Volume 8 - Number 5
June – July 2012
£4 | €5 | US$6.5
THIS ISSUE: THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD
● The world’s stage ●
Shakespeare and the Middle East ● Uniting the artist and the athlete ● Music as the food
of harmony: Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra ● Born of the wind:
the Arabian horse and equestrianism ● Le Corbusier’s Gymnasium ● The London Aquatics
Centre ● The burden of history: Algeria 50 years on ● PLUS Reviews and events in London
Volume 8 - Number 5
June – July 2012
£4 | €5 | US$6.5
THIS ISSUE: THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD ● The world’s stage ●
Shakespeare and the Middle East ● Uniting the artist and the athlete ● Music as the food
of harmony: Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra ● Born of the wind:
the Arabian horse and equestrianism ● Le Corbusier’s Gymnasium ● The London Aquatics
Centre ● The burden of history: Algeria 50 years on ● PLUS Reviews and events in London
West End LIVE June 23- 24,
2011 Trafalgar Square, London,
part of the Cultural Olympiad
celebrations © Getty
Volume 8 - Number 5
June – July 2012
Editorial Board
Professor Nadje Al-Ali
SOAS
Ms Narguess Farzad
SOAS
Mrs Nevsal Hughes
Association of European Journalists
Mr Najm Jarrah
Professor George Joffé
Cambridge University
Mr Max Scott
Gilgamesh Publishing
Ms Sarah Searight
British Foundation for the Study
of Arabia
Dr Kathryn Spellman Poots
AKU and LMEI
Dr Sarah Stewart
LMEI
Mrs Ionis Thompson
Saudi-British Society and BFSA
About the London Middle East Institute (LMEI)
The 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
East. It serves as a neutral forum for Middle East studies broadly defined and helps to create links between
individuals and institutions with academic, commercial, diplomatic, media or other specialisations.
With its own professional staff of Middle East experts, the LMEI is further strengthened by its academic
membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. The LMEI also
has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle
East. LMEI’s Advisory Council is the driving force behind the Institute’s fundraising programme, for which
it takes primary responsibility. It seeks support for the LMEI generally and for specific components of its
programme of activities.
Mission Statement:
The aim of the LMEI, through education and research, is to promote knowledge of all aspects of the Middle
East including its complexities, problems, achievements and assets, both among the general public and with
those who have a special interest in the region. In this task it builds on two essential assets. First, it is based in
London, a city which has unrivalled contemporary and historical connections and communications with the
Middle East including political, social, cultural, commercial and educational aspects. Secondly, the LMEI is
at SOAS, the only tertiary educational institution in the world whose explicit purpose is to provide education
and scholarship on the whole Middle East from prehistory until today.
Dr Shelagh Weir
SOAS
Co-ordinating Editor
LMEI Staff:
Rhiannon Edwards
Listings
Vincenzo Paci-Delton
Designer
Shahla Geramipour
The Middle East in London is published
six times a year by the London Middle
East Institute at SOAS
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ISSN 1743-7598
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Disclaimer:
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Opinions and views expressed in the Middle East
in London are, unless otherwise stated, personal
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Contents
4
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
5
EDITORIAL
LMEI Board of Trustees
Professor Paul Webley (Chairman)
Director, SOAS
Dr John Curtis
British Museum
H E Sir Vincent Fean KCVO
Consul General to Jerusalem
Professor Ben Fortna, SOAS
Professor Graham Furniss, SOAS
Mr Alan Jenkins
Dr Karima Laachir, SOAS
Professor Annabelle Sreberny, SOAS
Dr Barbara Zollner
Birkbeck College
LMEI Advisory Council
6
INSIGHT
The burden of history: Algeria
50 years on
Roger Hardy
8
THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD
The world’s stage
Nevsal Hughes
10
Shakespeare and the Middle
East
Nevsal Hughes and Sarah Searight
Lady Barbara Judge (Chair)
Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem
Near and Middle East Department, SOAS
H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO
Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait
Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani
Arab International Women’s Forum
Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa
President, University College of Bahrain
Professor Tony Allan
King’s College and SOAS
Dr Alanoud Alsharekh
LMEI and Fellow, St Antony’s College
Mr Farad Azima
Iran Heritage Foundation
Professor Doris Behrens-Abouseif
Art and Archaeology Department, SOAS
Dr Noel Brehony
MENAS Associates Ltd.
Mr Charles L. O. Buderi
Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle LLP
Dr Elham Danish
Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia
HE Mr Mazen Kemal Homoud
Ambassador, Embassy of the Hashemite
Kingdom of Jordan
Mr Zaki Nusseibeh
Mr Rod Sampson
Barclays Wealth, Dubai
Founding Sponsor and
Member of the
Advisory Council
Sheikh Mohamed bin Issa al Jaber
MBI Al Jaber Foundation
12
Music as the food of harmony
Daniel Barenboim and the WestEastern Divan Orchestra
Sarah Searight
14
Uniting the artist and the
athlete
Moira Sinclair
15
Born of the wind
The Arabian horse and
equestrianism
Ionis Thompson
16
Le Corbusier’s Gymnasium
Caecilia Pieri and Mina Marefat
18
The London Aquatics Centre
Rhiannon Edwards
19
For your consolation
How Olympic organisers will
cater for Middle Eastern visitors
Sarah Searight
20
For your comprehension
Translation at the 2012 games
Rosamund Durnford-Slater
21
The Abbas Hilmi II papers
Will Berridge
22
London’s Middle Eastern art
world – a reality trip
Janet Rady
REVIEWS
23
BOOKS
Tripoli Witness by Rana Jawad
Oliver Miles
24
Encountering Islam by Paul
Auchterlonie
Peter Clark
25
Dubai High, A Culture Trip by
Michael Schindhelm
Peter Clark
26
Books in brief
OBITUARIES
27
Yousef Daneshvar
28
Pope Shenouda
29
Chris Rundle
30
EVENTS IN LONDON
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 3
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Volume 8 - Number 2
December 2011 - January 2012
£4 | €5 | US$6.5
Volumee 8 - Number
Number 3
Februaryy - M
March
arch 2012
£44 | €5
€5 | US$6.5
£4 |
|
THIS ISSUE » IRAQ » IRAQ AFTER THE US WITHDRAWAL » IRAQI CINEMA
» THE SEARCH FOR THE STOLEN COLLECTION OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM »
SUMERIAN CUISINE » THE HYBRIDITY OF IRAQI CULTURE » MAPPING IRAQI ART »
PLUS » REVIEWS AND EVENTS IN LONDON
THIS ISSUE : IRAN ● The political cost of sanctions ● Iran’s online war
wa
ar ● N
Norouz
orouz
Reviews
evvie
ie
i ew
ws and
and
● Shirazeh Houshiary ● Veggiestan ● The Hajj in London ● Poetry ● PLUS Re
events in London
● Palestine Studies at SOAS ●
decline ● Reinforcing the structures of occupation ● Gradations of pacification
seeking a solution ● Right to rights, and right to return ● A pioneering anthropologist
op
pologist in
Palestine ● Palestine on film ● Edward Said and Mahmoud Darwish ● PLUS
events in London
THIS ISSUE: PALESTINE
Iran and the US – getting the facts right
T
he article on ‘The political cost of
Sanctions’ by Lord Norman Lamont
in the February-March edition raises
several important issues. It is useful to hear
such points of view and to examine the
arguments that are posed for and against
sanctions. With respect to some of the
examples he raises, it is also useful to have a
clear understanding of fact. Three examples
he raised about policies and actions of my
own country, the United States, should be
corrected in this regard.
The article states incorrectly that ‘The
United States also blamed Iran for the
unrest in Bahrain in 2011 even though no
evidence has ever been produced.’ Some
other countries have blamed Iran, wrongly,
but the US has not echoed this blame.
When then Defense Secretary Robert Gates
visited Bahrain in April 2011, he stressed
that Iran could exploit the situation if the
Bahrainis insisted on making it sectarian,
but he distinguished between cause and
effect. This point is driven home in an Al
Arabiya article interview published on 24
March 2011 in which Gates: ‘said that Iran
probably did not have any role in igniting
Bahrain's protests – as he had previously
informed Bahrain's King and Crown
Prince – but he said there was no doubt that
Tehran started to make use of the events
in Bahrain later by spreading its influence
there. Gates underlined that Iran was
trying to complicate things for the Arab
states and in the meantime it suppresses
its own people, which shows a huge
contradiction.’
The article implied that the US was
behind the murders of Iranian scientists,
by first citing Newt Gingrich’s call for such
assassinations, then saying ‘To the Iranians,
that must already seem to be happening.’
