In Conversation: On Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America
2021-11-16 09:00 - 10:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Livestreamed

In Conditional Citizens: On Belonging in America, Laila Lalami recounts her unlikely journey from Moroccan immigrant to U.S. citizen, using it as a starting point for her exploration of American rights, liberties, and the place of nonwhites in the broader American culture. Moderated by author Marie Arana.

If you are interested in this event, please double check time!

Unlearn to Relearn: Shifting Attitudes for Arabs with Disabilities
2021-11-16 10:00 - 11:00
Nadwa (Public Conversation)
November 16, 2021

Virtual via Zoom

Disability? Disabled? Special Needs? What language and framework do/should we use in the Arab Community? Join us for a discussion on disability in the Arab/American community!
Historically and traditionally, people with disabilities across the globe have been systematically excluded and marginalized from all aspects of society. Although perspectives and attitudes about disability have changed in recent decades, people with disabilities of color continue to face systemic and cultural barriers that deprive this community of accessing quality education and resources that will enable them to become valued members of society. In particular, people with disabilities among Arab communities, by large, continue to face persistent and blatant oppression and barriers from living quality and humane lives. This webinar is the first of its kind. We will explicitly address long-term disability issues that have impacted Arab communities in the United States and the Middle East. The webinar aims to ignite new ways of thinking about disability and how all of us—both disabled and non-disabled alike—can begin to create a better society that promotes the basic principles of independence, respect and dignity for Arabs with physical, intellectual, and mental health disabilities.
Facilitators:

Adnan Alaboudi, International Disability Self Advocate, Jordan
Marina Salman, Access Living Chicago
Randa Abdelrahim, PhD Candidate Disability Studies, UIC

Real-time live captioning will be provided. For questions, additional information, and/or accessibility contact us at arabamcc@uic.edu
Event is co-organized by the Arab American Cultural Center and the Disability Cultural Center
Speaker bios:
Adnan Alaboudi is a person with disabilities (dual bottom amputation above and under the knee). Adnan is the Executive Director of the Landmines Survivors Network from 1999-2008 and a member of the Committee for Drafting of the International Convention on Human Rights with Disability in the United Nations. He is an activist and coach in the field of persons with disabilities and a professional sport in power games, table tennis, swimming and water skiing, and participating in global, Olympic, and Arab sports. Adnan is the coordinator of awareness and promotion programs in the Supreme Council for People with Disabilities in Jordan 2009 – 2017.
Marina Salman serves as the SOAR case manager for the Colbert Transition Program at Access Living Chicago where she helps individuals living in long-term care facilities reintegrate back into their communities after their recovery. She is also involved in numerous advocacy efforts that focus on the intersectionality of race and disability, which includes healthcare and criminal justice reform. Marina completed her Master’s in Counseling Psychology with a focus in Sport and Health Psychology from Adler University in Chicago. She is an Arab American woman with multiple disabilities who looks to empower Arabs with disabilities to live meaningful lives through the power of education and experience.
Randa Abdelrahim is a visiting research specialist at the department of disability and human development, University of Illinois Chicago and a PhD candidate of disability studies. As an Arab American immigrant, Randa is interested in examining contextual factors of disability across immigrants and minority groups. Her research focuses on how multiple personal and social factors such as gender, culture, race, and income contribute to disparities in accessing health care and disability services for people with disabilities and their caregivers. Her advocacy work includes supporting people with disabilities with a focus on those who identify as Arab. She is currently a member of the Disability and Immigration Taskforce of Illinois.

Conversation with Arab American Filmmaker, Mike Mosallam
2021-11-16 15:00 - 17:00
Please join us for a conversation with Arab American Producer and Actor, Mike Mosallam. His latest film is “Breaking Fast” which had its World Premiere in March 2020 and garnered major awards. In addition, he is the creator and co-Executive Producer of the critically acclaimed “All American Muslim.”

Register for the event here.

