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The Al Jazeera English studio in Doha, Qatar © Paul Keller About the London Middle East Institute (LMEI)

Volume 9 - Number2 Th e London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide February – March 2013 teaching, training, research, publication, consultancy, outreach and other services related to the Middle East. It serves as a neutral forum for Middle East studies broadly defi ned and helps to create links between Editorial Board individuals and institutions with academic, commercial, diplomatic, media or other specialisations. Professor Nadje Al-Ali With its own professional staff of Middle East experts, the LMEI is further strengthened by its academic SOAS membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. Th e LMEI also Ms Narguess Farzad SOAS has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle Mr Roger Hardy East. LMEI’s Advisory Council is the driving force behind the Institute’s fundraising programme, for which Kings College, London it takes primary responsibility. It seeks support for the LMEI generally and for specifi c components of its Mrs Nevsal Hughes programme of activities. Association of European Journalists Mr Najm Jarrah Dr George Joff é Cambridge University Mission Statement: Mr Max Scott Gilgamesh Publishing Th e aim of the LMEI, through education and research, is to promote knowledge of all aspects of the Middle Ms Sarah Searight East including its complexities, problems, achievements and assets, both among the general public and with British Foundation for the Study of Arabia those who have a special interest in the region. In this task it builds on two essential assets. First, it is based in Dr Kathryn Spellman Poots London, a city which has unrivalled contemporary and historical connections and communications with the AKU and LMEI Middle East including political, social, cultural, commercial and educational aspects. Secondly, the LMEI is Dr Sarah Stewart at SOAS, the only tertiary educational institution in the world whose explicit purpose is to provide education SOAS and scholarship on the whole Middle East from prehistory until today. Mrs Ionis Th ompson Saudi-British Society and BFSA Dr Shelagh Weir SOAS LMEI Staff: Professor Sami Zubaida Birkbeck, University of London Director Dr Hassan Hakimian Co-ordinating Editor Executive Offi cer Louise Hosking Sarah Johnson Events and Magazine Coordinator Vincenzo Paci-Delton Listings Administrative Assistant Valentina Zanardi Vincenzo Paci-Delton Designer Shahla Geramipour Disclaimer: Letters to the Editor:

Th e Middle East in London is published fi ve times a year by the London Middle Opinions and views expressed in the Middle East Please send your letters to the editor at East Institute at SOAS in London are, unless otherwise stated, personal the LMEI address provided (see left panel) Publisher and views of authors and do not refl ect the views of their or email [email protected] Editorial Offi ce organisations nor those of the LMEI or the Editorial Th e London Middle East Institute Board. Although all advertising in the magazine is School of Oriental and African Studies carefully vetted prior to publication, the LMEI does University of London Th ornaugh Street, Russell Square not accept responsibility for the accuracy of claims London WC1H 0XG made by advertisers. United Kingdom T: +44 (0)20 7898 4490 SSubscriptions:ubscriptions: F: +44 (0)20 7898 4329 E: [email protected] www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ To subscribe to Th e Middle East in London, please visit: ISSN 1743-7598 www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/affi liation/ Contents

4 17 LMEI Board of Trustees EDITORIAL Defying the odds: How one Professor Paul Webley (Chair) bookshop became London’s Director, SOAS 5 base for Arab culture Dr John Curtis British Museum INSIGHT Sarah Searight H E Sir Vincent Fean KCVO Consul General to Jerusalem Seismic shift s in the Middle

Professor Ben Fortna, SOAS East 18

Professor Graham Furniss, SOAS Edward Chaplin A vibrant diaspora

Mr Alan Jenkins Gholam Khiabany

Dr Karima Laachir, SOAS 7 Professor Annabelle Sreberny, SOAS THE MEDIA 20 Dr Barbara Zollner Politics, petrodollars and the REVIEWS Birkbeck College press BOOKS LMEI Advisory Council Najm Jarrah Turkey: What everyone needs to Lady Barbara Judge (Chair) know Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem Near and Middle East Department, SOAS 9 Andrew Finkel H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait Syria: Th e media as Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani battleground 21 Arab International Women’s Forum Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Dina Matar Books in brief President, University College of Bahrain Professor Tony Allan King’s College and SOAS 10 23 Dr Alanoud Alsharekh ‘People don’t want to be lied to’ EVENTS IN LONDON Senior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS Naomi Sakr Mr Farad Azima Iran Heritage Foundation Dr Noel Brehony MENAS Associates Ltd. 12 Mr Charles L. O. Buderi Iranian journalism and ‘the Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP Ms Zeynep Dereli land of freedom’ APCO Worldwide Hossein Shahidi Mr Shafi k Gabr ARTOC Group for Investment and Development 14 Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna British Egyptian Society Leaves of learning HE Mr Mazen Kemal Homoud Ehsan Masood Ambassador, Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Mr Zaki Nusseibeh 16 Founding Sponsor and From Gaza refugee camp to Member of the running a London newspaper Advisory Council Abel Bari Atwan Sheikh Mohamed bin Issa al Jaber MBI Al Jaber Foundation

February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 3 EEDITORIALDITORIAL

DDearear RReadereader

A range of Arab titles are sold along Edgware Road in London

Roger Hardy, MEL Editorial Board

n this issue, we revisit London’s role Secretaries would tear off strips of news- Iran was experiencing the tumult that as a centre for Middle East media and agency material and distribute them by followed the disputed presidential elections Ipublishing. Najm Jarrah looks at some hand. My wars were fought in studios. of 2009. of the factors that drew Arab editors to the During the Kuwait war of 1990-91, I learnt In my time the Middle East has been city, while Naomi Sakr addresses some of the perils of the live interview. Th at was transformed, and so has its relationship the issues – of credibility, censorship and CNN’s war: Saddam Hussein and George with London. Th e city has become a freedom of speech – that this brought to Bush Senior, in their respective bunkers, global media centre, a city of Muslims and the fore. Abdel Bari Atwan tells us of his were both said to be glued to it. Th e BBC mosques, and a magnet for Middle East life as editor of a well-known, and oft en saw the importance of television in the tourists, investors and political exiles. It controversial, London-based pan-Arab Arab world and embarked on its fi rst, has also become, as LMEI can attest, an newspaper. For Iranians, too, London unsuccessful, foray into Arabic television. important centre of Middle East studies. As has played an important role, both for Aft er its demise, it was Al-Jazeera's turn. for life in the media, with all its rough and governments in Tehran and their opponents Th e Iraq war was an intensely painful tumble, I don’t regret a minute of it. – as Gholam Khiabany and Hossein Shahidi moment. For my generation, this was our explain. Ehsan Masood and Sarah Searight Suez, with Blair a latter-day Eden. Th ere Roger Hardy was a Middle East analyst with visit some of London’s many Middle East was a war of attrition between the Blair the BBC World Service for over twenty years. bookshops. government and the BBC. I believe we He currently holds visiting fellowships at LSE For me, all this has a personal resonance. should have been more robust in speaking and King’s College, London, and is a member I started out in journalism just as the truth to power. More recently, I watched of the editorial board Middle East was beginning to arrive in BBC colleagues launch their second venture London. Th is was the age of innocence into Arabic TV – and their fi rst into Persian before the internet. When I joined the TV. Th is was not easy at a time of intense BBC, we used typewriters, not computers. competition in the Arab media – and when

4 The Middle East in London February-March 2013 IINSIGHTNSIGHT

Edward Chaplin asks where the Arab Awakening may be leading SSeismiceismic sshiftshifts iinn tthehe MMiddleiddle EEastast

A demonstration in February 2011 in front of the Egyptian Embassy in

© Wassim Ben Rhouma Wassim © Tunis asking Mubarak to leave

s we contemplate the changed or any other ideology. Th e main impulse Translating these themes into reality Middle East landscape produced has been provided by ordinary citizens, has not been so simple. Th e Facebook Aby the upheavals of the Arab especially the younger generation who generation in Tunisia or in Egypt’s Tahrir Awakening over the past two years, and typically make up 50 per cent or more of the Square, and the disparate secular and speculate about the future, what permanent population. liberal elements who joined them, proved shift s in power in the region can be Th e political rhetoric is also new. no match for the superior organisation of discerned and what are the implications for Instead of the familiar blaming of all Islamist parties when it came to presidential policy-makers? current ills on past or present Western and parliamentary elections – or the recent It is arguably premature to draw any policy, we have heard recurring themes referendum on Egypt’s new constitution. fi rm conclusions. Most agree that this, the around action to restore national and But it is surely not Islamic fervour or most fundamental change since Nasserism personal dignity, a refusal to accept Muslim Brotherhood ideology which swept through the Middle East in the 1950s, continuing abuse of ordinary citizens by has put Islamist parties in power. Each will take decades to play out and will take the security establishment, a rejection new government emerging from these diff erent forms in diff erent countries. But of the old ways of corrupt offi cials and revolutionary upheavals has to confront a none, even the wealthiest, will be immune. their business cronies. Fear of the regime new set of pressures. Expectations are still It is imperative to grasp what is shift ing and and its security apparatus, which cowed running a long way ahead of government why, so that the West can adapt its mindset successive generations and induced apathy capacity to deliver improvements. Th e and policies accordingly. in many, has given way to a new and old economic system of bloated public Although much has been written about energetic insistence on the legitimacy of sectors designed to absorb newcomers to the rise of Islamist parties in the wake state institutions, greater accountability, the employment market, and subsidies to of failed dictatorships, the most striking especially civilian control of military and keep the necessities of life aff ordable, can feature of the Arab Awakening is that police forces, and priority for economic and no longer work – especially if IMF help change has not been driven by Islamist social improvements. is sought, as in Egypt. Creating new jobs

February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 5 and delivering better services should be Salafi st movements seeking to exploit the provided they are in line with the universal at the top of any new government’s list of opportunity. If unchecked, this threatens to values to which we adhere. Th at means priorities. Islamist governments are going undermine much of the positive outcome of engaging with all parts of the political to have a tough time keeping their promises changes elsewhere. spectrum and providing help, if asked. Th e and will be held much more accountable Not everything has changed. Some crucial area is support for economic reform. than their predecessors by a vociferous issues remain fundamental to regional Th e main risk of a descent into extremism opposition. stability, despite being less frequently in comes not from Islamist parties now All this is long overdue and healthy the headlines. Palestine may not be a top struggling to exercise power but from their for the future of the region. But there is priority for new governments preoccupied visible failure in a few years to deliver what a less welcome shift in the landscape – a with domestic aff airs. But the new popular their citizens want, leaving the electorate renewed emphasis on Sunni/Shia sectarian emphasis on dignity and legitimacy will prey to the temptations of more radical diff erences. Sunni anxiety about Shia maintain strong pressure for action to solutions. infl uence had been growing ever since the restore the rights of Palestinians, while We should also be ready for a bumpier removal of Iraq’s Saddam Hussein – feared remaining a major source of anti-US ride on regional issues, where regimes and loathed by GCC states in particular, but and anti-Western feeling. A solution to will no longer meekly follow the line laid seen as a necessary bulwark against Iranian the stand-off with Iran over its nuclear down in Washington. Egypt is unlikely to expansionism. Upheavals in North Africa programme also remains urgent. renounce its peace treaty with Israel. But we have given a further boost to paranoia As for the implications for policy-makers can hardly expect her to remain silent in the among Sunni regimes fearful that the ‘Shia in the West, most governments have face of further suff ering or injustice among Crescent’ will expand even further. So a welcomed the direction of change while the Palestinians, still less be subcontracted malevolent Iranian hand is seen behind any recognising that there are limits to what we to keep Hamas or its successors under new threat to the status quo and Syria has can or should do. We should continue to be control. become a battleground for the reassertion explicit in our acceptance of the outcome Th e other main contribution the of Sunni authority, with extremist of new elections and new constitutions, international community can make therefore is to grip those two enduring regional issues where it can exert some positive infl uence. On Arab/Israel, the fi rst year or two of the new Obama presidency may be the last chance to achieve the two-state solution, which, in my opinion, remains the only possible stable outcome. Iran is equally important. International pressure, including sanctions and the threat of military action, has created a further chance for a negotiated solution on the nuclear issue. A stable Middle East requires early action - not only to resolve how Iran exercises its right under the NPT to uranium enrichment, but also to address the more positive role which Iran can and should play in the region. Th is is not what most Arab governments want to hear. But the demonisation of the Iranian regime and the tendency to see the Iranian hand, on scant evidence, behind every development which does not suit the interests of Sunni regimes is a profoundly sterile policy likely to bring about precisely the outcome feared. It is in everyone’s interests to fi nd a way to reintegrate Iran into the international order. Th e international community should give a lead.

