Association of McGill Arab Law Student

Goldstone Commission Member to Speak at Law Faculty

2009-11-14T15:44:00.002-05:00

The Arab Law Students Association of McGill and the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism are happy to invite you to a lecture by Hina Jilani, leading human rights lawyer and Member of the Goldstone Commission:

“The Promise of International Law for Civilian Victims of War: The Goldstone Report”

*Date and time: Wednesday 25 November 2009, 6.00pm.
*Venue: Moot Court (Room 100), 3644 Peel Street, New Chancellor Day Hall, McGill Faculty of Law.
*Information: Tel. 514-582-4391/ E-mail: alsamcgill@gmail.com

Ms. Hina Jilani is Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and was the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Human Rights Defenders from 2000 to 2008. She has fought for human rights for over 30 years, especially in the areas of the rights of women, minorities, children and prisoners. She is internationally recognized for her expertise in critical human rights investigations.

Ms. Jilani will provide a first-hand account of the Gaza Mission, its methodology, and the challenges it faced in carrying out its mandate. She will address the Mission’s findings of violations of international humanitarian and human rights law by Israeli and Palestinian parties, and the potential of international law to ensure accountability for victims of the conflict.

This lecture aims to promote an understanding of the context, contribution, and significance of the Goldstone Report, an unprecedented legal document in the history of the region that is rapidly gaining international attention through endorsement by the Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly.

Please join the ALSA and the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism for Ms. Hina Jilani’s lecture. A question and answer period will follow.

SHARI'AH & THE WORLD TODAY

2009-02-20T23:12:00.002-05:00

SHARI'AH & THE WORLD TODAY

Presented by the Arab Law Students' Association and the Muslim Law Students' Association

(1) March 4: "SHARI'AH AND MODERNITY", with Professors Wael Hallaq and Khaled Medani. 6.00pm-8.00pm

Reception will be hosted. Refreshments will be served.

Dr. Wael Hallaq is the James McGill Professor of Islamic Law and one of the world's leading scholar in jurisprudence and Islamic legal thought. Dr. Khaled Medani is an associate professor of political science and Islamic studies at McGill.

(2) March 9: "SHARI'AH AND THE ENVIRONMENT", with Professor Richard Foltz. 6.00pm-8.00pm.

Dr. Richard Foltz is historian of comparative religious traditions. He has helped shape a new subfield combining religious studies with environmental ethics.

(3) March 10: "ISLAMIC FINANCE: A RESPONSE TO THE ECONOMICS CRISIS", with Professor Mohammad Fadel and Mr. Isam Salah. 5.00pm-7.00pm.

Dr. Mohammad Fadel is professor of law at the University of Toronto and Canada Research Chair in Law and Economics of Islamic Law.
Mr. Isam Salah in a Partner at New York & Dubai offices of King & Spalding LLP where he heads the firm's Islamic Finance & Investment practice.

All events will be held in the Moot Court.
For more information, please contact mlsamcgill@gmail.com Website - http://mlsa.mcgill.ca Website - http://mcgillalsa.blogspot.com/

Lives at risk from Gaza fuel cuts

2008-11-24T20:16:00.001-05:00

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2008/11/2008112382840977947.html

'Lives at risk' from Gaza fuel cuts

Shifa hospital is being forced to run incubators off old generators amid the power outages [AFP]

Patients at the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip could die if Israel continues to prevent fuel and essential supplies to the territory, doctors have told Al Jazeera.

Shifa hospital in Gaza City is using a faulty generator to operate essential equipment since Gaza's main power plant restricted supplies due to a lack of fuel from Israel.

"Officials both here at the hospital and from the Red Cross describe the situation as critical," Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza, said.

"Almost every part of the intensive care unit runs on electricity which comes from Gaza's main power plant ... that plant is run on fuel from Israel, but no supplies have reached the plant for well over a week now."

Hassan Khalaf, director of Shifa hospital, said the intensive care unit could be rendered useless and lives were being put at risk.

"These patients are directly threatened," he said. "The first threat they face because of the power cut is their low temperature and the lack of oxygen."

In video

Gazans feel blockade pinch

One dialysis patient told Al Jazeera: "I am a kidney failure patient. When a power cut takes place, all dialysis machines stop. We will then suffer from blood clots."

Israel closed all of its crossings with Gaza on November 5, citing rocket attacks from Palestinian fighters inside Gaza.

Lives threatened

Al Jazeera's Sherine Tadros reporting from Gaza, said: "We heard from Israeli officials that around 40 trucks would be allowed into the Gaza Strip, about 10 of those would go straight to the UN camps ... all the trucks will contain humanitarian aid, but no fuel as of yet has reached Gaza.

"The trucks will only be enough to last for about one more week and criticism of aid agencies here is that Israel continues to trickle in the goods and never brings in enough. It's literally a day-by-day existence."

Frequent power cuts stall the treatment needed for kidney patients [AFP]
Although electricity is still being supplied to Gaza by Israel and Egypt, it is not enough to prevent regular power cuts.

On Saturday, doctors at Shifa hospital had to abandon using electronic equipment in the newborn baby unit when there was a power failure, Mohyeldin reported.

"When there was a power cut, the generator kicked in, but it had a problem," he said.

"As a result, all the machines shut down and staff had to manually pump oxygen to all the infants here."

Stocks of about 160 essential medicines have run out, while about 120 other healthcare drugs are running low, the hospital has said.

"It is indispensable to have all the supplies because we cannot continue working manually for a long period. Yesterday we had to transport oxygen cylinders to the beds," Radwan Hasoun, a manager of Shifa's intensive care unit, said.

"We want the frontiers opened and the siege to be lifted, so we can participate in the progress of the world like other people."

UN aid shortages

The delivery of United Nations aid to nearly two-thirds of Gaza's 1.5 million people has also been severely affected by the blockade.

The UN has said that it only has enough supplies in Gaza to last a few more days, unless the Israeli restrictions on the territory are lifted.

Amid the closures, Israeli army forces have launched several raids into Gaza, killing more than a dozen Palestinians.

Several Israelis have been injured by rockets fired by Palestinian fighters into Israel in recent days.

Israel and Palestinian Hamas, which has de facto control of the Gaza Strip, have observed a shaky ceasefire deal since July but the agreement is due to expire next month.

Israel is holding a US-backed peace dialogue with the Palestinian Authority, which is led by Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian president and leader of the rival Fatah faction.

Hamas, deemed a "terrorist" organisation by Israel, is not a party to the negotiations.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Festival du Monde Arabe de Montréal

2008-10-23T10:40:00.003-04:00

This year's Festival du Monde Arabe de Montréal starts next Wednesday (Oct. 29) and runs until Nov. 14.

Le FMA puise volontairement sa vision et son contenu dans la zone très riche, très dense et très stimulante de la dualité Occident / Monde arabe. Il se veut une plate-forme pour une dynamique de reconnaissance et d’écoute placée sous le signe du sérieux, du courage et du véritable engagement. Cela ne saurait toutefois se faire que dans l’inclusion et le partage. De par son cosmopolitisme, Montréal est aujourd’hui peut-être l’unique cadre pour une ouverture vers une culture arabe qui, aujourd’hui plus que jamais, se prête au renouvellement. Dans cet espace, où cette culture est reçue en invitée et non en intruse, étrangère ou même menaçante, s’insère le Festival du Monde Arabe de Montréal.Inspirée des Avicenne, Averroès, Maïmonides, Léon l’Africain et les tenants de l’École du Mahjar, ou encore LaMartine, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Monge et Laplace, son équipe croit profondément que l’utopie de la rencontre est à la fois exercice de citoyenneté et stimulant de créativité. Conçu et produit par Alchimies, Créations et Cultures, Le Festival du Monde Arabe de Montréal est un événement multidisciplinaire dédié à la rencontre et au dialogue des cultures. Il répond à un besoin essentiel chez le public en Amérique du Nord de découvrir, ou redécouvrir, de vivre et de dialoguer avec une composante culturelle majeure de notre époque. Dans leur recherche de formes artistiques innovatrices et contemporaines, les créateurs et artistes du FMA puisent dans une vaste culture, partagée par des centaines de millions de personnes, de toutes les origines et les religions, dans les quatre coins du monde. Une culture qui se prête, aujourd’hui plus que jamais, à un renouvellement dans la créativité. Le FMA s’ouvre à tous les artistes, provenant de tous les horizons culturels, aux autres diffuseurs et producteurs, pour créer un haut lieu de rencontre et d’échange et donner aux festivaliers un large éventail de choix d’activités de qualité.

For tickets and a calendar of events, visit http://www.festivalarabe.com/#

Panel with Mr. Mark Arnold, Canadian Lawyer for the Palestinian Village of Bil'in

2008-09-24T13:44:00.003-04:00

"ISRAELI OCCUPATION ON TRIAL"

Panel with Mr. Mark Arnold, Canadian Lawyer for the Palestinian Village of Bil'in
MONTREAL Friday, Sept. 26, 2008, 7:30PM McGill University, New Chancellor Day Hall  Room 100, 3644 Peel St., Montréal, Quebec

The Arab Law Student's Association of McGill (ALSA McGill) is hosting a Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (CJPME) organization event this upcoming Friday the 26th of September, at 7:30pm in New Chancellor Day Hall  Room 100, 3644 Peel St., Montréal, Quebec.

In July, 2008, the Palestinian Village of Bil'in launched a lawsuit in Quebec Superior Court against two Montreal companies: Green Mount International Inc. and Green Park International Inc. The two companies are accused of building condominiums on Palestinian land under Israeli military occupation: actions that are strictly illegal under international, Canadian and Quebec law. This unprecedented case will go before the Court later this Fall.

