Finding Bayt Across Borders of Stone

No roads, not a single one, lead to the place where we had gotten ourselves.*  I “met” Anthony Shadid the only way someone like me, a mere reader, can meet a journalist she admires: I emailed him a fan letter. I sent him my short note through the New York Times website and didn’t expect an answer. The next day, he emailed me a brief but warm thank you. Two days later, on May 10th, I read Anthony’s article on Rami Makhlouf—Bashar al-Assad’s cousin and the regime’s crony-in-chief. In the interview, ...

Syria Media Roundup (February 29)

“The dilemma for Syria’s neighbours” analysis by George Joffe and Alia Brahimi “Syrian casualty lists” how are we counting the dead? “The Syrian Arab Red Crescent refutes allegations it is not working in a neutral and impartial manner“ Abdulrahman Attar responds to allegations in the media as a result of its failed attempts to get foreign journalists out of Syria “China calls US critique on Syria ‘super arrogant’“ The view from China after Clinton’s attempted foray into taking the moral high ...

New Texts Out Now: Nezar AlSayyad, Cairo: Histories of a City

Nezar AlSayyad, Cairo: Histories of a City. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011. Jadaliyya (J): Why did you write this book? Nezar AlSayyad (NA): Cairo has fascinated me since I was first exposed to the city’s Islamic heritage in 1973, and it has continued to keep me under its spell. This love affair began to wane by the early 1990s, however, when my appreciation for the city began to be tempered by the realities of its problems. By the time I was asked to write this book, in 2006, I had ...

The Uprisings Will be Gendered

Women's rights and the regulation of gender and sex norms in the Arab world have long been put under the spotlight by local and international activists in addition to local and international politicians and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). This year, the ongoing uprisings in the Arab world have brought into focus some dominant ways that sexual and bodily rights are framed, gendered, and politicized. These can be grouped under three loose themes, each of which deserves further study: One is the ...

O.I.L. Media Roundup (February 27)

[This is the first installment of the O.I.L. Page Media Roundup, dealing with Occupation, Intervention, and Law. The O.I.L. page can be accessed here and can be clicked on the bar above] In her article, “Exploiting A ‘Dynamic’ Interpretation? The Israeli High Court of Justice Accepts the Legality of Israel’s Quarrying Activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” Valentina Azarov examines the Israeli High Court’s decision legitimating Israeli extraction of natural resources in the Occupied ...

Islamophobia For Office

When the Entire Planet is Against the Revolution

"I have seen the tree, but the roots are elsewhere." - Indian proverb. Whether from the helms of the Syrian regime or through the "opposed" western media such as Al Jazeera and its helms in the Arab world, the hegemonic representation of the Syrian revolution is that of a world divided into two camps and no other. On one side, there are "the revolutionaries" and their free army, "neo-Ottoman" Turkey and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states—at the heart of ...

An Elegy Out of Stories

When my close friend of nearly two decades, the celebrated New York Times reporter Anthony Shadid, died suddenly last week of an asthma attack while crossing the border from Syria into Turkey, the plethora of tributes to him over the course of the next day helped me overcome the shock. Still, as someone who knew Anthony well and shared so many things in common, I could not help but think of what was left out of the portraits drawn by his colleagues in the media business. Perhaps I can illustrate a small ...

The Arab Uprisings One Year On: Voices from the Ground (Oxford, 29 February 2012)

Oxford University and the Weidenfeld Scholars would like to invite you to the 2012 Weidenfeld Debates Conference. This year’s event will commemorate the anniversary of the beginning of the Arab Spring and will present 7 unique voices from the streets who witnessed and took part in the popular uprisings.  Who?  Tunisia - Yassine Ayari, cyber activist,  Yemen - Atiaf AlWazir, Researcher, NGO consultant & blogger Syria - Joseph Daher, activist and author of 'The People Demand: a ...

The International Symposium on the Arab Spring Through the Eyes of Arab Novelists: Testimonies and Readings

In the grim depths of winter, the Arabic novel keeps the sun of the Tunisian Revolution shining. Although the sun of the Tunisian Revolution and the Arab Spring is still playing hide and seek, it is imperative that artists, writers, and poets find a venue to discuss the cultural and artistic sides of the revolution. On 18 and 19 January 2012, an international symposium on the “Arab Spring Through the Eyes of Arab Novelists” took center stage at the Ibn Rachiq Culture House in Tunis. The symposium ...

A New Kind of Armenian-Turkish Reconciliation

In October 2011, the newly renovated Sourp Giragos Armenian Apostolic Church reopened in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakir. Among the hundreds gathered to celebrate its first mass in over ninety years were local men and women who had chosen the occasion to be baptized into the Armenian Apostolic Church. Raised as Sunni Muslims, these men and women were the children and grandchildren of Armenians who had converted to Islam to escape persecution in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire. Living ...