Edward Chaplin is a former British diplomat who served as ambassador in Jordan and Iraq. He is now a senior adviser with the Good Governance Group

A protestor holds up a placard at an anti-Gaddafi

© Cplethi demonstration in March 2011

6 The Middle East in London February-March 2013 MMEDIAEDIA

Najm Jarrah looks at the factors behind London’s rise as an Arab media centre PPolitics,olitics, ppetrodollarsetrodollars aandnd tthehe ppressress

A newspaper stand with a range of titles on Edgware Road

ondon’s position in the 1980s and or start new titles and ventures. Th e trend and bureaucratic obstacles than elsewhere. 1990s as de facto media capital of took off . A new “off shore” Arab media Its ties with the Arab world were long- Lthe Arab world could be said to have industry was born, and grew rapidly as standing and multi-faceted. In addition to marked a transition between two stages in states, publishers, individuals, political its diplomatic and business importance to the development of the pan-Arab media: the groups and other interested parties vied to the region, it was favoured by Gulf investors Lebanese phase, and the advent of satellite establish or sponsor outlets of their own. who could fund new media ventures, and television. While some of these media emigrés it had large numbers of Arab residents and Previously, that status had unquestionably moved to Paris, and many set up shop in visitors to serve as potential employees and been Beirut’s. Lebanon’s relative openness Cyprus, it was London that attracted the readers, including many political exiles or and freedom made it a haven for Arab bigger and more ambitious projects. Others dissidents. exiles, intellectuals and political activists, gravitated around them, and London Nobody has ever managed to make a and home to a vast array of newspapers and increasingly turned into the place from precise count of the number of Arabic magazines that refl ected the region’s diverse which to address the Arab world as a whole, publications published in London during political currents and through which they or at least its newspaper-and- magazine- its heyday as an Arab media centre: played out their rivalries – as they had done reading elites. whether newspapers and news magazines, over the radio in earlier times. Th e Beirut London had clear advantages as a global political and religious publications of every press and publishing industry acted as a hub and information, communications and persuasion, glossy lifestyle titles, cultural kind of pan-Arab media by proxy. news centre, which was easy to access and and literary journals, or cheaply-printed But publications and journalists began distribute from, and imposed fewer legal tracts. Th e most important were the pan- abandoning Lebanon aft er the outbreak of civil war in 1975, and given the restrictions prevailing in other Arab countries, many London increasingly turned into the place from moved to Europe, either to re-launch there which to address the Arab world as a whole

February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 7 Gaps are always opening up, not least because of becoming much more widely available in the region, and constraints on editorial shift ing political alliances and agendas in the region freedom were not much of an issue for most, especially in the more open media Arab dailies, to which London gave birth -- the potential power of satellite broadcasting. climate that evolved as a consequence of titles such as Saudi Arabia’s Asharq al-Awsat, Everyone now seemed to want a channel. satellite television. By the time the BBC the reincarnated Lebanese Al-Hayat, the And with sanctioned Iraq suddenly re-launched its Arabic channel in 2008, it Arab nationalist Al-Quds al-Arabi and the excluded as a player from the pan-Arab found itself competing in a highly crowded (formerly) Libyan-backed Al-Arab, which media, other governments sought to market in which it struggled to make much were produced in London for distribution strengthen their infl uence, with Saudi impact. in the Arab world and internationally, Arabia in particular establishing a dominant But gaps are always opening up, not least at fi rst by airfreight and then via remote position by buying up or assuming indirect because of shift ing political alliances and printing once the technology had been control of numerous outlets. agendas in the region of the kind that, for developed. Th ey were joined by several Th e existing Arab media concentration example, have damaged the free-wheeling existing Arab papers that took to publishing in London made it a natural host for the reputation and credibility once enjoyed international editions out of London. Th ey fi rst experiments in Arabic satellite TV, and by Al-Jazeera. And London and other became among the region’s most infl uential indeed the fi rst Arabic internet newspaper off shore centres retain their uses, not only outlets, thanks to their reach and the (the Saudi-backed Elaph). But the for independent voices that cannot make supposed qualitative edge and extra margin pioneering Saudi-fi nanced MBC (Middle themselves heard at home. of editorial freedom aff orded by their East Broadcasting Corporation) later moved London base. out, citing London’s high costs, and the fi rst Najm Jarrah is a London-based writer and Th e freedom, however, was for the most attempt to set up a BBC Arabic channel journalist, and is a member of the editorial part used sparingly and selectively. Th ose was scuppered by editorial disputes with board outlets that wanted to distribute in Arab the Saudi funders (see the interview with countries still had to self-censor to varying Naomi Sakr which follows). London was degrees to preserve their access to markets. a relatively minor player in the subsequent Th e more independent and outspoken were explosion of Arabic satellite TV which routinely banned or denied advertising. spawned major news stations like Al-Jazeera Th e majority were in any case – just like and Al-Arabiya, large entertainment- back home – reliant on political funding oriented networks and hundreds of other rather than commercial or advertising national, religious, political and niche income, which imposed its own constraints. channels. Local bases and new regional Many acted as little more than mouthpieces media centres such as Dubai were cheaper for Arab regimes, promoting their policies, and more convenient to operate from, observing their taboos, fi ghting their the necessary skills and technology were A BBC Persian TV studio propaganda battles or bestowing favour and settling scores on their behalf. Nevertheless, © Stuart Pinfold collectively they provided Arab readers with a depth and diversity of information and perspectives which they were denied by the home-based media. Since the start of the Arab satellite TV boom in the early 1990s and the subsequent internet revolution, however, many of the print-oriented Arab media outfi ts that used to be based in London have closed, downsized or wholly or partly relocated. Th e pan-Arab dailies have restructured, and the two biggest, the Saudi-owned Asharq al- Awsat and Al-Hayat, have transferred most of their editorial and other operations to the region, retaining London headquarters mainly as a matter of prestige. Th e drive by Arab governments and media corporations to set up satellite channels was spurred by the Gulf crisis and war. Th e hugely divisive and polarising confl ict injected new urgency into the business of winning the hearts and minds of the Arab public, while CNN’s groundbreaking coverage of it demonstrated

8 The Middle East in London February-March 2013 MMEDIAEDIA

Dina Matar looks at the shifting media terrain of war-torn Syria SSyria:yria: TThehe mmediaedia aass bbattlegroundattleground

he role of the media in the current social upheavals and political Tprocesses in diff erent parts of the Arab world is a subject of much debate. Th ere is little doubt, however, that various forms of media have provided important spaces for protagonists aware of the power of image and narrative in promoting their agendas, mobilising diverse constituencies, consolidating or breaking up national Syrian women take to the entities and economies, and enlisting supra- streets in protest national support. Th e use of the media as a battleground spaces of media emerge out of old ones. social media tools for communication, in over politics, power and ideas is not new. In the past 18 months, several opposition- Syria, YouTube and Skype have become Nation-states, ruling elites and their controlled television channels – some virtual warehouses for a large number of opponents have always used a range of with an Islamist agenda, such as Shada videos and images captured with basic communicative and visual tools to tell their al-Huriya – have been created to challenge digital cameras and mobile phones. Such story and communicate their messages to the offi cial propaganda put out by the Syrian videos are disseminated by opposition- diff erent audiences. We have seen this in offi cial state broadcaster, the privately- managed YouTube channels such as Sham diff erent parts of the Arab world in the past owned and loyal channel ad-Dounia as News Network, Flash News Network and two years. well as a number of Iranian-sponsored Ugarit, which have turned content and raw But nowhere has the battle over channels. Existing transnational satellite fi lm footage by media-savvy young Syrians media been more signifi cant, nor more broadcasters, such as Al-Arabiya and Al- into material that satellite channels feel more challenging, to assess than in Syria where Jazeera, are taking sides, openly supporting confi dent about re-producing. Many of the brutal two-year-old battle over power the opposition (which is not a homogenous these videos show graphic images of dead has been played out in the domestic entity) in its battle against the regime. Th is or dying civilians that can induce emotional and transnational regional mass media, is not surprising given that they are funded responses and boost solidarity and support particularly satellite television, and over by Gulf states with a stake in the ongoing in Syria, but which may cause compassion the Internet. A set of institutional, political, battle. Meanwhile, international mainstream fatigue among viewers further afi eld. Along economic, social and structural factors; media, suff ering from restricted access with raw footage, social media are also diverse players with diff erent agendas; to Syria, are using videos and narratives posting innovative and artistic forms of multiple voices, groups and interests, posted by rebel forces on YouTube and cultural production, including cartoons, combined with an explosion in digital via Skype, sometimes without imposing slogans, satire and puppetry, underlining ‘citizen journalism’ and user-generated strict editorial controls needed to ensure a critical awareness of popular culture as a content are posing new challenges to those balance. Concerns have been voiced about fertile terrain for contests over image and of us involved in the study of media, politics the authenticity of the material and the discourse. and culture in the Arab world. Indeed, credibility of the sources amid allegations In these shift ing spaces, assessing the the challenges surrounding the study of that many videos posted directly to media’s role in Syria might be a futile the role of media in the Syrian uprising YouTube, which seem to be sent by the Free exercise. However, it remains a valid one, if have rendered the task of mapping and Syrian Army groups, might be shot by the only to provide a critical historical record categorising media systems– even along Syrian regime. that will help put together a meaningful simple lines such as whether these are Unlike in the case of Tunisia and Egypt, narrative of power, resistance, politics and owned or controlled by the state or the where transnational television, along with communication. opposition – diffi cult as new genres and Twitter and Facebook, were important Dina Matar is a Senior Lecturer and director Nowhere has the battle over media been more signifi cant, of the Centre for Media and Film Studies, SOAS nor more challenging, to assess than in Syria

February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 9 MMEDIAEDIA

Naomi Sakr talks to Roger Hardy about credibility, censorship and the Arab media ''PeoplePeople ddon'ton't wwantant ttoo bebe liedlied tto'o' © Paul Keller

ell me about your work. Satellite Realms: Transnational Television, pan-Arab newspaper, published its fi rst I’ve had two careers really – the Globalization and the Middle East, came out edition from London. Saudi money started Tfi rst in business publishing and the at a time when, because of 9/11, the West coming into London as a media centre second in the academic world. I gravitated began to realise that the way people are roughly half a decade aft er the explosion from the one to the other by way of NGOs, socialised in the Arab world and the way the in oil prices [in 1973]. So petrodollars were in particular by writing for Article 19, a media and the education systems work have one factor. Another was the decline of London-based group with an interest in repercussions outside the region. Beirut as an Arab media centre because of freedom of expression. the start of the Lebanese civil war in 1975. My own research is mostly on the Arab When did London start to become And there were already a number of Arab media, and specifi cally television, with important as a Middle East media centre? publishers based in London – Selim al-Lozy, reference to law and policy. My fi rst book, In 1979 Asharq al-Awsat, a Saudi-owned the Lebanese publisher who moved his

10 The Middle East in London February-March 2013 learnt that Egypt’s Voice of the Arabs [radio Audiences in the Arab world are media-savvy – and station] lied to them during the Six-Day there are more news junkies than there are in the West War of June 1967.

Is London as important to the Arab media magazine Al-Hawades to London in 1977 Al-Jazeera a run for its money? as it was in the 1990s? (and launched its English sister, Events); the Th e popularity of an Arab news channel It was important at a certain stage. But Syrian publisher Riad al-Rayyes; and Afi f fl uctuates, depending on the nature of the costs have risen and some outfi ts have left Ben Yedder, the Tunisian publisher of an events it’s recording – and on what its rivals London, while others have cut their staff . English-language monthly, Th e Middle East. are doing. It will make its name in periods Th e big players now have a base in Dubai, of confl ict. Al-Jazeera’s Arabic channel did even if they also have bases elsewhere. Why London rather than Paris or so aft er 9/11, with its coverage of the wars somewhere else? in Iraq and Afghanistan. Al-Jazeera English Naomi Sakr is Professor of Media Policy at Because the rules and regulations are – started in 2006 – became more widely the University of Westminster and author very diff erent – in Paris there are stricter known for its coverage of the Israeli assault of Satellite Realms (2002), Arab Television restrictions on investment. Another reason on Gaza in December 2008-January 2009. Today (2007) and Transformations in was that London was becoming a favoured But since the Arab uprisings of 2011 – and Egyptian Journalism (forthcoming, 2013) milieu for wealthy Gulf Arabs. Th ere was a particularly with regard to Bahrain – the constituency here. Th e length and breadth fact that Al-Jazeera would relegate the of the Edgware Road, you could fi nd all confl ict in Bahrain to item six or seven on their publications, just as you can today. the news agenda had a serious impact on how its viewers perceived it. People were When did London start hosting Arab looking for alternative sources and that satellite TV channels? worked to the benefi t of BBC Arabic. Th e fi rst pan-Arab satellite television channel to base itself in London was Th at suggests an increasingly MBC in 1991. MBC stood for Middle East sophisticated television audience. Broadcasting Corporation – but people I’ve always argued that audiences in the joke that it stood for ‘My Broadcasting Arab world are extremely media-savvy – Corporation’ – the ‘my’ referring to the and there are many more news junkies than then Saudi monarch, King Fahd. MBC was there are in the West. Western academics run by the King’s brother-in-law, Walid don’t always realise how important news al-Ibrahim. programmes are in the Arab world – and (Opposite) The Al Jazeera English newsroom at the extent to which audiences are clued up the broadcast center in Doha, Qatar. It became widely known for its coverage of the Israeli Again, why London? What was the about the relationship between who owns assualt on Gaza in December 2008 to January attraction? the media and what kind of content you 2009 London is the home of free speech and get. People don’t want to be lied to. Th is (Below) Naomi Sakr, Professor of Media Policy at balance – and so by broadcasting from goes back at least to the 1960s, when people the University of Westminster and author the city you have, as it were, ready-made credibility.