The Nakba and its Generational Impact on Palestinian lives: Memory, Identity, and a Future rooted in Justice
2021-11-18 07:30 - 08:45
The Foundation for Middle East Peace & Project48 invite you to join
The Nakba and its Generational Impact on Palestinian lives: Memory, Identity, and a Future rooted in Justice
Friday, November 19th, 2021
10:30am – 11:45am ET
Featuring Palestinians who lived through the 1948 Nakba and their descendants:
Nida El-Muti, Dina El-Muti, and Hasan Hammami
In conversation with Peter Beinart (FMEP Non-resident fellow)
RSVP here
The Nakba, the displacement of over 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland from 1947-49, is among the root causes of the conflict in Palestine-Israel and critical to understanding the failure of the decades-long “peace-process,” and the level of justice and reparations required to achieve a sustainable future. We will hear the personal stories of those who survived the ethnic cleansing of their cities and villages, and learn from them and their descendants how the trauma of the Nakba and Israel’s ongoing policies of erasure have shaped their lives. We’ll also ask about their visions for the future, what justice looks like, and how they sustain connections to their homeland from the diaspora.
Participants:
Nida El-Muti: Born in Jericho to Fatima Radwan, a survivor of the 1948 Deir Yassin massacre, Nida was raised in Ramallah and at sixteen immigrated to New Jersey with her mother. Nida put herself through school at Rutgers University, earned a masters in human physiology and worked at Robert Wood Johnson in the department of microbiology, and at Rutgers medical school as a senior technologist in the IVF program. For fifteen years, Nida taught anatomy and physiology at Eastern Illinois university. She is currently retired and living in Chicago.
Dina El-Muti: Born in Denton, TX, Dina grew up in a small town in East Central Illinois, and is now a recent transplant back to Texas, specifically, Houston. The granddaughter of Fatima Radwan, who lived through the 1948 Nakba, Dina is the mother of two little boys and a trauma clinician who has worked for organizations including Defence for Children International, Palestine (DCI-P), the Treatment & Rehabilitation Center for Victims of Torture (TRC), and various social service organizations serving children who have experienced early childhood trauma. Dina attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for undergrad and earned a masters in social work at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dina grew up on the hyphen: both Palestinian and American, on a steady diet of Edward Said, Malcolm X, and her grandmother Fatima’s timeless stories that fundamentally changed the trajectory of her life and work.
Hasan Hammami: Born in Jaffa, Palestine in 1932, Hasan was educated at the Christian Brothers College in Jaffa until he was forced to flee on a cargo sailboat at age 15, with 3000 people, during the Nakba. At 18, after 3 years at the National College of Choueifat and the American University of Beirut, Hasan had to abandon his education to help support his family by working for the oil company Aramco in Saudi Arabia, where he lived in a desert labor camp. He completed his engineering education at the University of Nottingham, England and joined Procter and Gamble where he launched manufacturing operations in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and with increasing responsibilities led large projects in several parts of the world. Father to three daughters and a step-son living on 4 continents, Hasan has served organizations such as the Arab American Association and the Palestine Human Rights Campaign, among others, focusing on civil and human rights for all, advancement of Arab Americans and Interfaith work. A US citizen for 37 years, a citizen of the world for nearly 70, and with 25 country moves behind him, Hasan, now 89, continues to grow & share as a retiree in Florida.
Peter Beinart is Non-Resident Fellow at the Foundation for Middle East Peace. He is also a Professor of Journalism and Political Science at the City University of New York, a Contributing opinion writer at the New York Times, an Editor-at-Large at Jewish Currents, and a CNN Political Commentator. He tweets @PeterBeinart and publishes on peterbeinart.substack.com

Virtual Delegations About Palestinian Political Prisoners w/ Eye Witness Palestine
2021-12-01
Join us for a virtual tour with Addameer (Arabic for conscience) Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, a Palestinian non-governmental, civil institution. Addameer works to support Palestinian political prisoners held in Israeli and Palestinian prisons and this tour will focus on the prison system Palestinians are subjected to and hearing directly from former political prisoners about their experiences.
(All tour times are listed in Eastern Time – USA)

EXACT DATES COMING SOON!

NAAWA Speakers Panel: Arab-American Women Authors Reflect on Roles, Identities, and Contributions
2021-12-05 16:00 - 17:00
Join NAAWA speakers’ panel virtual event on Sunday December 5th. at 7P EST. We hope you will be able to attend and listen to our wonderful speakers discussion. Follow the link to attend.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMvf-yspzksGNOQe3gFtTLfsj_956K4rzFz?fbclid=IwAR0cXPkRI9kl0qlVPYusIrLaBi3uvR_RCfg7pr2YWBaKcf__uYJqbYUAxMg

