1. Conferences and debates

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Syria: The impossible revolution (ARABIC) Play

Syria: The impossible revolution (ARABIC)

Published at 58 24,,, 18 2018
04.17.2018. Syrian political opposition leader Yassin Al-Haj Saleh presented his work at the Casa Árabe headquarters in Madrid. This is a compilation of texts which the author has been publishing since the beginning of the insurrection in his country. Along with the author, the event included speeches by Santiago Alba Rico, a Spanish writer, essayist and philosopher, and Naomí Ramírez Díaz, the book’s translator and publisher. The event was presented by Karim Hauser, Casa Árabe’s International Politics Coordinator. The work which we are presenting, published by Ediciones del Oriente y del Mediterráneo, is a compilation of texts which Yassin Al-Haj has written since the insurrection in Syria, when that process began on March 15, 2011. Though not well-known in Spain, Yassin Al-Haj is one of the most important intellectuals among Syrian dissidents. “Someone might think that this book talks about Syria and its defeated revolution, about the Assad dictatorship and the Near East, about imperialism and the Kurdish question (Chapters 10, 11 and 13 are quite interesting and controversial), on Jihadism and violence. But it is more than that. This book speaks about us all. One of the theories that Al-Haj Saleh has upheld in recent years is that Syria reveals and represents a universal destiny, and therefore it is impossible to think about Syria, and even less so about the globalized world, without thinking about our common fate. This is why every time we produce a discourse to forget, negate or avoid Syria, we are really just doing damage to ourselves.” Santiago Alba Rico Yassin Al-Haj Saleh spent sixteen years in jail for his Communist militancy. Since the year 2000, after finishing his studies in Medicine, which he was forced to give up because he was imprisoned, he has been writing a book of stories about his experience in jail, as well as The Syrian Question, published in France by Sindbad-Actes Sud. He regularly contributes articles to the newspapers Al-Hayat, Al-Quds al-Arabi and Al-Jumhuriya. In 2012, he was granted the Prince Claus Award of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the social impact of his writings, though he was unable to collect the award since he was living underground in Damascus. He is currently an associate researcher at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. His wife, Samira Khalil, the author of Diary of the Siege on Douma in 2013, has been missing since she was kidnapped in December of 2013, along with Razan Zaituneh, Wael Hammada and Nazem Hamadi. More info: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/syria-the-impossible-revolution

ALL VIDEOS IN THIS CATEGORY

  • Debate: "Journalism and Transitions in the Mediterranean" [VO español/inglés]Show video

    Debate: "Journalism and Transitions in the Mediterranean" [VO español/inglés]

    The quarterly journal afkar/ideas (published in French and Spanish by IEMed and Estudios de Política Exterior) has followed change in the Mediterranean throughout the last decade. International journalists and analysts have analyzed the main geostrategic, political, socio-economic and cultural developments in the region in the more than 40 issues which have come off the press since 2003. As of 2011, the journal has applied a journalistic, analytical approach to providing in-depth explanations of the obstacles and successes in the transitions which arose with the Arab Spring. It is a new stage in the region's history which has made clear once again all of the challenges faced by journalism as a profession and by the media. This debate, on the occasion of the journal's tenth anniversary, is an attempt to discuss the key factors in the role played by journalists and the media in the current political era in the countries of North Africa and the Middle East. With the participation of journalists Ethar El-Katatney (Al Jazeera), Carla Fibla (Aish) and Luis de Vega (ABC). More: http://en.casaarabe.es/news/journalism-and-transitions-in-the-mediterranean
    Published at 21 14,,, 14 2014
  • Conference: "The Geometry of Light in the Islamic World", by Sabiha al KhemirShow video