But isn’t there a contradiction between free speech and the red lines which Arab governments tend to impose? It’s clear, and not surprising, that a channel backed with Saudi money is going to adhere to certain political imperatives. Th e most obvious example was the BBC’s fi rst venture into Arabic TV in the mid- 1990s, in partnership with a Saudi-fi nanced company, Orbit. When the news included the activities of Saudi dissidents in London, it became obvious that this was not going to be acceptable to the Saudi investors.

Th e BBC launched its own Arabic (and Persian) TV channels. But in the meantime a formidable challenger has appeared on the scene – the pan-Arab channel Al-Jazeera, set up in Qatar in 1996. Has BBC Arabic been able to give

February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 11 MMEDIAEDIA

Hossein Shahidi profi les Mirza Saleh, a pioneering Iranian journalist

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hree key events over the past Nasereddin Shah’s Ambassador to Britain, Mirza Saleh Shirazi, one of the fi rst Iranians two centuries have tied Persian- Mirza Malkam Khan, aft er he lost his post to study in Britain. Mirza Saleh and four Tlanguage journalism with Britain, and titles because of his involvement in other students were sent to Britain by the more specifi cally with London. Th e a scheme to introduce a lottery into Iran. Iranian Crown Prince, Abbas Mirza, in most prominent was the establishment Aft er Nasereddin Shah’s assassination in 1815, following Iran’s defeat in its fi rst war in December 1940 of the BBC’s Persian 1896, Malkam dropped the call for reform with Russia (1804-1813), to learn modern Service, which played an important role and asked the new king, Mozafareddin sciences and technology as a means of through its coverage of major events from Shah, for a post. Two years later, he was addressing Iran’s weakness, especially the abdication of Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1941 appointed as Iran’s ambassador to Italy in its military capability. During “three to the Khomeini revolution of 1979. and stopped publishing Qanun altogether. years and nine months and twenty days” An earlier milestone had been laid Nonetheless, the paper’s content and its in England, two of the students received with the launch in February 1890 of the simple prose style inspired other opposition a military education; one learned about newspaper Qanun which was the fi rst writers as the country moved towards the sword-and gun-making and another publication to directly attack the Qajar Constitutional Revolution of 1906. studied medicine. Mirza Saleh, meanwhile, monarchy, declaring that lawlessness Th e earliest London connection with studied English, French and Latin, as well as was at the root of Iran’s problems. Qanun Iranian journalism came in 1837, with the natural philosophy and printing; he bought was published by a former courtier and publication of Iran’s fi rst newspaper by a printing press to take home and joined the Freemasonry, becoming a Master. ‘If the mullahs enter any government and get up to their tricks, Aft er returning to Iran in 1819, Mirza Saleh was involved in a number of that government and that country will never progress’ diplomatic missions. He visited Britain

12 The Middle East in London February-March 2013 He calls England Velayat-e Azadi (the land of freedom), the beggar on the street’ is ‘committed to the nizam (state)’, and ‘would not deviate where everyone ‘from the King down to the beggar from it.’ ‘Th is land,’ he says, ‘like Arabia on the street’ is ‘committed to the nizam (state)’ and other lands, did have evil, corrupt and blood-thirsty people, but they have changed their ways over the past four hundred years in 1822 – when he succeeded in having of subverting the faith of Islam’. With such ... [No] other country in the world is either the British envoy to Iran, Captain content, although historically important, so organized, or so orderly. Th is they have Henry Willock replaced. In 1827, he led Kaghaz-e Akhbar is unlikely to have had achieved through years of toil, giving blood unsuccessful negotiations with Russia much social or political infl uence, and it was and shedding blood.’ to end the second Russo-Persian war certainly not an instrument of reform. Mirza Saleh’s writing reveals little about (1826-28) and in 1829, he was a member Of far more signifi cance are Mirza Saleh’s his personal views on Iran, although from of a delegation that presented the Iranian diaries of his group’s travel to Britain, via time to time his praise for aspects of British government’s apologies to Russia’s Tsar Russia, and their return to Iran via the life implies the wish that his homeland Nicolas I for the killing of the Russian Mediterranean and Ottoman Turkey. Th e could have the same features. Th e closest Minister, Aleksander Griboyedov, and his diaries survived in manuscript form for 150 he comes to criticizing Iran’s governance staff in a riot in Tehran. Mirza Saleh later years before they were printed in Tehran in is when he describes how the mullahs had became mayor of Tehran and published 1969. Th ey include long segments on the prevented the Ottoman Sultan Selim from a monthly journal that became known as history, geography and economy of Russia, ‘bringing European sciences to Istanbul, out Kaghaz-e Akhbar (literally, newspaper). Britain, and the Ottoman Empire, translated of jealousy, and did not allow people to leave Several hundred copies of the paper were from other languages. Th ese sections the road of ignorance and stupidity. In fact, probably printed each month, of which few include inaccuracies in facts and fi gures, if the mullahs enter any government and have survived. Publication stopped aft er including dates, perhaps caused by the get up to their tricks, that government and Mirza Saleh was removed from the post of perennial problem of converting the lunar that country will never progress.’ He shows mayor three years later. Islamic calendar to the solar Western one. similar disdain for the Catholic Church, Although Mirza Saleh was impressed Th e best-written parts of the diaries were with ‘priests who are not allowed to marry, with British newspapers and their ability to Mirza Saleh’s observations on daily life, so they would commit heinous acts and make money by selling advertising, his own especially in England, where he travelled abuse women. In fact, sheep have been left paper was a much more modest enterprise. extensively and interacted with people in the hands of wolves.’ Th e surviving copies of the paper, in two from a variety of backgrounds. He speaks lithographed one-sided sheets, only contain with admiration of Britain’s system of Hossein Shahidi is an Iranian journalist laudatory reports about the king and his governance, taxation, elections, justice and who has worked for the BBC and the United movements, and reports about a variety of prisons, transport, medical care, education, Nations events or novelties from around the world, agriculture and industry. He calls England under the titles of ‘News from the Western Velayat-e Azadi (the land of freedom), countries’ and ‘News from the Eastern where everyone ‘from the king down to countries’. One issue, for April-May 1837, reproduced in 1839 in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, includes reports about a fi re at the Royal Library in Naples; the launch of a new steamship in New York which had cut down the journey time to Britain from one month to twelve days; the arrival in Bombay of the new British naval steamship, Atlanta, with 68 guns aft er a voyage of sixty-eight days rather than the usual six months [a footnote by the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society explains that the ship had only two guns, using 68-pound shots] and the beheading in Istanbul of a ‘petulant, matt-haired, foul-mouthed, impudent, impious’ dervish who had spoken to the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud ‘with the highest disrespect’, accusing ‘him

(Opposite and right) The Albert Memorial in Hyde Park was built in 1872. Some Iranian writers have said that the man in the sheepskin hat was modelled on Mirza Saleh

February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 13 MMEDIAEDIA

Ehsan Masood meets two of London’s veteran Middle East booksellers

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f you didn’t know it existed, Th e academic conference business that he also allows him to commission or publish Maghreb Bookshop is easy to miss. runs. He has kept the shop going alongside without interference from sponsors or ITh at may be because it sits at the end his publishing, though that, too, seems to advertisers. Th at is indeed a rare luxury of a row of smart terraced houses. Or it have been an accident. these days, but it also means that his output may be because visits to the 20-year-old He came to London from Morocco in is watched and read by policymakers and establishment on Burton Street, close to the 1969 to study law, and began working others with an interest in the region’s past Euston station, are by appointment only. as a journalist writing for Th e Times and and present. “Opening hours vary. Ring before visiting,” Th e Observer. One of his assignments was He says that the former regimes of North proprietor Mohamed Ben-Madani reminds to cover the World of Islam Festival, a $4 Africa mostly left him alone, except for one me in an email a few days before my visit. million extravaganza of art and science that occasion in 1992 when he was detained aft er Th e Maghreb Bookshop, no bigger than took place across London’s galleries and a fl ight to Morocco following unfl attering an average-sized front room, is a haven for museums in 1976. He remembers: “It was comments he had made in a BBC interview all things North African. Used and new a huge event, but there was very little on about the country’s monarchy. He said: books are crammed into every available North Africa.” “Th ere were four policemen at the foot square-inch, and Ben-Madani, who sits He recalls an ancient North African copy of the plane and they bundled me into a proudly behind a desk in the middle of of the Quran and what he calls “an appalling van.” Ben-Madani was released aft er 48 the room, is a knowledgeable and chatty fi lm” about the city of Fez in Morocco. hours following a high-profi le campaign proprietor. Dressed casually in a jumper and When he asked the organisers why there orchestrated by friends at Westminster, in with an infectious grin, he is generous with was so little about his region, he was told Brussels and in the media. His captors, he his time, and with cups of tea and biscuits. that the festival’s Gulf-based backers were says, treated him well and the Moroccan Ben-Madani says he is an accidental not interested. He said: “I got upset, but that government later claimed that his detention bookseller: a bookshop was trading at 45 is how I started Th e Maghreb Review.” was a case of “mistaken identity”. Burton Street when, in the mid-1990s, he Th e quarterly review is an independent Ben-Madani says he tries to keep his took over the property to use as offi ces academic journal in French and English. distance from governments and avoids for Th e Maghreb Review, the journal and Ben-Madani says it pays for itself, which doing the things that are now considered normal of someone with his knowledge and Th e quarterly review is an independent academic connections, such as briefi ng ministries on topical issues. journal which allows him to publish without So who are his bookshop clients? interference from sponsors or advertisers Th e Maghreb Review’s 900 subscribers

14 The Middle East in London February-March 2013 form the core of his customers. Most are academics, but there is also a sprinkling of ‘Every book is like a new child. I love writers, journalists and diplomats. New or it so much, until I get a new one' prospective PhD students are adding to the mix, though they mostly seek his advice on what to read, a development which Ben- Melcombe Street (mid-way between Baker books on current aff airs, history, philosophy, Madani says depresses him. It is a sign, he St and Marylebone stations). Founded in politics, science and Sufi sm, but religious says, that universities are losing their own 1984, Dar al-Taqwa is on two fl oors and, as literature and associated products (including in-house experts. “Why else would a PhD with Th e Maghreb Bookshop, its success CDs, DVDs, perfumery, clothing, framed student come to me for help compiling a comes partly because its founder also runs a calligraphy and photos of sacred sites) basic bibliography?” linked publishing company. outsell the rest. He is also disappointed with what he Samir El-Atar came to London from Top-selling titles include The Soul’s believes to be the declining quality of Cairo in 1976 intending to study for a PhD Journey aft er Death, which is an edited British scholarship on North Africa. He in Islamic economics, but fate had other translation of a book by Ibn al-Qayyim points to a cluster of books by well-known ideas. “Publishing wasn’t my plan, but then al-Jawziyya, the 13th-century writer from writers and says he is unable to recommend God is the best planner,” El-Atar says in a Islam’s literalist school; as well as an English any books written by television foreign soft voice. He is quite a large man sporting translation of another Arabic text, Th e correspondents, which he says are oft en a trimmed white beard and invites me to Signs before the Day of Judgement, written rushed and wrong. take a seat opposite his desk in the shop’s originally by the 14th-century scholar Ibn If Th e Maghreb Bookshop attracts expert basement, where books on cookery, Arabic- Kathir. Dar al-Taqwa has since branched readers, non-experts are more likely to be language learning and children’s titles can out further with the development of found browsing the myriad independent be found. Th e Moallem family, which owns community-oriented services. El-Atar sees Arabic and Islamic bookshops that have one of Egypt’s major publishing houses, Dar his shop not unlike the Middle East’s larger been trading in the capital for almost fi ve al-Shorouk, approached El-Atar to head a mosques in former times: multi-purpose decades. Th ough, there are likely fewer in London operation, and he accepted. But centres off ering facilities for learning, help central London now than was once the case. aft er diff erences with his employers, El- with the obligations of faith and advice and Al-Noor on Park Road adjacent to Regent’s Atar struck out on his own. He said: “Th ey counselling. Dar al-Taqwa even off ers its Park mosque has closed, as has one of the wanted to publish everything, but I wanted customers a wedding service. A sign on Al- oldest - Drummond Street’s Islamic Book to focus on the literature of Islam.” Atar’s desk reads: “Th e best of you are those Centre. One of the largest and more diverse, Dar al-Taqwa publishes two or three who are best to their wives.” Al-Hoda, once at the epicentre of London’s books a year that are English translations I ask if Dar Al-Taqwa is primarily a place independent book trade on Charing Cross of the works of Muslim writers, jurists and for those of a more pious disposition, or Road, has now relocated east to Banner theologians. Such a move turned out to be perhaps those looking to nourish both the Street. shrewd commercially because these titles head and the heart. He doesn’t entirely One bookshop that has survived and have turned out to be among the shop’s disagree: “Th ey come from all over the seems to be thriving is Dar al-Taqwa on best-selling publications. Dar al-Taqwa has world. Th ey are people, sometimes lost or confused, searching for the meaning of life.” When I ask him which of his titles he is most proud of, El-Atar says: “Every book is like a new child. I love it so much, until I get a new one.”