Join us for a dynamic panel discussion with the Canadian lawyer for Bil'in Village, Mr. Mark Arnold, and other distinguished panellists as we explore the case and its implications for Canada, Israel and the Palestinians. Attendees at each event will be given the opportunity to donate to the legal fund of Bil'in Village, should they so choose.

An admission of $5 will be charged by CJPME to cover the costs of hosting the event series.

Panelists:

Mr. Mark Arnold. A veteran Toronto-based lawyer representing Bil'in in its
lawsuit, Mr. Arnold has brought other important cases testing international
law before the Canadian courts

Mr. Michael Lynk. A professor of law at the University of Western Ontario in
London, Mr. Lynk has published on issues of international law in the Middle
East, as well as human rights and labour law.

Mr. Steve Hibbard. A 20-year veteran of Canada's department of Foreign
Affairs, Mr. Hibbard served extensively in the Middle East during postings in
Cairo, Tel Aviv, and Ramallah.

Mr. Adam Hanieh. A doctoral candidate in political science at York University
focusing on the political economy of the Middle East, Mr. Hanieh also served
for several years as a researcher for Defence for Children International -
Palestine Section. Mr. Hanieh is also a researcher and activist with CAIA.

Mr. Thomas Woodley. President of CJPME with a background in public affairs
and policy analysis, Mr. Woodley has helped develop much of CJPME's policy
material on the Middle East over the past several years.

Ms. Shourideh Molavi. A law student at Osgoode Hall Law School, with a
background in political science and international relations, Ms. Molavi has
worked closely with Israeli and Palestinian NGOs like the ICAHD and Mada al-
Carmel who have been actively supporting the Bil'in Village cause.

Ramadan Mubarak!

2008-09-04T09:55:00.003-04:00

May this month be generous in its blessings to you and all your loved ones... Ramadan Kareem...

ALSA McGill Executive

ALSA McGill 2008-2009!!!

2008-08-29T06:13:00.003-04:00

Hope you all had a restful and fruitful summer! Get in touch with us at alsamcgill@gmail.com if you want to get actively involved with the Arab Law Students Association of McGill this semester or if you are a new or exchange student who needs any support or information in getting acquainted to McGill law school.

Good Luck with the New Academic Year & See you soon in Club’s Day !

ALSA McGill Executive

GULF ECONOMIC POTENTIAL CONFERENCE - MONDAY, MARCH 3rd

2008-02-19T12:20:00.016-05:00

The Arab Law Students Association of McGill (ALSA McGill) in participation with Ogilvy Renault, will be organizing a conference on March 3rd, 2008 focusing on the changing face of the economy in the Gulf. The speaker series will have two main emphases: The first will accent the different incentives Gulf countries are putting in place to attract foreign investments. These include, among other things, the establishment of trading platforms, the creation of themed economic cities, the implementation of tax benefits and the development of new laws, such as strict Intellectual Protection, all of which are inviting new investments. The second will examine the increasing investment by both private and public Gulf firms in the North American markets. Ultimately we aim to present a better picture of the long-term prospects of investment in the Gulf and in Gulf-based companies.

I - Speakers Confirmed ( UPDATED )

1) Mr. Rehan Huda,
Co-Founder and Director,
Amana Canada Holdings Inc.
(FOCUS: Islamic Economics and Finance)

Rehan Huda is a Co-Founder and Director of Amana Canada Holdings, which is in
the process of structuring Shariah compliant financial products for the
Canadian marketplace. Mr. Huda has been a guest speaker on Islamic Economics
and Finance in a variety of forums in Canada, UK and the Middle East. On
Februray 27, 2008 he along with two partners from Ogilvy Renault were the
featured speakers at the Law Society of Upper Canada's seminar on Islamic
Finance and the possiblities for Canadian law firms in this field. Over 160
lawyers and financial professionals from across Canada participated in this
groundbreaking seminar.

2) Rose Sager: Bahrain Trade Representative in New York (Will Focus on the Bahrain-US trade agreement.)

Read more about the first Gulf Free trade agreement with the US at:

http://www.bahraingateway.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=section.home&id=5&catid=6

3) Mohammad Nsour - Doctoral Candidate in the McGill Law Faculty. Will Address the feasibility of a free trade agreement in the Middle East

4) Prof. Armand de Mestral - Prof of International trade law at the McGill Law Faculty will also be participating in the event!

Prof. de Mestral Bio:

http://people.mcgill.ca/armand.de_mestral/

Location:
Moot Court (room 100)
Faculty of Law
Chancellor Day Hall, 3644 Peel Street
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1W9

Time: Starting at 5pm (to be followed by a cocktail)

* Image Caption: BAHRAIN WORLD TRADE CENTER

Dubai Green City?

2008-02-12T14:12:00.000-05:00

Abu Dhabi has started to build what it says is the world's first zero-carbon, zero-waste car-free city. Masdar City will cost $22bn (£11.3bn), take eight years to build and be home to 50,000 people and 1,500 businesses.

The city will be mostly powered by solar energy and residents will move in travel pods running on magnetic tracks.

Abu Dhabi has one of the world's biggest per capita carbon footprints and sceptics fear Masdar may be just a fig leaf for the oil-rich Gulf emirate.

Others fear Masdar City - on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi City - may become a luxury development for the rich.

The project is supported by global conservation charity, the WWF.

(...)

Complete Article at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7237672.stm

The Jewish and Muslim Legal Systems in Canada?

2008-02-07T13:38:00.000-05:00

THANKS TO ALL THE PEOPLE THAT SHOWED UP!!! SEE YOU AT OUR NEXT EVENTS!!!

The Arab Law Students Association of McGill (ALSA McGill) and the Jewish Law Students Association (JLSA) are hosting their first joint event this upcoming Monday:

The Jewish and Muslim Legal Systems in Canada?:

A Round Table Discussion with Prof/Rabbi Ira Robinson and Lynda Clarke of Concordia University's Department of Religious Studies

Monday, February 11th from 5:00-6:30pm in Room 201 in NCDH
Faculty of Law
Chancellor Day Hall, 3644 Peel Street
Montreal, Quebec H3A 1W9

Email us @ alsamcgill@gmail.com for brief background reading prior to the discussion which will help start a constructive Q&A with the professors.

* Light refreshments will be served

Middle East News - Share your reactions...

2008-01-11T18:18:00.000-05:00

Comment on any of the stories and link other articles

Homes in illegal Israeli settlements for sale at London expo

2007-11-19T10:24:00.000-05:00

Haroon Siddique
Friday November 16, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

Israeli companies are using UK property shows to sell housing in illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, Guardian Unlimited can reveal.

At the Israel Property Exhibition at Brent town hall, North London last Sunday, one company, Anglo-Saxon Real Estate, was offering for sale properties in Maale Adumim and Maccabim. Both West Bank settlements lie on the Palestinian side of the so-called green line, the pre-1967 boundary and often cited as the border between Israel and a future Palestinian state.

The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, and his Palestinian counterpart, Mahmoud Abbas, are expected to meet before the end of the year in Annapolis, in the US, for peace talks that have the backing of the UK government.

Abbas has demanded the Israelis halt all settlement activity and that the whole West Bank be included in a future Palestinian state. Kim Howells, the British minister for foreign and commonwealth affairs, has described settlement activity as an "obstacle to peace".

The Anglo-Saxon real estate website was today listing 67 new build residential properties in Maale Adumim and six in Maccabim. That they are new properties is particularly significant because it indicates buyers would be contributing to expansion of the settlements.

Maale Adumim forms part of the Israelis' controversial E1 plan, which would see the building of thousands of housing units as well as industrial and tourism zones to connect the settlement with Jerusalem.

The result would be to divide the West Bank, making travel between north and south more onerous and isolating east Jerusalem, according to critics. Maale Adumim has around 30,000 residents and is already one of the largest settlements in the West Bank. Israel wants to retain it in any future peace agreement.

In answer to a parliamentary question in June, Howells said: "The UK consistently makes clear its view that settlements are illegal under international law and that settlement activity is an obstacle to peace."

He added: "We are concerned by reports of Israeli construction work at El. The continuing process of establishing settlements is encircling east Jerusalem and breaking up Palestinian territorial contiguity throughout the West Bank.

"These practices fuel Palestinian anger, threaten to cut east Jerusalem off from the West Bank and undermine the prospect for a viable Palestinian state."

see full story at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2212348,00.html

Global Civil Society from a Contemporary Islamic Perspective

2007-11-14T17:44:00.000-05:00

The Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University cordially invites you to a lecture:

Professor Heba Raouf Ezzat
Department of Political Science, Cairo University, Egypt

“Global Civil Society from a Contemporary Islamic Perspective”

FRIDAY, 16 November 2007
3:00 p.m.
Morrice Hall, Room 023 (ground floor)
3485 McTavish Street

All welcome!

A TALK BY AKBAR GANJI

2007-11-14T15:12:00.000-05:00

IRAN, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND THE NUCLEAR QUESTION:
WHAT ARE THE CONNECTIONS?

Location: New Chancelor Day Hall, Room 101
Time: Thursday, November 22, 16:30-18:00

Chair: Professor Payam Akhavan

Respondent: Professor Irwin Cotler

Akbar Ganji is an emblematic figure of dissent in Iran. Well-known journalist and author, Akbar Ganji spent six years in prison for exposing rights abuses committed by Iran’s fundamentalist regime. The charges stemmed from a series of investigative articles exposing the complicity of then President Rafsanjani and other leading members of the conservative clergy in the murders of political dissidents and intellectuals in 1998.

During his time in prison, Mr. Ganji endured solitary confinement and went on a hunger strike that lasted from May to August 2005. He also continued to write, producing a series of influential political manifestos and open letters calling for Iran’s secularization and the establishment of democracy through mass civil disobedience. The works were smuggled out of Evin prison and published on the Internet.