Online Class (series of 3): Literature of Rafik Schami With Heba F. El-Shazli
2022-01-24 10:00 - 12:00
This is a three series class starting on January 24.
Join me on this tumultuous, passionate, and heart rendering voyage back to Syria for this most interesting Syrian-German author.
Through three novels we will travel to Syria and read about a passionate love story of a Muslim woman and a Christian man and learn about the art of Arabic calligraphy. We will journey to Damascus in 1959 and read about the most famous storyteller and in the final novel to read and discuss in this series of classes, Sophia or the Beginning of All Tales, Schami ventures to the land of his childhood, where he is now unable to safely return.
Three bi-weekly Mondays: January 24, February 7 and 21, from 1 to 3 p.m. EST Online
CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS

Virtual Event: Maggie P Chang, Mika Song, Dan Abdo, and Jason Patterson present graphica for early readers
2022-01-26 18:00 - 19:30
This is a virtual event taking place via Zoom Webinar.
Third Place Books welcomes Maggie P Chang, Mika Song, Dan Abdo, and Jason Patterson for a fun-filled, action-packed presentation on their graphic novels for early readers!
This event will be broadcast live on Zoom. Registering will provide you with a unique access link in an email. During the event, you can ask questions using the Q&A feature, or chat with fellow attendees. A recording of the event will be made available and emailed to all who register.
This author talk is free! You can sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book.

Restoring our Environment: The struggle to heal a land degraded by occupation and colonization with Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh, live from Palestine.
2022-01-29 10:00 - 14:00
Location: Online
Cost: Free! Sign up now
In this webinar, Dr. Mazin Qumsiyeh will describe the catastrophic environmental impact of Israeli settler colonialism on the land of Palestine. He will also share how Palestinian civil society organizations are working to research, educate about and conserve Palestine’s natural world, culture and heritage in the face of the Israeli state’s human rights and environmental abuses. The talk will be followed by a Q&A.
This webinar will be held online, over Zoom. Register for the webinar here: bit.ly/DrMazin.
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/634736881307457

ARCE NY: Diving the Pyramids at Nuri, Sudan
2022-01-30 08:00 - 10:00
Supported by grants from the National Geographic Society, excavations of Nastasen’s pyramid and tomb represent the first attempt to conduct underwater archaeology in Sudan. While not yet completed, significant discoveries were made and will be discussed within the framework of Nuri as a whole and the site’s great potential to inform us about the people of Nuri through the generations and environments in which they lived.
Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman is an archaeologist in the fields of Egyptology, maritime archaeology, and dendrochronology who holds a PhD in nautical archaeology from Texas A&M University. He is currently director of the American Center in Research located in Amman, Jordan.

Powell's Books Presents Simon Jacobs in Conversation With Mona Awad (Zoom)
2022-02-01 17:00 - 19:00
Eerie, hypnotic, and shot through with dark comedy, Simon Jacobs’s String Follow (MCD x FSG) is a razor-sharp suburban Gothic that cuts deep, exposing the sweating, bleeding truth of how kids become adults in 21st-century America. In spellbinding, incisive prose, Jacobs blends the startlingly original and the uncannily familiar, revealing the dark chaos that lurks under the surface of Midwestern suburbia.

Jacobs will be joined in conversation by Mona Awad, author of All’s Well, Bunny, and 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl.

Time

Dialogues on the Art of Arab Fashion: MESOPOTAMIA: The Art of Jewellery
2022-02-08 08:00 - 10:00
Event Description: Dr Reem El Mutwalli in conversation with Hajer Ghani, Iraqi Jewellery Designer.
Hajer Ghani is an Iraqi jewelry designer who believes that jewellery is more than a mere accessory, but a work of art rich in history and significance. Every piece she creates always has a story behind it. Hajer began her journey by designing gold and silver jewellery inspired by the work of her father, the late Iraqi sculptor Mohammed Ghani Hekmat, also known as “Sheikh of Sculptors”, who in turn captured the Babylonian, Assyrian, and Sumerian civilizations of Iraq in his work. Hajer then moved on to design different types of jewellery inspired by the tales and history of Mesopotamia.

Date: 8th February 2022
Time: 11 am (NYC), 4 pm (London), 8 pm (Dubai)

Gaza 101 A mini-course in four parts: History, Politics, Culture & Economics: Part 1: The Culture of Gaza
2022-02-10 09:30 - 11:00
Gaza 101 A mini-course in four parts: History, Politics, Culture & Economics

