Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Amelia Smith
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Building myths about refugees instead of a fair policy in the UK
In the UK politicians have held immigrants responsible for the housing crisis, unemployment and the disarray in the NHS system. The British government has held them up to the charge of benefit tourism and says their reluctance to integrate or learn English has made British people feel uncomfortable. If they…
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Gerry Adams talks to MEMO: ‘Personally I have found that the hardest negotiation is with your own side’
During Britain’s long conflict in Northern Ireland the British media branded IRA members “mafia” and “godfathers”, recalls Gerry Adams. He says it was part of a negative propaganda campaign to dehumanise and undermine the republican struggle for freedom in the same way Britain has always pitted itself against “terrorists”, “gunmen”,…
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Spray painting philosophy
Calligraffiti artist eL Seed combines calligraphy, graffiti and philosophy in his latest mural to open the Shubbak festival in Shoreditch, East London. In downtown Shoreditch, French-Tunisian street artist eL Seed is transforming a dull grey wall into a colourful mural. He has already translated a quote from the English philosopher…
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Talking to terrorists
Richard Jackson speaks to MEMO: “Once you listen to what their grievances are and try and address them terrorism subsides.” One week ago, Tunisian student Seifeddine Rezgai opened fire on tourists near Sousse, Tunisia, killing 38 people. On the same day, a man was beheaded in France and a bomb…
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‘We are not made of ink’
Lebanese author Elias Khoury speaks to MEMO: “It’s more interesting to read books than it is to live in them.” Elias Khoury has lived through Black September, the Six Day War, the Israeli invasion of 1982 and the Lebanese civil war. More recently a conflict in Syria has been raging…
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Will the UK’s support for violent resistance extend to the Brotherhood’s peaceful struggle?
In December 2013 Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood was declared a terrorist organisation by what was then the interim, military-backed government. The new decree criminalised the group’s activities and promised to punish those suspected of financing or promoting it. As it turned out, punishment was putting it mildly: between July 2013 and…
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Profile: Hafez Al-Assad (12 March 1971 – 10 June 2000)
Of the five members of the Ba’ath Party’s Military Committee who seized power in Syria in 1963, Hafez Al-Assad went the furthest. Of the other four, one took the blame for Syria’s loss of the Golan Heights during the Six Day War and was pushed out of politics; one committed…
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5 Broken Cameras: A picture of resistance
“Don’t worry if you don’t have money for the CDs,” says Emad Burnat, waving towards a pile of signed copies of 5 Broken Cameras. “It’s more important that you show your friends the film so they see what’s happening in Palestine.” Speaking after a screening organised by the International State…
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Syrian Life on Hold in Lebanon
Maya Louay El Sheikh Issa loves bananas. Back home in Syria her and her brother found a secret stash in the kitchen cupboard and ate them all. She also recalls a pink teddy bear she used to own, but speculates as to whether it is now filled with bullets. Over…
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Creating art out of Iraq’s darkness
Alfraji’s first recollection of black shapes is from his childhood in Iraq when the family would commemorate the Day of Ashura and both men and women would dress in black to mourn the death of Imam Hussein. He recalls his mother boiling pigment in water to dye clothes black before…
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Jihadimania and an end to arms trade with Israel: What are the challenges in the upcoming election?
With the UK elections less than one week away three experts give their views on the challenges facing British Muslims, political parties and UK foreign policy in the Middle East. ISIS, Islamophobia and Prevent In 2012 a group of Muslim men of Pakistani and Afghani origin were tried and convicted…
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Profile: Saddam Hussein (28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006)
Before he became the most powerful person in the Ba’ath party, Saddam Hussein warned he would make a Stalinist state out of Iraq. True to his word he adopted Stalinist-style secret service techniques, along with tribal methods he had grown up around, to eliminate entire families based on the following…
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Mapping Syria through media coverage of the conflict
The Syrian conflict has entered its fifth year. Over 200,000 Syrians have died, around 7 million are internally displaced, and 3 million have fled the country. More than half of these refugees are children. Homes, hospitals and schools have been bombed. Communities under siege have been cut off from food,…
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War on terror has killed two million
Two weeks after Tunisia’s deadly Bardo attacks, vendors in Hammamet’s souks lay out brightly coloured pots and cotton scarves under the March sunshine. It’s hard to believe this seaside town on the Mediterranean was once the most popular destination for tourists who travel to swim in its turquoise water and…
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Profile: Mahmoud Darwish (13 March 1941 – 9 August 2008)
In 1971 PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat said of the great Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish: “I can smell the fragrance of the homeland on you.” In this observation the leader captured a central part of Darwish’s philosophy – whilst Palestine has left beautiful traces in the air it is a concept…
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Healing war wounds with yoga
“Will this make my head feel better?” asks one of the men attending Bella Hancock’s yoga classes in Amman, Jordan. As refugees many of her students suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and such workshops are designed to counter its negative effects. Many struggle to control their anger, for example,…
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Refugees from Syria seeking asylum in the UK may be welcome, but they must risk a perilous journey first
Ahmed Zakri is from the village of Jalin in the Daraa province of Syria, just north of the border of Jordan. The road that leads out of the violence and into the neighbouring country has been closed since summer 2013. At some point Zakri’s family negotiated their way past this,…
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Profile: King Hussein of Jordan (14 November 1935 – 7 February 1999)
King Hussein of Jordan is said to have survived at least seven military coups and 12 assassination attempts. In his 1962 autobiography, Uneasy Lies the Head, he wrote: “sometimes I feel like the central character in a detective novel.” He weathered the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War and…
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Iran’s most celebrated visual artist, Parviz Tanavoli, speaks to MEMO about his work
As a young boy Parviv Tanavoli’s favourite toy was the simple lock. As there were no ready-made toys like those of today he would take them apart, fix them and make keys for the ones that didn’t work. “I was the locksmith of the neighbourhood because all the locks in…
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Cardinal Vincent Nichols on Gaza, ISIS and Charlie Hebdo
“There are aspects to Israeli policy and behaviour that do immense damage in the eyes of the international community” One of the most senior figures in the Catholic Church in the UK, Archbishop of Westminster Cardinal Vincent Nichols, recently met with major business leaders in London to discuss the reputation…
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Linda Sarsour speaks to MEMO about Islamophobia in America
To Elan magazine Linda Sarsour is one of the 15 most inspiring women from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia region. Designated “the face of social activism” Elan credits Sarsour with empowering both Arab and African American communities. Why, then, does self-styled US terror expert Steven Emerson describe…
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Profile: Gamal Abdel Nasser (15 January 1918 – 28 September 1970)
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Middle East Monitor (@middleeastmonitor) 97 years after Nasser the great Arab nationalist was born he is still making waves in Egypt. On a warm evening in late July 1956, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser is addressing a crowd of 200,000 in…
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#SetHerFree – a campaign to end the inhumane detention of women in the UK
As an asylum seeker from Turkey Meltem Avcil arrived in England aged 13. Along with her mother she was detained in Bedfordshire’s detention centre, Yarl’s Wood, which has gained notoriety for its cruel treatment of asylum seekers. “Being there for three months I saw many women self-harm,” she tells the…
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German-Turkish academic Dr Gökçe Yurdakul speaks to MEMO about why Dresden became the cradle of PEGIDA protests
In Angela Merkel’s 2015 New Year address, the German chancellor told the country it should aid Ukrainians, Iraqis and Syrians who have escaped war and death in their countries. “It goes without saying that we help them and take in people who seek refuge with us,” she said. The chancellor’s…