Ehsan Masood is Editor of ‘Research Fortnight’ (www.researchresearch.com) and author of ‘Science and Islam: A History’

(Opposite) Mohammed Ben-Madani sits behind his desk at The Maghreb Bookshop (Left) Egyptian titles on display at Saqi Books

February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 15 MMEDIAEDIA

Abdel Bari Atwan talks to Roger Hardy about his life as a journalist

FFromrom GGazaaza rrefugeeefugee ccampamp ttoo rrunningunning a LLondonondon nnewspaperewspaper Abdel Bari Atwan, editor-in-chief of London- based newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi

ou were born in Gaza in 1950. How When did you come to London? a newspaper that was diff erent, with did you get into journalism? In 1978 – it was cold and windy, and I courageous, uninhibited writers. YMy family did not want me to be arrived from Saudi Arabia to work for the But we had a small budget. Th e bailiff came a journalist. Th ey wanted me to become [Saudi pan-Arab] newspaper Asharq al- three times because we hadn’t paid the rent. a doctor or an architect – these are Awsat. I learnt real journalism and met real I received death threats. Aft er 9/11, I was fashionable jobs in the Middle East. But journalists. I did a Master’s degree at SOAS. spat at on the streets, accused of defending I was determined to be a journalist, and It was a turning-point in my life. Al-Qaeda – which was never the case. But it wanted to go to Cairo University, which has been a fascinating journey. I don’t regret was the only university in the Middle East Th is was the age of the ‘petrodollar media’. any of it. with a journalism department. In the early What did you feel about that? 1970s the [Arab] universities imitated the My priority was to get out of Saudi Arabia. Given that the paper has been banned in French experience – there were a lot of Th at’s why I came to London. But I realised some Arab countries, how important is ‘wall newspapers’. I used to write for these that, even in London, there was an agenda your website? newspapers, and I was threatened by the to promote ‘Saudi moderation’. Despite my Th e new technology is a godsend. In the Egyptian government because I was critical political misgivings, I learnt a lot. I stayed past we were banned in Saudi Arabia of [President Anwar] Sadat and his policies with the newspaper for only a year and a or Syria or Egypt – but now [thanks to at that time. half, but I lived through the era of Fleet the internet] we are read in 197 or 198 Aft er completing my education, I went to Street – the newspapers were there, Reuters countries, even the countries which banned Libya. Th ere were two newspapers in Tripoli was there. I met British journalists and us. I have 110,000 followers on Twitter. Th e at the time, and I wrote an article critical of cartoonists in the pubs, and listened to their whole world is open to us. We are a very the Shah of Iran – a fi ery piece asking why gossip. As for the Middle East community small newspaper – with a staff of only 17 – the Americans were arming him. At fi rst, [in London], we were one family – we had but we managed to survive. they said they couldn’t publish it: it was too a passion for journalism, a passion for outspoken. Th en, three days later, the piece politics. Abdel Bari Atwan is editor-in-chief of Al- appeared on the front page of the paper. Quds al-Arabi and the author of two books [Former Libyan leader Colonel] Qaddafi When did you become editor of Al-Quds on Al-Qaeda – and an autobiography, A had had a row with the Shah and asked his al-Arabi? Country of Words: A Palestinian Journey editors to attack him. In 1988 – the newspaper started publishing from the Refugee Camp to the Front Page in April 1989. I’d resigned from Asharq So you started with a bang. al-Awsat. I wanted to create a newspaper Yes. It was my fi rst article, and I became a that was independent – if not 100 per cent, star. then at least 90 per cent -- and professional;

‘I wanted to create a newspaper that was independent, professional and diff erent, with courageous, uninhibited writers’

16 The Middle East in London February-March 2013 MMEDIAEDIA

Sarah Searight looks back over the history of Saqi Books DDefyingefying tthehe oodds:dds: HHowow oonene bbookshopookshop bbecameecame LLondon’sondon’s bbasease fforor AArabrab ccultureulture

n the wake of the oil price rises of the 1970s and the resulting greater mobility Iof the newly affl uent Middle East, London benefi ted from the establishment of a fl ourishing Arab-oriented cultural scene. It catered mainly for resident expatriates, visitors from the region, and for those whose economic involvement in the Middle East resulted in a growing interest in London. Th is new cultural whirlpool included mosques as well as specialist shops, restaurants galore, cinemas, art galleries and bookshops. Foremost among the latter was Saqi Books. Today it is one of the few survivors, a landmark in its handsome listed building at 16 Westbourne Grove. Egyptian titles on display Th e company was founded in London in at Saqi Books 1979 by two Lebanese friends, the lawyer André Gaspard and Mai Ghoussoub, a publisher, author and artist, who sadly Serpent’s Tail, was sold in 1997. But more Centre. Saqi also organises talks and debates died in 2007 aged 54. Both came from recently the company has established three on Middle East issues at Paddington’s Front Christian Arab families of Beirut, and more imprints – Dar al-Saqi in Beirut, and Line Club. came of age during the protest years of Telegram and Westbourne Press in London. At a time when the region is struggling the late 1960s. When the Lebanese civil Most books are printed and published in with the establishment of new regimes, war broke out in 1975, she and André Lebanon. oft en with bloody consequences, Saqi likes helped develop community services in a Despite Mai’s death and despite the to maintain its founders’ commitment to working-class Muslim neighbourhood universally dire impact of the internet an open-door humanitarian policy. As one west of the notorious green line, including on the book trade, Saqi has survived. In of Mai’s obituarists, Jo Glanville, wrote: ‘her two pharmacies. It was when driving a London it is run by André’s wife Salwah and political conviction and courage she showed wounded Palestinian to hospital that Mai’s daughter Lynn; André himself has returned in her youth, during the bloody civil war car came under fi re. She was wounded and to Beirut to run the publishing arm, Dar in Lebanon, informed an independence lost an eye, and the Palestinian died. She al-Saqi. Th e company has recently set up of spirit and thought which cut through came to London for medical treatment, and an Arabic children’s list – Saqi Kidz – to all the political rhetoric that plagues the in 1979 she and André set up Saqi Books encourage reading among schoolchildren Middle East.’ Th e comment remains just as in Westbourne Grove. It quickly became throughout the region. In 2005, at a relevant today; Arab uprisings are not kind a focus for Middle Easterners in London. ceremony in Kensington Town Hall to to the book trade, pirated books fl ourish on Th ey also tried publishing, specialising in mark the 125th anniversary of the birth of Edgware Road and more money is made at Arab works and also in gender issues. Mai Khalil Gibran, André was given an award book fairs than in the shop. Let’s hope that herself wrote a memoir, Leaving Beirut, for his services to publishing. Th en in 2008, remarkable establishment in Westbourne published in 1997. Th at venture was not Saqi received the Arab-British Culture Grove continues to keep the door open to a publishing success, and the imprint, and Society Award from the Arab-British intellectual freedom, much vaunted but always threatened.

Today it is one of the few survivors, a landmark in Sarah Searight is an author and journalist, its handsome listed building in Westbourne Grove and is a board member of this magazine

February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 17 MMEDIAEDIA

Gholam Khiabany on the role London has played for the Iranian media A vibrantvibrant ddiasporaiaspora © Stuart Pinfold

he production and circulation of 1906. Newspapers fl ourished during this the oldest and biggest publishers in Iran, Iranian media in London has a long period and as well as a large number of set up the newspaper Kayhan Havaye in Thistory. In the early 20th century, publications in major cities in Iran, many 1950. Th ere were also a number of media the capital was home to two publications, other Persian-language papers emerged in initiatives by various politically committed according to Hyacinth Louis Rabino di other signifi cant cultural centres such as student organisations and associations Borgomale, who worked for the British Istanbul, Cairo, Calcutta and Paris. in this period. By the time of the 1979 Consulate in Kermanshah and Rasht In the 1950s, when international trade revolution, around 100,000 Iranians were between 1903 and 1912. Qanun was fi rst opened up and higher education became studying abroad. published on 20 February 1890 while popular, rising numbers of Iranians left the However, it was aft er 1979 that London Khalafat, which was written in Farsi, country to go and live abroad. To cater for became a signifi cant centre for Iranian Arabic and Turkish, fi rst appeared in July those who had emigrated, Kayhan, one of media. Th e level of migration since then has been such that Iran has been ranked Since 1979, Iranians living abroad have managed as having the highest brain drain in the world. While it is important to highlight to produce far more titles, programmes and that Iranians living outside Iran, including cultural artefacts than those inside the country in London, are not a homogenous group

18 The Middle East in London February-March 2013 London, alongside Los Angeles and Dubai, has have recently begun to fi ll the gap in terms of both news, analysis and entertainment. become one of the main media hubs for Iranians Th e most noteworthy of those based in London is BBC Persian TV, which began or community, the fact remains that many publication edited by Mirzadegi entitled broadcasting in January 2009. Well-known are educated and highly skilled individuals. Moghaavmat, and countless others. Many of recent commercial rivals include Manoto Th e level of media and cultural activities is a these were produced by political opponents and GEM TV, both of which are based in refl ection of this reality. of the Islamic Republic. London and off er general entertainment, Since 1979, Iranians living abroad In addition, many political organisations, and have proved popular with Iranian have managed to produce far more titles, in particular left -wing organisations, audiences. programmes and cultural artefacts than produced their own titles, although many Diasporic communities and their media those inside the country. In Los Angeles never mentioned their exact place of are not free-fl oating entities, but have and alone, Iranians have launched more than publication. Some of the most signifi cant, assert a material presence. Iranians living 80 periodicals, 63 television stations and such as Jahan (published by supporters abroad, London included, have managed to 18 radio channels. Iranians abroad have of the opposition movement Fedayeen develop their own media. At the same time, published 20 times more books than those e-Khalq in Europe and North America), they have been, and remain, the target of produced in the country itself. In his book were linked with London, as was Nimeh various media initiatives, including those of Iranian press and publishing outside Iran, Digar, edited by Afsaneh Najmabadi. the Iranian state. the author A Seifi wrote that the number Other left -wing publications that had of plays staged by Iranians in Cologne, close ties to London were Dolat va Enghelab, Gholam Khiabany is a senior lecturer in Germany, has exceeded those performed Che Bayad Kard? and Seday Daneshjoo. Media and Communication Studies at Sussex in Tehran. Th e estimated four million Two weeklies have tried to target a much University Iranians living abroad have published broader audience: Kayhan Landan and more than 1,200 publications, according Nimrooz. Kayhan has been available as a to A Bahrampour in A comparative review weekly since July 1984, and the now defunct of publication of the press aft er the Islamic Nimrooz began publishing in June 1989. Revolution. Many of these were produced by Another major publication in Iran, Etellaat, political/cultural organisations of diff erent has been targeting Iranians abroad with its persuasions. Similar contrasts can be international edition (printed in London seen in relation to television. Iranian TV and New York) since June 1993. For a long channels based outside Iran are far greater time Spectrum radio catered for Iranians in and more infl uential than those of the London and, with the growing availability Islamic Republic. of satellite TV, a number of channels, such Over the past four decades, London as Rangarang, provided limited hours of has remained a vibrant media centre for television for Iranians living in London. Iranians. It is estimated that around 75,000 A number of economic and political (Opposite) BBC Persian TV began broadcasting in January 2009 and off ers news, analysis and Iranians live in Britain, half of whom are factors have paved the way for making entertainment based in London. Th is number is less the capital into a centre for larger media (Below) An advert for a play on Asghar Agha - the than those living in Canada, Germany or operations. As time has gone by, political longest-running Iranian media output in London Sweden, and dwarfed by those in the United organisations abroad have become smaller States. However, for a number of reasons, and more fragmented. Th e internet has including the presence of advertising and provided for a continuation of a diverse news agencies, international media and set of political initiatives, but what is more the development of Iranian businesses, visible is the presence of larger media London, alongside Los Angeles and Dubai, entities, commercial or otherwise. Iranian has become one of the main media hubs for state media, notably the international Iranians. English-language Press TV which began Th e longest-running Iranian media in 2007, has rapidly expanded in the output in London is Asgahr Agha, which last decade or so. Before that, the state was started in September 1980 by the broadcaster, Islamic Republic of Iran popular Iranian satirist Hadi Khorsandi. Broadcasting (IRIB), had launched its Another publication was Ahangar, edited fl agship international eff ort (targeting from October 1981 by the late Manoochehr Iranians abroad) with three channels of Mahjoobi , who also edited Fasle Ketab. Jame-Jam. IRIB’s infl uence goes further than Many other Iranian writers have at some this, since some of the main commercial point edited and managed periodicals in channels rely on its drama and serials. London; for example, Avand, edited by Th e inability of many smaller satellite the exiled Iranian poet Ismaael Khoie; the channels to compete with the fi nancial monthly Iranians, managed by the late muscle of the Iranian state broadcaster actor Reza Fazeli; Pooyeshgaran, edited by keeps them in constant need of original Shokoh Mirzadegi and Noori Alla; another content and programmes. Other channels

February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 19 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: BOOKSBOOKS TTurkey:urkey: WWhathat eeveryoneveryone nneedseeds ttoo kknownow

By Andrew Finkel

Oxford University Press, 2012. £50 (hardback) - £10.99 (paperback)