February 10 @ 12:30 pm – 2:00 pm

Discussions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the West all too often neglect to include Gaza and the voices of Palestinians there, seemingly because the situation is seen to be too overwhelming or challenging to take-on. This program will openly and honestly present the reality of the siege, the occupation, and political leadership as well as include ways participants can advocate with their elected officials to encourage U.S. policies that will help end the siege of Gaza and advance human rights and security for all.
This series is co-organized by Churches for Middle East Peace, Arab American Institute, and American Friends of Combatants for Peace. Each 90-minute session will present on one of the four aspects of Gaza:
1. History & Historical Significance
2. Politics
3. Culture
4. Economics
Part 1
The Culture of Gaza
February 10

Moderated by Maya Berry, Executive Director, The Arab American Institute
with Alaa Hammouda and Omar Ghraieb

Gaza 101 A mini-course in four parts: History, Politics, Culture & Economics: Part 2: History & Historical Significance of Gaza
2022-02-17 09:30 - 11:00
Gaza 101 A mini-course in four parts: History, Politics, Culture & Economics

Discussions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the West all too often neglect to include Gaza and the voices of Palestinians there, seemingly because the situation is seen to be too overwhelming or challenging to take-on. This program will openly and honestly present the reality of the siege, the occupation, and political leadership as well as include ways participants can advocate with their elected officials to encourage U.S. policies that will help end the siege of Gaza and advance human rights and security for all.
This series is co-organized by Churches for Middle East Peace, Arab American Institute, and American Friends of Combatants for Peace. Each 90-minute session will present on one of the four aspects of Gaza:
1. History & Historical Significance
2. Politics
3. Culture
4. Economics
Part 2
The History & Historical Significance of Gaza
February 17
Moderated by Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon, Executive Director, Churches for Middle East Peace
with Speakers TBA

Virtual Event: Olga Tokarczuk and Jennifer Croft with Rabih Alameddine — The Books of Jacob
2022-02-19 10:00 - 13:00
Third Place Books is proud to partner with Community Bookstore and the Transnational Literature Series at Brookline Booksmith to welcome Nobel Prize–winner Olga Tokarczuk and her translator Jennifer Croft for a discussion of their latest book, The Books of Jacob—the astonishing, 900-page volume from Poland’s most well-regarded novelist. Tokarczuk and Croft will be joined by Rabih Alameddine, National Book Award finalist and the author, most recently, of The Wrong End of the Telescope.
This event will be broadcast live on Brookline Booksmith’s Zoom platform. Registering will provide you with a unique access link in an email within 48 hours of the event. During the event, you can ask questions using the Q&A feature, or chat with fellow attendees. A recording of the event will be made available and emailed to all who register.
This author talk is free! You can sustain our author series by purchasing a copy of the featured book. Order a book-bundled ticket at the link below to received a signed bookplate by the author. Supply is limited.

ARCE Chicago: A Solar-Ship Voyage: The Ancient Egyptian Religion as Inspiration in the Life and Music of Sun Ra and birth of Afrofuturism
2022-02-19 15:00 - 17:00
Presenting himself as an alien coming from Saturn, Sun Ra has been considered a pioneer of Afrofuturism whose music and live performances with his Arkestra are nowadays a classic in African American jazz music, theater, and poetry. Egypt has been a central source of inspiration for this polyhedric artist; this paper will analyze in particular how Sun Ra used and re-interpreted elements of the ancient Egyptian religious culture and its deities in his work and how much contents relate to the development of the Afrofuturistic philosophy within the American climate of political unrest during which he lived and performed.

Rita Lucarelli studied at the University of Naples “L’Orientale,” Italy, where she received her MA degree in Classical Languages and Egyptology. She holds her Ph.D. from Leiden University, the Netherlands. Her Ph.D. thesis was published as the Book of the Dead of Gatseshen: Ancient Egyptian Funerary Religion in the 10th Century BC.

Gaza 101 A mini-course in four parts: History, Politics, Culture & Economics: Part 3: The Politics of Gaza
2022-02-24 09:30 - 11:00
Gaza 101 A mini-course in four parts: History, Politics, Culture & Economics

Discussions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the West all too often neglect to include Gaza and the voices of Palestinians there, seemingly because the situation is seen to be too overwhelming or challenging to take-on. This program will openly and honestly present the reality of the siege, the occupation, and political leadership as well as include ways participants can advocate with their elected officials to encourage U.S. policies that will help end the siege of Gaza and advance human rights and security for all.
This series is co-organized by Churches for Middle East Peace, Arab American Institute, and American Friends of Combatants for Peace. Each 90-minute session will present on one of the four aspects of Gaza:
1. History & Historical Significance
2. Politics
3. Culture
4. Economics
Part 3
The Politics of Gaza
Moderated by Aziz Abu Sarah, Founder, MEJDI Tours with Jehad Abusalim
February 24