To my mind it is not fair to fan this belief
without also referring to Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton’s condemnation of
the latest assassination and her strong
denial of US involvement. To be sure,
the Iranian government has produced
‘evidence’ of US involvement, but some of
this evidence might instead be the result of
misinformation or false flag operations.
The article criticised the US for unfairly
casting blame on Iran for the 1988 gas
attack against Kurds at Halabja. It was
implied that the US put all the blame on
Iran. It would have been more accurate
and fair to have added the word ‘also’ to the
sentence: ‘When Saddam Hussein gassed
4 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
the Kurds at Halabja, the first reaction of
the State Department was [also] to blame
Iran.’ As noted in a Reuters article printed
in the Guardian on 24 March 1988, the US
State Department spokesman said that Iraq
appears to have used chemical weapons, but
added that ‘there are indications that Iran
may also have used chemical artillery shells
in this fighting.’
Mark Fitzpatrick, Director, Non-Proliferation
and Disarmament Programme, The
International Institute for Strategic Studies
The next issue of The Middle East
in London will be published in
October 2012.
CORRECTION:
In March-April edition of The Middle
East in London on page 23, we listed
the address of the Ottolenghi restaurant
as 41 Connaught Street, London W2
2BB. This should have been 287 Upper
Street, London N1 2TZ
EDITORIAL
© Kois Miah
Dear Reader
The Big World Dance in Trafalgar Square, London, 2010. The Big World Dance is part of the Cultural Olympiad
Sarah Searight and Nevsal Hughes, MEL Editorial Board
T
he London 2012 Cultural Olympiad
is the largest cultural celebration in
the history of the modern Olympic
and Paralympic Movements. The aim has
been to leave a lasting legacy for the arts
in this country. Moreover, the Cultural
Olympiad is offering more participation for
disabled artists than any other festival in the
world.
Ruth Mackenzie, director of the Cultural
Olympiad and of the 2012 Festival gives
an excellent overall vision of both the
nation-wide festival as well as the London
programme. Many events on London’s
South Bank are part of the Festival of the
World. Each of the 204 Olympic nations
will have a chance to voice its talent. Poetry
Parnassus is one such event where during
a week-long celebration (June 26-July 1)
shortlisted poets from each of these nations
(including many from the Middle East),
chosen from 5000 nominations, will take
part in the largest poetry festival in the UK.
Another part of the London 2012
Festival has been The World of Shakespeare
Festival, a celebration of Shakespeare as the
world’s playwright in an unprecedented
collaboration with leading UK and
international arts organisations. Globeto-Globe was part of that venture in April
and May, where 37 Shakespeare plays were
performed in 37 languages – among them
Arabic, pidgin Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew
and Afghan Dari – in Shakespeare’s Globe
Theatre. The British Museum has also
prepared an exhibition in collaboration with
the Royal Shakespeare Company to provide
an insight into the emerging role of London
as a world city.
A notable Middle Eastern contribution
to the architectural scene is the Olympic
pool designed by Zaha Hadid, the first
building in the UK by this eminent Iraqi
architect. Caecilia Pieri and Mina Marefat
have drawn attention to an Iraqi ambition
to host the Olympics when Le Corbusier
contributed the Baghdad Gymnasium, the
only built part of a visionary Olympic city,
now restored.
Daniel Barenboim’s remarkable WestEastern Divan Orchestra is playing all of
Beethoven’s symphonies in a week of the
BBC Promenade Concerts, concluding
with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony on the
opening night of the Games. Barenboim
has an honorary doctorate from SOAS and
was able to spare an hour in April for an
interview with Jon Snow at SOAS after a
week of conducting Brückner at the Festival
Hall. His orchestra of Israeli and Arab
musicians epitomises the essential spirit of
the Olympics.
Two crucial aspects of the actual Games
will be ensuring the comprehension of
athletes, volunteers, guides, ‘ambassadors’ of
all the extremely complicated arrangements,
thereby also ensuring the participants
‘get to the place on time’. Rosamund
Durnford-Slater describes some of the
details as well as headaches of ensuring
perfect comprehension. The athletes’ faith
and dietary concerns are also important,
just some of the issues faced by the Games
chaplaincy office, under Canon Duncan
Green.
As the director of the Arts Council
wrote, ‘we want the London Olympics to
be remembered as much for the beauty and
excitement of its cultural experiences as for
its sporting victories.’
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 5
INSIGHT
On July 5 2012, Algeria celebrates 50
years of independence from France. But
half a century on, as Roger Hardy
discusses, the historical memory of one
of the longest and bloodiest of all the
anti-colonial struggles remains, in both
countries, bitterly contested
The burden of history:
Algeria 50 years on
© Poortje
S
ome wars never end. The wounds,
real or metaphorical, remain raw. This
is true of some of the 20th century’s
seminal conflicts, from the Second World
War to Afghanistan, and of the first ArabIsraeli war (1948-49), whose legacy of
bitterness and dispossession still haunts
the contemporary Middle East. But among
the conflicts that have ravaged the world
since 1945, Algeria’s war of independence
holds a distinctive place. This is due partly
to its length and brutality, and partly to the
fact that even now, five decades on, France
and Algeria are unwilling to confront the
Gorgon’s head of a deeply unpalatable
historical reality.
Algeria was not like Egypt or Sudan,
ruled by Britain with a small elite of
administrators. The French encouraged its
settlement by immigrants from southern
The independence struggle was prolonged and bloody, lasting
over eight years and leaving a death toll of half a million
6 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
Europe. Tens of thousands from Spain, Italy
and Malta, as well as from France itself,
heeded the call, settling there as farmers,
shopkeepers and administrators. By 1954,
when the liberation struggle began, there
were virtually a million settlers living among
eight million Muslims. These pieds noirs
(as they were nicknamed) became strident
advocates of Algérie française, the idea
that Algeria was an integral part of France.
The settlers in turn had powerful friends
in Paris, and for both groups the idea of
eventual independence – even after this
had occurred in the neighbouring French
French-Algerian relations – based on ties of history,
economy, culture, and geographical proximity – have
remained close, but constantly conflicted
colonies of Morocco and Tunisia – was
simply inconceivable. The independence
struggle, when it came, was accordingly
prolonged and bloody, lasting over eight
years and leaving a death toll estimated by
the French historian Benjamin Stora at half
a million. Moreover when decolonisation
eventually became inevitable, it took an
unusually shrewd and single-minded
French leader, Charles de Gaulle, to cut the
umbilical cord.
As a result, the French regard Algeria with
a tangle of wrenching emotions. The final
withdrawal was humiliating, heralding as
it did the demise of France as an imperial
power. It was also deeply divisive, tearing
apart public opinion, the political class,
and the army. Since 1962, memories of this
humiliation and polarisation have been kept
alive in a host of ways. French-Algerian
relations – based on ties of history, economy,
culture, and geographical proximity – have
remained close, but constantly conflicted.
Like a couple in a stormy marriage, the
two countries are locked in a relationship
of mutual dependence and mutual
recrimination. These emotions have been
kept alive, in the decades since the war,
by a series of revelations in memoirs and
historical accounts and in Pontecorvo’s
classic film The Battle of Algiers (1966). As
a result, it has become progressively harder
for the French to deny that their soldiers
used torture, including electric-shock
treatment, against Algerian prisoners. But
despite a number of taboo-breaking books
and films – such as Tavernier’s four-hour
documentary La Guerre sans nom – France
has, to a striking extent, remained in denial.
As for the Algerian ruling elite,
comforting myths have taken the place
of an honest historical reckoning. For
three decades after independence, Algeria
experienced authoritarian one-party rule
by the FLN (National Liberation Front), the
movement that had led the independence
struggle between 1954 and 1962. Lacking in
political legitimacy, the FLN painted itself
as the party that had united the people in a
heroic war of liberation against the colonial
power that had occupied and oppressed
them for 132 years. Left out of this carefully
preserved narrative were some essential
elements: the fratricidal divisions within
the liberation movement; the role of the
country’s large non-Arab minority, the
Berbers, in the independence struggle; and
the fact that more than a century of French
rule had changed the country in a host of
undeniable ways.
French language and culture left a lasting
imprint, not least on Algeria’s writers and
intellectuals. Mouloud Mammeri, for
example, left his isolated Berber village
and eventually studied in Paris, where he
was conscripted into the French army. His
novel The Sleep of the Just, published in
French in 1955 and later translated into
English, evokes the profound dislocations
of village life under French rule and of the
immigrant experience in France. The debate
over the country’s cultural identity, and
whether French should give way to Arabic,
has continued to haunt Algeria to this day.
At the same time, the Algerian pouvoir
has found it can no longer depend on the
war of liberation as a source of legitimacy,
especially since most Algerians now have no
direct memory of it.