Reviewed by Nevsâl Hughes

hen I visited Turkey a few is well qualifi ed to assess the country Turkish Prime Minister Ecevit`s hurried months ago with a group of today. He has reported for international visit to London to seek assurances was Wtourists, fi rst timers and old newspapers and foreign policy publications to no avail, Turkey felt it had no choice hands, I witnessed their amazement at and has been a columnist in the Turkish but to invade the island. Th is was an act the modernity and vibrancy of the society press. Turkey, he writes, was never colonised of substantial weakness by the Wilson with its young population. If they had by the great powers, which distinguishes it Government that reverberates to this day. read Andrew Finkel`s book Turkey: What from most other 20th century developing Finkel points out that Turks sometimes Everyone Needs to Know before arriving in nations. He describes Turkey as a country in refer to their ‘young republic’ as an the country they would have had answers to a dialogue with its own past, and between explanation for why public institutions most of their questions. itself and the outside world. Referring to are inchoate or still operate in low gear. Th e series aims to address an educated the treaty which in 1920 envisaged the Yet he rightly says the present state was audience, albeit not a specialist one, in an dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire, founded almost a century ago, and that by accessible question and answer format. Finkel observes correctly that, ‘It is only a any reckoning it should have outgrown Finkel says the book seeks to investigate mild exaggeration to paint Turkey as in a juvenilia. He believes that Turkey has a complex subject succinctly by posing a state of constant vigilance against real and lost its youthful blush. ‘It is at the very series of questions that produce answers imagined attempts by the outside world to least adolescent. And, like an adolescent, that beget more questions. He is right in reinstate the Treaty of Sèvres.’ He goes on to it bristles to be taken seriously’, he says. saying that Turkey is a society in the throes write: ‘Rhetorical battles with an Armenian Andrew Finkel unquestionably has great of enormous change, and any snapshot of diaspora, the real skirmishes with Kurdish aff ection for Turkey, but he is also able the here-and-now is bound to be blurred. separatists, an obsession with the fate of the to look at it with a critical eye. Turkey is Yet he does manage to capture the reader oil-rich northern Iraq city of Kirkuk, and coming of age and has the ability to play a with his compact answers on topics relating past tensions with Greece in the Aegean greater role on the world stage but ‘it must to Turkey’s history, economy, politics, and over Cyprus in the Mediterranean – grow accustomed to the critical scrutiny society and religion. He does not touch these are all legacies of confrontations that with which it once regarded others.’ on some subjects at all; for example the the rest of Europe has largely forgotten.’ Well Andrew Finkel`s book, although not arts, theatre or ballet (yes, the Turkish state observed perhaps, but the assassination of comprehensive, is indeed (mildly) critical. ballet was founded over 60 years ago by 41 Turkish diplomats in the late 1970s and Well worth a read. the same lady who founded Britain’s Royal early 1980s by ASALA (Armenian Secret Ballet) perhaps because they are still of Army for the Liberation of Armenia) was Nevsal Hughes is a member of the editorial minority interest. Finkel manages not only far from rhetorical. On Cyprus, Finkel board to analyse complex issues in simple terms; does not mention how in 1974 the Turkish he also amuses the reader with interesting government sought the help of the UK as a anecdotes and analogies. fellow guarantor power to protect Turkish As an American journalist based in Cypriots aft er the Greek junta overthrew Turkey for more than twenty years, Finkel Archbishop Makarios. When the then

20 The Middle East in London February-March 2013 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: BOOKSBOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF LLebanonebanon AAfterfter thethe CCedaredar RRevolutionevolution

Edited by Michael Kerr and Are Knudsen

Lebanon is the prisoner of its geography and its history, a prize for invaders since ancient times, a small state still recovering from a bloody civil war. Th is book examines the country’s recent past since 2005, when a mass movement agitated against Syrian dominance in the wake of the assassination of then-prime minister, Rafi k Hariri. Also detailed are the role of Hezbollah and other political groups. Th e authors examine the changes that these events brought to Lebanon, be they lasting or ephemeral, and the challenges they represent for a state which, despite the resilience of its power-sharing system of government, remains hotly contested and unconsolidated.

Hurst, September 2012, £16.99 IIranian-Russianranian-Russian eencountersncounters EEmpiresmpires aandnd RRevolutionsevolutions ssinceince 11800800

By Stephanie Cronin

Over the past two hundred years, encounters between Iran and Russia have been both rich and complex. Th is book explores the myriad dimensions of the Iranian-Russian encounter during a period which saw both countries subject to revolutionary upheavals and transformed from dynastic empires to modernising, authoritarian states. Th e collection provides a fresh perspective on traditional preoccupations of international relations: wars and diplomacy, the hostility of opposing nationalisms, the Russian imperial menace in the nineteenth century and the Soviet threat in the twentieth century. Th e book examines subaltern as well as elite relations and combines a cultural, social and intellectual dimension with the political and diplomatic.

Routledge, October 2012, £90.25 TTimeime iinn tthehe SShadowshadows CCononfi nementnement iinn CCounterinsurgenciesounterinsurgencies

By Laleh Khalili

In this book, Laleh Khalili tells the story of how a proliferation of concentration camps, strategic hamlets, ‘security walls’ and off shore prisons has come to be. Time in the Shadows investigates the two major counterinsurgencies of our day: Israeli occupation of Palestine and the U.S. War on Terror. In rich detail, the book investigates Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay, CIA black sites, the Khiam Prison, and Gaza, among others, and links them to a history of colonial counterinsurgencies from the Boer War and the U.S. Indian wars, to Vietnam, the British small wars in Malaya, Kenya, Aden and Cyprus, and the French pacifi cation of Indochina and Algeria.

Stanford University Press, November 2012, £23.95

February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 21 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: BOOKSBOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF AAfterfter thethe SSheikhsheikhs TThehe CComingoming CCollapseollapse ooff tthehe GGulfulf MMonarchiesonarchies

By Christopher M Davidson

In the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring, the apparently steadfast Gulf monarchies have, at fi rst glance, re-affi rmed their status as the Middle East’s only real bastions of stability. In this book, however, noted Gulf expert Christopher Davidson contends that the collapse of these kings, emirs, and sultans is going to happen, and was always going to. It is now a matter of when the West’s steadfast allies fall. Th is is a bold claim to make but Davidson, who accurately forecast the economic turmoil that affl icted Dubai in 2009, has an enviable record in diagnosing social and political changes afoot in the region.

Hurst, November 2012, £26.39 BBeyondeyond FFeminismeminism aandnd IIslamismslamism GGenderender EEqualityquality iinn NNorthorth AAfricafrica

By Doris H. Gray

Are women in North Africa and the Middle East ‘feminist’? Or is being a Muslim incompatible with feminism? Th rough interviews with Moroccan activists and jurists, Doris Gray addresses these questions. She attempts to move beyond the simple bifurcation of ‘feminist’ and ‘Islamist’ to look at the many facets of internal gender discourse within one Muslim country, allowing for a more nuanced understanding of the discussion on women’s rights in the Muslim world in general.Th e status of women is a hotly debated topic, and this is visible through this discussion of what it means to engage with and promote feminist thought and actions in the Middle East and North Africa.

IB Tauris, November 2012, £56.60 MMuslimuslim wwomenomen aandnd IIslamicslamic RResurgenceesurgence RReligion,eligion, EEducationducation aandnd IIdentitydentity PPoliticsolitics iinn BBahrainahrain By Sophia Pandya

Bahrain’s tumultuous political landscape oft en overshadows the societal upheavals that this tiny country is facing. Sophia Pandaya cuts through this to examine how international Islamic revivalism coupled with increased secular education has impacted Muslim women’s religious practice and public position. She unsettles assumptions that education is a secularizing force for Muslim women, showing that modern education among Bahraini women has in fact deepened both their engagement with Islam and their political participation. Th e book uncovers what transpires when newly educated women have the opportunity to reinterpret religion and gain access to the work place and the complex intersection between women and public life, education and Islam.

IB Tauris, September 2012, £51.50

22 The Middle East in London February-March 2013 LISTINGS EEventsvents iinn LLondonondon

HE EVENTS and SOAS –SOAS, University of spoken word and performance art. www2.lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/ organisations listed below London, Th ornhaugh Street, Russell Various tickets prices - entry to the home.aspx Tare not necessarily endorsed Square, London WC1H 0XG exhibition by donation. Basement or supported by The Middle East in LSE – London School of Economics tunnels of Shoreditch Town Hall, 7:00 pm | In the Hands of Al Qaeda London. The accompanying texts and Political Science, Houghton 380 Old Street, London EC1V (Film) Organised by: Frontline Club. and images are based primarily Street, London WC2 2AE 9LT. T 020 7938 3336 E info@ Award-winning Guardian journalist on information provided by the armenianinstitute.org.uk W www. Ghaith Abdul-Ahad and director organisers and do not necessarily armenianinstitute.org.uk Safa Al Ahmad risk their lives to reflect the views of the compilers FEBRUARY EVENTS get inside Al Qaeda in the Arabian or publishers. While every possible 7:30pm | Mare Rider (Play) Peninsula. Followed by Q&A with effort is made to ascertain the Organised by: Arcola Th eatre. Ghaith Abdul-Ahad and producer accuracy of these listings, readers Friday 1 February Until Saturday 16 February. Jamie Doran. Tickets: £10/£8 conc. are advised to seek confirmation Saturday matinees at 2:30pm. Play Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, of all events using the contact 12:00 pm | Salon Mashup: by Leyla Nazli. Elka is the sinister London, W2 1JG. T 020 7479 8940 details provided for each event. Displacement + Regeneration - Mare Rider, in myth she haunts W www.frontlineclub.com Submitting entries and updates: Armenian perspectives of loss new mothers and rides bareback please send all updates and and resettlement Organised by: through Anatolia. Selma is about submissions for entries related Th e Armenian Institute. Until to give birth at Homerton Hospital Tuesday 5 February to future events via e-mail to Sunday 3 February. A three day in Hackney, Elka takes her on a [email protected] or by fax to collaborative event featuring art journey, probing the spaces between 10:00 am | Roger Allen Masterclass 020 7898 4329. exhibitions, installations and Selma's nightmarish visions and on Arabic Literary Translation fi lm screenings. Live evening the reality of those around her. Organised by: Banipal. Doors open BM – British Museum, Great performances from 7:30pm Tickets: £18/£14 conc./Saturday 9:30am. Renowned translator and Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG including music, theatre, dance, matinees £16/£12 conc. Arcola professor of Arabic Literature Roger Th eatre, 24 Ashwin Street, London Allen is the winner of the 2012 Saif E8 3DL. T 020 7503 1646 W www. Ghobash-Banipal Prize for Arabic

arcolatheatre.com Literary Translation. Celebrate with The Idea of Iran: From Saljuq Collapse to the Banipal Trust for Arab Literature Mongol Conquest Saturday 2 February at two events in London (see listing at 7:00pm below). Admission free - 7:30 pm | Jashn-e sadeh celebrations Pre-registration required. Meeting with Persian, Azeri and Kurdish Room & Library, Th e Arab British music (Concert) Doors open Centre, 1 Gough Square, London 7:00pm. Peyman Heydarian on EC4A 3DE. T 020 7832 1350 E santur will be accompanied by [email protected] singers Forough Shirazi and Olcay Bayir and musicians of the Iranian 1:15 pm | Inside the library of band at SOAS. Tickets: £15/£10 Ashurbanipal, King of the World conc./£6 SOAS students. Lecture (Gallery Talk) Jonathan Taylor. Th eatre G2, SOAS. E events.santur@ Organised by: BM. Admission free. yahoo.com W www.thesantur.com Room 55, BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www.britishmuseum.org Monday 4 February 12th-century CE Harpy vessel contemporary with the Dhakhira-ye Khwarazmshahi (Courtesy of Bonham’s London, April 2012) 5:45 pm | Th e Art of Heritage A Symposium 6:30 pm | Rethinking Diff usion: Collection: traditional dress 1989, the Color Revolutions, in Saudi Arabia (Lecture) Aisa Organised by Saturday 9 February 2013 The Centre for Iranian Studies, and the Arab Uprisings (Lecture) Martinez, LMEI Organised by: 9.40am - 6.25pm (Registra on from 9.00am) SOAS Valerie Bunce, Cornell University. London Middle East Institute, SOAS Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre and Organised by: LSE Middle East (LMEI). Part of the LMEI's Tuesday SOAS, University of London The Faculty of Oriental Studies, Russell Square University of Oxford Centre. Why do publics decide to Evening Lecture Programme on the London WC1H 0XG challenge authoritarian rulers; why Contemporary Middle East, Th e Supported by do they take diff erent approaches Middle East - Changing Economic Admission The Soudavar Memorial Founda on £15.00; £10.00 conc. (OAPs & LMEI Affi liates) to achieving these ends; and and Political Landscapes. Tea and Students Free (to include lunch) what explains the spread of such biscuits available from 5:15pm.