Gaza 101 A mini-course in four parts: History, Politics, Culture & Economics: Part 4: The Economics of Gaza… where do we go from here?
2022-03-03 09:30 - 11:00
Gaza 101 A mini-course in four parts: History, Politics, Culture & Economics

Discussions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the West all too often neglect to include Gaza and the voices of Palestinians there, seemingly because the situation is seen to be too overwhelming or challenging to take-on. This program will openly and honestly present the reality of the siege, the occupation, and political leadership as well as include ways participants can advocate with their elected officials to encourage U.S. policies that will help end the siege of Gaza and advance human rights and security for all.
This series is co-organized by Churches for Middle East Peace, Arab American Institute, and American Friends of Combatants for Peace. Each 90-minute session will present on one of the four aspects of Gaza:
1. History & Historical Significance
2. Politics
3. Culture
4. Economics
Part 4
The Economics of Gaza… where do we go from here?
March 3
Moderated by Dr. Jim Zogby, Founder and President, The Arab American Institute
with Asmaa Abu Messed and Omar Shaban

A Conversation on Arab/MENA Women in Science
2022-03-09 11:00 - 12:30
Location: Virtual via Zoom

Join the Arab American Cultural Center in an online round-table conversation about Arab/MENA Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Medicine (STEM). Join the Conversation and Be Inspired.
Guest Speakers:
Besma Smida, Associate Professor, Dept Electrical and Computer Engineering (UIC)
Dima Qato, Associate Professor, Pharmacy (USC)
Leila Amiri, Assistant Dean, College of Medicine (UIC)
Conversation will be facilitated by Sara Hattab, UIC Student (major)
Event is co-sponsored by the Honors College and MENA Student Organization
Zoom auto-captioning will be available. For information, questions, and accessibility, please email us at: arabamcc@uic.edu or call us at 312-413-3253
Besma Smida is an Associate Professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois at Chicago. After completing her appointment as a Post-Doctoral Researcher and later a Lecturer at Harvard University, she became an Assistant Professor of electrical and computer engineering with Purdue University Northwest. She received the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Quebec (INRS), Montreal, QC, Canada. She was a Research Engineer with the Technology Evolution and Standards Group of Microcell, Inc., (now Rogers Wireless), Montreal. Prof. Smida has served as the Chair for IEEE Women in Engineering, Chicago Section, from 2011 to 2013, and has been the Chair of IEEE Communication Chapter, Chicago Section, since 2019. She currently serves as Editor for the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS, Editor of the IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, and a Guest Editor Sensors Open Access Journal. She is a Communication Society Distinguished Lecturer for 2021-2022. She was awarded the INSIGHT Into Diversity Magazine’s 2015 100 Inspiring Women in STEM, the Academic Gold Medal of the Governor General of Canada in 2007 and the NSF CAREER award in 2015. Her research focuses on In-band Full-Duplex systems and applications, backscatter modulation, IoT, and two-way communication networks.
Dima Qato serves as the Director for the Program on Medicines and Public Health at the University of Southern California’s School of Pharmacy. In addition, she also serves as the Hygeia Centennial Chair and Associate Professor (with tenure) in the Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy. She has also been appointed as a Senior Fellow with the USC Leonard D. Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics. Prior to joining USC, Dr. Qato was an Associate Professor in the Department of Pharmacy Systems, Outcomes and Policy at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Pharmacy (2012-2020). She also serves as a National Academy of Medicine Pharmacy Fellow for 2018-2020. Dr. Qato received her PharmD from UIC, an MPH from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and a PhD in Public Health from the University of Illinois School of Public Health. At the USC School of Pharmacy, she will develop and lead interdisciplinary research efforts focusing on drug utilization, access to medicines, and pharmaceutical policy both in the U.S. and globally to better understand why medications are used, or not used, and how they can and should be used in the population to promote equity, longevity, and good health.
Leila Amiri serves as Assistant Dean for Admissions and Recruitment at the College of Medicine at UIC. Previously she was the Director of the Medical College Admissions at UIC, and prior to that the Director of Admission and Financial Aid at the University of Chicago. She has served as the liaison for the committee on admissions for the Association of American Medical Colleges and as an AAMC holistic review facilitator working with other medical schools admissions committees on how to include holistic review in their process.