The many strands of this complex
historical legacy are brought out very well in
Martin Evans’ recent book, Algeria: France’s
Undeclared War. Two other aspects of it
are discernible today. One is the burden
of the past for Muslims of Algerian origin
living in France. They, with their children,
now comprise the largest component of a
Muslim community of some five million.
The crises and controversies involving
French Muslims in recent years – from
the headscarf affair of the 1980s to the
riots of 2005 in the Paris suburbs and
the continuing concerns over Islamist
extremism – have had distinct colonial
echoes. For the children of Algerian
migrants, the daily experience of racism and
discrimination is rooted, historically, in the
unequal relationship of rulers and ruled in
colonial Algeria.
More broadly, in the decade since
George Bush launched his ‘war on terror’,
the Algerian war has, for better or worse,
become a laboratory for the study of
insurgency. I well remember the European
and American participants at a conference
on counter-insurgency in Stockholm
trooping off to watch a showing of The
Battle of Algiers. The French had won the
battle, an American military man reminded
me, but had lost the war: a lesson not
lost on those grappling with intractable
insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Roger Hardy, a former Middle East analyst
with the BBC World Service, is currently
a visiting fellow at the London School of
Economics. He is the author of The Muslim
Revolt: A Journey through Political Islam
(2010)
(Opposite) Even now, five decades on, France
and Algeria are unwilling to confront their deeply
unpalatable historical reality
(Below) Writer Mouloud Mammeri's The Sleep
of the Just explores the Algerian immigrant
experience in France and the tensions that
surround both communities
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 7
THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD
Nevsal Hughes discusses the Cultural
Olympiad with Ruth Mackenzie
The world’s stage
T
he Cultural Olympiad was launched
in September 2008, after the Beijing
Games and will end on September 9
when the London Games come to an end.
It is described as a four-year programme of
cultural activity. The aim was to showcase
the best of British art in the run-up to the
Olympic Games in the summer of 2012. It
properly took off after the appointment of
Ruth Mackenzie, formerly director of the
Manchester Festival, as LOCOG Director of
Culture two years ago.
NH: What are you hoping to achieve
with the Cultural Olympiad and London
2012 Festival?
RM: There have been some incredible
projects since the Cultural Olympiad was
launched in 2008, and there has been a great
response to the programming, with over
16 million people in communities across
the UK having experienced the Cultural
Olympiad to date. In 2010, the cultural
Olympiad Board decided to add a finale
to the programme – something to run
alongside the Games and that would be
culture’s answer to what is described as ‘the
greatest show on earth’ – a once in a lifetime
opportunity. The result is the London 2012
Festival, where people will experience the
best artists from round the world, timed to
coincide with the world’s greatest sporting
event.
We hope that the Festival will give visitors
and residents all over the UK some amazing
artistic commissions and free events this
summer, demonstrating to the global
community that Britain’s cultural offer is
world-class, and if we are lucky, we will leave
a legacy for artists, communities, cultural
tourism in the UK, and the place of arts in
future Olympic and Paralympic Games.
elaborate on that and give us an idea
about the overall budget?
RM: The London 2012 Festival is the
finale of the four-year Cultural Olympiad.
The London 2012 Festival is a 12-week,
UK-wide cultural celebration that will be
a key feature of the London 2012 Olympic
and Paralympic Games, running from June
21 to September 9. The festival consists
of commissions and invited events in all
art forms, dedicated to showcasing the
best of world culture through exceptional
creative partnerships. We will bring events
to people across the country, from the
Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland,
to the remotest corner of the Shetland
Islands, from the Raploch Estate in
Scotland to Hadrian’s Wall on England’s
most northern border, from Penzance in
Cornwall, or Stonehenge to the shores of
Lake Windermere, from the forests of North
Wales and right into the heart of the capital.
Total funding for the Cultural Olympiad
is £97 million, of which £53 million is
allocated to the London 2012 Festival.
NH: Can you give us a few clues
of the events that are labelled to be
‘unforgettable’?
RM: With over 1000 events across the
country in the London 2012 Festival, and
10 million chances to see free programmes,
there is something for everyone. However,
some of the highlights are:
- A co-commission to Damon Albarn
and Rufus Norris to create a new opera
inspired by the extraordinary scientist Dr
Dee and music of the Renaissance.
- A series of commissions in partnership
with BBC Film and Film4 to some of the
NH: The London 2012 Festival is not
only a London thing. Can you please
8 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
UK’s greatest film makers – including
Mike Leigh, Lynne Ramsay, and Asif
Kapadia – as part of a brilliant film
programme, with over 34000 children
contributing as well as the stars of today.
- Turner Prize-winning artist and
musician Martin Creed's sound work to
mark the first day of the London 2012
Olympics on July 27, when a spectacular
peel of bells will resound across the
country.
- BT River of Music, welcoming the world
to London at the start of the Olympics
with an opening weekend of free music
from all six continents at landmarks along
the River Thames, representing the 205
Olympic & Paralympic nations.
- A series of special events programmed
to showcase the UK’s sites of outstanding
natural beauty, including Speed of Light
at Edinburgh’s Arthur’s Seat, an art
installation spanning the 86 miles of the
remains of Hadrian’s Wall by Manhattan
artists’ collective YesYesNo, and an
evening of music and fire on the shores
of Lake Windermere, created by French
street arts company, Les Commandos
Percu.
NH: Before you got involved with
the Cultural Olympiad the World
Shakespeare Festival was organised and
was very much under way. Did you have a
contribution in that area?
RM: Deborah Shaw is the Artistic
Director of the World Shakespeare Festival,
but she is generous to her colleagues, and
has allowed me to propose projects. These
include the co-commission to Nobel prize
winner Toni Morrison, celebrated composer
and singer Rokia Traoré and wonderful
If we are lucky, we will leave a legacy for artists,
communities and cultural tourism in the UK
We will bring events to people across the country,
from the Giant’s Causeway in Northern Ireland,
to the remotest corner of the Shetland Islands
the history of the modern Olympic and
Paralympic movements, and I hope it will
be the best – at least until Rio 2016! We
have a wonderful programme with artists
from Brazil and partners in Rio that began
last year, which will be showcased in
Nevsal Hughes is a member of the MEL
Editorial Board
Ruth Mackenzie, Director of the Cultural
Olympiad 2011
© Getty
director Peter Sellars to create Desdemona,
inspired by Peter’s production of Othello on
which I worked in Vienna; or the invitation
to Calixto Bieito in partnership with
Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company
and his theatre in Catalonia to take
Shakespeare’s many transforming forests
as an inspiration point; and a few others.
However, I must pay tribute to Deborah’s
many brilliant ideas, such as her focus on
artists from the Middle East, including the
first UK visit of the Iraqi Theatre Company.
Also with the ‘Globe to Globe’ programme
the Globe has pulled together a programme
of Shakespeare’s complete works in 37
languages, including companies from South
Sudan and Afghanistan.
London 2012 Festival, and which we hope
will continue to be developed towards Rio
2016. I am sure Rio can do even better than
London, and I hope future Games will do
better still – of course this is the spirit of the
Olympics – new world records each time.
NH: Is the Cultural Olympiad
celebrating disabled arts?
RM: The Cultural Olympiad is offering
more commissioning for disabled and
deaf artists than any Cultural Olympiad
and festival anywhere in the world. The
unprecedented £3 million programme,
Unlimited, will be the largest ever UK
celebration of arts, culture and sport by
disabled and deaf people. It is a chance to
change the way work by disabled artists is
perceived and enjoyed around the world,
particularly because many commissions will
have an international life beyond the festival.
Watch out for remarkable talents such as
Claire Cunningham, Simon McKeown,
Sinéad O’Donnell and international
collaborations like Niet Normaal in
Liverpool, Breathe in Weymouth, and
Boomba Down the Tyne in Newcastle. Our
commissioning programme is a partnership
with all the Arts Councils in the UK, the
British Council and the Olympic Lottery
Distributor. I hope this will be one of our
most important legacies for future Games
and for disabled and deaf artists round the
world.
NH: Do you think London will set a
trend for future Cultural Olympiads in
other countries?
RM: It would be wonderful if London’s
Cultural Olympiad legacy includes a
positive impact on future festivals. Ours
may be the largest cultural celebration in
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 9
THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD
Sarah Searight and Nevsal Hughes
on how the Bard is celebrated by the
Middle East – most recently in the Globe to
Globe project
Shakespeare
and the Middle East
S
hakespeare would be highly diverted
by the devotion to his name that has
been generated within ‘The World
Shakespeare Festival 2012’. It began on April
23 with a celebration of Shakespeare as the
world’s playwright, produced by the Royal
Shakespeare Company with leading UK and
international arts organisations. ‘Sonnet
Sunday’ was the opening shot in a theatrical
extravaganza at Shakespeare’s Globe on
London’s South Bank with thousands of
artists from around the world taking part
in his plays. There have been supporting
events and exhibitions not only in London
but right across the UK and online. The
Festival runs from April 23 (Shakespeare’s
birthday) to November 2012 and forms
part of London 2012 Festival, which is the
culmination of the Cultural Olympiad.