Mr. Ganji’s work has appeared in pro-democracy newspapers across Iran, most of which the government has since shut down. He has also written many books, including the bestselling The Dungeon of Ghosts (1999) and The Red Eminence and The Grey Eminence (2000).

Lebanon Pioneers Freedom for Arab Gays

2007-11-06T12:22:00.000-05:00

In some Arab countries homosexuals can face the death penalty. But in Lebanon an association battles openly for the rights of gays who may live freely but are still ostracized socially.

Read Article @: http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/getstory?openform&6CA048B293948757C225738B0051AB13

NOW in Montreal: The 8th Edition of the Festival du Monde Arabe de Montreal

2007-10-29T10:56:00.000-04:00

8th Edition of the Festival du Monde Arabe de Montreal:

MORE INFO & EVENT SCHEDULE @

http://www.festivalarabe.com

Israel shaken by troops' brutality against Palestinians

2007-10-28T17:56:00.000-04:00

A psychologist blames assaults on civilians in the 1990s on soldiers' bad training, boredom and poor supervision

Conal Urquhart in Jerusalem
Sunday October 21, 2007
The Observer

A study by an Israeli psychologist into the violent behaviour of the country's soldiers is provoking bitter controversy and has awakened urgent questions about the way the army conducts itself in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.

Nufar Yishai-Karin, a clinical psychologist at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, interviewed 21 Israeli soldiers and heard confessions of frequent brutal assaults against Palestinians, aggravated by poor training and discipline. In her recently published report, co-authored by Professor Yoel Elizur, Yishai-Karin details a series of violent incidents, including the beating of a four-year-old boy by an officer.

The report, although dealing with the experience of soldiers in the 1990s, has triggered an impassioned debate in Israel, where it was published in an abbreviated form in the newspaper Haaretz last month. According to Yishai Karin: 'At one point or another of their service, the majority of the interviewees enjoyed violence. They enjoyed the violence because it broke the routine and they liked the destruction and the chaos. They also enjoyed the feeling of power in the violence and the sense of danger.'

In the words of one soldier: 'The truth? When there is chaos, I like it. That's when I enjoy it. It's like a drug. If I don't go into Rafah, and if there isn't some kind of riot once in some weeks, I go nuts.'

Another explained: 'The most important thing is that it removes the burden of the law from you. You feel that you are the law. You are the law. You are the one who decides... As though from the moment you leave the place that is called Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel] and go through the Erez checkpoint into the Gaza Strip, you are the law. You are God.'

See entire article at:

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,2195924,00.html

AMALS COFFEEHOUSE

2007-10-27T12:05:00.000-04:00

Thanks to everyone who came out to make this Coffeehouse a great success!!!

WATCH THE IRON WALL OCTOBER 18th @ 7PM & 9PM @ CINEMA DU PARC

2007-10-15T09:49:00.000-04:00

The IRON WALL by Mohammed Alatar

Playing October 18th @ Cinema Du Parc
ONLY ONE SHOWING

7 PM ( FR v. )
9 PM ( EN v. )

“The best description of the wall, its route and its impact is given by the film The Iron Wall.”
-President Jimmy Carter

Check out: http://www.theironwall.ps/

http://www.cinemaduparc.com/english/affichee.php?id=7#top

AMALS - BLSA COFFEE HOUSE OCTOBER 18th ... SEE YOU THERE !

2007-10-11T15:32:00.000-04:00

Join us in the Atrium at the Faculty of Law, McGill University
3644 Peel Street
(North-West Corner of Peel and Dr. Penfield)

Saudi king details succession law

2007-10-09T20:03:00.000-04:00

Saudi Arabia's king has issued a decree detailing the implementation of a succession law announced a year ago.

The decree outlines the workings of a committee to choose future Saudi kings and the crown princes.

Read BBC Article at:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7035991.stm

US federal Court has struck down a section of the controversial Patriot Act

2007-10-07T14:29:00.000-04:00

Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled unconstitutional the provision of the Patriot Act known as the National Security Letters (NSLs), which allows the FBI to secretly require businesses, mainly telephone companies, Internet service providers and financial institutions, to hand over the personal information of their customers, without court authorisation. The provision contains a gag order imposing silence on the recipients of the letters, forbidding them to tell the customers or anyone else what they are doing.

Read article by Tamam Ahmed Jama at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/865/in2.htm

Alleged Aoun Financial Backer Squeezed in Washington

2007-10-07T14:25:00.000-04:00

U.S.Congressmen are lobbying against signing a deal with Lebanese contractor Wadih Abbsy to build the new U.S. Embassy compound in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, accusing him of financially backing Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported Sunday. The newspaper al-Rai said some congressmen have launched a campaign against granting contracts to Abbsy for building U.S. embassies "because they confirm that he is one of the financial backers of Gen. Michel Aoun, who heads the Lebanese Change and Reform (Parliamentary) Bloc

Read article at:

http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/getstory?openform&187CF56069B8B7D3C225736D004A0136

Official Saudi website for fatwas

2007-10-07T14:22:00.000-04:00

Saudi Arabia has launched an official website to publish Islamic legal rulings, or fatwas. The move is apparently an attempt to ensure that fatwas issued by authorised scholars are given prominence.

Read Article at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7032140.stm

Saudis to overhaul legal system

2007-10-05T08:57:00.000-04:00

Saudi Arabia has announced an overhaul of its judicial system, including the allocation of $2bn (£981m) for training judges and building new courts.

Story from BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7029308.stm

The reforms, by royal decree, will lead to the creation of a supreme court, an appeals court and new general courts to replace the Supreme Judicial Council.

Reformers have welcomed the measures, which they say will improve human rights and help modernise the country. They complain that the current judicial system is often opaque and arbitrary.

Until now, Saudi judges have had wide discretion to issue rulings according to their own interpretation of Islamic Sharia law. The judiciary has also long resisted the codification of laws or the reliance on precedent when making a ruling.

Defendants also do not have recourse to appeal and often have no right to proper legal representation.

Unchecked powers

The new reforms announced by King Abdullah are aimed at addressing some of these perceived failings and at introducing safeguards such as appeal courts that can overturn decisions by lower courts, the BBC's Heba Saleh says.

The decree sets up two supreme courts for the general courts and administrative courts, according to Hassan al-Mulla, the head of the Saudi Bar Association. These courts will replace the Supreme Judicial Council, which will now only review administrative issues such as judges' salaries and appointments.

Mr Mulla said the decree also set up specialised court circuits within the system for commercial, labour and personal status cases. Ministerial tribunals previously dealt with labour disputes and the system did not allow for internationally-recognised processes of appeal.

Saudi reformers say the changes will chip away at the unchecked powers of the conservative clerics, who lead the judiciary. Although Islamic law will remain at the heart of the system, they argue that both human rights and the business environment will benefit from the overhaul.

The king will appoint the head of the Supreme Court. The reformers say he is interested in modernisation so he is likely to choose someone who will further his plans, our correspondent says.

International Probe Requested into Lebanese 'Missing' in Syria

2007-10-04T10:45:00.000-04:00

Human Rights activists called for an international investigation of hundreds of Lebanese whose disappearance they blame on Syria whose forces were dominant in Lebanon between 1976 and 2005.

"The question of the Lebanese prisoners held in Syria will only be resolved by an international commission of inquiry," said Ghazi Aad who heads SOLIDE, a non-governmental organization for the 640 people listed as missing.

Aad, at a sit-in organized outside U.N. offices in Beirut, charged Lebanese authorities had failed to act on the issue since the April 2005 withdrawal of Syrian troops, first deployed in Beirut a year after the outbreak of civil war.

"We criticized the government for handing responsibility for this question to a Lebanese-Syrian commission. Our criticism has been justified because the commission has not come up with any result two and half years on," he said.

Aad said an international probe was the only way forward since Syria considers that the issue has been resolved since its December 2000 release of 54 Lebanese.(AFP)

Article: http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/getstory?openform&C7908A8902AE7366C225736A00165B8A

Thoughts ?

Lebanon On Fire

2007-10-04T10:42:00.000-04:00

Large swathes of forest have been destroyed and millions of pine trees were burnt down in fires that devoured Lebanon, leaving one woman dead and more than 50 injured. More than 2,000 hectares (5,000 acres) of woodland were lost, much of it without any possibility of regeneration, officials said.

http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/getstory?openform&0B83595D59931868C225736A001E8FDC

Cluster Bombs Attacked by Victims

2007-10-02T20:41:00.000-04:00

Countries affected by cluster bombs most recently used in Lebanon met in Belgrade Tuesday for an international conference to push for a ban on the lethal weapons. The first meeting to bring together most countries affected by cluster bombs aims at ensuring that a new treaty will include victims' concerns.

The Belgrade gathering is part of the so-called Oslo Process launched in the Norwegian capital in February 2006 and aims at concluding a treaty by next year.

The process aims at banning the weapon, and placing obligations on states to support victims, clear up ordnance left over from conflicts and destroy weapon stockpiles.

China, Russia and the United States, the largest manufacturers of cluster bombs, oppose the ban.

Read full article at: http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/getstory?openform&678BFB059208B46DC2257368005F3A24

Saudi property boom takes off

2007-09-29T19:45:00.000-04:00

Saudi construction work valued at more than $400 billion is due to be completed in the next decade. Increasingly, some of the largest investments are likely to lie in real estate development as well as industry and infrastructure.

A proposed new mortgage law is expected to provide further stimulus to the expanding housing market later this year. As a result, some believe that the Saudi demand for homes could be shaping up to unleash the biggest building boom yet seen in Arabia.

In the early 1980s almost all housing and real estate development was government sponsored. The situation is changing fast with the private sector leading and more than 50 companies alone licensed to sell and develop real estate in the Kingdom last year.

