On Monday, February 7, at noon, the International Institute at the University of Michigan will be hosting a round table discussion on the events unfolding right now in the Middle East. The following description comes from the event website, where, I believe, you will also be able to watch the discussion live.
The University of Michigan International Institute will hold a round table discussion to analyze the underlying tensions in the Middle East that have led to widespread unrest and political instability. The round table will feature six leading U-M scholars in a candid, informal discussion about how protests in Egypt, Tunisia, and other countries have led to a shakeup of the existing governments.
The event will take place at noon on Monday, February 7, in room 1636 of the School of Social Work Building located at 1080 South University Avenue in Ann Arbor.
Co-sponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies and the Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies and is free and open to the public.
ROUND TABLE PARTICIPANTS:
Joshua Cole, Associate Professor of History
Juan Cole, Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History
Nadine Naber, Assistant Professor, Program in American Culture and Department of Women’s Studies
Mark Tessler, Vice Provost for International Affairs, Samuel J. Eldersveld Collegiate Professor of Political Science
Atef Said, Graduate Student, Sociology
Susan Waltz, Professor of Public Policy
Or, for those of you who don’t feel as though you can afford to wait a week for your scholarly insight, here’s a little something from America’s professor – Glenn Beck:
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And, if that video wasn’t enough, you can watch Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly discussing what’s happening in Egypt here.
From NY Times:
“I’m fighting for my freedom,” Noha al-Ustaz said as she broke bricks on the curb. “For my right to express myself. For an end to oppression. For an end to injustice.”
Damn jihadist commies! The only thing worse is Nazi jihadist commies (which I’m counting on Beck to get to).
Glenn Beck would get eaten alive on this panel. I’d love to see it.
EMU is sponsoring a teach in on events in Egypt, tonight, Thursday, in the Student Center Ballroom, 6pm. Free and open to the public; the Student Center is on the north west edge of campus, plenty of parking (for a small fee, alas).
EMU professor of sociology, Mansoor Moaddel (one of the world’s top authorities on popular opinion in Muslim societies) and EMU history professor John Knight (a scholar of modern Middle East history), are among the participants in this teach in. I highly recommend it! Moaddel and Knight won’t even attempt to make complex things simple enough to fit on a Glenn Beck chalkboard….Instead, they are both well informed and articulate, and they each know a lot about that vital part of the world, the Middle East….
If they are experts, then nothing they say can be trusted. We have Glenn Beck as interpreter in chief.
Juan Cole has a good blog post up today. Here’s part of it.
The rest can be found on his site – http://www.juancole.com
Mark,
How did the EMU event turn out? I wasn’t able to make it.
Kim —
The EMU teach in was very good, great talk by Prof. Knight, and lots of good comments from the floor, and questions too. Exceptionally lively, respectful dialogue raising lots of issues. “Down with Dictatorship” was one theme of many of the comments. And a very good sized crowd, too: 150 people, I’d guess — pretty impressive for something organized 48 hours in advance, especially with a blizzard taking place during that 48 hours and the university closed for a day. Most participants were EMU students, and most of the crowd was born AFTER Mubarak came to power in 1981. The info presented on the Muslim Brotherhood, and its moderation compared to the corporate media’s conflation of it with Muslim extremism, was very valuable.
Given their success in Egypt, pro Democracy forces are beginning to protest in Algeria. Their government, however, has been fast to shut them down.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/algeria/8320273/Algerian-protesters-clash-with-police.html
The tail has long wagged the dog in American Middle East policy. The rotten order of the modern Middle East has been based on wily local elites stealing their way to billions while they took all the aid they could from the United States, even as they bit the hand that fed them.