The Globe-to-Globe programme, from
April 23 until June 3, was a remarkable
achievement for organisers but even more
for the drama companies participating,
some of them performing under
considerable constraints in their own
countries. All of Shakespeare’s plays were
shown in just over six weeks. Each of the 37
plays was done in a different language and
by a different international company. Here
we are focusing on those companies who
performed in Middle Eastern languages.
Oyun Atolyesi from Turkey, founded in
Istanbul in 1999, has done five Shakespeare
plays during its short life. Their dedication
to the Bard’s works (they even prepared a
musical defined as ‘a collage of Shakespeare
plays and sonnets’) and its repertoire of
other high quality plays was instrumental
in their being chosen to represent Turkey in
this venture. When the Festival organisers
from the Globe visited Istanbul last year
they were impressed with their production
of Macbeth but the play they brought to the
Globe was Antony and Cleopatra. We asked
the director of the play, Kemal Aydogan
10 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
why they chose it. He said that although
The World Shakespeare Festival organisers
wanted them to play Timon of Athens,
staged by them in 2006, they felt they could
not do this old production. In the end they
all agreed on Antony and Cleopatra (in
Turkish Antonius ile Kleopatra) with Haluk
Bilginer, founder of the company and one
of Turkey’s most prestigious actors, and
Zerrin Tekindor in the lead roles. Of all
Shakespeare plays poetry is most prominent
in Antony and Cleopatra. Aydogan, who
believes translating Shakespeare’s works into
other languages is rather difficult, says their
productions attract large audiences and are
very much admired.
Shakespeare’s plays have served various
functions in parts of Africa and the Middle
East. Perhaps most importantly they have
been seen as megaphones for political
Shakespeare’s plays have served various functions – they
have been seen as megaphones for political
aspirations and camouflage for political dissent
aspirations and camouflage for political
dissent. The brand new South Sudan
Theatre Company production of Cymbeline
performed at the beginning of May was
claimed to offer the chance to mix South
Sudan’s strong tradition of magic, prophets
and soothsayers, caste and class, and even
child abduction. ‘I used to lie in the bush
under the stars reading Shakespeare’s
plays, not thinking about the killing that
would take place in the morning,’ wrote
the South Sudanese Presidential Adviser all
too appropriately. The patron of the project
was one of Africa’s greatest poets, Taban Lo
Liyong, and producer was Joseph Abuk.
Cymbeline was spoken in Juba Arabic, a
pidgin Arabic developing in the 19th century
and recognised by some scholars in the
1970s as a distinct ‘creole’.
A Palestinian company, Ashtar, produced
Richard II, described in its publicity as ‘a
masterpiece of dislocation’. ‘Let’s talk of
graves, of worms, and epitaphs; Make dust
our paper, and with rainy eyes, Write sorrow
on the bosom of the earth’, Richard says on
hearing of the desertion to his enemy Henry
Bolingbroke by his once trusted nobles. The
play was initially performed in the remains
of the great 8th century Umayyad palace of
Khirbat al-Mafjar just outside Jericho. The
more one reads of the play the more sadly
appropriate it becomes. Ashtar is a dynamic
young company, set up in 1991 in Ramallah,
which made its name in 2010 with the
production of Gaza Monologues, a series
of stories told by the young people of Gaza
and acted all over the world. Its production
of Richard II was also performed at the
Oxfam headquarters in Cowley, Oxford, as
part of Oxfam’s 70th birthday celebrations.
The Habima National Theatre of Israel
somewhat controversially produced The Merchant
of Venice, performed in modern Hebrew
The company aims at making theatre a
fundamental part of Palestinian society; it
also seeks to build and strengthen bridges
with the theatre world through creativity.
The Habima National Theatre of Israel
somewhat controversially produced The
Merchant of Venice, performed in modern
Hebrew. This is ‘one of Shakespeare’s most
controversial and most human plays’, said
the blurb; nevertheless a curious choice
given the strong note of anti-Semitism in
the play. Was this why it was chosen? one
asks. Disturbances were threatened for
the performances as happened at the BBC
Proms in 2010. Habima was founded in
Moscow in 1913 and settled in Tel Aviv
in late 1920s. Among many other issues,
Habima’s plays deal with questions of
Arab-Israeli relations, tensions between
religious and secular Jews, and also the
status of women, particularly interesting in
the context of the Merchant with the roles of
both Portia and Jessica.
Finally, an Afghan theatre company
Roy-e-Sabs left Kabul for the first time to
bring a production of The Comedy of Errors
to the Globe, as near the end production
of a remarkable season. The company
has a history of great courage. In 2005 it
performed, Love’s Labour Lost in an ancient
garden in war-ravaged Kabul, close to where
Babur, founder of the Mughal Empire, is
buried; in this controversial production
men and women acted together, the women
sometimes not even wearing headscarves
and lovers holding hands! The company
came under attack when rehearsing Errors
in the British Council compound in Kabul
so continued its pre-Globe run all over
India. They perform in Dari or Farsi-ye
Dari, historically the court language of the
Iranian Sassanians; the term refers to the
dialects of modern Farsi language spoken in
Afghanistan today.
The Globe-to-Globe celebration
coincided with a programme on BBC
Radio 3 on Shakespeare’s restless world, and
how that world was expanding fast in the
playwright’s lifetime. Francis Drake sailed
around the world, merchants trading with
the east founded trading companies (Levant
Company, East India company) and filled
London’s markets with exotic goods. This
was followed in June by a British Museum
gesture to the Shakespeare glorification,
Shakespeare: staging the world. Here the
Museum, in collaboration with the Royal
Shakespeare Company, accentuated
the connections between the objects in
the exhibition, Shakespeare’s text and
performance. As the organisers say, ‘the
exhibition will create a unique dialogue
between an extraordinary array of objects –
from great paintings to exquisite jewels and
rare manuscripts.’
One of the key innovations of the period
was the birth of modern professional
theatre: purpose-built playhouses and
professional playwrights were a new
phenomenon, with the most successful of
them being the Chamberlain’s/King’s Men
at the Globe, and their house dramatist
William Shakespeare. The exhibition aims
to show how the playhouse informed,
persuaded and provoked thought on the
issues of the day.
As Ben Johnson, Shakespeare’s admiring
successor, mused: ‘He was not of an age, but
for all time!’
© Veronica Rodriguez
Nevsal Hughes and Sarah Searight are
members of the MEL Editorial Board
(Opposite) From Antony & Cleopatra performance
by Oyun Atolyesi in Istanbul
(Left) The cast of the Afghan version of The
Comedy of Errors
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 11
THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD
Sarah Searight discusses Daniel
Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan
Orchestra
© SOAS
Music as the food of harmony
D
aniel Barenboim (Maestro to his
many admirers) has an honorary
doctorate from SOAS; even so,
given his pace of life, it was gratifying that
he was able to give an interview with Jon
Snow on a Saturday morning, April 21, after
a week conducting Brückner symphonies in
the Royal Festival Hall. Two broad subjects
were covered in the interview: what it
was like growing up in Israel and how its
character had changed over the years; and
secondly, more importantly, creatively and
positively, what about his greatly admired
West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, booked to
play all of Beethoven’s symphonies in this
year’s Promenade concerts.
My own current interest in the Orchestra
stems from this prospective achievement
in the Royal Albert Hall. Between July 20
and 27 it will be playing all those great
symphonies; on several occasions – between
symphonies – compositions by Pierre
Boulez are included and Boulez himself
conducts the orchestra on July 26, including
The Orchestra was named the West-Eastern
Divan Orchestra (WEDO) after Goethe’s cycle or
‘divan’ of lyric poems modelled on the Iranian poet Hafiz
12 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
his Le marteau sans maître. On July 27 the
Orchestra’s contribution culminates with
Beethoven’s great Ninth Symphony – at 6.30
pm so that everyone can run at top speed
to Stratford to see the inauguration of the
Games. Surely the ultimate cultural event
as far as this issue of The Middle East in
London is concerned.
The idea of bringing together musicians
from either side of the great divide between
Israel and the Arab world was already in
Barenboim’s mind when Edward Said,
literary critic and tireless campaigner for
Palestinian rights (who sadly died in 2003),
came to him in 1990 in the Hyde Park
Hotel. Said’s involvement in this challenging
project was crucial in persuading Arab
musicians, including Palestinians, to
overcome their resistance to auditioning
for an orchestra led by a Jewish conductor.
