2. Books and publications

Index / Videos / “He Who Is Worthy of Love” , by Abdellah Taïa (FRENCH VERSION)

casa árabe in youtube

“He Who Is Worthy of Love” , by Abdellah Taïa (FRENCH VERSION)

Published at 06 14,,, 19 2019

January 31, 2019. Casa Árabe, Cabaret Voltaire and Kif-Kif, Migraciones y Refugio LGBTI+ have organized the presentation of this book by Moroccan author Abdellah Taïa. Taking part in the meeting with the author were Samir Bargachi, president of Kifkif, Migraciones y Refugio LGBTI+. The event was presented by Karim Hauser, Casa Árabe’s International Politics Coordinator. Ahmed is 40 years old, lives in Paris and is Moroccan. He writes to his mother, who passed away five years ago, to deal with topics that have remained unresolved, and finally to tell her that he is homosexual. He sends a letter to break up with Emmanuel, the man he loves passionately, the man who took him to France and changed his life, though not for the better in every way. Ahmed also receives letters from Vincent and Lahbib. An epistolary novel that harks back in time to the origins of all that pain. A book on French colonialism that endures in the young Moroccan’s love life. The book’s presentation will delve into such topics as sexuality, colonialism and identity as a Moroccan LGBTI+ individual. Abdellah Taïa will visit Casa Árabe thanks to the collaboration of Fundación Tres Culturas. Abdellah Taïa (Salé, 1973) is a Moroccan writer and filmmaker who has been living in Paris since 1998. Through his father, a concierge at a local Rabat library, he comes into contact with literature and studies French Literature in Rabat. He gets the opportunity to leave Morocco in the mid-1990s when he studies abroad for one semester in Geneva. He later studies at the Sorbonne in Paris. In 2006, he made his sexual orientation public in an interview with the political magazine Tel Quel, becoming the first Moroccan intellectual to do so in that way. Taïa’s books don’t just deal with his life as a gay man in a homophobic environment, but also perform reflection over an autobiographical background showing the social experiences of the generation of Moroccans who grew up in the 1980s and 1990s. More info: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/“he-who-is-worthy-of-love”

ALL VIDEOS IN THIS CATEGORY

Homage to Abderrahman el Abnoudy (ARABIC)

Casa Árabe held this poetry recital with the cooperation of the Egyptian Institute of Islamic Studies. The event was presented by Basem Saleh, a cultural advisor of the Republic of Egypt in Madrid and the director of the Egyptian Institute of Islamic Studies. Nehal Kamal, a journalist on Egyptian television and el-Abnoudy’s widow, along with Rosa Martínez Lillo, a professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), also took part in this homage to the Egyptian poet who passed away in 2015. The recital also included the presence of four UAM students, who will be reading a selection of el-Abnoudy’s poems in Spanish and Arabic. More info: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/homage-to-abderrahman-el-abnoudy

Published at 33 16,,, 15 2015
Iraq at a Crossroads

Casa Árabe presented “Iraq at a Crossroads,” co-published with the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, as a result of the seminar held in late 2014 on this subject. The presentation included speeches by Hayder al-Khoei, an associate member of the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House; Mohammad Ali Shabani, editor of the Iran section at the portal Al-Monitor, and Yahya al-Kubaisi, a consultant at the Iraqi Center for Strategic Studies. The event was presented by Karim Hauser, who is responsible for the Governance Area at Casa Árabe and the book’s editor. As a result of a seminar organized by Casa Árabe and the Friedrich-Ebert Foundation which brought together several experts on Iraq, a volume has been published in English with the title Iraq at a Crossroads, in which the internal (Sunni, Shia an Kurdish), regional (Syria, Iran and Turkey) and international (US, EU and the humanitarian drama) factors contributing to a worsening of the Iraqi crisis are analyzed in nine chapters. The Sunnis’ situation, the role of Shia militancy and Iran’s role are a few of the angles discussed by the speakers. More info: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/iraq-at-a-crossroads

Published at 34 03,,, 15 2015
Geopolitics and Arab Societies: Keys to upheaval

On the occasion of the presentation of the books “Islamic State: Geopolitics of chaos” and “What Is Left of the Arab Uprisings?: Activists, changes and essentials,” three journalists analyzed the current situation. The round table included talks by Reem Khalifa, an activist and founder of the newspaper Al Wasat in Bahrain; Javier Martín, delegate of the Efe Press Agency in North Africa and author de “Estado Islámico: Geopolítica del caos” (“Islamic State: Geopolitics of chaos”) and David Perejil, a journalist and the editor of “¿Qué queda de las revueltas árabes?: Activistas, cambios y claves” (“What Is Left of the Arab Uprisings?: Activists, changes and essentials”). The event was presented by Karim Hauser, who is responsible for the Governance Area at Casa Árabe. More info: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/geopolitics-and-arab-societies-keys-to-today’s-upheaval

Published at 05 22,,, 15 2015
Alaa Al-Aswany in a conversation with Karim Hauser (FRENCH)

Dialogue on the occasion of the launch in Spanish of the latest novel by the Egyptian author, "The Automobile Club". Acclaimed Egyptian writer Alaa Al-Aswany, known for his bestseller “The Yacoubian Building,” visited the 10th edition of the Hay Festival in Segovia, where he went over several topics regarding the intense current events in the Arab world and Egypt. More info: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/alaa-al-aswany-in-a-conversation-with-karim-hauser

Published at 33 22,,, 15 2015
The Islamist phoenix

Casa Árabe and the Paidós publishing company present El fénix islamista: El Estado Islámico y el rediseño de Oriente Próximo (The Islamist Phoenix: The Islamic State and the redesigning of the Middle East) by Loretta Napoleoni, at an event which will include the author’s presence and a speech by the General Director of Casa Árabe, Eduardo López Busquets. El fénix islamista is a fundamental contribution for understanding what is taking place in the Middle East. Since its advent in the late nineties as a Jihadist aspiration of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Islamic State has turned into an imposing undertaking which has stirred up the borders of Middle Eastern countries, imposing its brutal brand of the sharia over an extensive geographic area. In El fénix islamista, Loretta Napoleoni, an internationally renowned terrorism specialist, demonstrates that, although the Western media show us a devalued image of the Islamic State, almost like a band of thugs riding a wave of victories, the organization’s true intention is to create a new model of nationalism. More information: http://en.casaarabe.es/event/el-fenix-islamista

Published at 08 17,,, 15 2015