Enquiries & Bookings challenges across state boundaries? Admission free. Khalili Lecture Tel. No. 020 7898 4490 E-mail: [email protected] Admission free. NAB 1.04, New Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 7898 4490 E www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/events/ Academic Building, LSE. T 020 7955 [email protected] W www.soas.ac.uk/ 6250 E [email protected] W lmei/events/

February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 23 7:00 pm | Transformations in Uprisings, Israel-Palestine and LSE. E euroinst.turkish.studies@ Th eatres of Violence and Emerging Egyptian Journalism since the Beyond (Lecture) Phyllis Bennis, lse.ac.uk W www2.lse.ac.uk/ Publics (Keynote Lecture) Charles January 25 Revolution (Book New Internationalism Project, IPS. europeanInstitute/Research/ Tripp, SOAS. Part of the conference Launch) Organised by: Frontline Organised by: LSE Middle East ContemporaryTurkishStudies/ on Urban Violence in the Middle Club. In this launch event for her Centre. Admission free. CLM 3.02, Home.aspx East: Histories of Place and new book, Naomi Sakr looks at Clement House, LSE. T 020 7955 Event, see listing for Th ursday 14 recent transformations in Egyptian 6250 E [email protected] W 6:30 pm | Th e Implications of the February. Taking examples largely journalism, exploring diverse www2.lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/ Israeli and American Elections from recent political events in the approaches to converged media home.aspx on the Future of Palestinian- Middle East, Professor Tripp will and the place of participatory cross- Israeli Relations and the Peace look at the nature of the challenge media networks in developing 7:45 pm | Percussion Maestro Process (Lecture) Khalil Shikaki, to established authority represented the country’s body of professional Mohammad Reza Mortazavi: Palestinian Center for Policy and by people’s eff orts to defi ne and to journalists. Tickets: £12.50/£10 Ancient Roots New Leaves Survey Research (PSR), Ramallah. occupy public space. Admission conc. Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk (Concert) Organised by: Southbank Organised by: Confl ict Research free. Khalil Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. Place, London, W2 1JG. T 020 7479 Centre. Mortazavi, virtuoso player Group/Department of Government, T 020 7898 4330 E [email protected] 8940 W www.frontlineclub.com of the Iranian goblet-shaped hand LSE. Shikaki will discuss the likely W www.soas.ac.uk/uvme/ drum, the tombak, in his fi rst full direction of Palestinian-Israeli 7:00 pm | Saif Ghobash Banipal feature UK event.Tickets: £20/£15/ relations in the aft ermath of the re- Th ursday 14 February Prize Award Ceremony Organised conc. 50% off . Purcell Room, election of Obama and given the by: Banipal. Roger Allen, the winner Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, Israeli election in January 2013. 9:30 am | Urban Violence in of this year’s Prize, in conversation London SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 Admission free. New Th eatre, East the Middle East: Histories of with Bensalem Himmich, the author W www.southbankcentre.co.uk Building, LSE. T 020 7955 7553 E Place and Event (Four-Day of A Muslim Suicide. Doors open [email protected] W www2. Conference:Wednesday13- 6:30pm. Chaired by Paul Starkey, Saturday 9 February lse.ac.uk Saturday16 February) Organised by: Banipal Trust for Arab Literature. Department of History, SOAS and Followed by a reception. Admission 9:40 am | Th e Idea of Iran: From Tuesday 12 February the London Middle East Institute, free. Th e Mosaic Rooms, A M Saljuq Collapse to Mongol SOAS (LMEI) and funded by the Qattan Foundation, Tower House, Conquest (Symposium) James 5:30 pm | From Gadaffi to AHRC. Building on a workshop 226 Cromwell Road, London SW5 Allan; Michal Biran; Edmund revolution and beyond – Libya’s held at the Zentrum Moderner 0SW. E [email protected] Bosworth; Hormoz Ebrahimnejad; legacy for dictatorship (Lecture) Orient Berlin in December 2011 Homa Katouzian; David Morgan; Organised by: Th e Society for Libyan and covering the Middle East, Wednesday 6 February Alka Patel; Christine van Studies. Lindsey Hilsum, Channel North Africa and Central Asia Ruymbeke. Organised by: Centre 4 News. Admission free. British papers feature crowds and elites; 7:00 pm | And these things we for Iranian Studies and the Faculty Academy, 10-11 Carlton House, urban space, discipline, discourse put on the altar: Investigating of Oriental Studies, University Terrace, London, SW1Y 5AH. E and ritual performance; empire, Artistic Reuse in the Treasury of of Oxford and sponsored by the [email protected] W colonialism, war and revolution. San Marco in Venice (Lecture) Soudavar Memorial Foundation. www.societyforlibyanstudies.org Admission free - Pre-registration Stefania Gerevini, Courtauld Aft er the death of Sultan Sanjar in required. Room G2, SOAS. T 020 Institute, London. Organised by: the mid twelft h century the Saljuq 6.00 pm | Kandalanu the 7898 4330 E [email protected] W Islamic Art Circle at SOAS. Part empire rapidly unravelled. Th e Chaldean(?) (Lecture) Jacob Dahl, www.soas.ac.uk/uvme/ of the Islamic Art Circle at SOAS tenth Idea of Iran symposium will University of Oxford. Organised Lecture Programme. Chaired by explore the political dynamics of by: Anglo-Israel Archaeological 7:00 pm | Anwar Hamed: Jaff a Doris Behrens-Abouseif, SOAS. this age – up to the second Mongol Society (AIAS) and the Institute of Prepares Morning Coff ee (Book Admission free. Khalili Lecture invasion under Hulegu in the 1250s Archaeology, UCL. Admission free. Launch) Organised by: Th e Mosaic Th eatre, SOAS. T 0771 408 7480 and the establishment of the Il- Lecture Th eatre G6, Ground Floor, Rooms. Launch of Anwar Hamed’s E [email protected] W Khanid state. Tickets: £15/£10 conc. Institute of Archaeology, UCL, latest novel which was long-listed www.soas.ac.uk/art/islac/ & LMEI Affi liates/Students free - 31-34 Gordon Square, London for the International Prize for Arabic Pre-registration required. Brunei WC1H OPY. T 020 8349 5754 E Fiction. Readings will be in both 7:30 pm | Th e Reluctant Gallery Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T [email protected] W www.aias. English and Arabic. Admission free. Revolutionary (Film) Organised 020 7898 4330 E [email protected] W org.uk Th e Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell by: Th e Mosaic Rooms. Portrait of www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/events/ Road, London SW5 0SW. T 020 Yemen as the revolution unfolds, 8:00 pm | Th e Shahnameh by 7370 9990 E rsvp@mosaicrooms. told through the eyes of local tour 1:15 pm | How the Assyrians Xanthe Gresham, with music org W www.mosaicrooms.org guide Kais. Filmed over the course controlled their empire (Gallery by Arash Moradi (Performance) of the past year we see Kais’s journey Talk) Lorna Oakes. Organised Organised by: Th e Crick Crack Friday 15 February from pro-President to reluctant by: BM. Admission free. Room Club. Th e wild mythology of Persia revolutionary. Followed by Q&A 6, BM. T 020 7323 8181 W www. with magical horses, epic heroes, and 9.30 am | Urban Violence in the with the director, Sean McAllister. britishmuseum.org consuming passions in this world Middle East: Histories of Place Tickets: £5. Th e Mosaic Rooms, of romance, lust, tragedy and war. and Event (Four-Day Conference: 226 Cromwell Road, London Monday 11 February Tickets: £9/£7 conc. (unsuitable for Wednesday13-Saturday16 SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 E under 12s). Soho Th eatre Upstairs, February) See listing for Th ursday [email protected] W www. 6:00 pm | Kurdish Problem as a Dean Street, London, W1D 3NE. T 14 February. mosaicrooms.org Problem of Turkish Identity: What 020 7478 0100 W www.sohotheatre. do the Turks Want? (Seminar) com Saturday 16 February Th ursday 7 February Ahmet İnsel, Galatasaray University. Organised by: LSE Contemporary Wednesday 13 February 9.30 am | Urban Violence in the 6:30 pm | New Year, Old Wars: US Turkish Studies. Admission free. Middle East: Histories of Place Policy in Afghanistan, the Arab COW1.11, Cowdray House, 5:30 pm | Fighting for Space: and Event (Four-Day Conference:

24 The Middle East in London February-March 2013 Wednesday13-Saturday16 Marie Legendre, Oxford. Organised Changing Economic and Political Arab countries, the Jews of Algeria February) See listing for Th ursday by: Department of History, SOAS. Landscapes. Tea and biscuits were unusual: they held French 14 February. Seminar on the History of the Near available from 5:15pm. Admission nationality, and the great majority and Middle East. Admission free. free. Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. resettled in France, not Israel. Lyn 7:00 pm | Rumi's Spiritual Room G3, SOAS. E tb31@soas. T 020 7898 4490 E [email protected] Julius will explain the background Odyssey(Concert) Organised by: ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/history/ W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ to this unique community and Light of Music in cooperation with events/ the dilemmas confronting them. the Centre for Iranian Studies. Wednesday 20 February Tickets: £10. Hampstead Garden SOAS. A performance that will 6:15 pm | Th e royal palaces of the Suburb Synagogue (HGSS), Norrice take you through the life journey Late Assyrian Empire (Seminar) 7:00 pm | Abdellatif Laâbi & André Lea, N2. E [email protected] of Mowlana Jalaledin Balkhi in David Kertai, UCL. Organised by: Naffi s-Sahely: Th e Bottom of the W www.spiroark.org fi ve diff erent stages. Each stage is Department of the Languages and Jar (Book Launch) Organised by: described in Balkhi’s own words Cultures of the Near and Middle Th e Mosaic Rooms in association taken from Divan-e-Shams, his East, SOAS. Convened by Richard with the Poetry Translation Th ursday 21 February collection of lyrical poems, which Bussmann, UCL Institute of Centre. Moroccan poet, novelist, will be recited in both Persian Archaeology. Admission free. Room playwright, translator, and political 6:30 pm | Th e New Middle East: and English. Th e recitals will be B104, SOAS. E [email protected] W activist Abdellatif Laâbi launches protest and revolution in the Arab accompanied by Iranian music www.soas.ac.uk/about/events/ the English translation of his novel world (Lecture) Fawaz Gerges, using traditional instruments. and will be joined by the translator Middle East Centre at LSE; Charles Tickets: £25/£20/£10. Brunei Tuesday 19 February André Naffi s-Sahely for readings Tripp, SOAS. Organised by: LSE Gallery Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T and discussion. Admission free. Th e Works. What drives large-scale, 020 7898 4330 E [email protected] W 5:45 pm | Iran's Nuclear Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell Road, popular mobilizations in the Middle www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/events/ Programme: A Surge into London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 East and North Africa? And what Modernity (Lecture) David E [email protected] W www. are the challenges and prospects Monday 18 February Patrikarakos, author and journalist. mosaicrooms.org for democratic transformation Organised by: London Middle East and consolidation in the region? 5:15 pm | Beyond conversion Institute, SOAS (LMEI). Part of the 8:00 pm | Suitcase or coffi n: 50 Chaired by Kristian Coates to Islam: identity and social LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture years since the exodus of the Jews of Ulrichsen, Kuwait Programme at agenda in early Islamic Egypt, the Programme on the Contemporary Algeria (Talk) Organised by: Spiro LSE. Admission free. Hong Kong papyrological evidence (Seminar) Middle East, Th e Middle East - Ark. Of the 850,000 Jews who left Th eatre, Clement House, LSE. T 020