By 1993 the first orchestral workshop was
held: ‘I expected six applications. Instead
I got 200!’ says Barenboim. Forty per cent
of those attending had never heard an
orchestra play, 60 per cent had never played
in an orchestra. The concept was given
further encouragement in 1999 by the
artistic director of the European Cultural
Capital, that year in Weimar. Weimar
was significant; it was the city of Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe, a great admirer
of eastern culture, and the Orchestra was
in due course named the West-Eastern
Divan Orchestra (WEDO) after Goethe’s
cycle or ‘divan’ of lyric poems modelled
on the Iranian poet Hafiz. The orchestra’s
first sessions took place in Weimar and in
Chicago.
Members of the orchestra are
extraordinarily moving and articulate about
their annual gatherings, their gruelling
rehearsals under |Barenboim’s baton,
their concerts, especially of Beethoven’s
symphonies. On the other hand they have
few illusions about the role of WEDO
in healing the deep-seated hostility
between Israel and the Arab world. Just
once the orchestra played in the Arab
world, in Ramallah, an occasion beset
by innumerable security complications:
special passports, crocodiles of bullet-proof
cars, wary conducted tours of ‘the wall’
(members of the orchestra have also visited
the site of the wall that once divided East
from West Berlin). But it happened. On
another occasion they played the Ninth
Symphony in the security zone between
‘While music alone cannot resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict,
it grants the individual the right and obligation to express
him or herself fully while listening to his neighbour’
South and North Korea, with superb soloists
and a choir of South Koreans: could the
grim masters of the North have listened in?
The triumphal appearance of WEDO in
the Albert Hall is particularly appropriate
to its playing of Beethoven’s symphonic
masterpieces, which were such a musical
break-through in their time. They were
composed at a time of terrible upheaval
across Europe but they soar above the
turmoil as one might also view the
orchestra’s crossing the tragic political
barriers between the countries of its
members. Music critic David Cairns writes
in the Proms programme of the ‘intensity
of the inner drama [of the ninth] and its
human implications’: how appropriate
that it should be played by Barenboim’s
musicians.
WEDO only manages to get together to
rehearse for three weeks in the summer,
and since 2002 they have been provided
in Seville with a base, funds and most
helpful accommodation and provisions
by the Andalusian provincial government
(Junta de Andalucia); there is a nice irony
in the fact that it was from Andalusia just
over 500 years ago that Jews and Muslims
were expelled. Recently the Andalusian
government has pledged €150,000 as
scholarship funding; this is contributing
to the establishment of a second orchestra.
There are equal numbers of Arab and Israeli
musicians, Muslim, Christian and Jewish
members, plus a group of Spanish members.
In its publicity the Orchestra points
out that time and again music can break
down barriers previously considered
insurmountable; as one of the players sadly
commented: ‘we can’t even meet in each
other’s countries. We are so near and yet
so far.’ Barenboim pointed out to Jon Snow
that music is ‘most personal and most
abstract’, helping to combat the lack of
curiosity about each other in the Israeli and
Arab worlds. ‘While music alone cannot
resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict, it grants
the individual the right and obligation
(my italics) to express him or herself fully
while listening to his neighbour. Based on
this notion of equality, cooperation and
justice for all, the orchestra represents an
alternative model to the current situation in
the Middle East.’
‘Engaging with music and the arts is
one of the most important things we have
in life ...,’ writes Barenboim. ‘If people can
reach mutual understanding and even
harmony over a work of art in this world of
conflict and despair, this gives me hope and
encouragement that we reach with the arts
where we can’t get with politics alone’ – a
message applicable to the whole Olympic
scenario. Through its work and its existence
WEDO demonstrates that bridges can be
built to encourage people to listen to the
narrative of the other. To play Beethoven’s
setting of Schiller’s ‘Ode to Joy’ as the climax
of his Ninth surely must give the young
players at least a moment of optimism for
their mutual musical future.
© Luis Castilla
Sarah Searight is a member of the MEL
Editorial Board
(Opposite) Daniel Barenboim and Jon Snow at
SOAS, April 2012
(Left) Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern
Divan Orchestra
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 13
THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD
Moira Sinclair discusses the work
of the Arts Council during the Cultural
Olympiad
Uniting the artist
and the athlete
© Kois Miah
T
he global recession has not
dampened our ambitions to bring the
arts to more people and to celebrate
our creativity. Indeed, the unique capacity
of the arts to unite people as a nation and
an international community, to provide an
escape from worldly cares, and to foster
understanding, seems more important than
ever.
The 2012 Cultural Olympiad keeps alive
the tradition of the ancient games, where
art, education and sport were seen as perfect
partners to achieve harmony; exercising
both the body and the mind. Pierre de
Coubertin, inventor of the modern games,
had arts and culture as firm features in
his vision for the Olympics as a global
movement. As a result, the Games have
become not just an opportunity to celebrate
the arts but also to reflect the culture, music
and creative imagination of the host nation.
A programme of cultural events was an
integral part of the UK’s winning bid back
in 2005. The intention was to place the very
best of the arts alongside sport, making
the 2012 Olympics relevant, enjoyable and
beneficial to as many people as possible
across the UK.
Arts Council England has been closely
involved in the development of the Cultural
Olympiad from its early stage. Through this
significant investment and support, we aim
to bring the arts to new audiences; to create
opportunities for British artists to shine on
an international stage, and to generate new
partnerships and collaborations that will
continue to benefit the cultural sector and
audiences nationwide, long after the torch
has passed to Rio.
The Godiva Carnival,
2011
With more than 10 million free
opportunities to get involved, and artists
from around the world creating an
unprecedented range of events, there
really is something for everyone in this
Cultural Olympiad. Contemporary
practice, innovation, different art
forms and aesthetics and international
partnerships are key themes as Britain
brings its unique perspective on, and
embracing of, diversity to the world stage.
Projects such as The World in London at
The Photographer’s Gallery will feature
204 portraits of Londoners originating
from each competing nation, while the
Southbank’s Poetry Parnassus will see the
largest international gathering of poets in
world history – including Middle-Eastern
poets such as Anat Zecharya (Israel), Mimi
Khalvati (Iran), Iman Mersal (Egypt),
Amjad Nasser (Jordan), Khaled Mattawa
(Libya), Rasha Omran (Syria) and Ashjan
The 2012 Cultural Olympiad keeps alive the tradition
of the ancient games, where art, education and sport
were seen as perfect partners to achieve harmony;
exercising both the body and the mind
14 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
Hendi (Saudi Arabia). These events, which
are just a taster of the phenomenal range on
offer, celebrate diversity in its widest sense.
The Arts Council believes that diversity is
an important element in the dynamic that
drives art forward; a catalyst that brings
art closer to a profound dialogue with
contemporary society. We want the London
2012 Games to be remembered as much
for the beauty and excitement of its cultural
experiences as for its sporting victories.
The Cultural Olympiad is an unparalleled
showcase of the best artistic talent, taking
the Games back to its roots and back to the
ancient arena, where the roar of the crowd
for the Scissor Sisters at BT’s River of Music
showcase would undoubtedly have been
as loud as for Usain Bolt in the 100m final.
The past and future of the Olympic Games
belongs as much to the artist as to the
athlete. Arts Council England is proud to be
an instrumental part of that tradition.
Moira Sinclair is Executive Director, Arts
Council England
THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD
Ionis Thompson discusses how Saudi
Arabia has a strong equestrian tradition
but that the country may not be allowed
to compete in the 2012 games
‘Born of the wind’: the Arabian
horse and equestrianism at
the London Olympics
Saudi Arabia from the Games as they once
banned Afghanistan under the Taliban for
its attitude to women.
In fact, the Saudi statement reflects the
reality of the situation in a country with
very few sports facilities for women: women
are simply unable to reach the qualifying
standards required by the Olympics and,
even if allowed to participate, could not
qualify to join the male riders in the official
team. There is, however, one glimmer of
hope for Saudi women athletes. At the
Singapore Youth Olympics in 2010 Dalma
Rushdi Malhas, a young Saudi horse-rider,
won a bronze medal for show-jumping, but
she competed as an independent. She might
be invited to participate in the same way in
London this summer, but she would not be
part of the country’s team.
Saudi Equestrian, the body responsible
for taking the Saudi team to the Olympics is
also one of the supporters of an exhibition
entitled The Horse: from Arabia to Royal
Ascot which will run throughout the
summer at the British Museum*. The
Arabian horse was said to have been created
by angels or born out of the wind: in Arabia
they were prized more highly than gold.