While existing cities and communities are already seeing major developments there is also an intense focus on the $150 billion worth of government sponsored investment that has been committed to new cities due to be built around a core of economic projects.

All of the economic cities will feature major residential and commercial real estate developments. Around 1.5 million people are expected to move to the new cities in the medium term and three times as many by 2020.

The region's big names are seizing the opportunity. Prince Alwaleed bin Talal al-Saud's Kingdom Holding Company, following on from its towering Al-Faisaliah development, is planning multi billion dollar real estate investments in both Riyadh as well as Jeddah.

The government's go ahead for construction of high-rise buildings in Jeddah is being seized upon by companies keen to develop sites overlooking the Red Sea.

Dubai's Emaar Properties, apart from its involvement in joint ventures to build the Kingdom's giant King Abdullah Economic City at Rabigh, is among a growing number of regional developers committed to residential developments in Saudi Arabia.

These include the Al-Khobar Lakes and Jeddah Gate projects. The latter involves a $700 million investment to build 5,000 homes on the 5 million square foot old Jeddah airport site.

Dubai's Damac properties has also decided to enter Saudi Arabia's fast expanding property sector with plans for a 40 storey tower block development on Jeddah's corniche. The intention is to establish a strong local presence in a number of Saudi cities Chief Executive Peter Riddoch says.

Major development of hotels and residential accommodation as well as new infrastructure development is also stimulating real estate markets in the pilgrimage cities of Mecca and Medina.

* Picture: The King Abdullah Economic City is just one of many real estate projects underway in Saudi Arabia

Reference: http://www.ameinfo.com/122936.html

--> Comment or post any further links regarding this subject in this spread.

Dubai Buys Large Stake in Nasdaq

2007-09-29T13:55:00.000-04:00

Borse Dubai agreed today to take a stake in the Nasdaq stock exchange and become the first government-controlled stock exchange of the Middle East to hold a significant stake in an American rival, a step that may stir political controversy in Washington.

In a complex four-way deal, Borse Dubai plans to take a 19.9 percent stake in Nasdaq and buy Nasdaq’s 28 percent stake in the London Stock Exchange. Dubai will in turn let Nasdaq buy OMX, the Stockholm-based stock exchange operator, over which the two have been locked in a six-week bidding war. In a separate statement, Qatar, which competes with Dubai as a financial center in the region, said it bought 20 percent of the London exchange but does not currently intend to make an offer.

The agreement allows Borse Dubai, the fastest-growing financial center in the Persian Gulf, to gain access to expertise for its one-month-old enterprise and help it develop into a capital market center in the developing world. For Nasdaq’s chief executive, Robert Greifeld, the deal means he can finally fulfill his goal of creating a more global stock exchange after he failed to combine with the London exchange in the past while the rival NYSE Group successfully merged with Euronext.

Reports of a possible deal brought questions last night from lawmakers in Washington about potential compromises to security in the United States. The concerns were similar to those raised more than a year ago when another Dubai-owned company, DP World, tried to buy a company that managed port operations around the United States, and in 2005, when the Chinese oil company, Cnooc, tried to buy its American rival, Unocal. Both efforts were abandoned under pressure from Congress.

Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, who helped lead the opposition to Dubai’s investment in the American ports, said last night that the deal, which would make Dubai a major player in New York finance, would “raise serious questions that have to be answered.”

“Should any government own any part of a major U.S. stock exchange?” asked Mr. Schumer, who is on the banking and finance committees in the Senate and is the chairman of the joint House and Senate economic committee.

Stock markets around the world are combining or buying stakes in each other to meet clients’ demands to trade shares of companies anywhere, at a faster pace, across different asset classes and for less money. Combinations also help them save costs in an industry where the largest expense is developing the technology to run trading platforms.

Read Full Article @: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/business/21exchange-web.html?ex=1347940800&en=6b13652f4b972bf2&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Saudi women challenge driving ban

2007-09-29T13:39:00.000-04:00

A group of women in Saudi Arabia is for the first time to lobby the kingdom's government for the right to drive cars.

The current driving ban applies to all women in Saudi Arabia, whatever their nationality.

It was originally unofficial, but became law after an incident in 1990, when 47 women challenged the authorities by taking their families' cars out for a drive.

King Abdullah has in the past said that he thought a day would eventually come when Saudi women were allowed drive.

Read full article @: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7000499.stm

US pledges funds for Hariri court

2007-09-29T13:31:00.000-04:00

The US has pledged $5m towards the UN-backed tribunal set up to try suspects in the 2005 murder of Lebanese ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The US ambassador to the UN said the money reflected Washington's commitment to "the process of accountability for political murders" in Lebanon.

The court is to be based in the Netherlands. No suspects have so far been named in Mr Hariri's killing.

An initial UN inquiry suggested Syria played a role - a claim it denies.

The tribunal was set up by a UN Security Council vote in May, and is expected to start work next year.

Its costs over a five-year period have been estimated at $35m. Part of the funding comes from the Lebanese government.

Mr Hariri and 22 other people died in a huge car bombing in Beirut in 2005.

Announcing Washington's contribution to the tribunal, US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad said there should be "no impunity for political assassinations".

LEBANESE ASSASSINATIONS

Feb 2005: Ex-PM Rafik Hariri
April 2005: MP Bassel Fleihan
June 2005: Anti-Syria journalist Samir Kassir
June 2005: Ex-Communist leader George Hawi
Dec 2005: Anti-Syria MP Gebran Tueni
Nov 2006: Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel
June 2007: Anti-Syria MP Walid Eido
Sep 2007: Anti-Syria MP Antoine Ghanim
See article @: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7017571.stm

Who's more Corrupt ?!

2007-09-28T12:49:00.000-04:00

Lebanon was rated Wednesday a corrupt nation by the Transparency International in the same category with Algeria, Armenia and Mongolia, but in a much better status than Iran, Libya and Syria

Any thoughts?

The index score relates to perceptions of the degree of corruption as seen by business people and country analysts and ranges between zero, which is highly corrupt, and 10, which is very clean.

For the complete list go to this link:

http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/getstory?openform&6F71EC1FB955385EC2257362004A3922

Egypt papers agree day of protest

2007-09-28T12:41:00.000-04:00

The editors of 15 opposition and private newspapers in Egypt have agreed not to publish on 7 October.

The action is in protest at what they see as government harassment of the printed press.

Seven journalists have recently been jailed for a range of offences, including insulting the ruling party, and misquoting a minister.

Read more @ :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7017651.stm

Lebanon's Presidential Stalemate

2007-09-27T16:14:00.000-04:00

Short of the two-thirds quorum required in the first round of voting. Lebanon 's House Speaker Nabih Berri adjourned Tuesday's crucial parliamentary session to elect a new president till October 23. "The session has been adjourned till October 23 at 10:00 am," deputy Speaker Farid Makari announced.

In the event of a second round a simple majority suffices .

"Our presence means that the first session has been convened, and the next session (there will be a vote) with a simple majority," Pro-Gov MP Samir Franjieh said.

Read + @ http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2007/09/lebanons_presid_6.php

Historic Perspective - Votes and assassinations in Lebanon: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7014332.stm

Thoughts ?

LEGAL MOUSSALSSALAT ?

2007-09-27T09:43:00.000-04:00

Arabic Series/MOUSSALSSALAT playing during the month of Ramadan are all the Buzz in the Middle East right now… the best productions are always lined up during ramadan ... so by popular request here are two articles about the series playing this year.

In English:

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/863/cu4.htm

In Arabic - for those who want to put to the test the reading Arabic skills they acquired from McGill - ;) - (different article)

http://www.elaph.com/ElaphWeb/Entertainment/2007/9/267131.htm

You can catch some episodes on this site:

http://www.livearabictv.net/

Some may wonder what this has to do with law: Well one is a historic epic and very relevant to the current governance regime in Egypt, another is about rape in Egypt and many references are made to the judicial system in Egypt, nepotism, social differences in the arab world and how different social groups approach the legal system, the efficacy and fairness of the rules governing the process of bringing the perpetuators to justice. Bab-al-Harra is reflective of the overlapping law enforcement structures in the Fertile Crescent at the outset of the nation-state in the Middle East. Any legal aspects you’ve noticed? I think many interesting legal discussions can spring out of those series… otherwise random series gossip will do in this threat … feel free to mix both ;)

Enjoy!

US Bars South African Democracy Scholar

2007-09-25T22:59:00.000-04:00

ADC, ACLU File Suit Challenging Exclusion

Washington, DC | September 25, 2007 |

www.adc.org

Professor Adam Habib, a South African national who is a prominent human rights activist and world renowned scholar of democracy, governance, and social movements, is being barred from entry into the US without explanation. Habib's numerous attempts to secure an explanation and another US visa, and attempts on his behalf by the South African Foreign Affairs Department, the South African Foreign Minister and the South African Ambassador the US, to rectify the situation have failed. Habib continues to be invited by numerous US organizations to speak, including the Massachusetts chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), yet, Habib is unable to attend.

In an attempt to rectify the situation, ADC has joined a lawsuit filed today in US District Court for the District of Massachusetts by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of organizations who have invited Professor Habib to speak in the near future, including ADC, American Sociological Association (ASA), the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), and the Boston Coalition for Palestinian Rights (BCPR). The lawsuit, which names Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff as defendants, seeks the immediate processing of Habib's pending visa application and a declaration that his exclusion without explanation since October 2006 violates the First Amendment rights of US organizations, citizens, and residents.

Caline Jarudi, Executive Director for the Massachusetts Chapter of ADC, said, "ADC is deeply concerned by the pattern of denying visas to those who are critical of US policies. This reminds us of similar incidents, like the case of Tariq Ramadan, another leading scholar barred from the US. We need to remember the values of freedom of expression and of speech for which our country stands and how these cases are negatively impacting dialogue in the US and the image of our nation overseas."

