Syria in the Context of the Arab Uprisings
Sunday, Nov. 17, noon-6pm
NYU Silver Center, Room 405
Join leading Syrian and other Middle East scholars and activists at an afternoon teach-in on the Syrian uprising. Hear from activists on the frontlines in Syria and Palestine as well as from writers and scholars who`ve lived and studied there. Learn, discuss and debate what led to the uprising, who are the forces on the ground today and why Americans should defend Syrians` right to resist Assad`s dictatorship and oppose Western intervention. We will explore the relationship between the armed and non-violent resistance, the counter-revolutionary role of jihadists like Al-Nusra, and prospects for a just and democratic peace in Syria.
Snacks and literature will be available.
Doors open at 11:30 am
Registration ($5 donation requested, nobody turned away for lack of funds)
Program starts at Noon
Session 1: Roots and Grassroots of the Syrian Uprising
with: Razan Ghazzawi (from Syria*), Leila Shrooms*, Ella Wind, Mohja Kahf*
Session 2: Myths and Realities of the Syrian Uprising
with: Sara Ajlyakin (from Brazil*), Nader Atassi, Budour Hassan (from Jerusalem/Al-Quds*)
Session 3: Syria in the Context of the Arab Uprisings
with: Yasser Munif and Gilbert Achcar
*Asterisk denotes video conference presentation.
This teach-in is a project of the Middle East North Africa Solidarity Network-US, please check out our website for our founding statement and excellent news analysis on the region,
http://menasolnetus.wordpress.com/ and Like us on Facebook,
https://www.facebook.com/MENASolidarityUS
NYU Silver Center - Room 405, 31 Washington Place
(between Washington Square East and Greene Street)
*Wheelchair accessible. Photo ID is required for entrance.*
Go to W. 4th St. stop (A, B, C, D, E, F, M) or 8th St. NYU stop (N, R) and Astor Pl. (6).
Endorsed by the NYU Radical Film and Lecture Series.
Speakers
Gilbert Achcar grew up in Lebanon, researched and taught in Beirut, Paris and Berlin, and is currently Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) of the University of London. His many books include: The Clash of Barbarisms: The Making of the New World Disorder, published in 13 languages; Perilous Power: The Middle East and U.S. Foreign Policy, co-authored with Noam Chomsky; the critically acclaimed The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives. He published most recently a collection of essays on Marxism, Orientalism, Cosmopolitanism, in addition to his latest book: The People Want: A Radical Exploration of the Arab Uprising. Gilbert Achcar will also be speaking on The Arab Uprising: Results and Prospects, Monday, Nov. 18, 7pm at NYU Silver Center, 405.
Sara Ajlyakin
Born and raised in Damascus, Sara Ajlyakin is an activist with the International Workers League - Fourth International. She conducted research on gentrification in Old Damascus, and received her Master’s degree in Sociology from the American University of Beirut in 2010. She left Syria in 2012 and is currently residing in Brazil. She is now in the second part of a Campaign in Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution. In 2012, she traveled around 16 cities in Brazil on a tour organized by ANEL (National Association of Free Students) and CSP CONLUTAS (federation of trade unions and popular movements). This year, they invited two members of the Union of Free Syrian Students to participate in the second congress of ANEL. She is currently on an international speaking tour with a member of the Revolutionary Local Council of the city of Minbej meeting with students, trade unions, and popular movements in Brazil, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Argentina.
Nader Atassi
Nader Atassi is a Syrian political researcher and writer originally from Homs, currently living between the United States and Beirut. He runs the blog Darth Nader, reflecting on events within the Syrian revolution.
Razan Ghazzawi
Razan Ghazzawi is a blogger from Syria who started blogging using an alias, Golaniya, when Israel launched a war against Lebanon in 2006. She blogged against racism towards Syrian workers in Lebanon, where she completed her master’s degree. Razan started blogging under her real name two years later advocating along many Syrian bloggers for freedom of speech in her country. When the Syrian revolution broke out in March 2011, Razan was among those who disseminated updates on demonstrations taking place across Syria using her real name. She was detained twice during the revolution due to her work with the Syrian Center for Media Freedom.
Budour Hassan
Budour Hassan, originally from Nazareth, is a Palestinian blogger and Law graduate based in Jerusalem/Al-Quds. She has written about Syrian political prisoners and the myth of Palestinian neutrality in Syria.
Mohja Kahf
Born in Syria, U.S.-naturalized in the 1980s, Mohja Kahf is an associate professor of literature and Middle Eastern Studies in the Department of English at the University of Arkansas where she has taught for eighteen years (Ph.D. Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 1994). Author of the novel, The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf; poetry book E-mails from Scheherazad, Kahf marched against the U.S. war on Iraq and was an early signatory of the U.S. Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel. She visited the Turkish border with Syria in 2011 and has written recent articles on Syria here and in openDemocracy. Kahf is a member of the Syrian Nonviolence Movement.
Yasser Munif
Yasser Munif is a professor of sociology at Emerson College where he teaches courses on nationalism, political economy, Middle Eastern politics, and social movements. He is a co-founder of the "Global Campaign of Solidarity with the Syrian Revolution" which aims to shed light on the minutiae of resistance and everyday struggle. He recently spent two months in Northern Syria where he is conducting research on local governance, post-Assad reconstruction, and internally displaced persons.
Leila Shrooms
Leila Shrooms is of Syrian origin and worked for a number of years as a human rights activist inside Syria. She is the co-founder of Tahrir-ICN, a network to build connections between the anti-authoritarian movements in the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.
Ella Wind
Ella Wind is a co-editor of the Syria Page on Jadaliyya, and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Middle East Studies from New York University. She lived in Syria until April 2011, where she was conducting research on Syrian-Turkish economic relations, and has more recently lived in Lebanon. Her writing on Syria has appeared in outlets such as Jadaliyya, BBC Persian, and the Majalla.