A variety of far-left and Arab websites have announced the date of the 2008 Cairo International Conference and Liberation Forum, the sixth in a series of conferences held since 2002 which have been co-sponsored by the Muslim Brotherhood and which have come to be known generally as the “Cairo Antiwar Conferences.” The conference bills itself as an “International Campaign against Zionist and American Occupation” and in past years has served as a meeting place for Western far-left groups, Islamists. pro-Palestinian and other Arab groups. A report from Al-Ahram described the 2006 conference:
Organised by Al-Karama (Dignity), Al-Ishtirakyin Al-Sawryin (Socialist Revolutionary Party), Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimin (Muslim Brotherhood) and Al-‘Amal (Labour), and held at the Egyptian Press Syndicate, the conference attracted close to 600 participants and observers from around the world, including a delegation of 80 South Koreans and 20 Canadians. But what can we make of the overwhelming prominence at the conference of the MB and their very professional brochures and CDs, well translated into English? One pamphlet quotes MB deputy Khairat El-Shater assuring the reader “No need to be afraid of us” and “We do not promote an anti- Western agenda”.
According to another notice, the 2008 conference is sponsored by the Al-Karamah Party; the Muslim Brotherhood; Al-Wasat party, Al-A’mal party; the Revolutionary Socialists’ Organisation; Egyptian Movement for Change (Kefaya); and a series of other similar groups.