Until October 2006, Habib frequently visited the US to study, lecture, attend board meetings, conferences and the like. He also lived in New York City for three years while working to obtain his Ph.D. Habib regularly speaks out against injustice both in South Africa and elsewhere, his vocal criticism of apartheid landed him in jail for two weeks in June 1986 under state of emergency legislation imposed by the apartheid regime. It should be noted that Professor Habib is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Research, Innovation, and Advancement at the University of Johannesburg and since 2002 has been named one of the 300 most influential opinion makers in South Africa by the Financial Mail, one of South Africa's major newspapers. He has repeatedly condemned terrorism, but urged governments to respond to the threat of terrorism with policies that are consistent with human rights and the rule of law. He has also been critical of the war in Iraq, the indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, and the US government practice of rendition (sending detainees to countries known to torture suspects).

However, on October 21, 2006, he arrived at New York's John F. Kennedy airport to commence a week of meetings with the World Bank; National Institutes of Health; the National Science Foundation; the United Nations Democracy Fund; and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only to be refused entry to the US. His visa was also revoked by Customs and Border Protection without explanation.

He was detained for seven hours and interrogated about his political views, until armed guards escorted him back to the plane and was deported back to South Africa. The State Department later revoked the visas of Habib's wife and two small children also without explanation.

Families cannot sue firm for Israel deaths

2007-09-23T15:29:00.000-04:00

Caterpillar machines used in demolition of homes
Parents of activist Rachel Corrie part of legal suit

Ed Pilkington in New York
Wednesday September 19, 2007
The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2172029,00.html

The parents of Rachel Corrie, the US peace activist who was crushed to death four years ago in the then Israeli-occupied Gaza as she was protesting against the demolition of Palestinian homes, have been refused permission to sue the company which made the bulldozer that killed her.

On Monday a federal appeals court ruled that Caterpillar Inc, the Illinois-based company that has supplied several bulldozers used by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) in house demolitions in the occupied territories, could not be sued as to do so would bring the judiciary into conflict with the executive branch of the US government.

A panel of three judges argued that the legal action could not have gone to trial "without implicitly questioning, and even condemning, United States foreign policy towards Israel".

Corrie was killed on March 16 2003 by a 60-tonne Caterpillar D9 bulldozer in Rafah, Gaza, as she was attempting to prevent the home of a Palestinian pharmacist being razed. She was wearing a fluorescent orange vest and according to witnesses in full view of the bulldozer operator.

Her parents, along with four Palestinian families left bereaved in actions involving similar bulldozers, began legal proceedings in 2005. Lawyers acting for the families alleged that Caterpillar had sold the machines to the Israeli government on a commercial basis. The firm knew, or should have known, that the equipment was going to be used to demolish homes in violation of international law in incidents that at times led to the deaths of innocent people, they said.

Caterpillar, with supporting evidence from the US government, argued that the machines had been paid for by the Pentagon as part of the government's military aid to Israel.

Cindy Corrie, Rachel's mother, told the Guardian that she was extremely disappointed by the court's decision. "Clearly there were war crimes committed here and we will continue to challenge Caterpillar and the US government."

Mariah LaHood, a lawyer with the Centre for Constitutional Rights who acted on the case, questioned the role the US government played in giving evidence favourable to Caterpillar. "Isn't there a responsibility to permit justice to be sought on behalf of a US citizen killed in a foreign country?"

Caterpillar said in a statement that it was pleased with the ruling. "We are hopeful it will bring to an end what has been a lengthy but fair judicial process."

Corrie's story received widespread attention at the time of her death. Her emails home describing her experiences as a peace activist in the run-up to her death were turned into a stage play, My Name is Rachel Corrie, coedited by Alan Rickman and the Guardian journalist Katharine Viner.

Among the other families included in the legal suit were that of Mahmoud Omar al-Shu'bi from Nablus in the West Bank. In April 2002 a D9 bulldozer destroyed his home in the middle of the night in an action by the IDF, allegedly without warning. His father Umar, sisters Fatima and Abir, brother Samir and sister-in-law Nabila who was pregnant, as well as their three children aged four , seven and nine, were all killed.

The sale of Caterpillar equipment to Israel caused controversy within the Church of England after the synod voted last year to disinvest from firms profiting from Israel's occupation of Palestinian territory. However, it later decided to keep its shares in the company.

25th Commemmoration of Sabra/Chatila Massacre

2007-09-18T15:29:00.000-04:00

MONTREAL: 25th Commemoration of Sabra / Chatila Massacre
Picket and Remembrance in Downtown Montreal

------------------------------
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22nd, 1pm
Indigo Bookstore
Corner of St. Catherine & McGill College
(metro McGill)
Montreal, Canada.
------------------------------

http://tadamon.resist.ca/index.php/post/877

Between September 16th and 18th, 1982, Israeli military forces in Lebanon, under the direct command Ariel Sharon, former 'Defense Minister' of Israel, provided military logistics for the massacre of thousands of Palestinian civilians in the refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila by the right-wing Phalangists militia of Lebanon.

Twenty-five years ago Ariel Sharon hatched a massacre plan with the militia units of the Lebanese Phalangists, who entered the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps under Israeli watch. 1500 Lebanese militiamen assembled at Beirut's International Airport, then under Israeli occupation, quickly moving in on the civilian refugee camp, where for an estimated 36 to 48 hours, the Phalangists massacred the inhabitants of the camps, while the Israeli military guarded the exits and provided light flares in the night.

Until today no military commanders or officials behind the massacre have been held accountable for the crimes against humanity committed in Beirut twenty-five years ago in the refugee camps of Sabra and Chatila. Total impunity for both the Israeli military commanders and Lebanese right-wing militia members continues until today, as the thousands of Palestinian civilian victims of Sabra and Chatila remain buried in a mass grave in Beirut, Lebanon.

In commemoration of the thousands of Palestinian victims of 1982 and in protest of the continuing assault on the basic rights of the Palestinian people throughout the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and recently in the Nahr el-Bared refugee camp of Northern Lebanon, the Coalition for Justice and Peace in Palestine, in collaboration with the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid and Tadamon! Montreal is calling for a picket and rally.

This day of action in Montreal will mark the 25th picket organized at Indigo bookstore in downtown Montreal, as part of the Canada-wide campaign to boycott Chapters/Indigo bookstore. The campaign, launched in December 2006, opposes the support that Heather Reisman and Gerry Schwartz, the majority shareholders of Indigo/Chapters, give to Israel. Across Canada a growing number of people are
supporting the boycott Chapters/Indigo campaign in the context of the international campaign to push for boycott, divestment and sanctions against the apartheid state of Israel.

Reisman and Schwartz have established the controversial "HESEG Foundation for Lone Soldiers", a program of financial support for former 'lone soldiers', non-Israelis who fight in the Israeli military, in defense of apartheid and occupation. Israeli 'lone soldiers' participated in the 2006 devastating military attack on the people of Lebanon and continue to enforce the illegal military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Join us in remembering Sabra and Chatila in protest of continuing Israeli apartheid.

* the Coalition for Justice & Peace in Palestine
web: http://www.cjpp.org

* the Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid
email: bdsmontreal at gmail.com
tel: + 514 941 9792

* Tadamon! Montreal
email: tadamon at resist.ca
tel: + 514 664 1036
web: http://tadamon.resist.ca

For more information about the boycott of Indigo/Chapters in
Canada...

* Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (Toronto)
Resource page: www.caiaweb.org

More information about the international movement of Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli Apartheid...

* Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid (Toronto)
Resource page: http://www.caiaweb.org/indigoboycott

More information about the international movement of Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions against Israeli Apartheid...

* Palestine Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions
Against Israel Campaign: http://www.bds-palestine.net

* Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall
Campaign: http://www.stopthewall.org

* Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel:
http://www.pacbi.org

The Challenge of Democracy in the Middle East

2007-03-21T17:26:00.000-04:00

Talk by Dr. Saad Eddine Ibrahim

For all those concerned about democracy, freedoms and human rights

Host: Inter-University Consortium for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (ICAMES)

Friday, March 23, 2007
2:30pm - 3:30pm
McGill University, Leacock Building, Room 132
855 Sherbrooke Street West (Another entrance on McTavish and Dr. Penfield)
Montreal, QC

A talk followed by Q&A period by Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim.

Dr. Ibrahim is professor of sociology at the American University in Cairo, and founder and director of the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies. He is also one of the leading democracy activists in the Middle East. He was imprisoned by the Egyptian government in 2000-03 for his human rights activities.

Dr. Ibrahim is regarded by many global citizens as a hero of human rights and democracy in the Middle East.

Egypt backs constitutional change

2007-03-19T18:47:00.000-04:00

Egypt's parliament has approved a set of constitutional amendments despite a boycott by the opposition, which calls the changes a blow to democracy.

President Hosni Mubarak has billed the controversial measures as part of a reform package to increase democracy.

But almost a quarter of the 454-member parliament say they are a way for the president to maintain strict control.

The changes include a ban on the creation of political parties based on religion, and sweeping security powers.

The 34 amendments were passed with a vote of 315 and will now go to a referendum, which is expected by early April.

See full BBC Article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6468929.stm

Frankly, a Shameful Record

2007-03-18T13:22:00.000-04:00

Fri. Feb 23, 2007 / Editorial - The FORWARD

The recent discovery that the family of Anne Frank had unsuccessfully attempted to obtain an American visa before being captured by the Nazis shines light on the failure of the United States to do enough to save Jews from the Holocaust. In reaction to the news, Rep. Steve Israel has reintroduced a bill to make the child martyr an honorary American citizen.

