Former colleagues of Abdulhadi Al Khawaja from Front Line Defenders today held a silent vigil at the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Dublin to urge the King of Saudi Arabia to use his influence with Bahrain to enable Abdulhadi to travel to Denmark for medical treatment.
A deaf man was moved to tears after learning that his neighbourhood had learned sign language just for him to promote the heartwarming message: 'A world without barriers is our dream'.
Muharrem was unwittingly placed at the centre of an elaborate stunt in which he was secretly filmed encountering a host of strangers in a series of staged meetings through Istanbul.
Acknowledging that sexual harassment is a serious problem in Egypt, the volunteer based organization HarassMap has created a series of strategies -both on site and online- to stamp out the social acceptability of sexual harassment in the country.
The project associating the contemporary movement of the people with the Gilgamesh journey focuses on the contemporary global crisis of the political systems and humanistic values, with the goal to contribute to the prevention of radicalization of our respective societies mobilized around recent conflicts, enhancement of the wellbeing of immigrants, through opening a space for creative expression and questioning the role of culture in contemporary polit
“Baraye,” the anthem of Iran’s “Woman, Life, Liberty” protest movement—a song woven together entirely from a Twitter hashtag trend in which Iranians express their investment in the current protests—continues to unite Iranians in their opposition to the Islamic Republic several weeks after it was first released online.
Palestinian and Israeli flags flutter in pro-Irish and pro-UK neighbourhoods in Northern Ireland, tapping into its own history of conflict and division that still affects everyday life despite a 1998 peace deal that largely ended violence.
When Behnaz Babazadeh was young, her family moved from Afghanistan to the US. She loved almost everything about her new home — especially America’s amazing selection of candy — but she also loved wearing her familiar pink-flowered headscarf, which she’d grown used to wearing as part of her school uniform in her old home.
The development of the Nights from the oriental oral and literary traditions of the Middle Ages into a classical work for Western readers is a fascinating one. The notebook of a Jewish book dealer from Cairo around the year 1150 contains the first documentary evidence for the Arabic title. The oldest preserved manuscripts, comprising a core corpus of about 270 nights, appear to date from the 15th century.
To honor their battle, Lebanese women's rights organization ABAAD launched a powerful song and music video titled Not Your Honor. The clip was launched on the occasion of the "16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence" initiative which took off on Nov. 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
In 2011 a protest movement started in Israel. Citizens expressed their demand for a fair distribution of resources, claiming for the lack of housing and maintenance of the buildings and apartments, due to the privatized housing schemes. In these instances no one feels responsible for maintaining buildings and those in need are forced to live under poor and risky conditions.
One of the most significant aspects of the wave of protests and uprisings that began in Syria in 2011 was the use of the cell phone camera as a tool of documentation, political activism, and creative expression.
More than 200 people protested outside Lebanon's justice palace on Thursday over efforts to derail an investigation into the deadly 2020 Beirut port explosion, as top judges cancelled a meeting to discuss the fate of the inquiry.
Last week, a dozen of female artists turned the walls of a downtown parking lot in Cairo into a street art gallery. Colourful group murals carrying personal stories and spreading messages to increase women’s visibility, and positively affect public consciousness.
from "Laugh, O Revolution: Humor in the Egyptian Uprising" by Anna Louie Sussman, in 2011.
Revolutions can be messy. They can be tragic. As long as the Internet is working, they can be tweeted. And, as Egyptians demonstrated during their 18 days of protest, they can also be funny.
The Trials of Spring is a major documentary event that chronicles the stories of nine women who played central roles in the Arab Spring uprisings and their aftermaths in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Syria, Bahrain and Yemen. It includes a feature-length documentary, six short films, articles by award-winning journalists, and a robust social media conversation about women and their unwavering quest for social justice and freedom.
Najah al-Bukai cannot forget.
As an accomplished artist in Syria before the war, Mr. Bukai had long thought his photographic memory was his greatest asset, allowing him to recreate scenes on his sketch pads and canvases days, months and even years after he witnessed them. But now, after he has survived two stretches in the Syrian government’s notorious detention centers, his sharp memories only serve to haunt him.
There was once a time when Israeli songs like A Matter of
Habit were routinely written, aired and became hits. These
were songs of political commentary or protest, songs of hope
and idealism. They represented the aspirations of Israel's
secular liberal (generally Ashkenazi) elite. But that was
long ago.
As the rest of the world continues to dump buckets of cold water over their heads in support of ALS research, some Palestinians have created their own version of the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise awareness about the ongoing crisis in Gaza.
The post (r)evolutionary exercises are the outcome of a meeting/friendship/project that started in summer 2010, when we took part in "Goings on" seminar in Beirut, Lebanon. In this seminar, curated by Cecilia Andersson, Scandinavian and Middle east art groups were invited to meet and learn about each others practices. That's what we did, we got along really well, and we started at once to think of ways to do something together again.
"Today there is literature coming out of Syria that we could have never even dreamed of just a few years ago," Atrash says.Rather than relying on metaphors and allegorical images, these new poems rely on literal, visceral descriptions, with a newfound emphasis on a united Syrian identity instead of religious symbols.
Ghada al-Atrash, a Syrian-Canadian writer and translator, has been studying Syrian poetry for decades.
In Women Are Heroes, JR introduces women who sometimes look death in the face, who go from laughter to tears, who are generous, have nothing and yet share, who have had a painful past and long to build a happy future.