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First Amendment

Support Our Effort to Challenge the US Government’s Restriction of Free Speech

On December 20, 2023, the Foundation for Global Political Exchange together with the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University filed a lawsuit challenging the assertion by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) that it can restrict American groups from organizing political discussions that include people whom the government has sanctioned. The complaint argues that OFAC’s position exceeds its statutory and regulatory authority and violates the First Amendment.

The Foundation for Global Political Exchange promotes professional and academic enrichment through convenings in the Middle East and North Africa called “Exchanges.” Each Exchange involves a series of small-group, immersive dialogues that allows participants from around the world to engage with and question key decision-makers from across the country’s political spectrum. Since 2008, more than 1,500 people have attended Exchanges, including journalists, academics, students, NGO practitioners, and government officials from 51 different countries.

The Foundation convened the 21st Beirut Exchange in January 2023, where 15 participants from around the world gathered to engage with about 35 prominent figures in Lebanon. In advance of that Exchange, the Foundation informed OFAC that it intended to include five Lebanese political figures— some of whom are members of Lebanon’s parliament—who are designated under a U.S. sanctions regime or members of a designated organization. Interpreting its authority broadly, OFAC prohibited the Foundation from including the speakers.

The lawsuit asks the court to declare that OFAC’s actions are unlawful and to prohibit the agency from preventing the Foundation from hosting discussions with speakers of its choosing in the future.

About

About The Exchange Foundation

In June 2008, only a few weeks after sustained violence across Lebanon led to a settlement known as the Doha Accords, we launched our first Beirut Exchange research conference. It was our belief at the time that Lebanon was in dire need of more direct and diversified understanding, especially for those who are studying the country, influencing public opinion and discourse, or shaping their own country’s foreign policies. Given the current situation that finds Lebanon slipping from international focus even as its citizenry is immiserated further by the day, this is — regrettably — more true than ever.

In the years following the first Exchange, we steadily expanded our efforts, hosting more than 50 different Exchanges, including in Tunisia, Iraq, Syria and Turkey as well as on Libya and Yemen. Going into our 14th year, over 1,200 people from 51 different countries have now attended an Exchange, with many alumni returning in later years to join sessions once (or several times) again. View the lineup of Speakers at the recently concluded 20th Beirut Exchange.

In 2020, in order to transparently organize and further professionalize our work, we were finally able to establish The Exchange as a US-registered not-for-profit, under the aegis of The Foundation for Global Political Exchange, with the mission of promoting professional and academic enrichment through a variety of small group, direct engagement conferences in Western Asia and North Africa.

Crucially — and since our beginning — all funding for the Exchange comes from only two sources: First, the participants who pay the participation fee and, second, scholarship recipients who benefit from individual, charitable contributions designed to broaden the social, political and geographic diversity of each Exchange table. As such, there is no government, commercial or non-profit support, an aspect that we believe provides a relatively independent platform for dialogue and understanding.

The Exchange Foundation is a New York State registered 501(c)3 charitable organization. Donations customarily support our Scholarship Fund for participants from around the world who will deepen the social, political and geographic diversity of the Exchange and who can demonstrate both financial need and a deep interest in the country where the Exchange takes place. All donations are tax-deductible for US taxpayers.

Since 2020 72 students — from China, Peru, Brazil, Pakistan, Mexico, South Africa, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen and Lebanon (to name only a few countries) — have benefitted from our Exchange scholarships, allowing them to listen to, learn from and question leading intellectuals, activists and politicians representing an array of different points of view in a specific country. Our scholarship recipients have also expanded our own understanding of how states in the region are perceived beyond North America and Europe, leading to changes in the themes we explore and the speakers we seek out.