2022 Online Film and Discussion MidEast Series: Sumud
2022-03-11 20:00 - 21:00
THE SPRING 2022 ONLINE FILM AND DISCUSSION SERIES

The theme for this year’s Film Series is Sumud. This is a Palestinian word that means “Steadfastness” or “Steadfast Perseverance.” It is a cultural value in Palestine. There is no possible way Palestinians can defend themselves in the face of one of the most well-equipped military powers in the world. They practice “sumud” which sometimes is an act of making breakfast, sometimes walking the children to the checkpoint on the way to school, sometimes, joining a peaceful protest at a blocked crossroad, just to say “We are here!”

In this series we will meet a young Israeli woman who also practices her own sumud as she resists joining the Israeli military. We will discover what sumud looks like in the devastation we call “Gaza”, and in the tragedy we call “Hebron.”

To receive links to the film (watch on your own time within 48 hours of the discussion) and the Zoom discussion, send a message to seattlemideastfocus@gmail.com

MARCH 11, 8 P.M. (discussion)
BLIND TRUST
Blind Trust celebrates the life and work of psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Dr. Vamik Volkan, a five-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee who has spent over four decades bringing enemy groups together in areas of conflict all over the world. This look into his pioneering fieldwork and peace-building missions in Europe, the Middle East, and the US sheds light on how large-group identity and shared trauma can both unite us and divide us for generations.
Learn more here.
with host: Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North America, Jonathan Kuttab
special guest: the director of the film, Molly Castelloe

MARCH 25, 8 P.M. (discussion)
OBJECTOR
Objector follows Atalya to prison and beyond, offering a unique window into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the perspective of a young woman who seeks truth and takes a stand for justice.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

APRIL 8, 8 P.M. (discussion)
GAZA
Gaza brings us into a unique place beyond the reach of television news reports to reveal a world rich with eloquent and resilient characters, offering us a cinematic and enriching portrait of a people attempting to lead meaningful lives against the rubble of perennial conflict.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

APRIL 22, 8 p.m. (discussion)
MISSION: HEBRON
and SKIES ABOVE HEBRON
In Mission: Hebron six young Israeli men who served in the army from the age of 18 give an account of their mission in Hebron, a Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Footage documenting numerous appalling situations corroborates their compelling stories, from soldiers taking pot shots with rubber bullets and conducting humiliating searches of passersby to arresting ten-year-olds and turning entire households upside down. What effect did these military duties have on their moral compass? Looking back and growing older, how do they feel about this mission now?
Learn more here.
Skies above Hebron is a coming of age story depicting three boys coping, each in his own way, with physical and mental obstacles enclosing life in their Palestinian hometown of Hebron.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

MAY 6, 8 P.M. (discussion)
LITTLE PALESTINE: DIARY OF A SEIGE
During the Syrian civil war, the district of Yarmouk, home to thousands of Palestinians, became the scene of dramatic and ferocious fighting. Little Palestine: Diary of a Siege is a film that follows the destiny of civilians during the brutal sieges, imposed by the Syrian regime, that took place in the wake of the battles. With his camera, Abdallah Al-Khatib composes a love song to a place that proudly resists the atrocities of war
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

MAY 20, 8 P.M. (discussion)
200 METERS
Mustafa lives on the Palestinian-controlled side of the wall, and Salwa and their children on the Israeli side. One day he gets the call every parent dreads: his son has been in an accident and is in the hospital. He will do anything to reach his son, and after being denied access through the checkpoint on a technicality, Mustafa embarks upon a journey to cross the border illegally.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

Innocent Until Proven Muslim: A Conversation with Author Maha Hilal (virtual)
2022-03-17 14:00 - 16:00
The Race and US Empire Working Group, the Arab American Cultural Center, and College of Education
invite you to a conversation with Maha Hilal, scholar, organizer, and author of Innocent Until Proven Muslim: Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and the Muslim Experience Since 9/11 (Broadleaf Book 2022)
Discussants:
Celine Qussiny is a Palestinian, Muslim community organizer with the Palestinian Youth
Movement, based out of Southern California.
Maryam Kashani is an Assistant Professor in Gender and Women’s Studies & Asian American
Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and author of the forthcoming book, Medina by the Bay (under contract with Duke University Press).
Zoom link: https://uic.zoom.us/j/86436477109?pwd=[REDACTED]
Meeting ID: 864 3647 7109
Passcode: [REDACTED]

Solidarity is a Verb: SWANA Liberation, Gender Rights, and Refugee Experiences (online)
2022-03-17 15:00 - 17:00
For Women’s history month, the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of South Florida has organized a panel of gender rights poets, scholars, and Southwest Asia and North Africa refugees who will share insights on the crises in Afghanistan and Palestine, placing each within its historical context of U.S. involvement. As Florida is set to receive thousands of refugees from Afghanistan in the next year, the panel will help attendees begin to understand local implications and experiences of US imperialist complicity as it relates to the West’s hesitance to confront human-rights issues in Southwest Asia and North Africa, more generally.
Panelists include Zahra Wakilzada and Dina Awshah; the moderator will be Dr. Rahi Dayerizadeh. This program is funded in part through a Florida Humanities Greater Good: Humanities in Academia Grant in partnership with the University of South Florida.

