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Tammam Azzam, ‘Damascus from Bon Voyage Series’, About the London Middle East Institute (LMEI) 2013. Courtesy of Ayyam Gallery and the artist T e London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide teaching, training, research, publication, consultancy, outreach and other services related to the Middle Volume 12 - Number4 East. It serves as a neutral forum for Middle East studies broadly def ned and helps to create links between individuals and institutions with academic, commercial, diplomatic, media or other specialisations. June – July 2016 With its own professional staf of Middle East experts, the LMEI is further strengthened by its academic Editorial Board membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. T e LMEI also Professor Nadje Al-Ali has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle SOAS East. LMEI’s Advisory Council is the driving force behind the Institute’s fundraising programme, for which Dr Hadi Enayat it takes primary responsibility. It seeks support for the LMEI generally and for specif c components of its AKU programme of activities. Ms Narguess Farzad SOAS LMEI is a Registered Charity in the UK wholly owned by SOAS, University of London (Charity Mrs Nevsal Hughes Registration Number: 1103017). Association of European Journalists Professor George Jof é Cambridge University Mission Statement: Ms Janet Rady Janet Rady Fine Art Mr Barnaby Rogerson T 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 those who have a special interest in the region. In this task it builds on two essential assets. First, it is based in of Arabia London, a city which has unrivalled contemporary and historical connections and communications with the Dr Sarah Stewart SOAS Middle East including political, social, cultural, commercial and educational aspects. Secondly, the LMEI is Dr Shelagh Weir at SOAS, the only tertiary educational institution in the world whose explicit purpose is to provide education Independent Researcher and scholarship on the whole Middle East from prehistory until today. Professor Sami Zubaida Birkbeck College Coordinating Editor Megan Wang LMEI Staff : SSubscriptions:ubscriptions: Listings Vincenzo Paci Director Dr Hassan Hakimian To subscribe to T e Middle East in London, please visit: Designer Executive Of cer Louise Hosking www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/af liation/ or contact the Shahla Geramipour Events and Magazine Coordinator Vincenzo Paci LMEI of ce. Administrative Assistant Aki Elborzi T e Middle East in London is published f ve times a year by the London Middle Letters to the Editor: East Institute at SOAS Publisher and Please send your letters to the editor at Editorial Of ce Disclaimer: the LMEI address provided (see lef panel) T e London Middle East Institute or email [email protected] SOAS Opinions and views expressed in the Middle East University of London MBI Al Jaber Building, in London are, unless otherwise stated, personal 21 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EA views of authors and do not ref ect the views of their United Kingdom organisations nor those of the LMEI and the MEL's T: +44 (0)20 7898 4330 E: [email protected] Editorial Board. Although all advertising in the www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ magazine is carefully vetted prior to publication, the ISSN 1743-7598 LMEI does not accept responsibility for the accuracy of claims made by advertisers. Contents

LMEI Board of Trustees 4 19

Baroness Valerie Amos (Chair) EDITORIAL Migration museums Director, SOAS Sarah Searight Professor Richard Black, SOAS 5 Dr John Curtis Iran Heritage Foundation INSIGHT 21 Dr Nelida Fuccaro, SOAS T e global refugee crisis: a REVIEWS Mr Alan Jenkins challenge for Europe FILM Dr Karima Laachir, SOAS Valerie Amos T e Crossing Dr Dina Matar, SOAS Megan Wang Dr Hanan Morsy European Bank for Reconstruction 7 and Development MIGRANT AND REFUGEE 23 Dr Barbara Zollner Birkbeck College CRISIS CD Don’t close the doors! Reem Kelani: Live at the LMEI Advisory Council Philippe Fargues Tabernacle Paul Hughes-Smith Lady Barbara Judge (Chair) 9 Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem T rough the looking glass of a 24 H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait troubling rapprochement BOOKS Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani Suf sm and Surrealism Arab International Women’s Forum Jean-Pierre Cassarino Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Barnaby Rogerson President, University College of Bahrain 11 Professor Tony Allan King’s College and SOAS Migration control is not a 25 Dr Alanoud Alsharekh Senior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS security policy Aleppo: T e Rise and Fall of

Mr Farad Azima Michael Collyer Syria’s Great Merchant City NetScientif c Plc Robert Irwin Dr Noel Brehony MENAS Associates Ltd. 13 Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna 26 British Egyptian Society Kicking away the migration HE Mr Mazen Kemal Homoud ladder? BOOKS IN BRIEF Ambassador, Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Hassan Hakimian Mr Paul Smith 29 Chairman, Eversheds International 15 IN MEMORIAM Founding Patron and Endurance and hope in the ‘hot Zaha Hadid (1950-2016) Donor of the LMEI Pamela Karimi Sheikh Mohamed Bin Issa Al Jaber spot’ MBI Al Jaber Foundation Nisrine Jaafar 31 17 EVENTS IN LONDON Between the devil and the deep, blue sea Anthony Robinson

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 3 EEDITORIALDITORIAL © P Black/19Princelet Street

DDearear RReadereader

Over the sea to safety. An image of the Huguenot diaspora 300 years ago, which resonates powerfully today. Photograph by P Black/19Princelet Street

Nevsâl Hughes, George Joff é, MEL Editorial Board ccording to the United Nations Since the crisis in the Middle East has London Middle East Institute, highlights a High Commission for Refugees fuelled a large part of the current state of neglected aspect of the current crisis: how (UNHCR), around 1.4 million af airs, we have devoted this issue of the these events have also led to the denigration Amigrants and refugees travelled to Europe magazine to examining the human and of economic migrants and a negative by sea in 2015. A further 200,000 have political implications of this crisis. Although depiction of economic migration in general. followed in the f rst four months of this year politicians and some analysts seek to Nisrine Jaafar and Anthony Robinson alone. T ese include an estimated 10,000 discuss refugees and migrants as separate, if highlight the human tragedy involved with unaccompanied children, many of whom interrelated, categories of displaced people, tales from the front line (from Lesbos in have since disappeared. Two thousand have under current circumstances they are facets Greece and Grande-Synthe in northern drowned, mainly whilst trying to cross to of a common crisis and should, therefore, be France, respectively), a theme that is also Italy from North Africa. In short, it is not treated together. T ey both, af er all, ref ect ref ected in Megan Wang’s review of a f lm only the f ow of refugees across the Aegean the greatest challenge that Europe has faced of what the crossing of the Mediterranean that is the problem, Libya’s migrant f ows to the integrity of its external border. means in practice. Sarah Searight visits the cause equal anxiety in European capitals. In Insight in this issue, Valerie Amos – Museum of Immigration and Diversity in Newspaper headlines in Europe are the Director of SOAS – provides a critical Spitalf elds as an initiative to remind us of dominated by the plight of the refugees overview of the challenge the crisis has the role that migration has played in our f eeing war zones, by frantic political deals posed for Europe, whilst Philippe Fargues history. to contain migration, or by fury over examines the consequences of Europe’s T e issue concludes with our usual Turkish demands for €3 billion and visa- closed-door policies for the security of both review of recent books on the Middle East, free entry to the Schengen area in return Europe and Syrian refugees. Jean-Pierre a review of Reem Kelani’s new album and for controlling illegal migrant and refugee Cassarino analyses the wider ramif cations an appreciation of the life and work of f ows. Now Niger, emulating Turkey, of Turkey’s deals with the European Union Zaha Hadid, Britain’s greatest female Arab demands €1 billion from the EU to stop and Greece to restrict migrant and refugee architect. migrant f ows into Libya. Public opinion movements northwards and Michael over the moral, humanitarian and practical Collyer examines the consequences of consequences of these f ows is profoundly European attempts to manage security divided, as are the policy responses of threats through immigration controls. European states. Hassan Hakimian, the Director of the

4 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 IINSIGHTNSIGHT Migration has dominated the European political landscape in the last few years. Valerie Amos provides a critical overview TThehe ggloballobal rrefugeeefugee ccrisis:risis: a cchallengehallenge fforor EEuropeurope © Gémes Sándor/SzomSzed, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Migrants in Hungary near the Serbian border, August 2015. Photograph by Gémes Sándor/SzomSzed

he EU has struggled to manage as discussions about a range of global its f f h year), Iraq, Palestine, Yemen, the increase in refugee and issues including poverty and inequality, DRC, South Sudan and Central African migrant f ows over the last few climate change, justice and rights as well Republic. Few of the crises have been Tyears, contributing to a perception of as safety and security. In addition, there resolved and most still generate new chaos and loss of control. T e protracted is the question of how best to ensure the displacement. In 2014, only 126,800 nature of the crisis in Syria means that safety and security of European citizens. refugees were able to return to their Syrian refugees are going further af eld. Much of the current public debate is home countries, the lowest number in In the f rst few years af er the conf ict about the so-called Islamic State (IS) and 31 years. And the average time someone began, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey bore its impact across the Middle East but the is displaced is now 17 years. UNHCR the brunt of large refugee f ows. Today situations in Northern Nigeria, Mali and reports that there are 59.9 million people the countries of Europe are facing a the countries of the Sahel, Libya, and forcibly displaced around the world signif cant rise in the number of refugees Afghanistan are also a cause for concern. today. In 2014 alone, 13.9 million people from Syria but also from other countries Linked to the concerns around security became newly displaced – four times the in the Middle East and Africa. is the fallout from protracted crises number of the previous year. Syria is the T is discussion about refugee f ows into around the world, such as the bloody top source country of refugees, overtaking Europe is taking place at the same time conf icts in Syria (which has entered Afghanistan which held that position for more than 30 years. Almost one out We are fortressing Europe, from other Europeans and from of every four refugees is Syrian with 95 per cent of them located in neighbouring those further af eld. And the human cost is staggering countries.

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 5 T ere has been a sometimes-deliberate T e answer lies in greater openness, better management confusion of the terminology with respect to refugee and migrant f ows, with no of the systems, control of wider migratory f ows and distinction made between the f ows of more active political engagement refugees protected under international law and ongoing economic migration. Sweden and Austria that have taken the suggests that walls don’t keep people out For example, 5.5 million British nationals majority. for long. We need leadership that is not live abroad permanently. But that has It is the neighbouring countries that afraid to take tough political decisions changed. T e discussions on Britain’s bear the brunt of any refugee crisis. and challenge the narrow nationalism continued membership of the EU comes For Syria it is Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey which has crept into, and is now a against a backdrop of a fragmented EU and Iraq. Germany received 1.1 million standard part of, our domestic political response to increased refugee f ows refugees with a population of 80 million. discourse. T e answer is not demonisation from Syria and elsewhere in the world. Compare that to Lebanon, a country with of people, their countries, communities, Meanwhile, the political rhetoric has been a population of 5.9 million. It is estimated religion and culture. T e answer lies in coupled with recent terrorist attacks in that 1.4 million of that population are greater openness, better management France, Belgium and elsewhere. Syrian. T e impact of those large numbers of the systems to support and protect We have seen some European Union on Lebanon’s economy, health and refugees, control of wider migratory f ows countries close their borders. A number education system is signif cant. Yet we are and more active political engagement of countries have built or are building looking to them, a small and vulnerable in helping people to understand the fences: Hungary, Bulgaria, Slovenia, country, to continue to absorb thousands complexity of the refugee story. Macedonia and Austria. T e British of refugees per year. And we expect Let me end with a personal perspective Government paid for improved fencing the same of Jordan, another country from Hannah Arendt who escaped from around the Channel Tunnel. We are juggling its domestic, regional and global Europe to the US in 1941. ‘We wanted to fortressing Europe, from other Europeans responsibilities. Now Syrian refugees rebuild our lives, that was all. In order to and from those further af eld. And the account for approximately 20 per cent of rebuild one’s life, one has to be strong and human cost is staggering. Jordan’s population. an optimist. So we are very optimistic. Approximately 50 per cent of Syrian T e UK Government’s commitment is Our optimism, indeed, is admirable, even refugees are children. Displacement to resettle 20,000 refugees over the next if we say so ourselves. We lost our home, within and from Syria is a tragedy f ve years. David Miliband, President of which means the familiarity of daily life. with a child’s face. Of the more than International Rescue Committee (IRC) We lost our occupation, which means we 4 million Syrians who have f ed their and former UK Secretary of State for lost the conf dence that we are of some country, women and children make Foreign Af airs, said ‘Four thousand a use in the world. We lost our language, up three quarters of the total. Refugees year here? I always say to people. If it was which means the naturalness of reactions, want similar things to the rest of us, but 25,000 a year, that would be 40 people per the simplicity of gestures, the unaf ected given their experience their expectations parliamentary constituency.’ expression of feelings’. T is is as true for of the rest of the world are very low. So what should we do? We need to refugees today as it was then. European countries take a relatively stand up to our leaders and say that the small proportion of refugees compared answer to increased refugee f ows in the Baroness Valerie Amos is Director of SOAS. to our relative wealth. And it is Germany, 21st century is not a bigger wall. History Before that she was the eighth UN Under- Secretary-General for Humanitarian Af airs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

Syrian refugee children at work, June 2014, Beqaa Valley, Lebanon. Photograph by Tabitha Ross © Tabitha Ross Tabitha ©

6 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 MMIGRANTIGRANT AANDND RREFUGEEEFUGEE CRISISCRISIS

Philippe Fargues examines the consequences of Europe’s closed-door policies for the security of both Europe and Syrian refugees DDon’ton’t ccloselose tthehe ddoors!oors!

Syrian refugees strike in front of Budapest Keleti railway station, Hungary, 2015. By Mstyslav

© Mstyslav Chernov, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Commons, CC BY-SA Wikimedia © Mstyslav Chernov, Chernov

hen Pope Francis visited a in Canada, and internally displaced people region, raises two nagging questions: will migrant detention centre in (IDPs) are estimated at 7 million or more in there still be a haven for people f eeing war Lesbos in April and took back a country of 23 million. In the same period, and persecution and will the refugee crisis Wto Rome a dozen Syrian refugees facing displacement from and within Iraq started fuel a security crisis? deportation, he was openly rebuking the EU to rise again, af er a period of quiescence, First, unless stability returns to Syria and for its unethical deal with Turkey. A month with close to 200,000 Iraqis claiming asylum Iraq (not to mention Palestine), population earlier, a swap had been agreed upon: in Europe and 3 million IDPs in Iraq itself. displacement will continue while the migrants smuggled from Turkey into Greece Moreover, as borders are shutting against re-emigration of refugees temporarily would be returned, and for every Syrian people f eeing violence, the number of sheltered in Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey will who arrived back in Turkey a recognised IDPs trapped in their own countries and gain momentum. Although the Middle Syrian refugee from Turkey would be refugees stuck somewhere on their way to East is source and host to 50 per cent of the resettled in the EU. Af er a year of hesitation safe havens grow faster than the number of world’s 20 million refugees, most states in between open doors and barbed wire fences, people granted international protection. the region are not parties to the Refugee Europe had eventually decided to keep T e discrepancy between forced Convention of 1951. T ey generously additional refugees away. migration in the Middle East and obstacles accepted f ows of refugees without of ering On Europe’s doorstep however, as the to international movements of people them refugee status. T ey consider refugees Syrian conf ict enters its sixth year and Iraq in need of protection, in and around the ‘guests’, i.e. persons who cannot claim any fails to restore peace and security, forced displacement shows no sign of abating. T e numbers are staggering. Since the Although the Middle East is source and host to 50 per cent outbreak of the conf ict in 2011, 4.8 million Syrians have found refuge in neighbouring of the world’s 20 million refugees, most states in the region countries, 650,000 in Europe and 30,000 are not parties to the Refugee Convention of 1951

