Manama: The Doha Debates, a forum for discussing political issues in the Arab and Islamic worlds, will hold a special session in Tunis on Tuesday to examine the wave of political unrest in the Arab world.

The debate will be the first public televised discussion of its kind in the region since the upheaval that has swept through several countries began in December.

The event will be filmed at the Institut National du Patrimoine in the Kasbah in the Tunisian capital and will contest the motion: "This House believes that Arab revolutions will just produce different dictators."

Announcing the session, Doha Debates' Chairman Tim Sebastian said the debates went to Tunis because it was there that the demonstrations and uprisings began.

"We are now seeing unrest and violence from North Africa to the Gulf. It's time to hear directly from the Tunisians and ask whether they knew what they were starting - and where they believe it will end," Sebastian said.

Speaking for the motion is Journalist Kamal Ben Younis, executive director of the International Studies Association and Institute Tunisia, and Rauoudha Ben Othman, professor of linguistics at the University of Tunis.

Speaking against the motion is Fares Mabrouk, founder of the Arab Policy Institute, a think tank supporting democratic change in the MENA region and Dr. Shibley Telhami, professor for peace and development at the University of Maryland in the United States and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.

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