"The best way we can honor Anne Frank in death is to give her what her father sought for her in life," said Israel, a New York Democrat, in a statement last week. "The news that Anne Frank's family sought to flee to the United States makes it clearer than ever that we should bestow honorary citizenship upon Anne Frank."

We respectfully disagree: The best way to honor Anne Frank's memory — and to demonstrate that America has learned a lesson from its past mistakes — would be for the Bush administration to take comprehensive steps to address the needs of the mounting numbers of Iraqi refugees. It has been estimated that since the American invasion, 1.8 million people in Iraq have been driven from their homes and another 2 million have fled to neighboring states.

What has the administration done to address the crisis? From 2003 until last month, the United States admitted 466 Iraqi refugees (this is not a misprint — there are no zeros missing from the end of that figure). America currently spends about $8 billion a month on the war, but the administration reportedly entered 2007 planning to spend just $60 million this fiscal year to provide shelter and protection for displaced Iraqis, and $20 million to help resettle refugees here and in other countries.

The administration has taken a few key steps in recent weeks, which suggests that it is finally ready to set a new, morally responsible course on the issue. Earlier this month, the State Department announced the creation of a task force to coordinate American efforts to resettle and assist Iraqi refugees. Then, last week, administration officials unveiled a plan to admit about 7,000 of the refugees into this country by the end of the year.

Compared with the White House's shameful record on the issue until now, such steps constitute progress. But given our country's role in creating the humanitarian debacle — and the fact that thousands of Iraqis are now displaced and have no future back in their native country because of their support for America's reconstruction effort — more must be done.
As Senator Arlen Specter recently pointed out during a hearing on Capitol Hill, last year 20,000 of the immigration slots reserved for refugees went unused. The issue, according the State Department official on the other end of Specter's grilling, was a matter of dollars and cents: Financing for the slots was not available.

Before Congress and the White House think about symbolic ways to honor Anne Frank, they should figure out how to pay for the basic steps needed to alleviate a refugee crisis that America played a large role in creating.

THIS Magazine: The real reason few law students are ruling in favour of activism

2007-03-18T12:37:00.000-04:00

Legal Challenges
The real reasons few law students are ruling in favour of activism

BY Meribeth Deen
Illustration by Joshua Leipciger

When the Federal Court of Appeal struck down a challenge last November that would have seen a massive power plant built in Sumas, Washington, residents of the Fraser Valley, British Columbia were jubilant. The proposed Sumas Energy 2 Generation Facility power plant would have spewed up to three tonnes of toxins a day across the border into southern BC, and required that a massive power line be run through the town of Abbotsford. The battle was protracted, lasting five years, and the court’s decision to uphold a 2004 ruling by the National Energy Board that a power line would not benefit Canadians and should therefore not be built, was a major environmental victory.

AMALS SPEAKER SERIES

2007-03-02T19:19:00.000-05:00

AMALS SPEAKER SERIES

The Middle East in 50 Years: Aspirations, Hopes and Ambitions

Join us in attending a speaker series that will explore how law can shape the political, social, and economic landscape of this region 50 years into the future.

Tuesday, March 6
Michael Tarazi - Former Legal Adviser to the Palestinian Authority
Moot Court, 4:30 - 6:00

Wednesday, March 7
Irwin Cotler - Liberal Member of Parliament, former Justice Minister of Canada
Moot Court, 5:00 - 6:00

Wednesday, March 14
Henri Habib - Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Concordia University
Room 101, 12:30 - 2:00

New Chancellor Day Hall, Faculty of Law
3644 Peel Street
Montreal, QC

2007-03-02T19:15:00.000-05:00

East Meets Middle East:
Coffeehouses weren’t meant
to be this spicy!

Thursday, March 8th, 2007
Time: 4:30 PM

Atrium, Chancellor Day Hall
3644 Peel Street, Montreal
McGill University Faculty of Law

Join the Association of McGill Arab Law Students (AMALS) and the Asia Pacific Law Association of McGill (APLAM) in a journey of sounds and flavours.
Dine on tasty spring rolls, manakeesh, and cheese, spinach and meat pies.
Drink Sake, Beer, and Lychee Liquor cocktails.
Buy olive oil, olive oil soap, sweet smelling incense, and look great for your interviews with Chinese silk ties and cashmere scarves at wholesale prices.
Enjoy great conversation, people, and music.

for more information:
alsamcgill@gmail.com
Or
aplamcgill@yahoo.com

Article: Arab Citizens Call on Israel to Shed Jewish Identity

2007-02-14T18:19:00.000-05:00

This article in the New York Times discusses the tensions between Israel as a Jewish state and its relationship with its 1.3 million Arab citizens. This is especially relevant to the upcoming lecture by Dr. Jamal Zahalqa, a Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset at Concordia University. (See post below for more information.)

New York Times

Noted Arab Citizens Call on Israel to Shed Jewish Identity

By ISABEL KERSHNER

JERUSALEM, Feb. 7 — A group of prominent Israeli Arabs has called on Israel to stop defining itself as a Jewish state and become a “consensual democracy for both Arabs and Jews,” prompting consternation and debate across the country.

Their contention is part of “The Future Vision of the Palestinian Arabs in Israel,” a report published in December under the auspices of the Committee of Arab Mayors in Israel, which represents the country’s 1.3 million Arab citizens, about a fifth of the population. Some 40 well-known academics and activists took part.

They call on the state to recognize Israeli Arab citizens as an indigenous group with collective rights, saying Israel inherently discriminates against non-Jewish citizens in its symbols of state, some core laws, and budget and land allocations.

Lecture: "Debunking the Myth of Israeli Democracy"

2007-02-10T17:42:00.000-05:00

Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights presents:

"Debunking the Myth of Israeli Democracy"

As part of Israeli Apartheid Week 2007

Speaker:
Dr. Jamal Zahalqa
Palestinian member of the Israeli Knesset, and member of the National Democratic Assembly

Thursday February 15th 2007
8:30pm
Concordia University, Hall Building, H-937

Dr. Jamal Zahalka is a Palestinian Israeli and member of the Israeli Knesset. Zahalka will be speaking about the nature of Israeli apartheid and how it operates within Israel to discriminate against the indigenous Palestinian minority. His lecture will expose the brutal reality faced by the Palestinian citizens of Israel and debunk the myth of "Israeli democracy".

The Old City of Jerusalem and International Humanitarian Law

2007-02-10T14:16:00.000-05:00

Check out this BBC article that discusses two different perspectives on the Israeli government's construction plans in the heart of the Old City.

Deep tension over Jerusalem holy site

By Matthew Price
BBC News, Jerusalem

On a cold and grey Tuesday morning, I watched as a yellow digger started up its engine, pumped out a plume of black smoke, and got to work.

Two metres away another digger, this one red, started up its engine. It began to clatter up a steep ramp, it lowered its shovel, and started to chip away at the paving stones.

In eight months, if everything goes according to schedule, which it probably won't this being the Middle East, the ramp will have been replaced with a new bridge - more sturdy, and longer lasting.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6349177.stm

Arar's legal settlement

2007-01-30T08:06:00.000-05:00

A judicial commission of inquiry last September found that the RCMP passed along false and inflammatory intelligence reports about the Canadian Maher Arar to U.S. agencies, describing him as a Muslim extremist. This information was "very likely" used by the Americans to deport Mr. Arar to Syria, where he was imprisoned for almost a year and tortured, the inquiry said.

Arar received an official apology from the Prime Minister and an $11.5-million compensation package from the federal government -- the largest legal settlement of its kind in Canadian history.

read more

Film Screening - MIRACULUM

2007-01-29T23:16:00.000-05:00

Join AMALS this Wednesday, January 31, as we introduce independent
director Sherif Iskander, and present his film, MIRACULUM:

In a society where relationships between Muslims and Christians are
frowned upon and partially illegal, MIRACULUM explores the thick lines
between love and tradition through the eyes of young inter-religious
couple in modern Egypt.

The film is only 30 minutes, which leaves time for questions, and
refreshments will be served!

When: Wednesday January 31
Time: 5:00 - 6:00
Where: Room 201, New Chancellor Day Hall (Faculty of Law) McGill University

Professor Akhavan comments on Saddam's exceution

2007-01-12T23:58:00.000-05:00

'The lynching of the former Iraqi dictator is not justice. It is a lost opportunity. What could have been a historical trial of one of the worst tyrants in recent history, a turning point in Iraq's transition to the rule of law, was squandered by hubris and political opportunism and reduced to a spectacle of vengeance. Even those who support the death penalty would agree that it should not be administered after a trial that is widely considered as deeply flawed, not least because of repeated political interference and serious due process violations.'
Read on

Jimmy Carter Peace Not Apartheid

2006-11-29T19:45:00.000-05:00

Interesting interview with former U.S. President and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Jimmy Carter.

Constitutionality of Hariri tribunal

2006-11-25T14:51:00.000-05:00

Lebanon's cabinet has given final approval to a plan for an international tribunal to try suspects in the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Mr Berri, known as an ally of Damascus, said the emergency cabinet meeting was "unconstitutional" because it had not been approved by Lebanese President Emile Lahoud.
READ ON

Quebec is a Nation with In Canada

2006-11-22T21:28:00.000-05:00

PC motion states "this House recognizes that Québécois form a nation within a united Canada"
read on
also our friends in the Canadian Constitution Club discuss the issue, they got a valuable contribution from Professor Richard Janda

UN approves Hariri tribunal

2006-11-22T12:33:00.000-05:00

"The draft agreement and the statute of the tribunal will not come into force until... constitutional requirements are met"

Nassir Al-Nasser, Qatar's UN ambassador, READ ON

Settlements violate law

2006-11-21T16:46:00.000-05:00

Story from BBC NEWS:
More than a third of the Jewish settlements in the West Bank are built on privately owned Palestinian land, an Israeli campaign group has reported.
Peace Now says nearly 40% of the land the settlements sit on is, according to official data, "effectively stolen" from Palestinian landowners.