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 7 For the sake of its own security, Europe must f nd a way f eeing violence within Syria. It may even end in the refoulement of refugees; several around the disorderly, perilous crossing of the Mediterranean cases have already been reported. By subcontracting with Turkey (and next rights, including the right to reside. If guests permit and risk deportation. Vulnerability with Libya?) the containment of refugee have no choice but to stay, a life in limbo is rapidly spreading among a population f ows in the Middle East, is Europe not awaits them. where 70 per cent of households are below risking further political destabilisation Second, massive refugee f ows have the poverty line. at its external borders? With mounting put considerable strain on their hosts. In Jordan, where refugees had received pressure in countries already faced with Of ering a haven to the millions f eeing a temporary permit of stay at entry, the overwhelming numbers of refugees there Syria, states like Turkey, Lebanon and UNHCR is in charge of f nding durable are a series of risks: authoritarian drif Jordan are faced with a heavy burden solutions. Because return to Syria and in Turkey and state failure in Lebanon on their economies – on housing, public naturalisation in Jordan are excluded, the among them. For the sake of its own services and the labour market – but also only solution lef is resettlement elsewhere. security, Europe must return to a policy of unforeseeable consequences for political But resettlement opportunities – a few international protection and at the same stability and security. As communal lines thousands worldwide – do not match time f nd a way around the disorderly, are not congruent with national borders, demand, so most Syrians risk illegality perilous crossing of the Mediterranean. many refugees found shelter on the other there. Moreover, for lack of funding the Opening channels to asylum directly in side of their homeland’s border within their World Food Program has had to cut Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan is the way own community. But there is a risk that food assistance to refugees in urban forward. Granting temporary humanitarian they will reinforce separatist inclinations or neighbourhoods. As a result of the above visas to refugees would allow them to reach jeopardise fragile compromises. trends, the total populations of Syrian Europe by regular means and lodge their So the inf ux of Syrian Kurds into refugees in Jordan and Lebanon have asylum claim. It would save lives and it Turkey and Iraq has strengthened, at least signif cantly decreased over the last two would save money. By the same token it symbolically, Kurdish irredentism in both years. would remove two unpleasant by-products countries and reignited armed conf ict. In In Turkey, which remains the last half- of the current system: the smuggling Lebanon, inf ows of mostly Sunni Syrians opened door at the border of Syria, the business and terrorists smuggled into have overturned the de facto population situation of refugees is deteriorating. On the Europe with fake Syrian passports. make up, propelling their community to one hand Turkey, a party to the UN Refugee f rst place in demographic terms ahead of Convention with a geographical limitation Philippe Fargues is Professor and founding the equally dominant Shias and Maronites to Europe, of ers only temporary asylum to Director of the Migration Policy Centre at the in political terms and fuelling violence in non-Europeans (even though a law of 2013 European University Institute, in Florence, the northern city of Tripoli. In Jordan, it is grants them rights close to those of proper Italy. His most recent book is Migration from not the sectarian composition of the f ow refugees). On the other hand, Turkey has North Africa and the Middle East: Skilled but its very nature that generates tensions signed an agreement with the EU aimed at Migrants, Development and Globalisation in a country where half of the citizens are keeping refugees away from Europe. T is (IB Tauris, 2015) themselves refugees from Palestine. T e will have several unwanted outcomes. It population in the receiving areas feels that will send Syrians in Turkey down longer it once again has been lef alone to manage and more perilous routes to be smuggled huge waves of displaced people. into Europe. It will mean locking up people Since the rise of the so-called Islamic State in 2014 that amplif ed forced © Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons migration in and from Syria and Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon have given up their initial openness, barred the way to new refugees and restricted the stay and access to livelihood for those already there. Prioritising security, the Lebanese government has adopted a harsh line towards refugees. T e objective is to reduce their numbers and to prevent illegal employment that creates unfair competition for Lebanese workers. Many Syrian refugees are now overstaying on an expired residency

The Za’atari camp for Syrian refugees, Jordan. Photograph taken from a helicopter carrying US Secretary of State John Kerry and Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh (2013). By US Department of State

8 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 MMIGRANTIGRANT AANDND RREFUGEEEFUGEE CRISISCRISIS

The EU–Turkey deal hinges on bilateral cooperation between Greece and Turkey. Jean-Pierre Cassarino highlights the post-democratic challenges lying behind it TThroughhrough tthehe llookingooking gglasslass ooff a ttroublingroubling rrapprochementapprochement

Claire Fontaine, Foreigners Everywhere (Turkish), 2010. Courtesy of Claire Fontaine, Paris and NEU, Berlin. Photo credit: James Thornhill

uropean policymakers were quick to rights will be respected given Turkey’s f nancially and logistically facilitates their hail the ‘ef ectiveness’ and ‘success’ of geographically limited application of the bilateral cooperation. the EU–Turkey ‘joint statement on Refugee Convention; C) Turkey is a ‘safe It is in this specif c context that Greece Erefugees’. Today, opinions and circumstances third country’ for asylum-seekers given its and Turkey reactivated their bilateral have changed. Since its adoption in March explicit desire to expedite the deportation of cooperation by signing a joint declaration 2016, a series of public communiqués and third-country nationals once new bilateral in Izmir on 8 March 2016, just one day af er reports have been widely dispatched to readmission agreements with a number of the Brussels international summit of the EU explain the legal rationale for the deal as well countries of origin in Asia and in Africa heads of state and government with Turkey. as its f nancial costs and expected political enter into force and, f nally, D) the Greek Whereas the Brussels summit was primarily benef ts. Concomitantly, there has been and Turkish legal systems will in practice aimed at addressing the so-called ‘migration growing controversy among human rights deal with individual asylum claims given the crisis’ by removing ‘all migrants coming organisations and migrant-aid associations backlog they respectively face. from Turkey to Greece that are not in need as well as contradictory academic debates Be it based on an agreement or a of international protection’, the Izmir joint over whether or not A) the EU–Turkey statement, the deal remains contingent on declaration between Greece and Turkey set deal is a legally binding agreement or a how viable the bilateral cooperation on out to graf the issue of readmission onto a non-legally binding statement; B) the readmission between Greece and Turkey broader framework of bilateral cooperation non-refoulement principle enshrined in will be in the short to long term. Both including energy security (e.g. Trans- the 1951 Geneva Convention on refugees neighbouring countries operate under the Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, Trans and the EU Charter of fundamental umbrella of the EU–Turkey deal which Adriatic Pipeline, Southern Gas Corridor), intermodal transport (e.g. development of Never before has bilateralism been so intertwined with the rail corridor Igoumenitsa-T essaloniki- Istanbul), trade and tourism, water supranationalism, when one understands all the stakes at management (e.g. the Evros-Meriç river) play in the unprecedented Greek–Turkish rapprochement and the f ght against terrorism.

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 9 It has to be said that graf ing readmission T e acceptance of the drive for readmission in EU policy may onto a broader framework of interactions is not uncommon. Other EU member also result from its ability to instil in the minds of European states (the United Kingdom, France, voters the illusion that the containment of migrants’ rights Italy and Spain, to mention but a few) have already excelled in this practice. EU will protect them from the containment of their own rights policymakers know that the costs and benef ts of the cooperation on readmission citizens – if and only if Turkey ef ectively understanding that the highly publicised are too asymmetric to ensure its durable fulf ls the numerous requirements set by the cooperation on readmission reif es implementation. Moreover, Greece, just EU. Among many others, they also refer to the centrality of the state and its law- like other EU member states, has learned the perceptibly growing legitimacy that the enforcement agencies, especially in a that cooperation on readmission cannot be current Turkish leadership has gained in the context marked by the escalating crisis of viewed as an end in itself, especially when West despite the barely veiled repression of European political integration. dealing with a strategic and empowered its own minorities, attacks by the Turkish T e third consideration, closely non-EU partner country, which Turkey public authorities on academic freedom linked with the second one, is that the certainly is. Readmission is just one of the and critical media and, last but not least, the prioritisation of readmission in the external many means of consolidating a bilateral reported civilian casualties stemming from relations of the EU and its member states is cooperative framework including other the armed struggle in the Southeast region inseparable from a ref ection on the ways in strategic (and perhaps more crucial) issue between Turkish security forces and the which the relationships between European areas. Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). states and their own constituencies have T ere is no question that the recent Has the possibility of critically examining been reconf gured over the last four Greek–Turkish deal concluded in Izmir these recent political developments decades or so. T is time span includes a constitutes a key element which will become hopeless when realising the series of economic and f nancial crises strongly determine the whole EU–Turkish growing consensus on which they rest? To that have been conducive to the gradual relations, in the broadest sense. Perhaps, reply to this tricky question, three basic retrenchment of the welfare state, weakened never before has bilateralism been so considerations need to be emphasised. T e social dialogue, state divestiture, the ascent intertwined with supranationalism, when f rst one is that there is no evidence that of populist and Eurosceptic political one understands all the stakes at play the conclusion of a bilateral readmission parties across the EU and, f nally, endemic in the unprecedented Greek–Turkish agreement – aimed at deporting irregular unemployment and labour uncertainties. rapprochement. On the one hand, Greece migrants and rejected asylum-seekers Actually, readmission does not only coerce has succeeded in preventing any threat of from a national territory – tackles irregular irregular migrants to leave a national eviction from Schengen. On the other hand, migration per se, in the short or long term. territory. T e lingering acceptance and not only has Turkey managed to appear Rather, the agreement just facilitates the banality of the drive for readmission in EU as a credible player in migration talks and cooperation between two contracting policy may also result from its ability to in the control of the EU external borders, parties. For a readmission agreement instil in the minds of European voters the it is now in a position to exert its strong deals with the consequences of irregular illusion that the containment of migrants’ leverage while capitalising on the expected migration, not with its causes (poverty, rights (be they European or not) will protect benef ts of its publicised cooperation with conf ict, insecurity, political violence, among them from the containment of their own the EU. Expected benef ts do not only many others). social and labour rights. pertain to the EU visa waiver for Turkish T e second consideration lies in If we decide to go through the looking glass of the drive for readmission, a host of ‘post-democratic’ challenges – to rephrase Colin Crouch’s famous expression – lie behind the rapprochement between Greece and Turkey and the EU–Turkey deal.

Jean-Pierre Cassarino is a Research Fellow at the Institut de Recherche sur le Maghreb Contemporain (IRMC, Tunis)

Hope on Rojava, March 2015. Sun after the storm for Kobane refugees, Kulunce refugee camp, Suruç, Turkey. This was taken after Kobane had been liberated from a 6-month-long siege by the so called Islamic State. Photograph

© Julia Buzaud by Julia Buzaud

10 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 MMIGRANTIGRANT AANDND RREFUGEEEFUGEE CRISISCRISIS

Attempting to counter security threats via migration control is ineff ective. Michael Collyer explains MMigrationigration ccontrolontrol iiss nnotot a ssecurityecurity ppolicyolicy

Fence on the Hungarian–Serbian border, July 2015.

© Délmagyarország/Schmidt Andrea, Wikimedia Commons, CC Wikimedia Andrea, © Délmagyarország/Schmidt 3.0 BY-SA Photograph by Délmagyarország/Schmidt Andrea

he European response to the so- it has, at dif erent times, been associated relation to the human security of migrants called ‘migration crisis’ has been with national security. T e f rst generalised and refugees themselves. Yet, it is security uncertain and indecisive. Since immigration legislation in the UK was in the national or military sense which still Tthe terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels the 1793 Aliens Act, passed in an attempt concerns EU leaders. in November 2015 and March 2016 to restrict the movement of refugees T ere are four areas where migrants respectively, security concerns are likely to from post-revolutionary France but also have a recognised impact on national further undermine more proactive ef orts out of a concern to exclude potential security. T e f rst is in situations of mass to respond to refugees who continue to revolutionaries. T is legislation lapsed inf ux so large that they raise the potential arrive in Europe. Although it is clear that during the 19th century but was replaced in of destabilising the entire country. In 2016, indiscriminate attacks on the general public 1905 by the f rst genuinely modern piece such destabilisation could plausibly be in Europe have become an explicit strategic of immigration legislation in the UK, the claimed by the government of Lebanon, objective of the so-called Islamic State (IS), 1905 Aliens Act. T is was also motivated where almost a third of the population the migration system can never provide an partly by a desire to prevent anarchists are now refugees from Syria or Palestine, ef ective response. Migration control is not who were active elsewhere in Europe from but even Lebanon does not appear under a security policy and should not be used as reaching the UK (Collyer, Ethnic and Racial any imminent threat and it is clearly not one. Studies vol. 28, no. 2, 2005). In both of these the case in the European Union with just International migration has long been cases, the security referent was the stability over a million asylum seekers in 2015 associated with security concerns as a of the state. Migration has been linked to in a population of over 500 million. T e threat. Although the nature of the security other security referents over the last few second possibility is the ‘refugee warrior’ referent (the thing which is to be secured) decades. In terms of UN Security Council scenario, noted as far back as the 1980s has changed over the past few decades, resolutions, the most frequent mention is in (Zolberg et al, Escape from Violence: Conf ict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World, 1989), where f eeing soldiers use Inf ltrators lead to a long-standing dilemma for public humanitarian infrastructure to remain engaged in cross-border f ghting, bringing policy: how to deal with large groups of people when the risk of reprisals and an escalation a tiny minority of them may have harmful intentions of conf ict. T e third is a long distance

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 11 Many of the perpetrators of more recent attacks were counterterrorism tool. Nonetheless, progressive, pro-migrant groups must not foreigners at all, making the immigration system recognise that the fears of European a virtually irrelevant counterterrorism tool policymakers of attacks perpetrated by non-citizens are justif ed. T ere are indeed a tiny number of people who wish to version of the second, where refugees resentment. Disillusionment with the UK’s travel to Europe to cause harm and their remain engaged from further away, more 1904 Aliens Bill caused a young Winston success may result in terrible loss of life. as fundraisers and propagandists than Churchill to vote against his own party. But the immigration system can never be combatants. Finally, there is the situation of Explaining his justif cations in T e Times, used as a signif cant way of stopping them. individual inf ltrators using the immigration he wrote: ‘As it is admittedly impossible to T is would deny protection to many who system to gain access to countries with the apply the provisions of the Bill at the ports need it, harm those unjustly prof led and intent of causing widespread harm or panic. of entry, the professional thief, anarchist or waste the time of millions of others. And It is only the last of these four scenarios prostitute of en well supplied with money it would have very little chance of success which concerns EU policymakers as they have only to pick their route with caution, anyway. T e more ef ective and less wasteful consider how to respond to new migration. and can pass in as easily as before. T e response should be targeted through the Such inf ltrators lead to a long-standing simple immigrants, the political refugee, intelligence and criminal justice systems. dilemma for public policy: how to deal with the helpless and the poor these are the folk large groups of people when a tiny minority who will be caught in the trammels of the Michael Collyer is Reader in Geography of them may have harmful intentions. T e Bill, and may be harassed and hustled at at the University of Sussex and member of nature of this dilemma was signif cantly the pleasure of petty of cials without the the steering committee of Brighton’s City of redef ned by the interpretation of the 9/11 smallest right of appeal to the broad justice Sanctuary group attacks on the USA. As the report of the of the English courts’ (Winston Churchill, 9/11 Commission made clear, the 9/11 T e Times, 31 May 1904). T e language terrorists were able to carry out the attacks is obviously dated, but the arguments are due f rst and foremost to a failure of the strikingly progressive. intelligence community in the USA and Countering security threats through the beyond. Pages 355-56 of that report present migration system is inef ective and hugely a list of ten ‘Operational Opportunities’ expensive. A targeted intelligence response from January 2000 to August 2001 when is both more ef ective and more respectful the FBI and/or the CIA failed to act on of the rights of all migrants. Of course, information that could have prevented the many of the perpetrators of more recent Police intercept refugees at the main train attacks. attacks were not foreigners at all, but citizens station in Munich, Germany, September 2015. By Wikiolo, derivative work: MagentaGreen Yet the general political characterisation of the countries attacked, making the - This fi le was derived from Polizei fängt of the 9/11 attacks is that they resulted immigration system a virtually irrelevant Flüchtlinge an.JPG chief y from a failure of immigration control. As a result, they have been used © Wikiolo and MagentaGreen, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 as a justif cation for new border walls and controls of undocumented migration all over the world. T is is inaccurate: none of the 19 hijackers was present in the USA illegally. Granted, had visa of cials had the necessary intelligence to identify the individuals at the time of their visa interview they would have been refused. Still, rather than a failure of immigration control, this highlights how immigration control operated as it was intended to. T e idea that the attacks could have been prevented, that the tiny handful of individuals who wish to do harm to the countries they enter can be stopped by a more careful examination of the millions and millions of travellers with purely peaceful intentions is a vastly wasteful approach to tackling terrorism. It also has an obviously negative impact on all those peaceful individuals in terms of wasted time and, for those individuals suf ering from the inevitable racial prof ling, in terms of psychological damage and personal

12 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 MMIGRANTIGRANT AANDND RREFUGEEEFUGEE CRISISCRISIS

The recent European refugee crisis has led to a denigration of economic migrants and cast a negative light on the notion of ‘economic’ migration in general. Hassan Hakimian takes a critical look KKickingicking aawayway tthehe mmigrationigration lladder?adder?