There Is A Field, a film, by Jen Marlowe
2022-03-19 16:00 - 18:00
Join WAPPC and Donkeysaddle Projects on March 19th at 4pm PT for a screening of the film, “There Is A Field” followed by a discussion.

About this event

Join WAPPC and Donkeysaddle Projects on March 19th at 4pm PT for a screening of the film, “There Is A Field” followed by a discussion with members of the film team. “There Is A Field” tells the story of Asel Asleh, an unarmed teen who was murdered by Israeli police as he participated in a demonstration, calling for an end to the Israeli occupation and settler-colonization. Performed by Black Lives Matter activists, “There Is A Field” offers a uniquely personal lens for learning about intersecting systems of oppression and structural racism. This fundraising event will also include the opportunity to learn more about and support both Donkeysaddle Projects and the WAPPC’s organizing efforts to enable poor and low income people to attend the PPC Mass Rally and march on Washington DC on June 18th. (Proceeds will be split between Donkeysaddle and WAPPC)

2022 Online Film and Discussion MidEast Series: Sumud
2022-03-25 20:00 - 21:00
THE SPRING 2022 ONLINE FILM AND DISCUSSION SERIES

The theme for this year’s Film Series is Sumud. This is a Palestinian word that means “Steadfastness” or “Steadfast Perseverance.” It is a cultural value in Palestine. There is no possible way Palestinians can defend themselves in the face of one of the most well-equipped military powers in the world. They practice “sumud” which sometimes is an act of making breakfast, sometimes walking the children to the checkpoint on the way to school, sometimes, joining a peaceful protest at a blocked crossroad, just to say “We are here!”

In this series we will meet a young Israeli woman who also practices her own sumud as she resists joining the Israeli military. We will discover what sumud looks like in the devastation we call “Gaza”, and in the tragedy we call “Hebron.”

To receive links to the film (watch on your own time within 48 hours of the discussion) and the Zoom discussion, send a message to seattlemideastfocus@gmail.com

MARCH 25, 8 P.M. (discussion)
OBJECTOR
Objector follows Atalya to prison and beyond, offering a unique window into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from the perspective of a young woman who seeks truth and takes a stand for justice.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

APRIL 8, 8 P.M. (discussion)
GAZA
Gaza brings us into a unique place beyond the reach of television news reports to reveal a world rich with eloquent and resilient characters, offering us a cinematic and enriching portrait of a people attempting to lead meaningful lives against the rubble of perennial conflict.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

APRIL 22, 8 p.m. (discussion)
MISSION: HEBRON
and SKIES ABOVE HEBRON
In Mission: Hebron six young Israeli men who served in the army from the age of 18 give an account of their mission in Hebron, a Palestinian city in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Footage documenting numerous appalling situations corroborates their compelling stories, from soldiers taking pot shots with rubber bullets and conducting humiliating searches of passersby to arresting ten-year-olds and turning entire households upside down. What effect did these military duties have on their moral compass? Looking back and growing older, how do they feel about this mission now?
Learn more here.
Skies above Hebron is a coming of age story depicting three boys coping, each in his own way, with physical and mental obstacles enclosing life in their Palestinian hometown of Hebron.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

MAY 6, 8 P.M. (discussion)
LITTLE PALESTINE: DIARY OF A SEIGE
During the Syrian civil war, the district of Yarmouk, home to thousands of Palestinians, became the scene of dramatic and ferocious fighting. Little Palestine: Diary of a Siege is a film that follows the destiny of civilians during the brutal sieges, imposed by the Syrian regime, that took place in the wake of the battles. With his camera, Abdallah Al-Khatib composes a love song to a place that proudly resists the atrocities of war
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