The Arabian Thoroughbred descends from
just three Arabian stallions introduced into
17th century Britain, and the exhibition will
illustrate the remarkable success of these
horses. The exhibits will include objects
from the Museum's own collection, such as
the miniature gold chariot drawn by four
horses made around 2500 years ago, part of
© The Trustees of the British Museum
I
f there is one sport associated in the
public’s eye with Arabs from the Arabian
Peninsula it must be horsemanship.
The finest type of horse, the Arabian,
developed in the desert. It seems, therefore,
appropriate that a Saudi team of four show
jumpers has qualified to take part in this
summer’s Olympics, one of just 15 teams.
The last time the Saudis won an Olympic
medal was for show-jumping in Sydney in
2000. They competed with great success
in the Rolex Kentucky three-day Event at
Lexington last summer, winning silver for
show-jumping. Last year they spent millions
on buying 12 high-performing horses from
European stables. Their hopes are high for a
medal this summer.
If, that is, they are allowed to compete.
Along with Qatar and Brunei, Saudi Arabia
has never sent a woman athlete to an
Olympic Games. Jacques Rogge, chairman
of the International Olympics Committee
(IOC) has been in discussion with all
three countries about their plans to send
female athletes to the London Olympics
and Qatar is now planning to send women
athletes, who have been offered ‘wild
cards’ by the IOC. Rogge wanted full
gender representation at this Olympics,
in compliance with the Olympic Charter
which supports equality for all who want to
compete, regardless of gender. On April 4,
however, Prince Nawaf bin Faisal, President
of the Saudi Olympic Committee, said
Saudi Arabia was ‘not endorsing female
participation in the London Olympics’
although he did not rule out women
entering independently. This statement
was taken as an official ban on female
participation and provoked widespread
outrage, with calls for the IOC to ban
Gold model chariot from the Oxus Treasure.
Region of Takht-i Kawud, Tadjikistan,
Achaemenid Persian, 5th-4th century BC
the Oxus treasure of ancient Persian gold
and the Assyrian limestone relief. There will
be loans of objects from other museums
and from archaeological sites in Saudi
Arabia and elsewhere. The exhibition has
been planned to complement the Olympic
Games, with which it will run concurrently.
Ionis Thompson is a member of the MEL
Editorial Board
* The exhibition, in Room 35 of the
British Museum, will run from May 24 to
September 30 and will be free.
The Arabian horse was said to have been created
by angels or born out of the wind: in Arabia
they were prized more highly than gold
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 15
THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD
Mina Marefat and Caecilia Pieri
discuss the historical and architectural
context of Le Corbusier’s Olympic
Gymnasium
© Caecilia Pieri/ Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris ADAGP 2012
The modern landmark
in Baghdad in search of
its future: Le Corbusier’s
Gymnasium
B
aghdad today is home to an
impressive manifesto of modernism,
a sports facility designed by Le
Corbusier. The Baghdad Gymnasium is the
only built part of a visionary Olympic City
of Sport that was to serve as Iraq’s national
sports arena and recreational centre.
In 1955 Le Corbusier was Europe’s
most celebrated architect, having just
completed two masterworks, the monastery
at Ronchamp and the groundbreaking
multi-family housing in Marseille, and
was handpicked by Indian Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru to design the new city of
Chandigarh. So it was not surprising that he
was the first among the illustrious band of
architects to be chosen by the Iraqis. Frank
Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, Alvar Aalto,
and Gio Ponti each were asked to contribute
to the new Baghdad of Iraqi imagination
with commissions that included an opera
house, university, museum, and office
headquarters, some of which were built,
others not. For Iraq and for the architectural
profession, it was a historic moment
of transcultural dialogue, a time that
encapsulated the triumph of modernism
and the international appeal of modern
architects.
In 1955 Baghdad was a city aspiring to
become the centre of a new Middle East,
a showcase capital of a new Iraq ruled as
In 1955 Baghdad was a city aspiring to become
the centre of a new Middle East, a showcase capital
of a new Iraq ruled as a Hashemite kingdom
16 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
a Hashemite kingdom. The renegotiated
1950 oil deal with Britain provided an
opportunity for the country’s infrastructure
and within five years the Iraqi Development
Board, infused with the energy and
influence of a younger, Western-educated
generation of Iraqis, was ready to reimagine Baghdad as a modern international
capital. Midhat Madhloom summarised
more than his own sentiment when he told
Le Corbusier in 1956 how much he was
‘Looking forward with utmost pleasure to
the opportunity of meeting an architect
whose work we admire tremendously.’
There was already a first Olympic Club
built in the Adhamiya neighbourhood
in Baghdad, in the late 1930s, by Ahmad
Mukhtar Ibrahim, the first Iraqi architect
in charge of the Public Works Department.
The Iraqi desire for an Olympic Stadium
was not unreasonable since Beirut had
The purism of modern form clashes with
local practices; functional decisions often
challenge the value of architecture as work
of art – a fact not unique to Baghdad.
by Le Corbusier, as was linking the pools
Similar encroachments have occurred in
to the Tigris. Nor were the amphitheatre,
the works of other architects as well as in Le
restaurants, and outdoor gardens that were
Corbusier works, for example in the open
to be open to the public.
spaces of India’s Chandigarh or in some
Only the Gymnasium was constructed
altered flats in France’s Rezé.
in the eastern part of Baghdad and that
The Gymnasium presently serves as
long after Le Corbusier’s death. It was
the headquarters of the Iraqi National
inaugurated in 1980. Despite the complexity Federation of Basketball. Except during the
of its structurally ambitious concrete
two years (2003–04) of its occupation by
roof, its signature curved ramps, and
US troops, it has also been used regularly
other challenging details, G M Presenté,
for national and international competitions
in collaboration with his Iraqi consulting
in sports such as volleyball. Despite the
partner Rifat Chadirji faithfully constructed sectarian violence that spread throughout its
the Gymnasium in strict accordance with Le surrounding neighbourhood and witnessed
Corbusier’s design, honouring the integrity
assassinations of many Iraqi sportsmen
of the master architect’s intent.
between 2005 and 2008, the Gymnasium is
With its sweeping concrete roof,
back in use, albeit sporadically.
external ramp or ‘architectural promenade,’
The scheduled June 1 inauguration of
undulating panels that recall his
the renovated building marks an important
collaborator, music composer Iannis
turning point. Perhaps Le Corbusier's work
Xenakis, with its subtle use of natural and
might deservedly become a living landmark
indirect light and framed perspectives, its
in a country that is still in search of its
articulated details, and finally its engraved
future.
‘Modulor’ man, the Baghdad Gymnasium
is a veritable catalogue of Le Corbusier
Dr Mina Marefat, AIA is Architect and
signatures, the only one of its kind in the
Principal at Design Research in Washington
Middle East.
and faculty at Georgetown University
Yet the current renovation is a departure
from the original vision of the architect.
Dr Caecilia Pieri is Head of the Urban
Fake ceilings block natural light, coloured
Observatory and member of the Ifpo French
stained-glass panels appear to recall ursisInstitute of the Near-East, Beirut
style windows of traditional Iraqi houses,
and bright-coloured seats have been added.
The Baghdad Gymnasium is a veritable catalogue of Le
Corbusier signatures, the only one of its kind in the Middle East
© Caecilia Pieri/ Fondation Le Corbusier, Paris ADAGP 2012
just completed a large stadium designed
by French architect Michel Ecochard.
How better to outshine a rival capital
and manifest modernity than to invite Le
Corbusier, an avid advocate of sports as an
integrated part of the modern lifestyle? His
Sports City included a stadium, gymnasium,
multiple swimming pools, amphitheatre,
restaurant, parking, and public gardens. The
extant drawings testify that Le Corbusier
personally sketched designs for Baghdad
and reworked numerous iterations, signing
his name to hundreds of drawings.
Despite difficulties with his Iraqi client
who kept changing the site, and his own
obsession with his remuneration, his
machinations with both French and Swiss
Embassies to ensure payment of his fees,
and even more critically, despite political
volatility and numerous regime changes,
the project continued and Le Corbusier
remained personally committed to the
Baghdad project for almost a decade until
the end of his life. Meanwhile, his own office
also underwent a transformation during
the Baghdad years as he fired longtime
associates, including Iannis Xenakis, and
permanently restructured his office. In
response to contractual requirements,
Le Corbusier began a new association
with French engineer and international
practitioner Georges-Marc Présenté as
his partner on the Baghdad Stadium
as well as several other commissions.