'Throwing Down the Ladder by Which They Rose', cartoon by Thomas Nast, 23 July, 1870. A European immigrant kicks away the ladder of opportunity. The group behind the wall declares that America is now closed to the Chinese

ecent concerns about the European in recent times has tended to obfuscate On the other hand, for those sympathetic migration crisis have masked a rather than enlighten current debates. to migrants the challenge of presenting remarkable – but little noticed – Unfortunately, this seems to have been true migration as a general force for good has Rdegree of unanimity over the supposed for both those who have been unreceptive been side-lined by the need to articulate ‘undesirability’ of migration as an economic to refugees’ urgent need for protection as the case for national and global protection phenomenon. Amidst outcries against well as – albeit with very dif erent and noble systems to address the plight of desperate ‘economic migrants at European doorsteps’, intentions – those who have rightly sought refugees f eeing war, human rights abuses and their allegedly questionable intentions, to highlight their plight. and persecution in recent years. the term itself has come to assume negative T e populist backlash has drawn its But widespread negative depictions of connotations on a scale hitherto unknown. potency from exaggerated fears and economic migrants misrepresent the role Statements like ‘we need to distinguish demagogic vilif cation of migrants as a migration – forced or voluntary – has between real refugees and economic ‘threat’ to the social cohesion and economic played in the course of social and economic migrants’ are used with apparent ease prosperity of host countries. Unsurprisingly development of many areas and regions, fuelled by the urgent need to address the perhaps, this perspective has favoured Europe included. human tragedy that has been unfolding in harsh treatment of migrants and erecting To be sure, the root causes of this our backyard. physical barriers to their entry in various conception predate the recent crisis. In his Whilst a distinction between ‘voluntary’ countries (most notably Hungary, Serbia in-depth study of migration (Exodus – How and ‘forced’ migration can be helpful both and Macedonia). In some, strong nationalist Migration is Changing Our World, 2013), conceptually and in aiding us to understand sentiments have even justif ed de facto Paul Collier has carefully examined how the historical signif cance of migratory breach of the Refugee Convention of 1951 the movement, on a global scale, of the f ows in particular contexts, its uncritical and undermined the Schengen Area visa poor eager to live and work in rich nations and dismissive – if not diminutive – usage agreement. is giving rise to one of the ‘most pressing and controversial questions of our time’. Negative depictions of economic migrants misrepresent the He premises his study on the observation that ‘T e control of immigration is a role migration has played in the course of social and human right. T e group instinct to defend economic development of many areas and regions territory is common throughout the animal

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 13 kingdom; it is likely to be even more More recent adulations with globalisation are based fundamental than the individual right to property.’ It is instructive perhaps that on the central idea of the freedom of movement, across Collier views the control of immigration – borders, for all factors of production, including labour not immigration itself – a matter of ‘human right’. individuals just as in the producer context that a third of EU migrants coming to work A sensible discussion and ultimately it entails prof t-maximisation. T e same in the UK in the same period returned the need for a measured migration policy approach subscribes strongly to free trade home within a year. Similarly, a new study is undeniable, whether for home or host among nations as a win-win strategy. has estimated that immigrants have started countries. What this perspective confuses, More recent adulations with globalisation more than half of the start-up companies however, is a supposedly discretionary too are based on the central idea of the in the US, which are together valued at one policy (immigration control) with an freedom of movement, across borders, for billion dollars or more (creating an average immutable principle (universal human all factors of production. Yet the asymmetry of approximately 760 jobs per company). As rights). Imagine a policy of immigration between freedom of movement of labour for home countries too, evidence suggests control being advocated as a new and other factors is puzzling: international migrant remittances help reduce poverty amendment to a country’s constitution! roaming for capital in search of the highest and promote consumption and investment Statements of this type also of en rates of return is applauded, but a similar (including household members’ education juxtapose immigration control to no enthusiasm for international freedom of and human capital). immigration control – a false and unhelpful movement of labour is conspicuous by its Last but not least, we may take a leaf dichotomy. More generally, the anti- absence. from history, which of ers a rich array of immigration narrative focuses on the short Second, there is ample evidence in migration experiences across dif erent term picture by exaggerating its costs to support of the two-way economic benef ts countries and over time. T ere is little receiving communities and underrating its of migration for both receiving and sending doubt that the wealth and prosperity of long-term benef ts both for home and host countries. Migrants are more likely to countries like the USA, Canada, Australia nations. T is is questionable on at least three be of working age (active in the labour and New Zealand have much to do with levels: philosophical, historical and economic. force), more educated and less likely than incoming European immigrants. In turn, First, from a philosophical point of view, the local population to use public sector such movements af orded the Europeans the case against a desire to improve one's services. Contrary to popular projections, signif cant opportunities to improve their well-being through relocation is directly at migrants from the 28 countries of the own lives or to escape from hardship and odds with the basic tenets of mainstream European Economic Area in the UK are poverty at home. T is is also true of the economics and the underpinnings of a estimated to have made a net positive GCC states where the largest concentration capitalist system. Neoclassical economics contribution exceeding £2.5 billion during of migrants at both ends – high-paid, is premised on the notion of rational 2010-14 (income tax and national insurance skilled expats and low-wage Asian workers choice and maximising behaviour of contributions paid net of benef ts and with paltry social rights – has been oiling homo economicus. In consumer theory welfare support received). Recent analyses ambitious growth trajectories of these states. this translates itself to utility maximising of National Insurance f gures also conf rm In his seminal book Kicking Away the Ladder, Cambridge economist, Ha-Joon Chang, shows that despite benef ting from protectionist policies in the heyday of their own industrialisation in the 19th century, the developed countries today ef ectively deny emerging nations the same opportunities by advocating free trade. It is hard to resist the temptation of ered today by this analogy in the context of the current debates on economic forces behind international migration.

Hassan Hakimian is Director of the London Middle East Institute and a Reader in the Department of Economics at SOAS

Anti-immigration rally in Prague, Czech Republic, in front of the National Museum. Photograph by

© Novis-M, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Commons, CC BY-SA Wikimedia © Novis-M, Novis-M

14 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 MMIGRANTIGRANT AANDND RREFUGEEEFUGEE CRISISCRISIS

What’s truer than truth? The story. Nisrine Jaafar shares stories from the front line EEndurancendurance aandnd hhopeope iinn tthehe ‘‘hothot sspot’pot’ © Ggia, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Three boats with refugees approaching the beaches of Skala Sykamineas, Lesbos. By Ggia

‘ he Island with the orange belt’: this both my baby and myself that this breast him back. I heard that the borders were is how some onlookers from the milk shall not run out. I was not ready to closed. Will we make it? Will they have a sky renamed Lesbos...orange, for lose my son! Please do not ask me about place like this for us to sleep in Athens? We theT abandoned life vests piled up along the the assistance that we were of ered before really cannot endure any further. T e past coast; orange, for f oating backpacks picked arriving on Lesbos. You see my neighbour f ve years have been rife with misery. You up by vigilant volunteers; orange, for lives in black there? She had to feed her toddler want to hear how we reached Moria? T e spared and others stolen by rough waters in yoghurt from an unsterilised bottle for smugglers took us into a damp forest where the Aegean sea. three days. I am sure you understand how we stayed for three days. No food, no drink, Stepping out of overcrowded and unsafe perilous this can be. My cousin had to no heating. I slept with my father and my rubber dinghies, those who survived the gather stale lef over bread at night from the son on mouldy blocks of wood. Finally, they journey from the Turkish coast carried streets of Istanbul to feed her hungry little f t 80 of us into one dinghy and gave us the with them unique individual stories: ones. Our resources were minimal and our boot – instructing one of our fellow refugees engraved memories, unwavering faith in hands tied. Back home, a rocket destroyed to sail away. We were lef to our fate. T is is the promise of a ‘better’ life to come, but my home. Everyone perished, except where things went wrong. We were spinning also unthinkable hardship and unspeakable my father who survived the attack and is and drowning, but I refused to wear the horror. now accompanying me. He is extremely fake life vest or let this poor two-month ‘Turkish police started shooting in the vulnerable. Diabetes and heart problems old wear it. I lef the matter in the hands of air to disperse us. It really scared me, so are not a good mix, you know! All we want God. Images of the physical and emotional my water broke and my child was born is to join my husband in Germany. His abuse that we faced on the ‘other side’ came prematurely. In hospital, he fell extremely journey out of Syria started before mine f ashing before my eyes; so I surrendered to ill. We were separated for f ve weeks, af er as I was pregnant and did not wish to hold the thought of dying free, with my child in which I was allowed to breastfeed him. I did not eat or rest much. Yet, I gathered all my inner strength to provide him with the food T ose who survived the journey from the Turkish that he deserved. Each day, I would promise coast carried with them unique individual stories

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 15 Living at the heart of the crisis from its onset, helping the responsibility. I really miss them!’ T is was not the f rst time I witnessed S’s most vulnerable without claiming credit for it, many of eyes well up. In fact, many of us – men and the island’s humble residents deserve much recognition women from dif erent walks of life – had, in the span of one month, shared innumerable moments of ‘wet’ and heavy silence. Heart- my arms. Luckily, Greek coast guards pulled us with their stories, their agony, and their breaking stories came searching for us at us out of the waters, and here we are waiting projections into the future. Moria was also every encounter; and we obliged with the in the registration line.’ where we bonded with unique locals like S, complicity of a tight group: a group we had Listening to M’s account, it was hard the Greek man with a small food van and a quickly become because of Moria ‘once not to cry when she did, and even harder huge heart. If you were looking to gobble up upon a time’, before a political deal came to to stop when she summoned her courage a tasty sandwich on the run, S and his wife massacre the spirit of the place. to console me! Most female migrants to F were your ‘go-to’ chefs. I never thought whom I spoke in the of cial camps of Moria that a falafel wrap with coleslaw salad would Nisrine Jaafar was Senior Lector in Arabic and Kara Tepe narrated similar stories, top my list of treats until they toasted it for at SOAS. She has joined Save the Children albeit with painfully unique twists. T ey me with love. Living at the heart of the crisis as a Consultant on their Infant and Young were highly apologetic, clutching their from its onset, helping the most vulnerable Children Feeding Practices assessment traumatised or of en gravely ill children in without claiming credit for it, they – like mission in Lesbos their arms and asking them for forgiveness. many of the island’s humble residents – T e ritual of justifying their journey from deserve much recognition. hell became an intrinsic part of our daily Conversations with S constantly and discussions; and in the face of the hope rightfully revolved around the need to f ll that they miraculously kept alive, I could aid gaps, to cultivate empathy and, most of not get myself to ask them anymore what all, to believe in humanity. With every story humanitarian aid workers are programmed retrieved from his fascinating past, S’s love to generically ask: ‘how are you coping?’ of Syria seemed unparalleled. ‘You mean with three children, including ‘My friend Mohammed lef Lesbos three a toddler? Honestly, my two older ones have months ago and is currently in Germany. been my ultimate support mechanism in the When they got on the ferry, his wife was absence of their father. T ey change their still pregnant. As soon as she delivered, he one-year old sister’s nappies, and put her to called to relay the happy news and discuss sleep by singing lullabies, as I try to rest my the baby boy’s name. As the family’s close body af er breastfeeding. Not sure what I friend, I was entrusted with the task of would have done without them. T ey have picking a middle name for the child. I grown really fast beyond their years!’ am thinking carefully now, as it is a huge T e sad look in R’s eyes and the pinch in my heart found each other in the silence © Nisrine Jaafar that followed. I knew that the story-telling process lef us exposed, vulnerable, human. With every day spent in the camp, it began to feel more like home. Of course, for those in transit, Moria was but another pit stop – a slightly warmer and more welcoming pit stop. However, their determination to set out on the next leg of their journey, to get a step closer to their f nal destination, to reach what they imagined would be their ‘haven’, all this prompted them to rush out in a f ash. For those of us working there, Moria was where we made new friends every single day: individuals who trusted

The island with the orange belt, Lesbos, Greece. Volunteers from PIKPA – a self-orgainised refugee camp in Mytilene which hosts some of the most vulnerable individuals – wrote 'safe passage' on these life vests and used them to decorate the entrance of the camp as a welcome sign to refugees. Photograph by Nisrine Jaafar

16 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 MMIGRANTIGRANT AANDND RREFUGEEEFUGEE CRISISCRISIS

Anthony Robinson provides fi rst-hand accounts from those living and working inside Grande-Synthe Refugee Camp BBetweenetween thethe devildevil aandnd tthehe ddeep,eep, bbluelue sseaea © Anthony Robinson

Breakfast alone (again), January 2016, Grande-Synthe Refugee Camp, Dunkirk, France. Awira is a four-year-old Kuridsh girl. She was always wandering the camp alone. Photograph by Anthony Robinson

y point of entry into the current T ere’s a disquieting passivity in the AR: Why? refugee crisis was Grande-Synthe air. Hopes bogged down in the mud? Agrin: T e terrorists kill my father. Refugee Camp, northern France. Volunteers wander about, walkie-talkies He refuse to pay tax. We lef af er MT is settlement in the northern Dunkirk crackling. Trucks come and go unloading four hours. Me, my mother and baby suburb of Grande-Synthe has existed since f rewood. It is slow-motion chaos. Nobody brother Shwan. 2006, but for years had fewer than 100 is in charge. Nobody challenges me. AR: And where are they now? refugees and migrants. At the time I visited Agrin: I think dead. Our boat from it was acting as an overspill from the Calais I meet Mark, a Belgian activist. Turkey fell over and many people went Jungle Camp, accommodating around 3,000 AR: What’s it like here? down, died. I get to another boat. I am people, mainly Iraqi Kurds. Mark: ‘Since the shooting last week the alone, I am sure. I have dreams that we I visited twice earlier this year. T e CRS stop anyone without a pass. T ey are all together. I want to go back to existence of a place like this camp is want to keep out the people traf ckers.’ Kirkuk. I have uncles there … a consequence of a destabilised and He laughs. ‘T e gangs are already here. Agrin again: Camera mister…? traumatised Arab leadership, Western/ Everybody knows them. T e CRS He takes my photo. We shake hands, and as Russian meddling and the lack of a conf scate blankets, tents, groundsheets I turn away, he says, ‘Don’t forget me mister’. considered Pan-European policy. – anything that might help the refugees.’ I watch him walk of . He could be any 12-year-old, but he isn’t. It is estimated Late January I met Agrin near a food truck. that half the current refugees f eeing Syria, Denied entry to the camp by the French AR: Where are you from? Iraq and Afghanistan are children and an riot police, the CRS, I f nd a hole in the Agrin: No photo mister…Kirkuk, alarming number are unaccompanied. fence to crawl through. T e camp is knee- Kurdistan. I am 12 years. deep in mud, standing water, rubbish, faeces AR: Do you want to go to UK? A week later and rats. Runny-nosed children and women Agrin: No, I want to go home. I want T ere has been another shooting. It carrying babies struggle through the f ooded war to stop. I want the terrorists to go. happened yesterday outside the little school. camp, which has 30 toilets for 3,000 people AR: Where’s your family tent? Ginny, a volunteer teacher: ‘Af er the – WHO recommendations are 1 per 10 Agrin: No my family. I stay with shooting the children were rigid, silent.’ people. another family. Avan is a 20 year-old Kurdish woman from Kirkuk, Iraq. T e cultural elephant in the room for the West is AR: Why did you leave Iraq? the inf ux of Muslims into a mainly Christian West A: T e terrorists came and started

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 17 killing people. Men f rst, then People and options are stacking up in Turkey and everybody and taking women away. T ey even killed children… by knife. behind wire fences between Lesbos and a wider Europe Do you understand? unstable and populations suf ered in the into a mainly Christian West. For many this Hemn, a 20-year-old Kurdish Iraqi speaks. same way. We have come through this at the is daunting, and for some, unacceptable. H: I was a nurse in the male wards of a cost of blood, resources and time. Western T is breeds fear and fear breeds nasty hospital. T ey beat us if a jihadi died. polities have constructed institutions that of spring. T ere is nothing for me there. form f rewalls against would-be power Islamic culture, as it manifests itself T is is the reality of the lives of those threateners and entrenched power-holders. today, is seen by many as too inf exible, too living inside Grand-Synthe. T is is proving more dif cult in those culturally intractable, for these newcomers parts of the Arab world ruled by family to successfully blend into an integrated How did it come to this? f rms (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar) and Europe. However, western leaders refuse to IS, ISIS, Daesh. Although IS took most despots who plot and/or bludgeon their say this openly. Doing so would deny them of the world by surprise when it swept into way to power (Saddam Hussein, Muammar the (Christian) moral high-ground. Mosul in June 2014, they and their forebears Qaddaf , and Nasser and his successors). had been long declaring their intentions. T is system reinforces the divine right of Impasse IS is, in some fundamental respects, an the incumbent, his/her group and their T is is a complex problem. However, a anti-colonial movement that takes as supporters, all maintained by whatever coordinated Pan-European Policy would its reference point Islam’s pre-colonial means necessary, and does not allow for help. People and options are stacking conception of power. It looks to an ‘Islamic f exibility or a malleability that could lead to up in Turkey and behind wire fences state’, a Sunni caliphate. In reality, it is just painless change. between Lesbos and a wider Europe. In the another power grab so familiar to the Arab Yes, I do look at this world through meantime, Europe is looking increasingly world. Western spectacles. T ese are the only like a fair-weather confederation caught in Within IS there seems to be little or no spectacles I have for viewing the roots of the headlights. T ose f eeing are on their notion of the common good as practised, the crisis. It is the consequences of these journeys away from madness. T ey cannot with varying degrees of success, in other cultural and political dif erences that are wait. places. T ere is no polity. IS represents now pressing us: Assad brutally clings to T is crisis might be the failure of all an extreme of the power holding–power power, IS and the rebels and quasi-religious the above, but the existence of places like threatening dynamic. I would further groups are now also involved in this power Grande-Synthe is our living shame. And if contend that the camp itself, and others like theatre in Syria, and Iraq has endured total, we expect others to examine their positions, it, are manifest symptoms of a destabilised internecine chaos since the US-led invasion. so should we. Arab world, rocked to its foundations by the Millions are on the move, men, women popular uprisings which began in late 2010, and children with knives behind them, Anthony Robinson and his wife, Annemarie and further exacerbated by the chaos of uncertainty in front. Young, write books for young people with Syria and parts of Iraq. T e cultural elephant in the room for the the aim of giving a voice to those who are Our world was once as volatile and West is unvoiced. It is the inf ux of Muslims voiceless. Publications include the Refugee Diaries series, Street Children and Young Palestinians Speak (forthcoming 2016). T ey are founding members of SpeakOut Publishing: Refugee Children at the Crossroads (forthcoming 2016)