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February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 25 7955 6043 E [email protected] W registration required. Room B102, Edinburgh. Organised by: City University London and former www2.lse.ac.uk SOAS. E [email protected] W Department of History, SOAS. BBC correspondent. Organised by: www.tasg.org.uk Seminar on the History of the Near Th e Olive Tree Middle East Forum. 6:30 pm | In My Mother's Arms and Middle East. Admission free. Admission free. College Building, (Film) Organised by: DocHouse. Saturday 23 February Room G3, SOAS. E tb31@soas. City University London, 280 St John Mohamed & Atia Al Daradji (2011), ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/history/ Street, London EC1V 4PB. W www. Iraq/UK/ Netherlands, 85 min. In 11:00 am | Pith Helmets and events/ city.ac.uk/olive-tree/forum a dangerous district in Baghdad Petticoats: Women in 19th Century Husham cares fi ercely for a large Egypt (Seminar) Helene Virenque; 6:00 pm | Sex-Segregation in group of damaged children. When Silvia Einaudi; Henrietta McCall; Academic Careers: Revisiting the Th ursday 28 February their landlord gives them just two Joanna Kyffi n. Organised by: Th e Turkish Puzzle (Seminar) Berkay weeks to vacate the orphanage Egypt Exploration Society (EES). Özcan, LSE. Organised by: LSE 1:05 pm | Karim Said (piano) he fi ghts tirelessly not to hand Th e lives and work of a number Contemporary Turkish Studies. (Concert) Organised by: LSE them back over to the brutal state of women who worked, lived and Admission free. COW1.11, Cowdray Arts. Karim Said is a protégé care system. Tickets: £7. Th e Lexi wrote about Egypt and Egyptology, House, LSE. E euroinst.turkish. of Barenboim with who he has Cinema, 194b Chamberlayne Road, during the 19th and early 20th [email protected] W www2.lse. performed at the London Proms. Kensal Rise, London NW10 3JU. T centuries. Tickets: £28/£23 (EES ac.uk/europeanInstitute/Research/ Admission free. Shaw Library, Old 0871 7042069 W www.dochouse. Members)/Students: £20/£16 (EES ContemporaryTurkishStudies/ Building, LSE. T 020 7955 6043 E org / http://thelexicinema.co.uk Members). Th e Egypt Exploration Home.aspx [email protected] W www2.lse.ac.uk Society, 3 Doughty Mews, London Friday 22 February WC1N 2PG. T 020 7242 1880 E 7:00 pm | TBC (Film) Organised by: 6:00 pm | Annual Mallowan [email protected] W www.ees. Centre for Iranian Studies, SOAS. Lecture: British Archaeology in 6:00 pm | Turkish-Israeli Relations: ac.uk Part of the Centre’s monthly fi lm Iraq: 1951-1969 (Lecture) Joan Is the Story Ending? (Lecture) screenings. Tickets: £2 on the door. Oates. Organised by: Th e British Alon Liel, Tel Aviv University. Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T Institute for the Study of Iraq. Organised by: Turkish Area Study Monday 25 February 020 7898 4490 E [email protected] W Dr Oates will talk about living in Group (TASG). Th e 2013 John www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/events/ Baghdad in the 1950s and '60s, Martin Lecture. 5:30pm for 6:00pm. 5:15 pm | Th e fi rst Muslim both carrying out research in the Tickets: £10/Student non-members empire: re-framing the Umayyads Iraq Museum and excavating with £5/TASG members free - Pre- (Seminar) Andrew Marsham, Tuesday 26 February the British School of Archaeology in Iraq at Nimrud. Admission free 5:45 pm | Rags, Tommy-Guns, - Pre-registration required. Th e Department of History and the King: Palestinians and British Academy, 10 Carlton House the Pedagogical Regime, c. 1956. Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH. E (Lecture) Mezna Qato, St Antony's [email protected] W www.bisi.ac.uk College, Oxford. Organised by: Urban Violence in the Middle East: Council for British Research in the 7:00 pm | Chris Menist: Qat, Coff ee Levant (CBRL) and the London & Qambus Organised by: Th e Histories of Place and Event Middle East Institute, SOAS Mosaic Rooms. Although part of the (LMEI). Part of the LMEI's Tuesday Arabic musical tradition, Yemeni Evening Lecture Programme on the music takes its rhythmic lead as Contemporary Middle East, Th e much from the East African coast Middle East - Changing Economic as the surrounding Arab Peninsula. and Political Landscapes. Qato DJ Chris Menist plays rare Yemeni off ers an alternative historical vinyl singles from the ‘60s & ‘70s, reading of Palestinian education featuring vintage oud and vocal in which students, teachers, and music from Yemen. Admission free. bureaucrats, Palestinians and East Th e Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell Bank Jordanians, negotiate a deeply Road, London SW5 0SW. T 020 anxious relationship with the 7370 9990 E rsvp@mosaicrooms. org W www.mosaicrooms.org International Conference, 13 - 16 February 2013 Hashemite regime and with each other. Tea and biscuits available Room G2 - SOAS, University of London from 5:15pm. Admission free. 8:00 pm | Paper Dolls (Play) Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T Organised by: Tricycle Th eatre. Admission Free (Pre-registration Required) 020 7898 4490 E [email protected] W Until Saturday 13 April. Matinees at www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ 2:00pm & 4:00pm. Play by Philip Keynote Lecture Himberg. Based on a true story, a Charles Tripp (SOAS) group of Filipino immigrants work Wednesday 13 February 2013, 5.30pm, Khalili Lecture Theatre Wednesday 27 February as live-in carers for elderly Orthodox Jewish men in Tel Aviv. Six days Convenors: 6:00 pm | War and Diplomacy: a week they provide dedicated Nelida Fuccaro and Rasmus Elling Lessons from British Experiences support to their employers. But on

Enquiries & Pre-registration: Tel. 020 7898 4330 E-mail: [email protected] in the Middle East (Panel the seventh day they transform into Website: http://www.soas.ac.uk/uvme/ Discussion) Sir Tom Phillips a musical drag act. Various ticket KCMG, former British Ambassador prices. Tricycle Th eatre, 269 Kilburn

Funded by the AHRC Supported by the London Middle East Institute to Saudi Arabia and to Israel; Frank High Road, London NW6 7JR. T Ledwidge, barrister and former 020 7328 1000 W www.tricycle. military offi cer; James Rodgers, co.uk

26 The Middle East in London February-March 2013 EVENTS OUTSIDE Th ursday 7 February but his career in Archaeology Friday 22 February LONDON started in Britain, when he 5:00 pm | Wine, Music, Dance was inspired by the pioneering 5:00 pm | Title TBC (Seminar) and Merrymaking in Ancient techniques of Lt-Gen. A H L F Pitt- Marwa Daoudy, St Antony’s Friday 1 February and Medieval Iran (Talk) Dariush Rivers, considered by some to be the College, Oxford. See listing for Borbor, Research Institute and fi rst 'scientifi c' archaeologist to work Friday 1 February for venue and 5:00 pm | Th e rise of Salafi sm Library of Iranian Studies (RILIS), in Britain. Tickets: £35/£28 (EES contact details. and its impact on the Tunisian Tehran. Organised by: Shahnama Members)/Students: £17.50/£14 transition (Seminar) Francesco Centre, University of Cambridge. (EES Members). Th e Pitt-Rivers Cavatorta, Dublin City University. Admission free. Room 8 & 9, Museum, South Parks Road, MARCH EVENTS Organised by: Middle East Centre, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Oxford OX1 3PP. T 020 7242 1880 Oxford. Tickets: Admission free. Studies, University of Cambridge, E [email protected] W www.ees. Middle East Centre, 68 Woodstock Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge CB3 ac.uk Friday 1 March Road, St Antony's College, Oxford 9DA. E [email protected] W www. OX2 6JF. T 01865 284780 E julia. ames.cam.ac.uk Friday 15 February 8:00 pm | Paper Dolls (Play) See [email protected] W www.sant. listing for Th ursday 28 February. ox.ac.uk Friday 8 February 5:00 pm | Iraq: from war to a new authoritarianism (Seminar) Toby Sunday 3 March 5:00 pm | Iran's Infl uence: A Dodge, LSE. See listing for Friday 1 Tuesday 5 February Religious-Political State and February for details. 1:00 pm | Karim Said (Concert) Society in its Region (Seminar) Organised by: Southbank Centre. 6:30 pm | Music: From Komitas Elaheh Rostami-Povey, SOAS. See Karim Said's, the young Jordanian- to Rabiz (Seminar) Organised listing for Friday 1 February for Tuesday 19 February born pianist and protégé of Daniel by: Oxford Armenian Studies. venue and contact details. Barenboim, second recital in his Th e writings of Komitas about 6:30 pm | Literature: "People of trio of concerts tracing the progress Armenian ethnographic music Saturday 9 February the Book" (Seminar) Organised of piano music through the 20th and the sociological dimensions of by: Oxford Armenian Studies. century. Tickets: £12/£10/conc. Armenian music in both Armenia 10:30 am | Th e Fathers of Introduction to diaspora writers, 50% off . Purcell Room, Southbank and the Diaspora. Admission free. Archaeology: Petrie & Pitt-Rivers such as Vahe Oshagan, Vahe Centre, Belvedere Road, London Lecture Room 1, Th e Oriental (Study Day) Organised by: Th e Berberian and others and a SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W www. Institute, Pusey Lane, Oxford OX1 Egypt Exploration Society (EES) sociological reading of their works. southbankcentre.co.uk 2LE. T 01865 278200 E hratch. and the Pitt-Rivers Museum, Admission free. Lecture Room 1, [email protected] / theo. Oxford. Sir William Matthew Th e Oriental Institute, Pusey Lane, Monday 4 March [email protected] Flinders Petrie is oft en referred to as Oxford OX1 2LE. T 01865 278200 E the 'father of Egyptian Archaeology' [email protected] 6:15 pm | Women, boats and / [email protected]

February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 27 LONDON MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE School of Oriental and African Studies

Tuesday Lecture Programme on the Contemporary Middle East Spring 2013

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28 The Middle East in London February-March 2013 papyri: Household rituals in Egypt Th ursday 7 March of the Nile: Water Metaphors in East expert in conversation with between the 10th and the 7th century the Tale of the Eloquent Peasant Maneul Almeida, Th e Majalla BC (Seminar) Paolo del Vesco, 4:00 pm | Divine Sight, Divine (Seminar) Organised by: Th e magazine. Discussion on why UCL. Organised by: Department Justice, and Eye-Stones in the Egypt Exploration Society (EES). Yemen, sensitive neighbour of of the Languages and Cultures of Archaeological Record and in Linda Steynor takes a new look at Saudi Arabia and strategically the Near and Middle East, SOAS. the Hebrew Bible (Lecture) Diana the Tale of the Eloquent Peasant vital to Middle East security, has Convened by Richard Bussmann, Edelman. Organised by: Anglo- and illustrates how the Peasant's veered towards massive instability. UCL Institute of Archaeology. Israel Archaeological Society (AIAS) colourful language and the rich Admission free. Th e Mosaic Rooms, Admission free. Room B104, SOAS. and the Palestine Exploration Fund tapestry of his petitions off er an 226 Cromwell Road, London E [email protected] W www.soas. (PEF). Admission free. Stevenson insight into an Ancient Egyptian's SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 E ac.uk/about/events/ Lecture Th eatre, Clore Education view of himself and his place in [email protected] W www. Centre, BM. T 020 8349 5754 E society. Tickets: £28/£23 (EES mosaicrooms.org [email protected] W www.aias. Members)/Students: £20/£16 (EES Tuesday 5 March org.uk Members). Th e Egypt Exploration Monday 18 March Society, 3 Doughty Mews, London 5:30 pm | Iran’s Expanding 7:00 pm | Re-visiting State-Tribe WC1N 2PG. T 020 7242 1880 E 5:15 pm | Born in the Global Relations with Latin America Relations in Yemen (Talk) Khaled [email protected] W www.ees. Nineteenth Century: Th e (Lecture) Manouchehr Dorraj, Fattah, University of St Andrews. ac.uk Emergence of Sectarianism in the Texas Christian University Organised by: Th e Mosaic Rooms. Modern Middle East (Seminar) and Georgetown’s Center for Talk on Yemen and state-tribe Monday 11 March Ussama Makdisi, Rice University. International and Regional Studies, relations in light of the recent Organised by: Department of Doha, Qatar. Organised by: London upheavals. Admission free. Th e 5:15 pm | Pietism in Ottoman History, SOAS. Seminar on the Middle East Institute, SOAS Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell Road, Islam: Th e case of Birgivī’s al- History of the Near and Middle (LMEI). Part of the LMEI's Tuesday London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 Tarīqa al-muhammadiyya East. Admission free. Room G3, Evening Lecture Programme E [email protected] W www. (Seminar) Katharina Ivanyi, SOAS. E [email protected] W www. on the Contemporary Middle mosaicrooms.org St Michael’s College, Vermont. soas.ac.uk/history/events/ East, Th e Middle East - Changing Organised by: Department of Economic and Political Landscapes. 7:00 pm | Dr Najib and Mr History, SOAS. Seminar on the 7:00 pm | TBC (Film) Organised by: Tea and biscuits available from Karzai: a Tale of Two Retreats History of the Near and Middle Centre for Iranian Studies, SOAS. 5:15pm. Chaired by Arshin Adib- (Lecture) Jonathan Steele, East. Admission free. Room G3, Part of the Centre’s monthly fi lm Moghaddam, SOAS. Admission author/International aff airs SOAS. E [email protected] W www. screenings. Tickets: £2 on the door. free. Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. columnist. Organised by: Centre soas.ac.uk/history/events/ Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T T 020 7898 4490 E [email protected] of Contemporary Central Asia & 020 7898 4490 E [email protected] W W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ the Caucasus (CCCAC). Anthony 6:15 pm | Investigating life in www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/events/ Hyman Memorial Lecture. Egyptian Kush: the latest results Th e US-led international force from Amara West (Seminar) 7:00 pm | Divine Love in Early Wednesday 6 March in Afghanistan has started its Neal Spencer, British Museum. Persian Prose (Lecture) William withdrawal which is due to be Organised by: Department of the C Chittick. Organised by: Th e 7:00 pm | Th e Symbolic Possession completed exactly a quarter of a Languages and Cultures of the Temenos Academy. Doors open of the World: European century aft er Soviet troops withdrew. Near and Middle East, SOAS. 6:15pm. Tickets: £6/£4 conc. Th e Cartography in Mughal Allegory Will the Karzai government be able Convened by Richard Bussmann, Lincoln Centre, 18 Lincoln's Inn (Lecture) Ebba Koch, Institute to resist the advance of today's UCL Institute of Archaeology. Fields, London WC2A 3ED. T of Art History, University of insurgency? Admission free. Khalili Admission free. Room B104, SOAS. 01233 813663 E temenosacademy@ Vienna, Austria. Organised by: Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 7898 E [email protected] W www.soas. myfastmail.com W www. Islamic Art Circle at SOAS. Part 4892/3 E [email protected] W ac.uk/about/events/ temenosacademy.org of the Islamic Art Circle at SOAS www.soas.ac.uk/cccac/ Lecture Programme. Chaired by Tuesday 12 March Tuesday 19 March Doris Behrens-Abouseif, SOAS. Friday 8 March Admission free. Khalili Lecture 5:45 pm | Revolt in Syria: Eye- 5:45 pm | Th e Making and Th eatre, SOAS. T 0771 408 7480 12:00 pm | Th e First World Witness to the Uprising (Lecture) Unmaking of a Zionist: A Personal E [email protected] W War and the Ottoman Empire: Stephen Starr, freelance journalist. and Political Journey (Lecture) www.soas.ac.uk/art/islac/ Th e Home-Front Perspective Organised by: London Middle East Anthony Lerman, author; Ghada (Seminar) Yiğit Akın, College of Institute, SOAS (LMEI). Part of the Karmi, Institute of Arab and Islamic 7:30 pm | A New Day in Old Sana’a Charleston/Zentrum Moderner LMEI's Tuesday Evening Lecture Studies, University of Exeter. (Film) Organised by: Th e Mosaic Orient, Berlin. Organised by: Programme on the Contemporary Organised by: London Middle Rooms. Filmed entirely on location SOAS Modern Turkish Studies Middle East, Th e Middle East - East Institute, SOAS (LMEI) and in the ancient city of Sana’a, this is Programme (London Middle East Changing Economic and Political the Centre for Palestine Studies, the fi rst feature fi lm ever to come Institute, SOAS) and sponsored by Landscapes. Tea and biscuits SOAS. Anthony Lerman, author out of Yemen. Directed by British- Nurol Bank. Part of the Seminars available from 5:15pm. Admission of Th e Making and Unmaking of Yemeni director Bader Ben Brisi, on Turkey series. Convened by free. Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. a Zionist: A Personal and Political it tells the story of young man who Benjamin Fortna, SOAS. Admission T 020 7898 4490 E [email protected] Journey in conversation with Ghada must choose between true love or free. Room 116, SOAS. T 020 7898 W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/events/ Karmi. Part of the LMEI's Tuesday marriage and duty. Tickets: £5. Th e 4431 E [email protected] W www.soas. Evening Lecture Programme on the Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell Road, ac.uk/lmei/events/ Th ursday 14 March Contemporary Middle East, Th e London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 Middle East - Changing Economic E [email protected] W www. Saturday 9 March 7:00 pm | Yemen Divided (Talk) and Political Landscapes. Tea and mosaicrooms.org Organised by: Th e Mosaic Rooms. biscuits available from 5:15pm. 1:00 pm | An Allegory on the Banks Noel Brehony, author and Middle Chaired by Gilbert Achcar, SOAS.