This, the group says, is a violation of Israel's own laws.

Settlements in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law, although Israel rejects this.

About 430,000 Jews live in these residential areas in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Leaked data

Peace Now called on the Israeli government to return the private land to its Palestinian owners.

In recent years the Israeli government has said repeatedly that it respects Palestinian property rights in the West Bank.

An Israeli official has said the government is reviewing the report. READ ON

The Yacoubian Building

2006-11-15T10:03:00.000-05:00

from ASA
"Join us on Thursday, 23rd November for a movie that has earned critical acclaim and rave international reviews.

We will be showing The Yacoubian Building (Imarat Yacoubian) at Frank Dawson Adams Auditorium (FDA) at 7:00 pm.
Trailer
Entry will be at the modest charge of 1$, simply to allow us to cover the charges of the room.

So bring your friends and come out for a great movie and for a chance to relax in good company before the finals"

Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East - Speaker

2006-11-14T10:38:00.000-05:00

Canadians for Peace and Justice in the Middle East will this month host Dr. Naseer Aruri as the keynote speaker at their upcoming meeting on Tuesday, November 28th. See the invitation to the event below:

Mr. Aruri was a close friend of the late Edward Said, as well as the author of many books, including “Dishonest Broker: The U.S. Role in Israel and Palestine.” Professionally, Dr. Aruri is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts

So please join us Tuesday, Nov. 28th, from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., at the LCHA offices (see directions below) to hear Dr. Naseer Aruri present, “The ‘Peace Process’ and Proposals for Justice in Palestine”: A sceptical look at the road traveled by the Palestinians the past 60 years, and a discussion of possible options for justice in Palestine in 2006.

LCHA Offices
(in the “Panasonic sign” building off the Metropolitan)
4480 Cote-de-Liesse
Town of Mount Royal

From the Metro: Take the Orange line, direction Cote Vertu, and get off at the “de la Savane” metro station. When you exit the metro station, walk north on the Decarie service road for about five minutes. You will get to a stoplight at the street Ch. Manelle. The LCHA offices are in the “Panasonic sign” building – the building number is 4480. The entrance to the LCHA Offices is to the left side of the building.

Justice for Zahra Kazemi

2006-11-12T20:25:00.000-05:00

Online Petition - www.kazemijustice.ca

In June 2003, Canadian photojournalist, Zahra Kazemi was arrested for taking pictures of a demonstration in front of Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison. She endured three days of interrogations and torture, resulting in injuries that would prove fatal. A physician that examined Kazemi immediately before her death said that she showed clear signs of torture.

Visit kazemijustice.ca to add your name to a petition that calls for the Government of Canada to follow through on its promises and to bring to justice Tehran's Chief Prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, for the brutal torture and murder of a Canadian citizen.

Human Rights Watch: Palestinian women 'not protected'

2006-11-10T09:31:00.000-05:00

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/6123380.stm
Published: 2006/11/07 12:53:24 GMT

Palestinian women and girls have little protection from violence against them, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said. Discriminatory laws and a lack of policies to assist victims of abuse mean violence often goes unreported or unpunished.

The security threats that women face at home have been ignored in the face of the conflict with Israel, HRW reported.

HRW based its report on interviews conducted in late 2005 and early 2006.

The group found that the legal and justice systems in the West Bank and Gaza result in light sentences for men who, claiming an affront to family honour, kill female relatives suspected of adultery.

'Lack of skills'

In addition, rapists who agree to marry their victims are exempted from criminal prosecution.

Several factors were found to compound the problem.

Palestinian police lack the skills to effectively address violence against women, HRW said.

As a result, informal measures are adopted such as seeking the mediation of influential clan leaders to encourage marriage between a rapist and his victim, the reports said.

The justice system too, lets women down HRW said.

"When confronted with cases of violence against women and girls, the Palestinian criminal justice system is more interested in avoiding public scandal than in seeing justice done," said Lucy Mair, one of the researchers and authors of the report.

And although the number of shelters for Palestinian women is growing, Israeli restrictions on movement in the West Bank and Gaza make them difficult or impossible to reach.

HRW sees some hope in recent legal reforms carried out by the Palestinian Authority.

But the rights group wants to see more done.

"The PA urgently needs to adopt a zero-tolerance policy for all forms of violence against women and girls," said Farida Deif, the report's other researcher and co-author.

Police and medical staff should be trained to international standards to respond to domestic violence and discriminatory laws should be repealed, the report said.

See full report

Panel Discussion

2006-11-08T17:26:00.000-05:00

Panel Discussion

“FINDING COMMON GROUND: THE CHALLENGE of FREEDOM in the WEST and in the MUSLIM WORLD”

Co-hosted by the faculty's Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism and Atlas Economic Research Foundation

November 14th, 2006 (Tuesday)
4:30-5:30 p.m.
Ballroom B, New Residence Hall
McGill University
Montreal, Canada

Panelists:

• A. Uner Turgay, Professor of Islamic Studies
Institute of Islamic Studies
McGill University
• Alejandro Chafuen, President
Atlas Economic Research Foundation
Virginia, USA
• Reza Eslami Somea, Professor of Law
Shahid Beheshti University
Evin, Tehran
• Father Kail Ellis, OSA
Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Villanova University

Reception follows
5:30-6:30
Foyer Level C

Office of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Statement on Gaza

2006-11-08T12:46:00.000-05:00

Expert on Human Rights in occupied Palestinian territories says urgent Security Council action needed on situation in Gaza

Geneva, 8 November 2006

Prof. John Dugard, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967, issued the following statement today:

On 25 June 2006 Israel embarked on a military operation in Gaza that has resulted in over 300 deaths, including many civilians; over a thousand injuries; large-scale devastation of public facilities and private homes; the destruction of agricultural lands; the disruption of hospitals, clinics and schools; the denial of access to adequate electricity, water and food; and the occupation and imprisonment of the people of Gaza. This brutal collective punishment of a people, not a government, has passed largely unnoticed by the international community.

The Quartet, comprising the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and the Russian Federation, has done little to halt Israel's attacks. Worse still, the Security Council has failed to adopt any resolution on the subject or attempt to restore peace to the region. The time has come for urgent action on the part of the Security Council. Failure to act at this time will seriously damage the reputation of the Security Council.

"War & Occupation After Lebanon, What is Next?"

2006-11-04T13:15:00.000-05:00

An-Nahda Social Cultural Centre in Collaboration of Syrian Students Association (SSA) Present "War & Occupation After Lebanon, What is Next?" George Galloway

Humanitarian Crisis in Gaza

2006-10-28T18:29:00.000-04:00

Check out this article from TIME magazine, published in the October 16, 2006 issue.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,1543922,00.html

Feel free to post your personal responses... I did! - These are our personal thoughts and do not reflect AMALS' position

Nat

Info-session

2006-10-27T22:20:00.000-04:00

AMALS is pleased to invite you to an info-session on McGill’s Faculty of Law
that will give some perspective on:
the application process
the law school experience
life as a lawyer

Thursday, November 2
5-6pm
Lev Bukhman Room, 2nd Floor, Shatner Building
alsamcgill@gmail.com

our new logo

2006-10-27T15:56:00.000-04:00

any comments?

Prophètes Rebelles

2006-10-26T16:15:00.000-04:00

Le Festival du Monde Arabe de Montréal commence ce soir
sous le thème "prophètes rebelles" beacoup d'activités sont à l'affiche,, voici un extrait du message de l'équipe du festival,
"Nos prophètes rebelles sont donc ces artistes qui résistent à l’effondrement de l’humain et tentent d’ajouter de la chaleur et de la vie à notre monde désenchanté. Faiseurs d’illusions et créateurs de sens, ils sont ceux et celles qui osent encore inventer un « nous » qui n’est pas seulement d’ici ou de maintenant. Ils appellent, annoncent et invitent à jouir, ensemble, de la vie, à réchauffer le monde froid des prophéties individuelles. Pour un court moment, dans le noir d’une salle, une communauté se construit et le désir de l’Éternité se nourrit de l’Autre.

Prophètes rebelles, pour que la rencontre soit toujours possible ! "

Discussion

2006-10-25T10:50:00.000-04:00

Discussion with Peter McRae, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process

when:Fri., October 27, 2006 - 12:30 PM to 1:30 PM

who:Peter McRae, Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Dept of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada.

All ICAMES fellows, faculty members, and graduate students are welcome.
Space is limited/a light lunch will be served.

Sponsor: Interuniversity Consortium for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (ICAMES) (Guest Speaker Seminar Series)

Location: 3465 Peel Street, ICAMES seminar rm (3rd floor)

More information: http://www.mcgill.ca/icames
Contact, 514-398-1246

update
unfortunately the talk by Peter McRae (Canada's Special Coordinator for the ME
Peace Process) scheduled at ICAMES for Friday, October 27 has been
cancelled, due to another demand on Mr. McRae's time.

Students reflect on the war

2006-10-16T18:48:00.000-04:00

"Perhaps more than anywhere else in the rest of Canada, the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah which took place this past summer spilled over into the streets of Montréal, becoming a prominent and explosive subject for its entire duration. How did the Arab and Jewish students of Montréal experience the political events"
check their views and opinions at tolerance.ca
feel free to post your own comment and opinion

Le Cerf-Volant

2006-10-11T00:25:00.000-04:00

The Lebanese Student's Association of McGill is organizing a Lebanese Movie Night on Thursday, October 12th, at the LEV BUCKMAN room on the second floor of the SSMU building. Entrance will be free of charge in order to celebrate their first of many events of the year, and snacks will be available at the back of the projection room.
The movie will be 'Le Cerf- Volant' It is in the Lebanese arabic dialect, but we made sure that we got English subtitles so you could invite your non-Lebanese friends to the event.
The screening will start at around 5h00 pm. Places are however limited! If you would like to secure a seat, please send an email to the Lebanese Association ( mcgill.lsa@gmail.com) so that they reserve a ticket for you at the entrance. Otherwise you could come to the door and get a ticket there as long as there are still some left. They unfortunately cannot guaranty you a free seat unless you email them first.