    Conference: "The Geometry of Light in the Islamic World", by Sabiha al Khemir

    On Tuesday, October 29th, Sabiha al Khemir, scientific director and curator of the exhibition Nur: Light in the Art and Science of the Islamic World, offered a conference at our headquarters in Madrid, at which she discussed the symbolism of light (Nur in Arabic) in the artistic contributions of the Muslim world. On the occasion of the official opening of the international exhibition organized by the Focus-Abengoa Foundation, this expert on Islamic art gave the presentation The Geometry of Light. Introduction to the International Exhibition of Art from the Islamic World in Seville: Nur. For more information please visit: http://en.casaarabe.es/news/the-geometry-of-light-in-the-islamic-world
    Published at 10 14,,, 14 2014
  • Conference: "Contemporary Arab Art" and "Mudejar Art in the Americas". [V.O inglés/español]Show video

    Conference: "Contemporary Arab Art" and "Mudejar Art in the Americas". [V.O inglés/español]

    Series of events titled "Amrika: Arabs in the Americas," which Casa Árabe, Casa de América and Casa Mediterráneo are organizing from March 24 through June 11, offering round table discussions, film screenings and conferences to analyze the presence of the Arab world and culture in Latin America. In this context, Princess Wijdan Al Hashemi, President of the Royal Society of Fine Arts Jordan, offers a presentation entitled "Contemporary Arab Art". Followed by Rafael López Guzmán, Professor of Art History, University of Granada with his speech "Mudejar Art in the Americas." More: http://en.casaarabe.es/news/“amrika-arabs-in-the-americas”
    Published at 06 14,,, 14 2014
  • Conferencia: Traducir las sociedades árabes: realidades y desafíos [V.O. francés / español]Show video

    Conferencia: Traducir las sociedades árabes: realidades y desafíos [V.O. francés / español]

    El acto, organizado por Casa Árabe y Transeuropéennes, cuenta con la participación de Franck Mermier, director de investigación del Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, Milagros Nuin Monreal, traductora de árabe en la Oficina de Interpretación de Lenguas del Ministerio de Asuntos Exteriores, Nathalie Bontemps y Marianne Babut, traductoras, y Pedro Rojo, presidente de la Fundación Al Fanar para el conocimiento árabe. Modera: Bahira Abdulatif, académica y traductora. A más de tres años de la llamada "Primavera árabe", el futuro de las sociedades al sur del Mediterráneo es cuestionado de forma cotidiana. En un contexto en el que la esperanza y la resignación, la comprensión y la incomprensión están entrelazadas, ¿cómo se define nuestra percepción de estas realidades? Más info: http://www.casaarabe.es/eventos-arabes/show/traducir-las-sociedades-arabes-realidades-y-desafios
    Published at 04 26,,, 14 2014
  • Conference by Ilan Pappé: The Semblance of Peace in PalestineShow video

    Conference by Ilan Pappé: The Semblance of Peace in Palestine

    On Monday, May 13, 2013, Ilan Pappe, Director of the European Center for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter (United Kingdom) gave a conference at Casa Árabe's headquarters in Madrid. The event was presented by Musa Odeh, the Ambassador of Palestine in Spain, and Eduardo López Busquets, the General Director of Casa Árabe. During his conference, Professor Ilan Pappe analyzed the efforts which have been made in the peace process since 1967, focusing his hypothesis on the idea that these efforts have been based on a false paradigm which has ignored the Israeli strategy concerning the Palestinian Territories. Pappe analyzed this viewpoint and the implications it has for the future of the region. This conference, held with the cooperation of the Diplomatic Mission of Palestine in Spain, has been organized on the day of the Nakba (May 15), the date on which Palestinians commemorate the partition of the Palestinians' territories under the British Mandate in 1948, and their indigenous population was dispersed until today. Ilan Pappe Born in Haifa in 1954, Mr. Pappe is the Director of the European Center for Palestine Studies at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. He forms part of a group of Israeli academics known for their work on historic revisionism, especially in relation with the events that took place in 1948. He is the author of 15 books, several of which have been translated into Spanish, with the titles La limpieza étnica de Palestina (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Crítica, 2008); Historia de la Palestina moderna: un territorio, dos pueblos (History of Modern Palestine: One Territory, Two Peoples, Akal, 2007); Gaza en Crisis (Gaza in Crisis, with Noam Chomsky, Taurus, 2011). For more information: http://en.casaarabe.es/news/the-semblance-of-peace-in-palestine-2
    Published at 39 12,,, 14 2014