Throughout the process and despite the
shared responsibilities, Le Corbusier never
abdicated his position as principal architect
and chastised Presenté if he dared make
even modest architectural changes. Not
long before his death in 1965, despite his
best efforts, mere functionaries within the
Iraqi Development Board hierarchy delayed
the construction of his City of Sport.
The Olympic Stadium Le Corbusier
designed as a state-of-the-art sports arena,
with its carefully calculated gradients
that ensured views to each and every
spectator and with its ultra-modern
projection screens, was never built. Nor
were the swimming pools with waves,
another technical innovation proposed
(Opp0site) Plan of the project for an Olympic City
in Baghdad
(Right) Front façade of the Le Corbusier's
Gymnasium, designed late 1950s and built in
the early 1980s in the Sha'ab neighbourhood in
Baghdad
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 17
THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD
The London Aquatics Centre
Rhiannon Edwards
© Zaha Hadid Architects
© Zaha Hadid Architects
© Zaha Hadid Architects
(Opp0site and right) The main pool at the London
Aquatics Centre, 2012
(Above-Right) A graphic drawing of the exterior
of the London Aquatics Centre
O
ne of the architectural jewels of
the Olympic Park is The London
Aquatics Centre, designed by Iraqi
architect Zaha Hadid. Construction of
the centre started in June 2008 and was
completed in July 2011. The construction
cost was £269m.
Said to be inspired by ‘the fluid geometry
of water in motion, creating spaces and a
surrounding environment in sympathy with
the river landscape of the Olympic Park’, the
20000m² centre’s most striking feature is the
roof. It is 160m long and up to 80m wide,
giving it a longer single span than Heathrow
Terminal Five. The centre’s position at the
‘gate’ of the Olympic Park means that it will
be the first thing that most visitors see as
they visit the events this summer.
The centre will be used for the
synchronised swimming, diving and
swimming race events and the modern
pentathalon. It has a 50m competition pool,
a 25m competition diving pool, a 50m
warm-up pool and a ‘dry’ warm-up area for
divers.
After the games, the Aquatics Centre will
be transformed into a facility for the local
community, clubs and schools, as well as for
professional swimmers.
During the Games the venue will have
18 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
a capacity of 17500. The two temporary
'wings' on the building will be removed
post-games reducing the capacity to a
regular 2500, with an additional 1000 seats
available for major events.
International Olympic Committee
Chairman Jacques Rogge said of the project:
‘I have seen so many venues in my life but
I had a visual shock when I came into the
Aquatics Centre. Everything stands out: the
harmony, the quality, the innovation. It’s a
masterpiece.’
THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD
Sarah Searight discusses how
organisers of the Games will cater for
Middle Eastern visitors
For your
consolation
© Getty
W
hen London applied in 2008
to hold the 2012 Olympics and
Paralympics, it stressed the
uniquely multi-cultural and multi-faith
character of the city. This is epitomised by
the area of London– Barking and Stepney
– where the main arena of the Games is
set which is characterised by the great
cultural and religious diversity of the local
population.
From the outset Canon Duncan Green
was appointed as the official Church of
England Executive Co-ordinator to ensure
this defining characteristic remained at the
heart of the planning. Initially the main
objective was to enthuse and excite everyone
about the whole project, in particular –
for Canon Green – through a focus on
interfaith provisions and youth activities (of
which he has long personal experience). It
was important to bear in mind the average
age of the athletes, but also the armies of
helpers – volunteers, caterers, ‘ambassadors’
and so on. Nine major faiths are catered for
– Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism,
Buddhism, Zoroastranism, Jains, Sikhs and
Bahais; their leaders have been introduced
to the site and even photographed in
the Velodrome along with the special
‘faith’ badge (pictured) as Paul Deighton,
LOCOG’s chief executive, explained,
‘the launch of the badge demonstrates
commitment to leaving a legacy of greater
inclusion and understanding of diversity
long after the Games have finished.’ A
major feature of the main arena is a multichaplaincy centre in a large circular building
that provides facilities for representatives
of the different faiths ensuring each is
satisfactorily accommodated. The building
is due to be become, in ‘Legacy Time’
(Olympic speak for post-Games), the
secondary school Chobham Academy.
As far as Islam is concerned, a major
problem for many Muslim athletes (such
The Faith Badge of the London 2012 Olympics
as, for instance, the qualifying UAE football
team) is the coincidence of the Games with
the fasting month of Ramadhan (c. July 20
to c. August 17). It is possible, on the one
hand, to defer one’s fast if one is travelling
or working on a particularly demanding
task, provided one compensates at a later
date. But there are also those who feel that
Ramadhan is not only giving up physical
sustenance between sunrise and sunset, but
is also a time of special prayer which can
strengthen physically as well as spiritually.
As it is, all dietary concerns, including for
example halal and kosher requirements as
well as vegetaranism, will be fully catered for
at all hours of the day and night. In the case
of fasting Muslims special break-a-fast boxes
will be ready for the blissful moment of
sunset; unfortunately in July-August (better
for Paralympics in September) this will be
at nearly 9pm (8.56pm local time on July
27). Given the organisation’s precautions
regarding health and security, sunset is
unlikely to be announced by cannon shot as
is common in the Middle East!
Sarah Searight is a member of the MEL
Editorial Board
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 19
THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD
Rosamund Durnford-Slater on
translation at the Olympics
For your
comprehension
T
he Olympic Games has always been
faced with the major challenge of
providing top quality interpreting
for a large number of different languages.
London is no exception to the rule but
the financial situation has meant that
the Government has been loath to put
money into what the UK has always
considered to be a matter of secondary
importance (because English is the lingua
franca of the world?) When asked in the
House of Commons at the end of 2011
whether arrangements had been made for
interpreting at the Games the government
replied: ‘Yes. We know this is necessary. It
won’t cost the taxpayer a penny as it will all
be done by volunteers’. This approach was
validated recently when a Spanish colleague
contacted the Games organizers about
offering her services and was told: ‘We do
not need interpreters – we have an army of
volunteers’.
To be fair, there is to be a core team of
professional interpreters, the majority
of them being members of AIIC, the
International Association of Conference
Interpreters. They have been recruited
by the Head Interpreter, Bill Webber, an
ex-Council member of AIIC, who works
from California, has previous experience
of working at the Games and has chosen
tried and trusted veterans from previous
Olympics. He was awarded the contract
by a fair and open public procurement
process. This team will be in charge of all
simultaneous work assignments
As far as Arabic is concerned the official
interpreters will attend the meetings of
Chefs de Mission every morning but
no official Arabic interpretation will
be provided at the venues. Whenever
interpreting is needed, for press conferences
and the like, standard literary Arabic will
be used. At past Olympics such as Beijing
and Athens the official interpreters were
ferried from place to place with little or no
notice and also serviced the media centre
and TV. The venues are so far apart in the
UK that this approach may be unworkable.
It worked well in the past as the official
interpreters were always fully qualified
to cope with unforeseen circumstances
and unrehearsed vocabulary. There was,
however, one famous occasion when a
Slovak-speaking interpreter was sent along
to interpret for a Slovenian athlete – after
all the first three letters were the same – and
she had to enlist the help of enthusiastic
Slovenian fans. In London there will be
no lack of equally enthusiastic volunteers,
eminently visible in their shocking pink
and purple outfits, not to mention their
trilby hats. There will be 1200 of these
‘ambassadors’ in all, if you count the
Olympics and Paralympics. They will
have been groomed by games-makers
McDonald’s, Cadbury, Proctor and Gamble
to mention just a few. Some of them have
been trained by the same people who
work for Waitrose and insist on taking
their customers to the very item they are
looking for, so service standards will be
high. Others have been taught a smattering
of sign language although one wonders
if the finer distinctions will have been
drawn between the American and English
language equivalents. Perhaps it will act as
a default lingua franca for those who do not
master English.
A complete cross-section of the British
population will be helping out with all the
various tasks involving interaction with
the public. Arabic law court interpreters,
owners of upmarket cheese shops,
teenagers, people who used to work for the
financial services… The level of enthusiasm
is such that one ‘ambassador’ is coming over
from Canada every two weeks to attend the
requisite number of training sessions.
There is always the fear of a scam lurking
20 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
Mr Cartwright, Consul at Constantinople, and his
Albanian [interpreter]. Hand coloured engraving
by Joseph Nash from sketch by David Wilkie,
1840
in the background. Someone googling
‘interpreters – Olympic Games’ was faced
by a website cleverly entitled ‘Interpret for
London’, a subtle tweak of the ‘Compete for’
website which has been used throughout
the official tendering process for passing
on information. LOCOG and the official
interpreting team deny all knowledge of
it. In fact any professional organizer would
run a mile on reading through the screeds
of way-out language services posted on the
site.