Racial profiling

2006-10-10T22:14:00.000-04:00

Participation in the law student radio show last Friday on the racial profiling

Meeting

2006-10-09T11:54:00.000-04:00

The first general meeting of the Association of McGill Arab Law Students (AMALS) will
take place on Wednesday, October 11 at 12:30 in room 200 of New Chancellor Day Hall.

We look forward to seeing you there and hearing your opinions and ideas about our planned
projects for this year!

Don't be shy about adding your thoughts, pictures, and opinions!

See you Wednesday

Travel Stories ...

2006-10-07T11:46:00.000-04:00

The first picture is of the treasury in the ancient city of Petra, in Jordan. It was
built by a tribe of Arabs called the Nabeteans, but was made famous more recently in the
third Indiana Jones movie (The Last Crusade) when Indy visits to find the holy grail.

The second picture is of the old city of Jerusalem. I took it while walking along the
ancient walls surrounding the city, in between the Damascus and Jaffa gates.

The third pic was taken on the way from Jerusalem to Ramallah. The wall appeared
suddenly in the middle of the street as we drove to the Kalendia checkpoint. It is
covered with drawings and graffiti, and it was still in construction.

Nat ;)

Send us your stories to: alsamcgill@gmail.com

Facebook

2006-10-03T16:37:00.000-04:00

on est sur facebook.com
rejoignez nous :)

About Us

2006-09-25T20:35:00.000-04:00

Arab Law Student Association Constitution

The Arab Law Students' Association is a new club founded in January 2006.

The purpose of this club is to create a space for all students at McGill's Faculty of Law who share an interest in the Arab world.

The ALSA will work towards promoting consciousness and understanding about Arab cultural, political and legal issues.

The ALSA will aim to provide a link between the faculty and the Arab communities both in Canada and abroad.

Additionally, the ALSA will seek to organize social and cultural events that will highlight and celebrate Arabic culture within the faculty.

The club hopes to become an essential part of what makes McGill law a truly diverse milieu.

Ramadan Karim!

2006-09-24T21:13:00.000-04:00

For all those Fasting Ramadan, we wish you a month full of blessing…
Please contact us for any support you need regarding balancing fasting with Law school if you're having any trouble.

We will be posting an announcement soon on a multi-confessional Iftar event that we’re cooking up!

~ Travel/Voyages ~ Stories ...

2006-09-24T20:51:00.000-04:00

We’re starting a new section on the Blog called Travel Stories in the Arab World!
Send us any set of pictures (limit to 4 per story) and a blip about them and your experience in those areas. We’ll then post them with your comments…

To start up … here’s a pic of a residential compound with an interesting design where i spent a lot of time (Riyadh/Saudi Arabia)… a lotta memories! And the seaview is a pic I took in Beirut/Lebanon… What a lovely city Beirut... I can hear the honks of the cars and smell of the Manakish in the morning when i see this picture... This view is similar to that of the American University of Beirut (AUB), i'll post AUB pics soon ... Enjoy... Send yours!

Send us your stories to: alsamcgill@gmail.com

Sheesha for Blog Success!

2006-09-22T13:00:00.000-04:00

We will be holding our first social event of the year this Friday, September 22 at Al Dar Bar and Resto for
dinner, drinks, and sheesha. Come out to meet the club's executives and to discuss our
plans and projects for the year, including the launch of our discussion blog!

Where: Al Dar Restauraunt - 1221 Mackay St. (Between St. Catherine and Rene Levesque)
When: Friday September 22, 8:00pm
What: Dinner/Drinks, Sheesha and Blog Launch!

C Ya ;) !

Great Bottom-Up Global Mobilization Effort!

2006-09-22T12:48:00.000-04:00

IDEACCESS

For civil society to counter extremism, insecurity and conflict, societies must have the tools to build a culture of peace. For human beings to be active agents in building free, equitable, secure societies, they must have access to ideas and innovations, as well as to the conditions whereby they can develop their own ideas, questions and criticisms to change the world in which they live. This is the premise from which Ideaccess aims to make valuable social justice-centered resources available to citizens, activists, women’s rights defenders and organized groups by providing professional translations of needed resources into local languages in the Middle East and Central Asia. Ideaccess also actively distributes such resources and facilitates the establishment of Community-Based Libraries (CBLs) where such resources can be accessed easily at the community level. A well-developed programme tying together translation, printing, distribution and accessibility makes Ideaccess a unique network linking activists, students and social movements across communities and borders in the Middle East and Central Asia. Together, the CBLs form a web bridging together those using the materials Ideaccess makes available to them and providing a space for the exchange of ideas, advice and support for each others’ social justice efforts.

If you’re interested in getting involved in this NGO please contact:
jitani@ideaccess.org

Check out Ideaccess Multilingual Human Rights E-Library and other projects at:
www.ideaccess.org

If you have any recommendations on other projects for this NGO inspired by the discussion of Alternative Youth Mobilization Methods Discussion # 1 Blogging Topic, please add it in the comments section and we'll communicate it to them.

Ideaccess is also preparing to make its website more dialogic so keep on checking it out! Till then Ideaccess it's joining hands with the McGill Arab Law Student Association in starting this dialogy with the public and between people around the world! Feel free to write in any language you want ... ;) !

Beyond Cyber Debates...

2006-09-22T10:28:00.000-04:00

Taking blogging to the next level !
The Idea is to discuss virtualy a topic for a period of time and then meet face to face to come for a final round of debate, conclusions and recommendations for action ! Let us know what you think of the idea and please send us your recommendations ... We are also open for topic suggestions ! Please keep on checking this site for updates on our various activities !!!

Alternative Youth Mobilization Methods

2006-09-19T21:25:00.000-04:00

The crisis of effective youth mobilization for change is unitary for both the developed and the developing worlds. Disillusioned with the state of politics, youth have lost their political imagination:

- Robbed of an agency much dreaded by the status quo through fear and apathy (West)

- Suffocated away from their potential through fear and deprivation (Middle East)

In the West the percentages of youth idleness in politics are staggering... Although youth are more involved in various societal and awareness projects here in Canada, voting rates are still very low and the conclusions drawn from the most noteble example for youth apathy (the US) still apply. As they grow older they get entangled in the most micro of issues and stop having the flexibility of more time and less responsibilities to seeing the problems in a macro fashion. In the Middle East many get dragged somehow into the political sphere as it encircles every aspect of their life and somehow find themselves too entangled with an incentive structure supporting a certain vision, without having even thought out the ideals of this position to start with … but sure enough they stay the course, they need the “wastas”/pistons/neopatrimonial links.

Others radicalize … it’s those that we hear the most of, it's those that paint the new world face of Arab youth. Realities are sometimes hard to face, and the harshest of all is that in our every day idleness, we are perpetuating the status quo. Societies opt for the easy way out throwing blame on those that commit the most horrible of acts without asking themselves any questions as to how they contributed to this. What is wrong in the status quo ? In the case of the frustrated Arab, the reasons are numerous and societies have much to ask themselves:

Economic deprivation, lost potential, no space for political expression, a constant campaign by the local governments trumpeting the fear of an outside world which independently seems excessively exclusivist and self-oriented … One might be accused of underscoring social construction too much… However would I have had any doubt of the effect of fear and lost potential, it has vanished last year as I noted major behavioral changes with law students caused by mere reason of McGill grades, law firm recruitments and assignments!

Bottom line … ? we need to revive the political imagination of youth both in the West and the Middle East, come up with alternative mobilization methods to encourage people to get involved in the West, rally their grievances and channel well articulated alternative platforms. In the Middle East? Change will have to be both bottom up and top down. The bottom up change will happen with youth trying to mobilize in diverse ways expressing their dissent … the top/down change will happen through pressure on the western supported governments to allow more space for political expression.

HENCE THE DIOLOGY : Western youth helping their counterparts in the Middle East by pressuring their own governments and Middle Eastern youth pressure inducing more representative governments which would most logically be open to a genuine cultural rapprochement with the west and lead to a decrease in the recruitment of radical groups. What are the questions that western youth should be asking themselves on the status quo ? What concrete alternative mobilization projects would be most effective? What is the role of legal reform calls within such projects ?

Let your political imaginary lose and blog on! Links to articles and pictures are also most appreciated. We are looking at gathering “virtually” the most useful set of information on each subject matter for a period of 1 or 2 weeks before meeting all of us “in person” to discuss this !

We'll start by posting this highly relevant UN publication:

Arab Youth Strategising for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)  
Synopsis:

Young people in the Arab world are standing at the crossroads of major changes in their countries. The current generation of young Arab men and women is the most and possibly also the best-educated ever. Yet, many face enormous challenges in finding decent employment and in participating in democratic decision-making processes. In a joint initiative of the Regional Bureau for Arab States of UNDP and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (of which the UN Programme on Youth forms part), three workshops were held in the region to address these concerns in light of the Millennium Development Goals. In a series of three workshops in Bahrain, Sana’a and Rabat, four main broad themes under the MDG umbrella, that have particular relevance to young men and women in the Arab world, were discussed. These four themes were: globalization and inclusion; employment and the labour market; governance and freedoms; and gender and family.

Link: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/documents/arabyouthmdgs.pdf

Check out the comments section for more links !