February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 29 Admission free. Khalili Lecture Tickets: £25/£15 and £10 (student). [email protected] / theo. Until 6 March | Suhair Sibai: Sweet Th eatre, SOAS. T 020 7898 4490 E Brunei Gallery Lecture Th eatre, [email protected] Melancholy Works by Syrian [email protected] W www.soas.ac.uk/ SOAS. T 020 7898 4330 E vp6@soas. artist Suhair Sibai who explores lmei/events/ ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/ the concepts of identity and the events/ / www.thesantur.com Friday 8 March Self, using the female form as her Th ursday 21 March preferred medium for doing so. Wednesday 27 March 5:00 pm | The Emergence of According to Suhair, the level of 6:30 pm | Th e Politics of Business Minorities in the Middle East: Th e multiculturalism and diversity to in the Middle East aft er the Arab 5:30 pm | Opposition in the Gulf Politics of Community in French which many of us are exposed has Spring (Discussion) Steff en Hertog, Monarchies: a Second Spring Mandate Syria (Seminar) Benjamin the potential to cause the discord, LSE; Giacomo Luciani, Paris School (Lecture) Chris Davidson, Durham White, Birmingham University. See displacement, and division of the of International Aff airs at Sciences- University. Organised by: Th e listing for Friday 1 March for venue Self. Admission free. Lahd Gallery Po; Marc Valeri, University of British Foundation for the Study and contact details. London, 92 Heath Street, London Exeter. Organised by: LSE Middle of Arabia (BFSA) and the Kuwait NW3 1DP. T 020 7435 7323 E East Centre. Discussion on the Programme at LSE in association [email protected] W www. political role of regional capitalists with London Middle East Institute, EXHIBITIONS lahdgallery.com during and aft er the Arab uprisings, SOAS (LMEI). Admission free. prospects for the emergence of a Khalili Lecture Th eatre, SOAS. E Until 22 March | Last of the more independent bourgeoisie, [email protected] W Friday 1 February Dictionary Men - A Multimedia economic reform and new social www.thebfsa.org Exhibition on the Yemeni Sailors contracts. Admission free. New Until 17 February | Project Space: of South Shields Over the course Th eatre, East Building, LSE. T 020 6:00 pm | Talking to the Objects in Mirror are Closer of 100 years, thousands of seamen 7955 6198 E [email protected] W Enemy: Lessons from the Olive than they Appear Organised with from Yemen settled in the small www2.lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/ Tree Programme Experience Contemporary Image Collective, town of South Shields. Th is home.aspx (Discussion) Organised by: Th e Cairo, the fi lm and video works in multimedia exhibition features Olive Tree Middle East Forum. An this exhibition focus on the tension interviews with and portraits of Friday 22 March opportunity to hear fi rst-hand from between image, narrative and the 14 of these sailors who settled in alumni of the Olive Tree Programme viewer’s perception. Artists: Herman South Shields. Producer’s Talk at TBC | Art, War & Peace: Responses about their experiences back home Asselberghs, Manon de Boer, Sherif 12:00pm on Saturday 2 March with to Iraq Organised by: Th e Mosaic aft er graduation. Admission free. El-Azma, Patricia Esquivias, Lars Iranian fi lm director Tina Gharavi Rooms. Ten years on from the College Building, City University Laumann, Maha Maamoun, Ján who began work on the Last of the invasion of Iraq, this event will bring London, 280 St John Street, London Mančuška. Admission free. Tate Dictionary Men project in 2005. She together Iraqi artists to talk about EC1V 4PB. T 020 7040 4112 E Modern, Level 3, Bankside, London will be in conversation with Venetia their experiences and practices in [email protected] W www.city. SE1 9TG. T 020 7887 8888 E visiting. Porter of the BM. Admission free. relation to the war. Alan Ingram ac.uk/olive-tree/forum [email protected] W Th e Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell in collaboration with Ark & UCL www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern Road, London SW5 0SW. T 020 present a day of talks, workshops 7370 9990 E [email protected] & panel discussions. Tickets: TBC. EVENTS OUTSIDE Until 23 February | Halim Al W www.mosaicrooms.org Th e Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell LONDON Karim - Witness From Baghdad Road, London SW5 0SW. T 020 Al Karim's work bridges the gap Until 7 April | Light from the 7370 9990 E rsvp@mosaicrooms. between photographic reality and Middle East: New Photography org W www.mosaicrooms.org Friday 1 March optical illusion, this exhibition First major exhibition of showcases his earliest photographs, contemporary photography from 12:00 pm | Changing Historical 5:00 pm | Patriot of Persia: when he began experimenting and about the Middle East featuring Perceptions in Turkey: Th e Muhammad Mossadegh and with the blurred visions of his over 90 works by artists from Case of Sultan Abdülhamid a Very British Coup (Seminar) subjects, alongside his most iconic across the region and showcasing a II (Seminar) Serkan Yazıcı, Christopher de Bellaigue, author works. Admission free. ARTSPACE range of creative responses - from Sakarya University. Organised by: and journalist. Organised by: London, 7 Milner Street, London photojournalism to staged and SOAS Modern Turkish Studies Middle East Centre, Oxford. SW3 2QA. W www.artspace- digitally manipulated imagery - to Programme (London Middle East Tickets: Admission free. Middle london.com the challenges and upheavals that Institute, SOAS) and sponsored by East Centre, 68 Woodstock Road, St have shaped the Middle East over Nurol Bank. Part of the Seminars Antony's College, Oxford OX2 6JF. Until 28 February | Another Time, the past 20 years. Admission free. on Turkey series. Convened by T 01865 284780 E julia.cook@sant. Another Place Exhibition of fi ve Porter Gallery, V&A, Cromwell Benjamin Fortna, SOAS. Admission ox.ac.uk W www.sant.ox.ac.uk bodies of work: an installation of Road, London SW7 2RL. T 020 free. Room 116, SOAS. T 020 7898 19th-century glass transparencies of 7942 2000 E [email protected] W 4431 E [email protected] W www.soas. Iran and Iraq by artist Iraida Icaza; www.vam.ac.uk ac.uk/lmei/events/ Tuesday 5 March a collection of shadow fi gures by Lotte Reiniger; paintings by Selma Saturday 23 March 6:30 pm | What is "Armenian" Gurbuz; an animated fi lm by Beate about Armenian Culture? Petersen, Nassereddin Shah and His 7:00 pm | A Musical Celebration (Seminar) Organised by: Oxford 84 Wives; and an album of mid- of Nowruz with Persian, Kurdish Armenian Studies. Th is fi nal 19th-century Persian photographs and Azari Music (Concert) Doors session of the seminar will attempt by the Persian king, Nassereddin open 7pm. Concert with Peyman to outline the key elements of Shah. Admission free. Rose Issa Heydarian and the wonderful "Armenian culture". Admission Projects, 82 Great Portland Street, performers of the Iranian band free. Lecture Room 1, Th e Oriental London W1W 7NW. T 020 7602 at the Centre for Iranian Studies, Institute, Pusey Lane, Oxford OX1 7700 E [email protected] W http:// SOAS, University of London. 2LE. T 01865 278200 E hratch. roseissa.com

30 The Middle East in London February-March 2013 Middle East Summer School 24 June – 26 July 2013

An intensive five-week programme which includes two courses: an Arabic Language Course (introductory or intermediate) and another on ‘Government and Politics of the Middle East.

Arabic 100 Government and Politics of the Middle East This is an introductory course in Modern Standard Arabic. It teaches students the Arabic script and This course serves as an introduction to the politics provides basic grounding in Arabic grammar and of North Africa (The Maghreb), the Arab East (The syntax. On completing the course, students should Mashriq) including the Gulf, the Arabian Peninsula, be able to read, write, listen to and understand simple Israel, Turkey and Iran. It gives, on a country by Arabic sentences and passages. This course is for country basis, an overview of the major political complete beginners and does not require any prior issues and developments in the region since the knowledge or study of Arabic. end of the First World War and addresses key themes in the study of contemporary Middle East politics, Arabic 200 including: the role of the military, social and economic development, political Islam, and the recent uprisings (the ‘Arab Spring’). This course focuses on reading, writing and grammar and provides training in listening. The course will also Its main aim is to develop the students’ understanding introduce modern media Arabic to prepare students to of the major trends in Middle Eastern politics and read newspapers, magazines and internet news sources their skills of political analysis through critical reading, published in the Arab world today. On completing the lectures, presentations and informed discussion. course, students should be able to read and understand texts of an intermediate level, compose short texts in Arabic on a variety of topics and be able to follow oral communication in Arabic. Students will also be trained in the basic skills necessary to read and understand Arabic news media with the aid of a dictionary.

This is an intermediate course. To qualify for entry into this course, students should have already completed at least one introductory course in Arabic.

FEES Session (5 weeks) Programme fee* Accommodation fee** 24 June–26 July 2013 (two courses) £2,500 from £300/week

* Early bird discounts of 10% apply to course fees before 1 March 2013. ** Accommodation fees must be paid by 1 March 2013 to secure accommodation. Please check our website from mid-October 2012 for confi rmed prices.

For more information, please contact Louise Hosking on [email protected]. Or check our website www.soas.ac.uk/lmei February-March 2013 The Middle East in London 31 The Olive Tree Middle East Forum presents:

War and Diplomacy Talking to the Enemy 27 Lessons from British 27 Lessons from the Experiences in the February March Olive Tree Programme Middle East Experience To discuss their insights we bring together a An opportunity to hear first-hand from alumni of former ambassador, a soldier and a TV the Olive Tree Programme about their journalist, all with considerable experience on experiences back home, after graduation, the front-line working in the field of human rights, in their respective professions, in the Middle development, monitoring settlements, in East and beyond. academia, and campaigning on behalf of the Bedouin community. On the Panel: Sir Tom Phillips KCMG was British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (2010-12) and to Israel (2006-2010). Prior to that he was All Welcome the FCO Director responsible for Afghanistan and South Asia, Dates: 27.2 (War and Diplomacy) and 27.3 and he headed the FCO’s Eastern Adriatic Department during (Talking to the Enemy) the Kosovo crisis. Time: 6 – 7:30pm Location: College Building, City University Frank Ledwidge is a barrister and former military officer who London served in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan. His book Losing 280 St John Street, London EC1V 4PB Small Wars, provides a trenchant critique of Britain’s most recent military engagements in the Middle East. To register, no charge, please visit http://www.city.ac.uk/olive-tree/forum James Rodgers is author of Reporting Conflict and the forthcoming No Road Home: fighting for Land and Faith in Gaza. For queries, write [email protected] Both books reflect on his experiences as a BBC correspondent Or call 020 7040 4112 covering the Middle East, before he moved to academia as a Lecturer in Journalism, now at City University London.

32 The Middle East in London February-March 2013