War on rats, February 2016, Grande-Synthe Refugee Camp, Dunkirk, France. Volunteers and refugees pile rubbish up, ready for a skip to arrive. Addressing the rat infestation had become priority. Photograph by Anthony

© Anthony Robinson © Robinson

18 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 MMIGRANTIGRANT AANDND RREFUGEEEFUGEE CRISISCRISIS

Sarah Searight discusses those museums dedicated to documenting the movement of people and their experiences

MMigrationigration mmuseumsuseums

Doorway from the past to the present. A rare glimpse inside the historic site

© Matthew Andrews/19Princelet Street © Matthew at 19 Princelet Street. Photograph by Matthew Andrews/19Princelet Street

mmigration, emigration and migration: new in the immigration of people of diverse each addressing problems unique to the these are not new issues, but nowadays cultures, there has been a dearth of national host country, with all sorts of time lines. the unprecedented scale is. T is museums on the subject. T ere are several Australia has several immigration museums Iarticle examines how some destinations, local museums that tell part of the story, – in Sydney (taking immigration back to particularly the United Kingdom, have such as Rochester’s Huguenot Museum, and the arrival of native Australians c. 50,000 handled the cultural impact of such Liverpool has plans for a national museum years ago), in Adelaide (in a former destitute movements of people. Of the three of migration. London’s contribution has asylum) and in Melbourne. T e Museum words above I prefer ‘migration’ with the been the small but inventive Museum of of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in implication of movement in all directions, Immigration and Diversity – best known by Wellington has two exhibitions – Passports but not everyone agrees on a def nition of its address, 19 Princelet Street – established and T e Mixing Room: Stories from young ‘migrant’. A special report in the 9 April in 1983 in the heart of London’s historic refugees in New Zealand – which represent issue of New Scientist used ‘migration’ as its district of Spitalf elds and, more recently, major attempts to capture the implications principal topic and points out how such a the Migration Museum Project (MMP) of migration. In the United States there is an def nition of the movement of peoples varies that organises ‘f oating’ exhibitions on the Immigration Museum on Ellis Island, entry from country to country and even more so subject that move from city to city, traceable point for so many 19th and 20th-century in public opinion. on a sophisticated website. migrants (‘T e Immigrant Experience A reaction to such movement in several A prominent supporter of the latter Come Alive’) that is, signif cantly, just countries has been to establish ‘museums’ Project, Eithne Nightingale, describes in across the water from the Statue of Liberty. of migration to record the inf ux of diverse a blog her whistle-stop tour of migration In Europe – Belgium, Italy and Germany peoples. In Britain, while there is nothing museums established all over the world, – there are museums of emigration. France has the Musée de l’histoire de l’immigration, In Britain there is no Museum of British f rst proposed in 1992 and opened to the public in 2007 (for political reasons, History which might be expected to accommodate the museum only of cially opened – by the story of both emigration and immigration President Francois Hollande – in 2012).

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 19 T ere is an urgent need in Britain as elsewhere On the South Bank, as part of the ‘Changing Britain’ festival, the MMP had a temporary in Europe for both the history of immigration exhibition of ‘Keepsakes’, a display of and its contribution to be demonstrated individual personal items that keep memories of migration and identity alive. T e exhibition has already been displayed It is housed, somewhat paradoxically and and anti-fascists in 1936. ‘Suitcases and in Whitechapel, Southwark and elsewhere controversially, in the Palais de la Porte Sanctuary’ is the all-too-appropriate title for in the country. A travelling exhibition of Dorée built in 1931 for an international a deceptively simple and touching display ‘100 Photographs’ was also included in colonial exhibition. that invites visitors to imagine themselves as the South Bank occasion and has been In Britain there is no Museum of British members of earlier waves of arrivals, from travelling around the country. Another History which might be expected to the Huguenots through more recent arrivals has focussed on the history of German accommodate the story of both emigration from Bangladesh or Bosnia, ref ecting the immigration to the UK, from doctors and and immigration. Fortunately though there ongoing and multiple stories of migration to musicians to clockmakers and sailors; this are currently two museum projects being Spitalf elds and London. moved from Manchester to Cambridge and developed to demonstrate the importance A rather dif erent concept is the on to Edinburgh. As the MMP newsletter of immigration to Britain. T e older of Migration Museum Project (MMP) being says, ‘People want to engage [with the these is the aforementioned Museum of developed by Barbara Roche, herself an subject] in subtle and complicated ways’: Immigration and Diversity at 19 Princelet ‘East Ender’, former MP for Hornsey and the MMP certainly seems to be developing Street. T is may not be a registered national Wood Green and ex-Minister for Asylum this with their travelling shows – migrating museum, but it is respected internationally and Immigration. To some extent this has exhibitions on the topic of migration. for the way it tells a local, London and been inspired by Robert Winder’s excellent Clearly, as this issue of T e Middle East in indeed global story. T e house was built in history of immigration into Britain, Bloody London and these museums demonstrate, 1719 as a family residence, f rst occupied by Foreigners (f rst published in 2004, reissued there is an urgent need in Britain as a wealthy French Huguenot silk merchant 2013). Winder (a trustee of MMP) has elsewhere in Europe for both the history of and refugee. T e garden was later built over pointed out how the movement of Britons immigration and its contribution to British by Polish Jews as a synagogue, and, more out of Britain has of en obscured the long culture and way of life to be demonstrated recently, a group of refugees and scholars history of movement of people into this as widely and swif ly as possible. of Huguenot, Jewish and Bengali heritage country and suggested in a footnote how established it as a museum and place of this might be remedied by the establishment Sarah Searight is a member of the Editorial education and dialogue. As a museum of of a national museum on the subject. To Board immigration it is of en compared to New rectify this the MMP envisages a series York’s Tenement Museum, which highlights of exhibitions that move from place to the conditions in which some immigrants place, sometimes taking advantage of local A suitcase of silk threads evokes how the fabric lived. Both are members of the International festivals (such as London’s South Bank of London is woven from the entwined lives of many strangers who have settled here over Historic Sites of Conscience, places using events), and developing particular themes centuries, from the Ogiers to today's new arrivals. historic spaces to encourage dialogue in dif erent ways depending on the locality. Photograph by Joel Pike/19 Princelet Street

on contemporary issues such as identity, © Joel Pike/19 Princelet Street immigration and asylum. Given the fragility of the Grade II* listed heritage building – £3-4 million is needed to open the entire site – the Trustees’ chair, economist Susie Symes, aptly describes No.19 as ‘a museum of ideas’; it opens occasionally to the general public and is visited by many North American and European universities and schools, as well as schoolchildren ref ecting the ethnic diversity of London’s population. And as I realised – exploring it with a group of ten-year olds from an international school, themselves of very diverse origins – the ‘ideas’ are most imaginative. ‘Listen to the walls!’ exhorts a notice on the walls and they did. A striking part of the exhibition space is the old synagogue, which was built over the original garden by the Poles in the 1890s. A little old-style television plays a video on immigration from Ireland made by children from a primary school in Cable Street, scene of a notorious confrontation between fascists

20 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: FILMFILM TThehe CCrossingrossing

Directed by George Kurian

2015, Documentary, 55 minutes

Reviewed by Megan Wang © George Kurian © George

Still from The Crossing. Courtesy of George Kurian

s it a mirage? T ey’ve been at sea for was becoming increasingly unsafe for the smugglers wouldn’t allow it. Instead seven days when an oil tanker f nally Syrians, so they decide that they will do he f ew to Italy to wait for their arrival. f nds them. It’s dark and the spotlights it: they will pay a smuggler to take them Amazing, isn’t it, how the right passport Iare blinding; the Mediterranean is an inky across the Mediterranean to the shores of can mean the dif erence between getting black below. T e fear is palpable. Are they Europe, not for a better life, Rami tells the on a plane with in-f ight entertainment here to help? Swear it. Swear to God that camera, just life. and a reclining seat or getting on an old you are who you say you are, that you will Much of the footage is raw; the boat with a boy-captain and no guarantee not turn us away, jail us. An Indian man group carried a handheld camera while of safety? on the tanker swears it. T e refugees are journeying across the sea. We see f rst- Italy is the last time they are together as brought on board, but their journey is far hand footage of them piled up in the bed a group. Af er that they go their separate from over. of a truck hidden under a tarp, footage of ways or are shuf ed of to dif erent refugee George Kurian’s T e Crossing follows them hiding in the brush at the edge of hostels throughout Europe. T ere they eat a group of Syrian refugees on their the beach to avoid Egyptian authorities, and sleep and are permitted to do little journey from Egypt to Italy and beyond, footage of them making a mad dash into else while they wait to be granted asylum. from refugee centre to refugee centre. It the water to reach the boats. T e boat is And even though they are physically safe sheds light on the perilous crossing of overcrowded and slow; they practically from the war, war has followed them. the Mediterranean and on what happens sleep on top of each other. Some get When Afaf and her son, Mustafa, make it af er: the uncertainty, the melancholy, seasick. T ey aren’t even sure if the to Sweden someone on the phone directs the crippling paralysis suf ered by those ‘captain’ knows what he is doing or where them to a video on YouTube. A town waiting on an overwhelmed bureaucracy he is going. T e journey should only have in Syria is under heavy siege. T ere is to decide their fate, to decide that they taken four days. We were told during the confusion at f rst, utter disbelief. Why? can start to have something akin to a life post-screening Q&A session that Kurian Why would they do this? T at quickly again. had wanted to accompany them, but gives way to anger. Click, click, click. T ey had lives before: Angela was a journalist, Rami was an IT professional, Nabil a renowned oud player, Afaf a pharmacist. T ey met in Cairo, Egypt Even though they are physically safe af er f eeing the war in Syria. But Egypt from the war, war has followed them

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 21 Mustafa watches video af er video. T ere is no escaping this. T e Crossing excels at capturing the unrelenting melancholy In a way, loss is only a part of their story. of life for a refugee waiting to be granted asylum T e Crossing also gives us these glimpses of the things they have brought with them, more pieces of themselves, but only under this unf inching depiction of their the things that have followed them, the glimpses were of ered. T e subsequent humanity. things they can’t shed: uncertainty, the Q&A session helped to provide answers war, Syria. Much of the money they have to some lingering questions (how did they T e Crossing was shown in London on 15 is spent making calls back home, to the meet, how was the footage obtained, etc.) March 2016 as part of the Human Rights family and friends they’ve lef the behind; and added depth to a handful of scenes. Watch Film Festival (https://f .hrw.org/). their ties are seemingly adamantine. And I believe a longer version of the f lm T e screening was followed by a Q&A Syria is always in their hearts. Click, click, could benef t from including some of the session with the Director, George Kurian click. I want to reach out, to tell Mustafa to connections and juxtapositions that came stop, look away; but then I wonder, could to light. Megan Wang is the Coordinating Editor I? Could you? His home is lost but not All told, T e Crossing excels at capturing for T e Middle East in London. She has a lost. He carries it with him, the memory the unrelenting melancholy of life for a Master’s degree in Muslim Cultures from of it, even as he watches it get obliterated refugee waiting to be granted asylum, AKU-ISMC in real-time. Our technology is double- at evoking just how lost and unmoored edged: it resuscitates and it suf ocates. So I these individuals feel. And there were choke back my words; I couldn’t look away times while watching the f lm that I felt either. like a voyeur, when the intimacy of what T ere are lighter moments too: Angela’s I was seeing was almost overwhelming: husband dancing and singing with the goodbyes to those family members his friend on the streets of Paris, Afaf lef behind (for the moment) in Egypt; telling the camera that ‘Sweden recycles the child, Marcel, bringing smiles to the everything’ as she adopts the practice faces of those on the boat. T ese moments herself. For the most part the end of were not for me, but they were shared so the f lm is a positive one, but it seemed that I might understand who these people too sudden and lef me feeling beref : are, what they’ve given, what’s been taken the journey didn’t feel over yet, rather from them and what they’ve held close; The group's fi rst evening in Europe, it seemed another chapter had begun. I so that any rhetoric that has the ability to laughing about their troubles at sea. wanted to see these individuals reclaim strip them of their personhood is crushed Photograph courtesy of George Kurian © George Kurian © George

22 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: CDCD RReemeem KKelani:elani: LLiveive aatt TThehe TTabernacleabernacle

Produced by Reem Kelani

March 2016, Fuse Records

Reviewed by Paul Hughes-Smith

ecordingsdi of f Middle Middl Eastern E t music i RKliReem Kelani grew up listening to an of opposing musical modes (maqamat) to released in the UK tend to be mainly assortment of musical styles and has always represent the political struggle. instrumental as vocal music does not tried to push the boundaries in performing T e historical narrative is also continued Rtravel so well and needs careful explanation traditional music; she brings the inf uence in the 1970s song, written by Tunisian to make sense of the Arabic lyrics. Reem of jazz and other popular music into play activist El-Hédi Guella, ‘T e Ship Sounded Kelani, the British-born Palestinian singer without destroying the original feel of its Horn’ (baabur zammar) that was revived and broadcaster, has done much to address a song. For this concert she assembled during the uprising in 2010. this particular problem and make the music an exceptional group of musicians: her For those already familiar with Reem of the Arab world, and in particular the rich long-term collaborator, pianist Bruno Kelani’s work there are live performances vocal tradition of the Palestinians, more Heinen; Palestinian oud player, Tamer Abu of ‘Sprinting Gazelle’ and ‘Galilean Lullaby’, accessible to audiences both here in the West Ghazaleh; Ryan Trebilcock on bass and but without a doubt this album will appeal and to those in the Middle East who may Italian percussionist, Antonio Fusco. All to a wider audience interested in Middle have lost touch with their own traditions. of these musicians are used to playing in East history and the role that culture – Live at T e Tabernacle is Reem’s long many dif erent styles and are well suited to particularly music and poetry – has played awaited follow up to her much acclaimed the overall project of collaboration. Indeed in its development. Of course there will be f rst CD, Sprinting Gazelle, released in Kelani says in her interview that this was a some who have a phobia of ‘live’ recordings 2006. T is recording of a live performance, ‘project’ and not a ‘product’ and the copious and prefer the purity of a studio, but these given before a packed house at T e and detailed notes that accompany the CDs are much more than just a record of a Tabernacle in London’s Notting Hill in album underscore the careful thought that performance, and the well researched and 2012, is a very dif erent animal to her f rst was given to each song and its production. informative booklet that accompanies them venture. Immaculate balance and clear Not only traditional Palestinian songs – complete with translations of all the lyrics musical articulation have now made way are featured on these CDs, but also music and the original Arabic – would be reason for the passion and excitement of a live that represents the wider Arab struggle enough to purchase this album. performance. Expressing the longing and for democracy and freedom. ‘T e Porter’s separation of the Palestinians is what Reem Anthem’ (lahn el-shayyaalin) is a song More information about Reem Kelani’s work Kelani is best known for, and it is certainly written by the great Egyptian composer can be found at http://www.reemkelani. captured here on this double album. Both Sayyid Darwish (1892-1923) whose music is com/index.asp discs feature short accompanying videos the subject of a long-term project by Kelani; which include an interview with Kelani it tells of the travails of Egyptian porters and Paul Hughes-Smith is a Middle Eastern music and a specially edited trailer of the feature cleverly alludes to the events of the 1919 af cionado and has written reviews and f lm Les Chebabs de Yarmouk directed by Revolt against the British. articles on Palestinian and Yemeni music for Axel Salvatori Sinz for which Kelani wrote ‘T e Preacher’s Anthem’ (lahn al- Songlines magazine, the Society for Arabian the music. T e title track Huna al-Yarmouk fuqahaa’), again written by Darwish, is a Studies, British Yemeni Society Journal and (T is is Yarmouk) is movingly performed satire on the misplaced hopes of Egyptians for Palestine News. He has also brought over just before her signature song ‘Giving Praise that Egypt would be free of the British in a number of Yemeni musicians to play in UK aka Il-Hamdillah brings the evening to a the wake of WWI. Kelani’s clever jazzy festivals rousing, audience-participating close. arrangement mirrors Darwish’s own use

