[01:29:04]** that discussion.

**[01:29:06]** Just a reminder that

**[01:29:08]** Brain Breakfast continues,

**[01:29:10]** these are the upcoming topics.

**[01:29:12]** Mental health resilience with Michal Šrejr,

**[01:29:14]** who was here presenting happiness at work.

**[01:29:16]** Innovation with Petr Šídlo.

**[01:29:18]** Then we have

**[01:29:20]** School of Life with Ján Košturek,

**[01:29:22]** and with that, we'll simplify.

**[01:29:24]** I define

**[01:29:26]** the essentials

**[01:29:28]** and eliminate everything else.

**[01:29:30]** Ján and I have a lot in common,

**[01:29:32]** so on May 28th in the evening,

**[01:29:34]** you can join us.

**[01:29:36]** At Red Button, we have plenty of projects,

**[01:29:38]** including the Book of the Month,

**[01:29:40]** which Pavel Pumperla has now taken over

**[01:29:42]** from Hanka Yadavan.

**[01:29:44]** It's all completely new, it's called

**[01:29:46]** Book Club, so I think you

**[01:29:48]** might enjoy it.

**[01:29:50]** Pavel, like Hanka,

**[01:29:52]** also picks one book, so

**[01:29:54]** definitely check it out at rbkniha.cz

**[01:30:00]** Press the red button, that's what the red button is for, and the next breakfast will be about the younger generation.

**[01:30:09]** We discussed for a long time how to approach this, which guest to invite, so thanks for letting us,

**[01:30:17]** Bára Starek, I think June 19th will be worth it again. I don't have to convince you,

**[01:30:24]** come on June 19th from 8:30, either here at Magenta or watch us online.

**[01:30:28]** Once again, Lenka, thank you very much for your lecture, I look forward to the discussion.

**[01:30:32]** Thank you, take care, bye and see you.

**[01:30:35]** Goodbye.

**[01:31:28]** www.hradeckesluzby.cz