MAY 20, 8 P.M. (discussion)
200 METERS
Mustafa lives on the Palestinian-controlled side of the wall, and Salwa and their children on the Israeli side. One day he gets the call every parent dreads: his son has been in an accident and is in the hospital. He will do anything to reach his son, and after being denied access through the checkpoint on a technicality, Mustafa embarks upon a journey to cross the border illegally.
Learn more here.
with host:
special guest:

Roots of Land Sovereignty: Honoring Land Day
2022-03-26 12:00 - 13:30
Please join me to honor Land Day on Saturday, March 26, 2022 at 3 p.m. I will be moderating a virtual conversation about land and food sovereignty, the struggles shared by Palestinian and Black communities in sustaining our land, and what sustainable nourishment of our land means for our future in the face of climate change.
Tickets are available by donation and Resilience Monthly Club members can use the code 1948 to register for free.

https://mpp-dc.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=50cf63cf9017fd70c96d135c6&id=eed46913e9&e=a719d97fb6

PFC Virtual Panel: Land, Life, Love & Liberation
2022-03-28 16:00 - 18:00
In celebration of International Women’s Month, Palestinian Land Day, and the one-year anniversary since the “Pledge that Palestine is a Feminist Issue,” the PFC invites you to join us in a discussion on LAND, LIFE, LOVE and LIBERATION, featuring PFC Members: Dr. Lila Sharif, Ayah Hamdan, Dr. Sherene Seikaly, Noura Erakat, and moderated by Selma Al-Aswad.

The virtual discussion will take place on Monday, March 28th at 4pm PDT/6pm CDT/7PM EDT.

Register at: https://bit.ly/365vSj1

L. AlHathloul, U. Mishra-Newbery & R. Green | LOUJAIN DREAMS OF SUNFLOWERS
2022-03-29 15:00 - 16:00
Click here to register for this virtual event.
“I know I will fly. Not immediately, but definitely.”
Every night Loujain dreams of flying to the carpet of a million sunflowers. She dreams of the deep blue of the sky, the green of the stems and leaves, and the yellow of flower petals. But Loujain lives in a place where girls aren’t allowed to fly, so she will never get to see the magnificent colors of the field of sunflowers in person. With the support of her family and her own courage, Loujain must turn her impossible dream into a reality. Based on the true story of Loujain AlHathloul and her successful campaign to lift Saudi Arabia’s ban on women driving, Loujain Dreams of Sunflowers: A Story Inspired by Loujain AlHathloul reminds us to strive for the changes we want to see—and to never take for granted women’s and girls’ freedoms.
Registrants will receive a link to a downloadable teacher’s guide.
Lina Alhathloul is a women’s rights activist and the sister of Loujain AlHathloul. On behalf of Loujain, Lina appears in the media and international events. This is her debut book.
Uma Mishra-Newbery is a global social justice and women’s rights leader. She is the former executive director of Women’s March Global. This is her debut book.
Rebecca Green is the bestselling illustrator of the picture book Becoming a Good Creature and the author/illustrator of How to Make Friends with a Ghost.
A Women’s History Month event for children ages 5-10, their families, and interested adults

a conversation with Palestinian activists: Land Day
2022-03-30 09:00 - 10:00
On the fourth anniversary of the Great March of Return and on Palestinian Land Day, join us for a conversation with Palestinian activists Soheir Asaad, Mariam Barghouti, and Ahmed Abu Artema as we share reflections and analyses of the current situation on the ground across Palestine, and what recent moments of popular resistance mean in the broader context of the Palestinian struggle for liberation.The Right of Return, the Right to Resist, and the Right to our Land: that’s our demand and that’s what we’ll be discussing next week on Wednesday, March 30 at 12 noon ET.See you there!

Lecture: Weaponization of Antisemitism
2022-03-30 09:00 - 11:00
with Dr. Michael Spath
interviews Mark Weber

Challenging Corporate Complicity in the Continued Colonization of Palestine: Means and Methods
2022-04-02 10:00 - 12:00
Description
Moderator: Tara Alami, Palestinian organizer and writer
Panel:
Wesam Ahmad, Palestinian human rights advocate at Al-Haq
James Yap, Canadian lawyer specializing in business and human rights.
Jonathan Kuttab, international human rights lawyer
Kathryn Ravey, Business and Human Rights Legal Researcher, Al-Haq
Land Day 2022 Webinar
This webinar will consider direct approaches to challenge corporate complicity in the continued colonization of Palestine. This will include judicial and non-judicial mechanisms in in the Canadian specific as well as broader international context.
Co-sponsors: Just Peace Advocates, Al-Haq, Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights