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 23 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: BOOKSBOOKS SSuufi ssmm aandnd SSurrealismurrealism

By Adonis

February 2016, Saqi Books, £12.99

Reviewed by Barnaby Rogerson

uf sm and Surrealism is a complex civic obedience that led to the carnage of love, where the individual worshipper is work, inevitably so, since it intends WWI, turned their back on the rational consumed within the deity has parallels to unite two apparently contradictory world and looked to examine the interior with the Surrealists search for the single Straditions, the age-old practices of Islamic world and unlock the imagination. T ey point in the world that made sense of all mysticism with a controversial avant- were especially empowered by Freud’s the opposite forces, where what might be garde movement formed by a group of work on the importance of dreams and called the rational world of matter and the painters, playwrights and poets in Paris the hidden layers buried beneath the intuitive world of the spirit come together. between 1924-1969. Adonis is one of the carapace of the ordinary obedient mind. In this way the Suf tradition can be seen most celebrated poets of the contemporary T ey were also intrigued by such practices as the Islamic contribution to eternal Arab world, saluted by Edward Said as ‘the as automatic writing, hypnotic sleep and surrealism – joining forces with Coleridge, most eloquent spokesman and explorer fabricated delirium as a vehicle for this Blake, Orpheus and Heraclitus who prove of Arab modernity’ and of en compared inner journey. Like a Suf they believed our need for freedom and love, so that to T.S. Eliott as a revolutionary literary that at times the contemplation of a tree, a we can recognize that everything is in force. He was born into an Alawite family stone or a sound could reveal knowledge as everything. of farmers in northern Syria in 1930, powerfully as a book, and that sometimes But this rich, intriguing, intellectually educated in Tartus, Damascus and Beirut, the physical experience of the body was fertile study should not be picked up out but since 1975 has lived as a political exile as important as the mind, so the feet and of idle curiosity. It demands continuous in Paris. Despite his Hellenistic sounding the hands could learn things aside from engagement and a real interest in the nom de plume, he is a passionate Arabist the head. It brings to mind a story about motivational springs of creativity. But for and politically engaged polemicist whose the Prophet Muhammad who was once the small readership who can engage in cultural hinterland includes the myths of blessed with the power to hear the prayer the poetics of two cultures situated in two ancient Arabia as found in Assyria and of the pebbles towards their creator in his dif erent ages, it is a work of extraordinary Sumeria, not just the 1,500 year old Islamic hand. richness, which places Adonis in a fragile tradition. T ere are of course great dif erences. T e chain, one hand linked with Ibn Arabi, the One of the cornerstones of Surrealists were emphatically pagan, and other with Rimabud: the anti-hero of the understanding Suf tradition is that it is not their internal searches strongly driven by Paris boulevard united with the Moorish an alternative to conventional piety but an their desire for creativity, be it on paper, saint buried on the hill above Damascus. addition. However, in other ways it stands canvas or in plastic form. For a Suf , the apart. It is rooted in an oral heritage not ef orts on paper, on the dance f oor, or in Barnaby Rogerson has written North Africa a sacred text. It is a lifelong search not a a musical score were the means to an end – A History, T e Prophet Muhammad – a def nitive written legal code. A Suf is used – the souls journey towards the Absolute. biography, T e Last Crusaders, T e Heirs to listening out for the unspoken, taking a But in their way of describing this of the Prophet Muhammad and guidebooks pilgrimage towards the unknown, questing pilgrimage, through outwardly anarchic, to Tunisia and Morocco. He is a member for the unseen. astonishing, baf ing and obscure forms of of the Editorial Board and his day job is In a remarkably similar way the life, the Suf and Surrealist are very close. Publisher at Eland (www.travelbooks.co.uk) Surrealists, goaded by the catastrophe of And the Suf goal, the f nal delirium of

24 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 RREVIEWS:EVIEWS: BOOKSBOOKS AAleppo:leppo: TheThe RRiseise aandnd FFallall ofof Syria’sSyria’s GGreatreat MMerchanterchant CCityity

By Philip Mansel

IB Tauris, February 2016, £17.99

Reviewed by Robert Irwin

hilip Mansel’s earlier book, Levant: extracted from the travel narratives of hosted a f ourishing expatriate community Splendour and Catastrophe on the European visitors. T e earliest account of Italians, French, English and Dutch, Mediterranean (2010), celebrated to be included is by the merchant Jean- protected by their respective consuls and Pthe commercial and cultural heyday of Baptiste Tavernier (1673) and the latest by capitulations. T ere were hunts, balls and such coastal cities as Beirut, Smyrna and the archaeologist Leonard Wooley (1920). even games of cricket. But later Aleppo’s Alexandria and lamented the decline So what we have is the city as seen by commerce was af ected by the rise of in the 20th century of the old Levantine outsiders and in general they were poorly Smyrna and the British and Dutch found racial and religious coexistence and placed to comment on such matters as alternative routes to trade with Iran via cosmopolitanism. In Aleppo: T e Rise religious and intellectual developments. Muscovy or the Gulf and the British and Fall of Syria’s Great Merchant City, On the other hand, the unfamiliarity Levant Company ceased trading. T e he celebrates the heyday of an inland of Western merchants and adventurers French acquired a near monopoly over Levantine centre of commerce and culture, with this exotic-seeming city made them Aleppo’s trade with Europe and their which in recent years has suf ered an even conscious of how dif erent it was from language replaced Italian as the lingua more overwhelming catastrophe than that their home environments and stimulated franca of the Levant. At the end of WWI experienced by Smyrna or Beirut. Under them to make observations on everyday the French took it for granted that the the Mamluks Aleppo had served chief y as things that city’s native inhabitants would mandate over Syria should be theirs. a forward military base in northern Syria have taken for granted and which no Aleppan commerce suf ered somewhat and it was only under the Ottomans that local historian would have bothered to from the new frontiers with Anatolia and the city became one of the world’s great chronicle. Iraq. Even so, the place, with its wonderful trading centres. As Gertrude Bell wrote So the Western visitors took care to cavernous souks, still seemed prosperous in from Amurath to Amurath (1911): describe shops, clothes, foodstuf s, drinks when I last visited it some ten years ago. ‘Damascus is the city of the Arab tribes and recreations, thereby providing the Alas for the past! Mansel’s book is a who conquered her and set their stamp potential data for a material history of the moving requiem for that past, but it is a upon her; Aleppo standing astride the city. In particular, many of the Europeans pity that he did not see f t to include any trade routes of northern Mesopotamia, wrote obsessively about Aleppan food visitors to Aleppo af er Wooley, nor has is a city of merchants quick to defend the (reminding me of the travel supplements he provided a suf cient context to the wealth that they had gathered so far’. of today’s Sunday papers, which, in their photographs included in the book. Mansel’s brisk account of the history of guides to exotic holiday destinations, Aleppo (sixty-three pages) begins with invariably give priority to restaurants Robert Irwin is the author of Islamic Art, the occupation of the city in 1516 by and bars over museums, libraries and T e Alhambra, For Lust of Knowing: the Ottoman troops of Selim I and ends bookshops). T e other thing that most T e Orientalists and T eir Enemies and with an intensely depressing description European visitors focused on was the the Editor of T e Penguin Anthology of of the battleground that the place has ‘Aleppo button’, or ‘mal d’Alep’, a disf guring Classical Literature become today as Bashar al-Assad’s forces black boil caused by the bite of the sand f y, f ght against the rebels entrenched in the an af iction that was apparently peculiar to ruins. T e rest of the book consists of the city and its immediate environs. descriptions of Aleppo and its inhabitants In the 16th and 17th centuries Aleppo

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 25 BBOOKSOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF WWomen,omen, WWorkork aandnd WWelfareelfare iinn tthehe MMiddleiddle EEastast aandnd NNorthorth AAfrica:frica: TThehe RRoleole ooff SSocio-demographics,ocio-demographics, EEntrepreneurshipntrepreneurship aandnd PPublicublic PPoliciesolicies Edited by Nadereh Chamlou and Massoud Karshenas

In the af ermath of the Arab Spring, and in light of socio-economic and geopolitical challenges facing governments old and new, women’s rights and empowerment have gained new urgency and relevance. Groups in power, or groups contesting for power, are more conservative than expected, and there are serious threats to roll back some of the gains women achieved over the past 20-30 years on economic and social fronts. T e global gender debate has neglected the economic dimension of women’s empowerment. T is book of ers original research linking gender equality with economic policy, reinforcing the agenda from a broad-based perspective.

February 2016, Imperial College Press, £134.00

MMorbidorbid SSymptoms:ymptoms: RRelapseelapse iinn tthehe AArabrab UUprisingprising

By Gilbert Achcar

Since the f rst wave of uprisings in 2011, the euphoria of the ‘Arab Spring’ has given way to the gloom of backlash, clashes between rival counter-revolutionary forces and a descent into mayhem and war. Morbid Symptoms of ers a timely assessment of the ongoing Arab uprising. Focusing on Syria and Egypt, Gilbert Achcar analyses the factors of the regional relapse: the resilience of the old regimes, the power of religious reactionary forces, the exceptional number of rival international and regional supports of both reactionary camps and the shortcomings of progressive forces. Drawing on a combination of scholarly and political knowledge of the Arab region, Achcar argues that, short of radical social change, the region will not achieve stability any time soon.

May 2016, Saqi Books, £12.99 TThehe FFallall ofof thethe TTurkishurkish MModel:odel: HHowow tthehe AArabrab UUprisingsprisings BBroughtrought DDownown IIslamicslamic LLiberalismiberalism By Cihan Tuğal Just a few short years ago, the ‘Turkish Model’ was being hailed across the world. T e New York Times gushed that prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) had ‘ef ectively integrated Islam, democracy, and vibrant economics’. And yet, a more recent CNN headline wondered if Erdogan had become a ‘dictator’. In this analysis, Cihan Tuğal argues that the problem with this model of Islamic liberalism is much broader and deeper than Erdogan’s increasing authoritarianism. T e problems are inherent in the very model of Islamic liberalism that formed the basis of the AKP’s ascendancy and rule since 2002 – an intended marriage of neoliberalism and democracy. And this model can also only be understood as a response to regional politics – especially as a response to the ‘Iranian Model’ – a marriage of corporatism and Islamic revolution.

January 2016, Verso Books, £19.99

26 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 BBOOKSOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF MMenen ooff CCapital:apital: SScarcitycarcity aandnd EEconomyconomy iinn MMandateandate PPalestinealestine

By Sherene Seikaly

Men of Capital examines British-ruled Palestine in the 1930s and 1940s through a focus on economy. T e book illuminates dynamic class constructions that aimed to shape a pan-Arab utopia in terms of free trade, prof t accumulation and private property. And in so doing, it positions Palestine and Palestinians in the larger world of Arab thought and social life, moving attention away from the limiting debates of the Zionist–Palestinian conf ict. Reading Palestinian business periodicals, records, and correspondence, Sherene Seikaly reveals how capital accumulation was central to the conception of the ideal ‘social man’. She traces how British colonial institutions and policies regulated wartime austerity regimes, mapping the shortages of basic goods to the broader material disparities among Palestinians and European Jews.

November 2015, Stanford University Press, £18.99 AAnatomynatomy ooff AAuthoritarianismuthoritarianism iinn tthehe AArabrab RRepublicsepublics

By Joseph Sassoon

By examining the system of authoritarianism in eight Arab republics, Joseph Sassoon portrays life under these regimes and explores the mechanisms underpinning their resilience. How did the leadership in these countries create such enduring systems? What was the economic system that prolonged the regimes’ longevity, but simultaneously led to their collapse? Why did these seemingly stable regimes begin to falter? T is book seeks to answer these questions by utilising the Iraqi archives and memoirs of those who were embedded in these republics: political leaders, ministers, generals, security agency chiefs, party members and business people.

May 2016, Cambridge University Press, £18.99 MModernityodernity aandnd tthehe MMuseumuseum iinn tthehe AArabianrabian PPeninsulaeninsula

By Karen Exell

Modernity and the Museum in the Arabian Peninsula is dedicated to the recent and rapid high-prof le development of museums in the Arabian Peninsula, focussing on a number of the Arabian Peninsula states: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the UAE. T ese Gulf states are dynamically involved in the establishment of museums to preserve and represent their distinct national culture and heritage, as well as engaging in the regional and global art worlds through the construction of state-of-the-art art museums. Alongside such developments is a rich world of collection and displaying material culture in homes and private museums that is little known to the outside world.

March 2016, Routledge, £29.99

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 27 BBOOKSOOKS ININ BRIEFBRIEF TThehe TTransnationalransnational MMosque:osque: AArchitecturerchitecture aandnd HHistoricalistorical MMemoryemory iinn tthehe CContemporaryontemporary MMiddleiddle EEastast By Kishwar Rizvi Kishwar Rizvi of ers an illustrated analysis of the role of transnational mosques in the construction of contemporary Muslim identity. As Rizvi explains, transnational mosques are structures built through the support of both government sponsorship, whether in the home country or abroad, and diverse transnational networks. By concentrating on mosques – especially those built at the turn of the 21st century – as the epitome of Islamic architecture, Rizvi elucidates their signif cance as sites for both the validation of religious praxis and the construction of national and religious ideologies. Mosques reveal alliances and contests for inf uence among multinational corporations, nations, and communities of belief, and this work demonstrates how the built environment is a critical resource for understanding culture and politics in the contemporary Middle East and the Islamic world.

November 2015, T e University of North Carolina Press, £33.50 TThehe LLostost PParadise:aradise: AAndalusindalusi MMusicusic iinn UUrbanrban NNorthorth AAfricafrica By Jonathan Glasser For more than a century, urban North Africans have sought to protect and revive Andalusia music, a prestigious Arabic-language performance tradition said to originate in the ‘lost paradise’ of medieval Islamic Spain. Yet despite the Andalusia repertoire’s enshrinement as the national classical music of postcolonial North Africa, its devotees continue to describe it as being in danger of disappearance. In T e Lost Paradise, Jonathan Glasser explores the close connection between the paradox of patrimony and the questions of embodiment, genealogy, secrecy and social class that have long been central to Andalusia musical practice. Glasser shows how anxiety about Andalusia music’s disappearance has emerged from within the practice itself and come to be central to its ethos. T e result is a sophisticated examination of musical survival and transformation that is also a meditation on temporality, labour, colonialism and nationalism, and the relationship of the living to the dead.

April 2016, T e University of Chicago Press, £21.00 LLearningearning iinn MMorocco:orocco: LLanguageanguage PPoliticsolitics aandnd tthehe AAbandonedbandoned EEducationalducational DDreamream By Charis Boutieri

Learning in Morocco of ers a rare look inside public education in the Middle East. While policymakers see a crisis in education based on demographics and f nancing, Moroccan high school students point to the ef ects of a highly politicised Arabisation policy that has never been implemented coherently. In recent years, national policies to promote the use of Arabic have come into conf ict with the demands of a neoliberal job market in which competence in French is still a prerequisite for advancement. Based on long-term research inside and outside classrooms, Charis Boutieri describes how students and teachers work within, or try to circumvent, the system, whose contradictory demands ultimately lead to disengagement and, on occasion, to students taking to the streets in protest.

April 2016, Indiana University Press, £22.09

28 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 IINN MMEMORIAMEMORIAM ZZahaaha HHadidadid ((1950-2016)1950-2016) Pamela Karimi © Hassan Hakimian

MAXXI, Rome, Italy. Photograph courtesy of Hassan Hakimian

n 1989, architect and critic Denise notably that of Kazimir Malevich, into Using creative methods and cutting- Scott Brown published Room at the architecture. Her capstone project – a edge technology – famously coined by Top? Sexism and the Star System in proposed hotel on top of a bridge over her f rm as parametric design – Hadid IArchitecture. In it Scott Brown openly the T ames – was appropriately titled later created all the more unusual forms discussed the sexism she confronted as ‘Malevich’s Tectonik’. and unique spatial experiences that were the partner of the prominent architect Af er graduation and following a truly unprecedented. Together with her Robert Venturi. She wrote of how many few years of work experience with the colleague, Patrik Schumacher, and a clients and critics repeatedly presumed Of ce for Metropolitan Architecture, large team of talented architects, Hadid her role to be marginal, despite her major Hadid established her own design f rm employed parametric design tools and contribution to all collaborative projects. in London, where she helped def ne end-user programming, permitting T e experience of Denise Scott Brown the architectonics of the then-nascent the production of any desirable shape shows the degree of sexism in the f eld of movement of Deconstruction, wherein while maintaining a shared codif ed architectural design prior to and during a the Modernist dream of pure geometrical geometric logic throughout. Most notable time when, against all odds, Zaha Hadid’s form was to be ‘disturbed.’ T rough among the projects that benef ted from career as a star architect was in the gravity-resisting cantilevered beams, this pioneering mode of design were making. Hadid, whose unique buildings suspended hardedge concrete slabs and the London Aquatics Centre for the have animated many major cities around fragmented and non-rectilinear shapes 2012 Olympics, and the Heydar Aliyev the world, passed away of a heart attack Hadid distorted and dislocated the Cultural Center in Baku, completed in in Miami, Florida on 31 March 2016 at fundamental elements of architecture. 2013. Owing to parametric design, this the age of 65. Consider, for example, the distinctive latter body of work is wavier and curvier T e f rst and only woman to win the horizontal layers and f oating voids in her than the earlier works. Indeed, parts of Pritzker Prize – architecture’s equivalent 1983 proposal for the Peak Club of Hong these buildings mimic basic systems of of the Nobel – Hadid was born and raised Kong. growth found in nature. Hadid herself in Baghdad. She received her college Due to their unusual formal features, claimed to be using ‘an organic language education at the American University in Hadid’s proposals remained mostly of architecture, based on these new Beirut. In 1972, she was admitted into the unrealised throughout the 1980s. It [computational] tools, which allowed [her graduate programme at the Architectural was only in 1994 that the f rst in her team] to integrate highly complex forms Association (AA), an experimental and astonishing collection of unusual, into a f uid and seamless whole.’ cutting-edge design school in London futuristic-looking buildings materialised Hadid’s interest in cutting-edge that would later appoint Hadid as – a mere f re station in Germany (aka computer technologies was of en coupled professor and critic. It was during her Vitra Fire Station). T e building’s unusual with her passion for history. Indeed, in years as a student at AA that Hadid sharp angles captured the imagination her built portfolio one senses a synthesis began to explore new territories in of architects and designers around of historicism and futurism. Noteworthy design. Remarkably, she translated the the world, so much so that the owners is Hadid’s design for Rome’s MAXXI, language of Russian Suprematists, most decided to convert it into a museum. the National Museum of XXI Century

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 29 Arts, which granted her the prestigious published in a February 2016 article in American art historian, Nada Shabout, RIBA Stirling Prize in 2010. T e building T e Guardian, while numbers of male who brief y studied with Hadid at the evokes Baroque sensibilities, as its ‘f uid and female architecture students in AA in the mid-1980s commented: ‘… and sinuous forms, concave and convex most developed countries are equally of course we all felt her strong presence spaces…mysteriously disappear and balanced, only just above 20 per cent at the AA and very much admired her. reappear’, to borrow a description from of working architects are women. Such Hadid was, indeed, an amazingly talented the NPR’s European correspondent, f gures indicate that despite signif cant architect and will be missed terribly. She Sylvia Poggioli. improvement in women’s professional has lef a legacy which will continue to Natural looking and futuristic with lives, we are still far from perfection. ‘Old’ inspire young architects for years to come.’ subtle historical references, Hadid’s and ‘new’, subtle or bold, feminist voices latter buildings are, above all, known still need to be heard, because they foster Hadid is survived by her older brother, for their unique ‘feminine’ curves. new ways of ameliorating the workings Haytham Hadid, and a whole host of Indeed, sof mutations and curvilinear of the professional f eld of architecture in incomplete projects around the world, conf gurations are of en associated relation to larger social structures. Neither which will hopefully be carried on by her with Hadid’s own gender. She was even a feminist, nor an advocate for feminist team. dubbed posthumously by T e Guardian design, Hadid nonetheless made sure that as the ‘Queen of Curve.’ But Hadid’s her ‘feminist’ voice was heard loudly. Pamela Karimi is an Associate Professor feminine voice was not limited to a By the same token, Hadid was never of Art History at the University of bunch of curves. T rough both her f rst- interested in being labelled as an Arab. Massachusetts Dartmouth. She was the class practice and speaking engagements, Despite this, it is worth recognising IHF Visiting Fellow in Iranian Studies at Hadid articulated women architects’ the deep impact Hadid has had among the LMEI for the 2014-15 academic session problems on many occasions. Speaking Middle Eastern professionals. It would be to the Observer, in February 2016, Hadid no exaggeration to say that many Middle said: ‘I have noticed it is easier for me in Eastern architects and architectural European countries than it is here. T ere scholars looked up to Hadid as a role is a dif erent dynamic. In the UK it is model. Leila Araghian, the Iran-based more dif cult. T ey are very conservative. architect of the Tabi’at (Nature) Bridge in T ere is a scepticism and more Tehran, and one of the most important misogynist behaviour here. Although, emerging female architecture voices in the while there were people against me, there region, tweeted: ‘Her legacy will live on in MAXXI, the National Museum of XXI Century were also people living here who were all the spaces she created and through the Arts, Rome, Italy. Completed in 2010 by Zaha incredibly supportive.’ work of all the architects who were and Hadid Architects. Photograph courtesy of According to a recent survey will be inspired by her work.’ T e Iraqi- Hassan Hakimian © Hassan Hakimian

30 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 LISTINGS EEventsvents iinn LLondonondon

HE EVENTS and topics such as his origins, name organisations listed below and the religious experiences that are not necessarily endorsed he claimed. Admission free. Room orT supported by Te Middle East in G51a, SOAS. E [email protected] London. Te accompanying texts W www.soas.ac.uk/religions-and- and images are based primarily philosophies/events/ on information provided by the organisers and do not necessarily 5:30 pm | Saudi Aramco: Its refect the views of the compilers Contributions and Future or publishers. While every possible Directions (Lecture) Salma efort is made to ascertain the Al-Ajaji (Aramco Services Co. accuracy of these listings, readers Houston). Organised by: Saudi- are advised to seek confrmation British Society. Lecture following of all events using the contact the Society's AGM. Arab–British details provided for each event. Chamber of Commerce, 43 Upper Submitting entries and updates: Grosvenor Street, London W1K Homeland (See June Events, p. 37) please send all updates and 2NJ. Tickets: £5/Members free. E submissions for entries related [email protected] W to future events via e-mail to www.saudibritishsociety.org.uk education-mena BIICL, Charles Gardner (University of Sydney). [email protected] Clore House, 17 Russell Square, Organised by: Department of 6:00pm | Iranian Communities London WC1B 5JP. T 020 7862 Religions and Philosophies, BM – British Museum, Great in Britain: A Research Report 5151 W www.biicl.org SOAS. Gardner examines Mani’s Russell Street, London WC1B (Presentation) Annabelle Sreberny missions and the community he 3DG (SOAS) and Reza Gholami 8:00 pm | Love, Bombs & Apples founded within the context of the SOAS –SOAS, University of (Keele). Organised by: Keele (Performance) Organised by: many intellectual, spiritual and London, T ornhaugh Street, University and the British Council Arcola T eatre. Until 25 June. doctrinal traditions with which he Russell Square, London WC1H in association with the Centre Saturday matinees at 3:30pm. interacted. Admission free. Room 0XG for Iranian Studies, SOAS. Wine New play from playwright Hassan G51a, SOAS. E [email protected] LSE – London School of reception 6-7:00pm followed by a Addulrazzak (Baghdad Wedding, W www.soas.ac.uk/religions-and- Economics and Political Science, presentation 7-8:30pm. Sreberny T e Prophet) – a tale of four men, philosophies/events/ Houghton Street, London WC2 and Gholami present the f ndings each from dif erent parts of the 2AE of their research report about globe, all experiencing a moment Friday 3 June Iranian Communities in Britain. of revelation. Tickets: £17/£14/£12. Copies of the report will be Arcola T eatre, 24 Ashwin Street, 9:00 am | Structural Dividers in JUNE EVENTS available. Admission free. Khalili London E8 3DL. T 020 7503 1646 Qur’anic Material: A Synthesis Lecture T eatre, SOAS. T 020 W www.arcolatheatre.com of Approaches (Two-Day Wednesday 1 June 7898 4330 E [email protected] W Workshop: Friday 3 - Saturday www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/events/ T ursday 2 June 4 June) Organised by: Centre 11:00 | Beneath the Waves: of Islamic Studies, SOAS. Ancient Sunken Cities Organised 6.00 pm | Human Rights and 2.00 pm | Swallowed By T e Workshop investigating the by: BM. A week of family activities Education in the MENA Region Sea: Ancient Egypt's Greatest plausibility, and the implications, exploring the ancient cities (Panel Discussion) Jessica Oddy Lost City (Film) Organised by: of a number of possible methods discovered of the coast of Egypt. (Save the Children), Majida Rasul BM. Documentary following for understanding the Qur’an Admission free. Great Court, BM. (BIICL), Elham Saudi (Lawyers underwater explorer and in accordance with a set of T 020 7323 8299 E information@ for Justice in Libya and Chatham archaeologist Franck Goddio structurally-informed rules. britishmuseum.org W www.House). Organised by: British as he explores the submerged Convener: Marianna Klar (SOAS). britishmuseum.org Institute of International and ancient Egyptian city of T onis- Admission free. Pre-registration Comparative Law (BIICL). A Heracleion. Tickets: £3/£2 conc. T required (limited number of 5:00 pm | Jordan Lectures 2016 discussion on the implementation 020 7323 8181 Stevenson Lecture places, precedence given to – Mani’s Background and Early of international human rights T eatre, BM. T 020 7323 8299 E academic staf and to graduate Life: Who was He and What did law within the Middle East and [email protected] students) E [email protected] He T ink He was Doing? Iain North Africa (MENA) region, W www.britishmuseum.org Rooms 4429 & 4426, SOAS. T 020 Gardner (University of Sydney). with an emphasis on the norms 7898 4333 W www.soas.ac.uk/ Organised by: Department of that protect education. Chair: 5:00 pm | Jordan Lectures 2016 – islamicstudies/events/ Religions and Philosophies, Javaid Rehman (Brunel University Mani’s Career as the ‘Apostle of SOAS. Lecture comparing the London). Tickets: Various. Jesus Christ’: His Missions and 9:00 am | Languages or Dialects? varied pictures of Mani, including To register W www.biicl.org/ the Community he Founded Iain Celebrating the Diversity of

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 31 Arabic (Workshop) Organised by: 11:00 am | Egyptian Photo Booth Reading Lolita in Tehran which [email protected] Department of the Languages and (Workshop) Organised by: BM. described how, every T ursday for W www.britishmuseum.org Cultures of the Near and Middle Turn yourself into a pharaoh, an two years, Naf si met with seven East, SOAS. Workshop featuring Egyptian god and other characters of her most committed students 5:30 pm | T e Parthenon Mosque scholars from across Europe, using a range of digital technology. to read government banned (Lecture) Elizabeth Key Fowden North Africa and the Middle East, Admission free. Samsung Western literature in a covert (University of Cambridge). with presentations on linguistic Centre, BM. T 020 7323 8299 E women’s reading group and how Organised by: T e Aga Khan and cultural aspects of the Arabic- [email protected] Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, Naf si University (International) based languages/dialects of Malta, W www.britishmuseum.org discovered, was a metaphor for life Institute for the Study of Muslim Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, in Iran. Tickets: £30. Waterstones Civilisations (ISMC). Fowden Palestine and South Sudan. 2:00 pm | Love Beyond Belief: Piccadilly, 203-206 Piccadilly, considers how European Admission free. Kamran Djam Opening the Eye of the Heart London W1J 9HD. E john. scientif c impetus and Ottoman Lecture T eatre (G2), SOAS. E in the Mirror of Religious [email protected] W universalising historiography [email protected] W www.soas. Truth (Lecture) Alan Williams www.howtoacademy.com confronted a building infused over ac.uk/nme/events/ (University of Manchester). many centuries with the mirabilia Organised by: T e Beshara 6:30 pm | Politicising Tourism in and legends that had given it life. 12:00 pm | Jordan Lectures Trust. T e Beshara Lecture 2016. Palestine (Film/Panel Discussion) Admission free. Pre-registration 2016 – Mani’s Death: Inter- Williams will attempt to show Organised by: T e Mosaic Rooms. required. ISMC, Room 2.3, 210 Religious Conf ict in Early how Rumi, of all spiritual teachers, Screening of Leila Sansour’s Euston Road, London NW1 Sasanian Iran and the Memory gives perhaps the greatest documentary, Open Bethlehem, 2DA. T 020 7380 3847 E ismc. of the Apostle Iain Gardner emphasis to this teaching of the which tells the story of the f lm [email protected] W www.aku. (University of Sydney). Organised transformative and healing power makers own ef orts to open up the edu/ismc by: Department of Religions of love as a divine ‘incarnation’ city to tourism and through this and Philosophies, SOAS. In his or self-revelation (tajalli) of God examines the ef ect of occupation Friday 10 June last lecture in the series Gardner in the human heart. Tickets: on the city and its population. questions the factual and counter- £10/£7 conc. St Ethelburga's Followed by a panel discussion on 1:15 pm | Religion in Sasanian factual memory of the apostle Centre, 78 Bishopsgate, London tourism as a means of colonisation Iran (Gallery Talk) Rachel preserved into the medieval EC2N 4AG. T 020 8300 7928 E and of resistance. Tickets: £6.50 Wood (BM). Organised by: BM. and modern world. Admission [email protected] W www. online/£7.50 on the door. T e Admission free. Room 52, BM. free. Room G3, SOAS. E eh9@ besharalecture.eventbrite.co.uk Mosaic Rooms, A.M. Qattan T 020 7323 8299 E information@ soas.ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/ Foundation, Tower House, 226 britishmuseum.org W www. religions-and-philosophies/ 8:00 pm | Ash Koosha + Live Cromwell Road, London SW5 britishmuseum.org events/ Support (Performance) Organised 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 E info@ by: Institute of Contemporary Arts mosaicrooms.org W http:// 3:00 pm | Curator's Introduction 6:30 pm | Cleopatra: Fact and (ICA). Iranian-born, London- mosaicrooms.org/ to the BP Exhibition Sunken Fiction (Lecture) Organised by: based electronic musician Ash Cities: Egypt's Lost Worlds BM. Classicist and author David Koosha unveils his new live 7:00 pm | Friedrich Sarre and (Lecture) Organised by: BM. See Stuttard probes Cleopatra’s life show in the UK for the f rst time. how Islamic Art Came to Berlin Exhibitions, p.39 Admission free. and controversial death to uncover Tickets: £7-£10. T eatre, ICA, 12 (Lecture) Julia Gonnella (Museum Pre-registration required T 020 the truth behind the legend. Carlton House Terrace, London for Islamische Kunst, Berlin). 7323 8181 Stevenson Lecture Tickets: £5/£3 conc. T 020 7323 SW1Y 5AH. T 020 7930 3647 W Organised by: Islamic Art Circle. T eatre, BM. T 020 7323 8299 E 8181 BP Lecture T eatre, BM. T www.ica.org.uk Chair: Scott Redford (SOAS). [email protected] 020 7323 8299 E information@ Admission free. Khalili Lecture W www.britishmuseum.org britishmuseum.org W www.Wednesday 8 June T eatre, SOAS. T 07714087480 E britishmuseum.org [email protected] W 5:00 pm | T e Right to Be Wrong: 6:00 pm | Gilgamesh: Performed www.soas.ac.uk/art/islac/ Academic Freedom, Social 7:30 pm | Guy Manoukian in by Ben Haggarty and Jonah Science and Public Policy in the Concert: A Night of Oriental & Brody (Performance) Organised T ursday 9 June Arab World (Talk) Lisa Anderson Western Fusion Music Organised by: London Centre for the Ancient (Columbia University and former by: T e British Lebanese Near East. In celebration of the 4:00 pm | Motya and the President of T e American Association in association with SOAS Centenary performance Routes to Roots: Phoenicians University in Cairo). Organised by: AM Productions. Concert with storyteller Ben Haggarty gives Back and Forth Across the Centre for International Studies Lebanese musician, composer his rendering of the ancient Mediterranean (Lecture) Lorenze and Diplomacy and the Centre and pianist, Guy Manoukian. Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, Nigro ('La Sapienza' University of for the International Politics of Tickets: £35-£150. Cadogan Hall, with musical accompaniment Rome). Organised by: Palestine Conf ict, Rights and Justice, SOAS. 5 Sloane Terrace, London SW1X by SOAS-alumnus Jonah Brody. Exploration Fund (PEF) and the Anderson ref ects on the topic of 9DQ. T 020 7370 1966 E mail@ Admission free. Pre-registration BM. PEF AGM & Honor Frost academic freedom and scientif c britishlebanese.org W www.required W www.soas.ac.uk/Memorial Lecture. Nigro looks at research in the af ermath of the britishlebanese.org nme/events/ Brunei Gallery how excavations at Motya (2002– 2011 uprisings against Hosni Lecture T eatre, SOAS. W http:// 2015) have revealed traces of the Mubarak. Chair: Leslie Vinjamuri Saturday 4 June banealcane.org/lcane/ earliest Levantine and Phoenician (SOAS). Admission free. Room habitation of the central B104, Brunei Gallery, SOAS. W 9:00 am | Structural Dividers in 6:45 pm | Read Lolita (in Tehran Mediterranean, shedding light on www.soas.ac.uk/ccrj/events/ Qur’anic Material: A Synthesis and beyond) with Azar Naf si the formative phase of Phoenician of Approaches (Two-Day (Reading) Organised by: how expansion to the west. Admission Saturday 11 June Workshop: Friday 3 - Saturday 4 to: Academy. In 2003, Iranian free. Pre-registration required June) See above event listing for expatriate and Professor of T 020 7323 8181 BP Lecture 1:15 pm | T e Splendours of more information. Literature Azar Naf si published T eatre, BM. T 020 7323 8299 E Ancient Iran (Gallery Talk)

32 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 CENTRE FOR IRANIAN STUDIES – SCHOLARSHIPS

SOAS, University of London, is pleased to announce the availability of several scholarships in its Centre for Iranian Studies (CIS). The Centre, established in 2010, draws upon the range of academic research and teaching across the disciplines of SOAS, including Languages and Literature, the Study of Religions, History, Economics, Politics, International Relations, Music, Art and Media and Film Studies. It aims to

build close relations with likeminded Treasures of the School of Oriental and African Studies, London, 2007, p 25 . institutions and to showcase and foster the best of contemporary Iranian talent in art and culture. MA in Iranian Studies *O

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2015/16. Thanks to the generosity of the Fereydoun Djam Charitable Trust, a number of Kamran Djam scholarships are available for BA, MA and MPhil/PhD studies. MA in Iranian Studies For further details, please contact: Dr Nima Mina (Department of the Languages and Culture of the Middle East) Scholarships Of cer E: [email protected] E: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7898 4315 T: +44 (0)20 7074 5091/ 5094 W: www.soas.ac.uk/nme/programmes/ W: www.soas.ac.uk/scholarships ma-in-iranian-studies Centre for Iranian Studies Student Recruitment Dr Arshin Adib-Moghaddam (Chair) T: +44(0)20 7898 4034 E: [email protected] E: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7898 4747 W: www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 33 royalasiaticsociety.org W http:// Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH. T royalasiaticsociety.org/ 020 7969 5274 E [email protected] W www.bisi.ac.uk

Tuesday 14 June 7:00 pm | Larissa Sansour in conversation with Anthony 6:30 pm | T e Neo-Islamic Style: Downey (Talk) Organised by: T e A Victorian Turkish Bath in Mosaic Rooms. Palestinian artist London (Lecture) Maurizia Onori Larissa Sansour in conversation (SOAS). Organised by: Royal with Anthony Downey (academic Asiatic Society. Royal Asiatic and editor of Ibraaz) about her f rst Society, 14 Stephenson Way, London solo show, In the Future London NW1 2HD. T 020 7388 T ey Ate from the Finest Porcelain 4539 E [email protected] currently on display at T e Mosaic W http://royalasiaticsociety.org/ Rooms. Sansour discusses how 6:30 pm | An Evening with her work challenges the use of Sudanese Authors: Ahmad Al archeology to support national Malik, Hammour Ziada, Tarek identity in contemporary Israel- Eltayeb (Reading/Reception) Palestine and about the role of Organised by: Waterstone’s and sci-f in her work. See Exhibitions, Banipal and supported by T e p.39 Admission free. T e Mosaic International Prize for Arabic Rooms, A.M. Qattan Foundation, Fiction. With readings from the Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, authors' works, all translated London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 from Arabic. Admission free. Pre- 9990 E [email protected] W registration required T 020 7851 http://mosaicrooms.org/ 2400 E piccadilly@waterstones. com 4th Floor, Waterstone's Piccadilly Bookshop, 203/206 T ursday 16 June Piccadilly, London W1J 9HD. W www.banipal.co.uk 9:00 am | Multilingual Locals and Signif cant Geographies Before Colonialism (T ree-Day Wednesday 15 June Workshop: T ursday 16 - Saturday 18 June) Organised by: Centre for 3:30 pm | T e Arts & Science in Cultural, Literary and Postcolonial Early Islamic Spain (Seminar) Studies (CCLPS), SOAS and Glaire D. Anderson (University sponsored by the European Maysaloun Faraj, Tomorrow My Heart Will Heal, 30x16x13cm. Bronze 2010. of North Carolina). Organised Research Council. T e workshop Symphony of Birds. (See Exhibitions, p. 39) by: T e Courtauld Institute of will seek to map pre-colonial Art. Anderson's talk will focus histories of local and transregional Carolyn Perry (Independent (CCLPS), SOAS. How do we on ‘Abbas Ibn Firnas (d. ca. 887), multilingualism in the Maghreb, Speaker). Organised by: BM. account for the persistence of the celebrated polymath of the north India, and Ethiopia. Admission free. Room 53, BM. older modes of manuscript or Cordoban Umayyad court, and on Tickets: £5/students free. Pre- T 020 7323 8299 E information@ book production into the 20th al-Andalus and its contemporaries registration by 3 June, see contact britishmuseum.org W www.century? What are the spaces that between the 9th-11th centuries. details below. Room B102, Brunei britishmuseum.org magazines inhabit in the age of Admission free. Research Forum Gallery, SOAS. E [email protected] commercial publishing? How do Seminar Room, T e Courtauld W www.soas.ac.uk/cclps/events/ 7:00 pm | London Festival of we establish methodologies for Institute of Art, Somerset House, Kurdish Music at SOAS (Concert) studying archives and constituting Strand, London WC2R 0RN. T 5:45 pm | Mamluk Geometric Doors open 6:45pm. Instrumental new ones? Admission free. SOAS. 020 7848 2777 E researchforum@ design in Cairo (1250-1517) and vocal music will be performed E [email protected] courtauld.ac.uk W http:// (Lecture) Eric Broug (Author, in Kurmanj, Sorani and Kalhor W www.soas.ac.uk/cclps/events/ courtauld.ac.uk Educator and Founder of the dialects by the SOAS Kurdish School of Islamic Geometric band and guest musicians. Tickets: 6:30 pm | Konrad Hirschler Book 6:00 pm | Dusty Streets and Design). Organised by: MBI Al £15/£10 conc./£6 students. Launch at the RAS Organised Hot Music - Iraqi Music from Jaber Foundation. Part of the Pre-booking required W www. by: Royal Asiatic Society. Event to the Past (Lecture) Organised MBI Al Jaber Foundation Lecture thesantur.com G2, SOAS. E events. mark the publication of Hirschler's by: T e British Institute for the Series. Broug explores the basic [email protected] Medieval Damascus: Plurality and Study of Iraq (BISI). Rolf Killius, principles of the Mamluk design Diversity in an Arabic Library - T e ethnomusicologist, f lmmaker and heritage and demonstrates what Ashraf ya Library Catalogue, the museum curator, elaborates on the was unique and exceptional Monday 13 June f rst documented insight into the rich traditional music in Iraq and about Mamluk geometric design. content and structure of a large- plays some of the recently digitised Admission free. Pre-registration 9:00 am | Book History Beyond scale medieval Arabic library. recordings on old shellac discs required E info@mbifoundation. the Book: in Asia, Africa, and Introduction by Doris Behrens- from the British Library archive. com MBI Al Jaber Conference the Middle East (Conference) Abouseif. Royal Asiatic Society, Admission free. Pre-registration Room, London Middle East Organised by: Centre for Cultural, 14 Stephenson Way, London NW1 required W www.bisi.ac.uk British Institute, SOAS (LMEI), University Literary and Postcolonial Studies 2HD. T 020 7388 4539 E ar@ Academy, 10 Carlton House of London, MBI Al Jaber Building,

34 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 21 Russell Square, London WC1B Sunday 19 June Panel Discussion Organised and BM). Organised by: British 5EA. E [email protected] by: Frontline Club. Followed Foundation for the Study of W www.mbifoundation.com 11:00 am | Explore Islamic by a Q&A with editing director Arabia (BFSA). Preceded by the Patterns (Workshop) Organised and reporter Henry Donovan, BFSA's AGM at 5:30pm. Simpson by: BM. Also at 2:00pm. Use set manager Frederic Olofsson looks at postcards from Arabia in Friday 17 June smartphones to explore patterns and creative director David Ben the BM's collection. Admission on Islamic objects in Room Koerzdoerfer. On 3 August 2014, free. Room G6LT, UCL Institute 9:00 am | Workshop: Multilingual 34. Admission free. Samsung Daesh militants attacked and of Archaeology, Gordon Square, Locals and Signif cant Centre, BM. T 020 7323 8299 E took over Sinjar in northern Iraq, London WC1H 0PY. E contact@ Geographies Before Colonialism [email protected] a Kurdish-controlled town that thebfsa.org W www.thebfsa.org (T ree-Day Workshop: T ursday W www.britishmuseum.org was predominantly inhabited by 16 - Saturday 18 June) See above Yazidis. Two years on, the plight of 6:30 pm | 17th-century oil- event listing for more information. 7:30 pm | T e Nile Project the Yazidis has disappeared from paintings from Safavid Isfahan: (Performance) Organised by: international attention. Tickets: ‘People From Parts Unknown’ Barbican Centre in association £10/£8 conc. Frontline Club, 13 (Lecture) Eleanor Sims (Art Saturday 18 June with Kazum and Arts Canteen. Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. T 020 Historian). Organised by: T e Performance featuring Nile 7479 8940 E events@frontlineclub. Iran Society. Doors open 6:30pm. 9:00 am | Workshop: Multilingual Project Collective musicians com W www.frontlineclub.com Admission free for Society Locals and Signif cant from Burundi, Egypt, Ethiopia, Members and one guest. Pall Mall Geographies Before Colonialism Kenya, Sudan, and Tanzania in a Wednesday 22 June Room, T e Army & Navy Club, 36- (T ree-Day Workshop: T ursday celebration of the diverse cultures 39 Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5JN 16 - Saturday 18 June) See above that have f ourished along the Nile 1:15 pm | Love and Marriage (Dress code calls for gentlemen event listing for more information. River. Tickets: £22.50. Islington in Iran (Gallery Talk) Ladan to wear jacket and tie). T 020 Assembly Hall, Upper Street, Akbarnia (BM). Organised by: 7235 5122 E [email protected] 1:15 pm | Nebamun and Ancient London N1 2UD. T 020 7638 8891 BM. Admission free. Room W www.iransociety.org / www. Egyptian Art (Gallery Talk) Carol W www.barbican.org.uk 34, BM. T 020 7323 8299 E therag.co.uk Andrews (Independent Speaker). [email protected] Organised by: BM. Admission free. Monday 20 June W www.britishmuseum.org T ursday 23 June Room 61, BM. T 020 7323 8299 E [email protected] 7:00 pm | Preview Screening: 5:45 pm | Postcards from Arabia 6:30 pm | Social Media as Archives W www.britishmuseum.org Descendants of an Angel + (Lecture) St John Simpson (BFSA of the Arab Uprisings (Film/ WHAT THE BRITISH DID Two Centuries in the Middle East Peter Mangold

The British have been engaged in the Middle East for over two centuries, from the Napoleonic Wars to the present-day fight against ISIS. Variously seen as intruders and as protectors, they have been key arbiters in Middle Eastern politics — creating states, shifting power balances, resolving disputes and offering security. Here, Peter Mangold shows how Britain has sought to protect its changing interests in the region and navigated around Arab nationalism. He examines the successes and failures of frequently controversial British policy and, by tracing the history of a complex relationship, reveals how Britain’s involvement in the Middle East sowed the seeds for today’s crises.

‘An enjoyable and profitable read’ — Wm. Roger Louis, Professor of History, University of Texas at Austin

‘This book is a major contribution to the existing literature Hardback on Britain’s encounter with the Middle East. It is unique in April 2016 384 pgs | 226 x 155 mm offering a comprehensive survey of over two centuries of £25.00 | 9781784531942 history. And it has the added merit of exploring many different aspects in Britain’s relationship with this complex, volatile and www.ibtauris.com endlessly fascinating region.’ — Avi Shlaim, author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 35 Middle East Summer School y 202423 June-21JuneJune-24 – 26July July July 2016 2014 2013

AnAn intensive intensive five-week five-week programme programme which which includes includes a two choice courses: of two courses: a language one (Persian or Arabic, the latter at two levels) andan Arabicanother Language on the 'Government Course (introductory and Politics or ofintermediate) the Middle East'and or 'Cultureanother and on Society‘Government in the andMiddle Politics East'. of the Middle East.

Beginners Persian (Level 1) Government and Politics of the Middle East T is is an introductory course which aims to give the students a reasonable grounding in the basics of Persian grammar and syntax T is course provides an introduction to the politics of the Middle as well as to enable them to understand simple and frequently used East and North Africa (MENA) region. It gives on a country by expressions related to basic language use. T ey will be able to hold country basis, an overview of the major political uncomplicated conversations on topics such as personal and family issues and developments in the region since the end of the First information, shopping, hobbies, employment as well as simple and World War and addresses key themes in the study of contemporary direct exchanges of information related to familiar topics. By the Middle East politics, including: the role of the military, social and end of the course they will also progress to read simple short texts. economic development, political Islam, and the recent uprisings (the ‘A r a b S p r i n g ’ ) .

Beginners Arabic (Level 1) Culture and Society in the Middle East

T is is an introductory course in Modern Standard Arabic. It T is course examines the major cultural patterns and institutions teaches students the Arabic script and provides basic grounding in of the MENA region. It is taught through a study of some lively Arabic grammar and syntax. On completing the course, students topics such as religious and ethnic diversity, impact of the West, should be able to read, write, listen to and understand simple Arabic stereotyping, the role of tradition, education (traditional and sentences and passages. T is course is for complete beginners and modern), family structure and value, gender politics, media, life in does not require any prior knowledge or study of Arabic. city, town and village, labour and labour migration, the Palestinian refugee problem and Arab exile communities, culinary cultures, music and media, etc. Beginners Arabic (Level 2)

T is course is a continuation of Beginners Arabic Level 1. It completes the coverage of the grammar and syntax of Modern Standard Arabic and trains students in reading, comprehending and writing with the help of a dictionary more complex Arabic Timetable sentences and passages. Courses are taught Mon-T u each week. Language courses are taught To qualify for entry into this course, students should have in the morning (10am-1pm) and the Politics and Culture Courses are already completed at least one introductory course in taught in two slots in the af ernoon Arabic. (2:00-3:20 and 3:40-5:00pm).

FEES Session (5 weeks) Programme fee* Accommodation fee** 2024 June-21 June–26 July July 2016 2013 (two (two courses) courses) £2,500 from £300/week

* An Early early bird bird discounts discount of 10%10% applyapplies to to course course fees fees before before 1 March15 April 2013. 2014. ** Accommodation fees must be paid by 1 March 2013 to secure accommodation. ** Rooms can be booked at the Intercollegiate Halls which are located in the heart of * Rooms Please can check be bookedour website at the from Intercollegiate mid-October Halls 2012 which for are confi located rmed inprices. the heart of Bloomsbury: www.halls.london.ac.uk.

For more information, please contact Louise Hosking on

36 [email protected]. Middle East in London June Or – Julycheck 2016 our website www.soas.ac.uk/lmei February-March 2014 The Middle East in London 35 Panel Discussion) Organised by: Homeland (Iraq Year Zero) Tuesday 28 June irrespective of their religious T e Mosaic Rooms. Screening (Film) Dir Abbas Fahdel (2015), or political views,and to create of the documentary Silvered France/Iraq, 334 mins. In 2003, 6:30 pm | History and Hope: awareness and educate the Water, Syria a Self-Portrait, a f lm with war looming in his native What is the Future for Palestinian wider British community about largely composed of anonymous Iraq, Abbas Fahdel returned to Christians? (Lecture) Fr Jamal Lebanese culture. Admission footage shot on mobile phone and his homeland to document life Khader (Bethlehem University) free. Paddington Green, uploaded onto YouTube. Followed in Baghdad during and af er the Organised by: Embrace the London W2.Live entertainment by a panel discussion about the use invasion. Shot over the course of Middle East. 2016 Annual Lecture. from 2:00pm. W www. of social media archives for creative 2 years, Homeland chronicles the Admission free. Pre-registration lebanesefestivalday.com expression and surveillance. realities of daily life for a family in required, see contact details below. Tickets: £6.50 online/£7.50 on the the midst of war. Tickets: £12/£10 St James’ Church, 197 Piccadilly, Wednesday 13 July door. T e Mosaic Rooms, A.M. conc. Bertha DocHouse, Curzon London, W1J 9LL. T 01494 Qattan Foundation, Tower House, Bloomsbury, T e Brunswick, 897950 E [email protected] W 6:00 pm | Colossal and 226 Cromwell Road, London London WC1N 1AW. T 020 www.embraceme.org Processional Statuary in Ancient SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 E 76793695 E info@opencitylondon. Egypt: Where? When? Why? [email protected] W http:// com W http://opencitylondon. (Lecture) Christian E. Loeben mosaicrooms.org/ com/ JULY EVENTS (Museum August Kestner, Hanover). Organised by: BM. T e Friday 24 June 1:15 pm | Silk Road Commodities: Raymond and Beverly Sackler Jade, Jewels and Princesses Saturday 2 July Foundation Distinguished Lecture 1:15 pm | From Persia to Iran: (Gallery Talk) Diana Driscoll. in Egyptology. Loeben examines A T ousand-Year Journey Organised by: BM. Admission free. 7:00 pm | Jashn-e Tirgan Concert the original (or not) context (Gallery Talk) Vesta Curtis (BM). Room 34, BM. T 020 7323 8299 E at SOAS, London (Concert) of colossal statuary in T eban Organised by: BM. Admission free. [email protected] Doors open 6:45pm. Celebrate temples and reviews their raison Room 52, BM. T 020 7323 8299 E W www.britishmuseum.org Jashn-e Tirgan with Persian d’être in the light of processional [email protected] classical and folk music performed needs and functions during certain W www.britishmuseum.org Sunday 26 June by the SOAS Iranian Band and periods of the New Kingdom. guest musicians. Tickets: £15/£10 Various ticket prices T 020 7323 7:00 pm | Crisis in Yemen: T e 2:00 pm | T e Destruction of conc./£6 students. Pre-booking 8181 BP Lecture T eatre, BM. T Forgotten War (Talk) Organised Memory (Film) Organised by: required W www.thesantur.com 020 7323 8299 E information@ by: Frontline Club. Following BM. Over the past century, G2, SOAS. E events.santur@ britishmuseum.org W www. recent announcements that US cultural destruction has wrought yahoo.com britishmuseum.org military troops are allegedly catastrophic results across the assisting Yemeni forces on the globe. Based on the book of the Sunday 3 July ground a panel of experts will same name by Robert Bevan, T e T ursday 14 July discuss the current situation in Destruction of Memory tells the TBC | Arab Revolt Study Day Yemen and the extent to which whole story – looking not just at Organised by: British Foundation 1:30 pm | Sicily Under Muslim the US, the UK and France may be the ongoing actions of Daesh/ for the Study of Arabia (BFSA). Rule (Lecture) Alex Metcalfe complicit in fuelling the conf ict ISIS (so-called Islamic State) and A series of lectures from speakers (Lancaster University). Organised as they sell billions of dollars at other contemporary situations, of ering dif erent perspectives on by: BM. Metcalfe looks at the worth of arms to the Saudi-led but revealing the decisions of the 1916 Arab Revolt to coincide cultures and peoples of Muslim coalition. Tickets: £12.50/£10 the past that allowed the issue with its centenary. Tickets: See Sicily between the 9th and 11th conc. Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk to remain hidden for so many contact details below. BM. E centuries when the island became Place, W2 1QJ. T 020 7479 8940 years. Admission free. Pre- [email protected] W www. an independent colony of Arab E [email protected] W registration required T 020 7323 thebfsa.org Muslim North Africa. Admission www.frontlineclub.com 8181 BP Lecture T eatre, BM. T free. Pre-registration required T 020 7323 8299 E information@ 1:00 pm | How Poetry Shapes 020 7323 8181 Stevenson Lecture 8:00 pm | Open City Documentary britishmuseum.org W www.Power: From Neruda to Tahrir T eatre, BM. T 020 7323 8299 E Festival: Roundabout in My britishmuseum.org Square (Talk) Organised by: [email protected] Head (Film) Dir Hassan Ferhani Southbank Centre. T e poet W www.britishmuseum.org (2015), Algeria, 100 mins. Monday 27 June Anthony Anaxagorou explores the Roundabout in My Head looks role poetry has played in world inside the oldest slaughterhouse 6:00 pm | Ever Decreasing history and shows how poetry and Saturday 16 July in Central Algiers. T e backdrop Circles - Caesarea Maritima as poets have of en been an unseen speaks to the building’s function, an Epicentre of the Late Roman force guiding the hands of power. 2:00 pm | Cleopatra's Palace: but it is the lives of the men who "Nummus Economy" (Lecture) Tickets: £8. St Paul’s Roof Pavilion In Search Of A Legend (Film) work here that take centre stage. Sam Moorhead (BM). Organised at Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Organised by: BM. Documentary Tickets: £9/£7 conc. Bertha by: Anglo Israel Archaeological Centre, Belvedere Road, London, exploring the life of Cleopatra DocHouse, Curzon Bloomsbury, Society and the Institute of SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W using research by Franck Goddio, T e Brunswick, London WC1N Archaeology, UCL. Preceded by www.southbankcentre.co.uk the underwater explorer and 1AW. T 020 76793695 E info@ the Society's AGM and followed archaeologist who has mapped opencitylondon.com W http:// by refreshments. Admission free. the submerged Royal Quarter opencitylondon.com/ Lecture T eatre G6, Ground Floor, Sunday 10 July of ancient Alexandria, and who Institute of Archaeology, UCL, discovered the sunken cities of Saturday 25 June 31-34 Gordon Square, London 11:00 am | Annual event which T onis-Heracleion and Canopus. WC1H OPY. T 020 8349 5754 E aims at giving members of With an introduction by the 12:00 pm | Open City [email protected] W www. the Lebanese community the director, Jane Armstrong. Tickets: Documentary Festival: aias.org.uk opportunity to meet each other, £3/£2 conc. T 020 7323 8181

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 37 Stevenson Lecture T eatre, BM. [email protected] Sunday 31 July through a packed programme T 020 7323 8299 E information@ W www.britishmuseum.org of visual art, music, dance, f lm, britishmuseum.org W www. TBC | 50th Annual Seminar for theatre, literature and special britishmuseum.org Friday 29 July Arabian Studies Organised by: family-friendly events. For the British Foundation for the Study full programme of events visit TBC | 50th Annual Seminar for of Arabia (BFSA). (T ree-Day W www.arabartsfestival.com Monday 18 July Arabian Studies Organised by: Seminar: Friday 29 – Sunday 31 Liverpool Arab Arts Festival, British Foundation for the Study July) See above event listing for Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool 1:30 pm | Curator's Introduction of Arabia (BFSA). (T ree-Day more information. L1 3BX. T 0151 702 7765 E to the BP Exhibition Sunken Seminar: Friday 29 – Sunday 31 [email protected] Cities: Egypt's Lost Worlds July) Annual international forum (Lecture) Organised by: for the presentation of the latest EVENTS OUTSIDE Monday 18 July BM. With exhibition curator academic research on the Arabian LONDON Aurélia Masson-Berghof . See Peninsula. T is year’s Seminar 9:00 am | Ancient Churches of the Exhibitions, p.39 Admission free. will feature a special session on Levant (T ree-Day Conference: Pre-registration required T 020 textiles and personal adornment Monday 4 July Monday 18 - Wednesday 20 7323 8181 Stevenson Lecture in the Arabian Peninsula. Tickets: July) T e Society's Forty Fourth T eatre, BM. T 020 7323 8299 E Various ticket prices. BP Lecture 9:00 am | T e Aramaeans International Conference. [email protected] T eatre, BM. E seminar.arab@ BC: History, Literature, Organised by: ARAM Society W www.britishmuseum.or thebfsa.org W www.thebfsa.org and Archaeology (T ree- for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies. Day Conference: Monday 4 - Tickets: To register see contact 1:15 pm | Egypt and Greece: Wednesday 6 July) Organised details below. Oriental Institute, Monday 25 July Early Encounters (Gallery Talk) by: ARAM Society for Syro- University of Oxford, Pusey Lane, Aurélia Masson-Berghof (BM). Mesopotamian Studies. T e Oxford OX1 2LE. T 01865 514041 1:30 pm | Between Fascination Organised by: BM. Admission free. Society's Forty T ird International E [email protected] W www. and Horror: T e Ancient Room 13, BM. T 020 7323 8299 E Conference. Tickets: To register aramsociety.com Egyptian Animal Cult (Lecture) [email protected] see contact details below. Oriental Daniela Rosenow (BM). W www.britishmuseum.org Institute, University of Oxford, Organised by: BM. Rosenow Pusey Lane, Oxford OX1 2LE. Monday 25 July explores the role of the ancient Saturday 30 July T 01865 514041 E aram@orinst. Egyptian animal cult, introducing ox.ac.uk W www.aramsociety.com Until 1 August | T e Palestine mummif cation techniques, the TBC | 50th Annual Seminar for Youth Orchestra (PYO) UK Tour most famous animal graveyards Arabian Studies Organised by: Saturday 16 July (Concert) Organised by: Palmusic and the reasoning behind British Foundation for the Study UK. Eighty young musicians this phenomenon. Admission of Arabia (BFSA). (T ree-Day Until 24 July | Liverpool Arab from Palestine and the UK come free. Pre-registration required Seminar: Friday 29 – Sunday 31 Arts Festival 2016 T is year's together for their f rst UK tour. T 020 7323 8181 BP Lecture July) See above event listing for annual Arab Arts Festival explores Concerts include Arabic songs T eatre, BM. T 020 7323 8299 E more information. the theme Undocumented from Egypt and Lebanon alongside contemporary British music. Visit W www.palmusic.org.uk/the-pyo/ The Key, Cairo. (See Exhibitions, p. 39) for tour dates, ticket and venue information. T 020 78321340 E [email protected]

EXHIBITIONS

Wednesday 1 June

Until 4 June | BAAB London 2016 Exhibition of 17 Bahraini Artists selected for BAAB (Bahraini Art Across Borders). Admission free. Gallery 8, 8 Duke Street, St James', London SW1Y 6BN. T 020 7830 9327 E janet@janetradyf neart. com W www.janetradyf neart.com

Until 25 June | World Ikat Textiles...Ties that Bind Exhibition celebrating the rich legacy of Ikat, an age old textile technique stretching across the continents of the world, which includes over 200 items of unique Ikat textile from regions such as: Asia-Pacif c, Latin America,

38 The Middle East in London June – July 2016 the Middle East, West Africa Until 14 August | Imperfect and Europe. Admission free. Chronology: Mapping the Brunei Gallery, SOAS. T 020 7898 Contemporary I Part three of 4023/4026 E [email protected] a series of four chronological W www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/ displays highlighting works from the Barjeel Art Foundation’s Until 30 June | Akhenhaten: collection. Artists from Algeria, Heretic, Visionary and Icon Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Palestine Exhibition exploring the and elsewhere in the region tell the ambiguous and contentious f gure story of Arab art from the modern of Akhenaten. Admission free. to the contemporary period. UCL Petrie Museum of Egyptian Admission free. Whitechapel Archaeology, Malet Place, London Gallery, 77-82 Whitechapel High WC1E 6B. T 020 7679 2884 E Street, London E1 7QX. T 020 7522 [email protected] W 7888 E info@whitechapelgallery. www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/petrie org W www.whitechapelgallery. org Until 3 July | Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize Until 21 August | Mona Hatoum 2016 Laura El-Tantawy (UK/ Hatoum’s work highlights the Egypt) is among the artists condition of displacement, shared shortlisted for the annual prize. by many in the modern era. T e Selected for her self-published f rst UK survey of her work ref ects photobook In the Shadow of the 35 years of consistently poetic Pyramids (2015) El-Tantawy's and radical thinking expressed project depicts the atmosphere through a diverse range of media and rising tensions in Cairo in and presents over 100 works the events leading to and during from the 1980s to the present the January revolution in Tahrir day, from early performances Square (2011-13). Admission and video, sculpture, installation, free before 12:00pm/Day Pass: photography and works on £3/£2.50 conc. T e Photographer's paper. Tickets: £16/£14 conc. Tate Nejat Satı, Rainbow 5, 2016, acrylic on canvas, 50x60cm. Cracks. (See Gallery, 16–18 Ramillies Street, Modern, Level 3 West, Bankside, Exhibitions, p. 39) London W1F 7LW. T 020 7087 London SE1 9TG. T 020 7887 9300 E [email protected] W http:// 8888 W www.tate.org.uk Londonewcastle Project Space, 28 portrayal of the Ankh (an ancient thephotographersgallery.org.uk/ Redchurch Street, London E2 7DP. Egyptian hieroglyph that reads Until 27 November | Sunken E [email protected] W “life”), the world’s most ancient Until 9 July | Nejat Satı: Cracks In Cities: Egypt’s Lost Worlds http://migrationmuseum.org/ symbol of harmony, as a means his f rst solo exhibition in London Submerged under the sea for over of engendering harmony and Satı showcases an extensive new a thousand years, two lost cities Friday 3 June peace among people of cultural series of works which inject of ancient Egypt were recently heritages and faith backgrounds. a melancholic undertone in rediscovered. T e lost cities of Until 20 August | In the Future, Admission free. St James Church, his distinctive painting style. T onis-Heracleion and Canopus T ey Ate From the Finest 197 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LL. Divorced from the restrictions of lay at the mouth of the Nile. Porcelain First London solo E [email protected] / hr@sjp. f gurative depiction, Satı's practice Preserved and buried under the exhibition of Jerusalem-born artist org.uk W www.oncaravan.org focuses on the application and sea for over a thousand years, the Larissa Sansour, with new works manipulation of his medium. Pi objects in the exhibition range that examine the contemporary Friday 1 July Artworks London, 55 Eastcastle from colossal statues to intricate politics of present day Israel/ Street, London W1W 8EG. gold jewellery. Tickets: £16.50. T Palestine Sansour presents a sci- Until 3 July | Symphony of Admission free. T 020 7637 8403 020 7323 8299 E information@ f vision of a post-apocalyptic Birds Part of Open Art Spaces. E [email protected] W www. britishmuseum.org W www.world in which a hooded f gure, A collection of painting and piartworks.com britishmuseum.org haunted by her past, plants sculpture by Maysaloun Faraj, fabricated archaeological evidence made in response to the mass Until 23 July | Haunted Springs T ursday 2 June to secure the destiny of her people. migration being witnessed and Water Demons in Palestine – Admission free. T e Mosaic today. Taking place annually Jumana Emil Abboud Jerusalem- Until 22 June | Call Me By My Rooms, A.M. Qattan Foundation, in Kensington, Chelsea and based Palestinian artist Jumana Name: Stories from Calais and Tower House, 226 Cromwell Road, Fulham, Open Art Spaces is an Emil Abboud’s project follows the beyond A multimedia exhibition London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 opportunity to meet artists as they artist’s attempt to locate 50 sites featuring works by established 9990 E [email protected] W open up their studios for visitors, identif ed in a 1920’s ethnographic and emerging artists, refugees, http://mosaicrooms.org/ art enthusiasts and collectors. study by Dr. Tawf q Canaan – camp residents and volunteers Admission free. MF Studio, 17 documenting water sources in the taking place in a month that sees T ursday 16 June Fulham High Street, London SW6 Palestinian landscape that were both the EU referendum and 3JH. E [email protected] W www. supposedly haunted by spirits, Refugee Week. It explores the Until 15 August | T e Key mfaraj.com good and bad. Admission free. complexity and human stories Exhibition showcasing the work Kunstraum, 21 Roscoe Street, behind the current migration of 40 Egyptian, Middle Eastern London EC1Y 8PT. T 07949 919 crisis, with a particular focus on and Western contemporary artists 835 E [email protected] the Calais camp. Admission free. using a modern 3D f berglass

June – July 2016 The Middle East in London 39 Photograph © Iselin-Shaw

NEW MA PALESTINE STUDIES Ŕ
Develop an understanding of the complexities of modern and contemporary Palestine

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Explore history, political structure, development, culture and society

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Obtain a multi-disciplinary overview

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For further details, please contact: Dr Adam Hanieh E: [email protected] www.soas.ac.uk 40 The Middle East in London June – July 2016