A discreet veil has been drawn over the
contract for written translations of Olympic
material that has been awarded to Applied
Language Solutions. This has been linked
to a recent decision by the Ministry of
Justice to outsource the recruiting of law
court interpreters to this same company,
which has had catastrophic results for the
judiciary. Questions have been raised in the
House.
All in all, the language arrangements
at the London Olympics should be on a
par with previous Games – a mixture of
professionalism, enthusiastic amateurism
and a certain amount of inspired creativity.
Rosamund Durnford-Slater is AIIC Member
and Founder Member of Conference
Interpreters UK
THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD
Will Berridge discusses a valuable
resource for scholars
The Abbas Hilmi II Papers at
Durham University Library
A
mong the rich archival resources
at Durham University Library is
the collection of Abbas Hilmi II
(1874-1944), the last Khedive of Egypt,
whose papers provide excellent research
material on political, social and economic
affairs in Egypt in the first half of the 20th
century, the British in Egypt and to a lesser
extent, the Sudan, and Egypt's relations with
Britain, Turkey and the rest of Europe. The
collection was deposited in Durham by
the Mohamed Ali Foundation in 1980. It
includes material in Arabic, English, French,
German and Ottoman Turkish.
Abbas Hilmi II ruled as the Khedive of
British-occupied Egypt between 1892 and
1914 and his papers cover the period from
1892 until his death in 1944. They include
his personal correspondence with a wide
circle of family and friends, diplomats,
religious leaders and historians, both in
Khedive Abbas Hilmi II, c. 1905
Europe and the Middle East, which among
other subjects throw light on khedival
patronage and Abbas Hilmi’s European
travels.
The collection will be of considerable
interest to students of pan-Islamic and
nationalist political activism in Egypt.
It incorporates letters from the famous
Islamic modernist Muhammad Abduh
to the Khedive, and material that shed
lights on Abbas Hilmi’s links with leading
individuals in the National (al-Watani)
Party, including personal correspondence
with Mustafa Kamil and records of informal
meetings between Muhammad Bey Farid
and Aziza de Rochbrune on behalf of
Abbas Hilmi. There are also extensive
Ministry of Interior reports on nationalist
and Islamic organizations within Egypt
and individual activists such as Shaikh
Abd al-Aziz Shawish and the assassin
Ibrahim Nassif al-Wardani, in addition to
petitions regarding the Dinshawai Incident
of 1906, involving British officers in a Delta
pigeon shoot, which was a cause célèbre
for the nationalist movement at the time.
There is a considerable amount of material
focusing on the internal governance of
Egypt, including correspondence with the
Egyptian prime ministers Hussein Rushdi
Pasha, Nubar Pasha, and Butrus Ghali Pasha
as well as with Lord Cromer, who served
as the British agent and consul general in
Egypt between 1883 and 1907, and had a
somewhat fractious relationship with the
Khedive.
The collection also contains numerous
documents of relevance to wider Middle
Eastern history, including particularly
dense series of correspondence with both
the Ottoman Grand Vizier Farid Pasha
and Jalal al-Din, Abbas Hilmi’s secretary in
Constantinople, on the political situation
in Constantinople and the Balkans leading
up to the First World War. In addition,
there is correspondence regarding the 1919
Cairo Conference and the 1923 Lausanne
Conference, and material on Azerbaijan,
Iraq, Syria, Yemen and Palestine in the
1920s and 1930s. Researchers working in
Durham’s Sudan Archive may also find that
Abbas Hilmi’s papers are worth consulting,
since there are a great number of intelligence
reports produced by the Egyptian Army
and the early Condominium administration
in Sudan. Scholars of Islamic thought
and Islamic associational life should also
be interested by the files on ‘Muslim
Associations’, which contain information on
various international Islamic associations,
journals, humanitarian and social projects
for which Abbas Hilmi provided funding,
as well as material on the administration of
Egypt’s famous al-Azhar mosque.
The very fine collection of photographs
contains numerous studio portraits dating
from the 1870s of members of the Khedival
family, including Khedive Tewfik and
Khedive Abbas Hilmi and his brothers.
Other albums illustrate trips by Abbas
Hilmi to Upper Egypt in 1891 and 1893, the
visit of King George V to Port Said in 1911
and a pilgrimage to Mecca by an Egyptian
delegation under Prince Ahmed Fouad
in 1909, which was recently displayed in
the British Museum’s Hajj exhibition. Also
represented are albums on the architecture
of Ismailia and Port Said, horses and
steamships owned by the Khedival family
and officers and ranks in the Egyptian Army
before the First World War.
For further information about the
collection, see http://www.dur.ac.uk/
library/asc/collection_information/
cldload/?collno=1 or e-mail pg.library@
durham.ac.uk.
Will Berridge is a tutor of Imperial History at
the University of Nottingham
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 21
THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD
Janet Rady explores the highlights of
the recent Middle Eastern contemporary
art offerings in London
© Mohamed Alba
London’s
Middle Eastern
art world – a
reality trip
Mohamed Alba, The Teacher (2006). Artspace London
F
or those who follow its path either by
choice or vocation, life in the fast lane
of Contemporary Middle Eastern art
shows no signs of slowing down. Indeed,
it appears to be quite the contrary. While
there was an absence of notable shows
and events in London last year (blame
the economy), 2012 started off with
considerable excitement (dare we blame the
Arab Spring?) and a packed international
summit on Middle Eastern Art and
Patronage at the British Museum in January.
The Serpentine Gallery chose in March
to display On the Edgware Road. Love it or
hate it, the Edgware Road is synonymous
with the vibrant Arab community in
London (especially in this Olympic season)
and the exhibition was the culmination of
three years of research generated by the
Serpentine's Edgware Road Project. The
exhibition included installations, films
and performances, both at the Serpentine
Gallery and at the Centre for Possible
Studies, the Project's home. With social
engagement as its main aim (following
models in Cairo and Beirut), the Edgware
Road Project links local and international
artists with people living and working
in the neighbourhood. The Centre for
Possible Studies will continue to be home to
screenings, events and an ongoing project
archive.
One of the most thought-provoking
exhibitions by Iraqi artists and about
Iraq for a long time, was chosen by the
Qattan Foundation to grace its imposing
Mosaic Rooms throughout May and June.
Entitled Iraq: How, Where, For Whom?
the exhibition features the work of Hanaa
Malallah and the collaborative pair of artists,
kennardphillipps and includes large-scale
collages, installations, photomontage pieces
and sculptures. Malallah's work uses burnt
canvas, cloths, wire, found objects and paint
to create violently abstract yet sensuous
pieces, whilst kennardphillipps' work
manipulates and subverts press material on
the Iraq war to create opposing images and
narratives. Most memorable was the image
of a smiling Tony Blair revelling in taking
a picture of himself with his mobile phone,
against a backdrop of an horrific explosion.
A firm fixture on the scene, Rose
Issa followed her Canary in a Coalmine
exhibition of work by Iranian artist Farhad
Ahrania with photographs by Palestinian
Raeda Saadeh who, through her selfportraits, explored issues of physical and
psychological exile. In addition to the
Kensington gallery space Rose Issa Projects
will be collaborating with the Qattan
Foundation in July to show the work of the
Egyptian photographer Nermine Hammam.
Using images of soldiers plucked from
Tahrir Square, Hammam has produced a
wonderfully quixotic play on the horrors of
revolution in contraposed bucolic settings.
One of the most poignant exhibitions
was at the October Gallery last spring – the
canvases and sculptures of Palestinian Laila
22 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
Shawa, ‘chronicling the trials and tragedies’
of the Palestine-Israel conflict. The canvases
juxtaposed ironic references to Persian
miniatures with deadly Predator drones
circling over Gaza. From the end of June to
mid-August the Gallery is exhibiting Benin
artist Romuald Hazoumè’s Cargoland, which
satirises the ubiquitous plastic petrol can for
fuelling mechanised change but also causing
fatal explosions.
Two major galleries from Dubai, Artspace
and Ayyam, have chosen to settle in
London. Artspace opened their new gallery
in Chelsea in conjunction with Iranian
curator, Leili Khalatbari, with the Egyptian
artist Mohamed Abla, and will continue
by featuring a selection of established and
younger Iranian and Arab artists, whilst
Ayyam are yet to announce their new venue.
Lastly of note, a new online gallery,
Moroccan Fine Art, launched in May in
London with an exhibition An Urban Twist
showcasing five artists from Morocco, at the
Coningsby Gallery. It intends to continue
its programme of exhibitions of artists from
the region and we look forward to following
it and the contemporary Middle Eastern art
scene in general.
Janet Rady is an expert on Middle Eastern art
and owner of Janet Rady Fine Art
One of the most poignant exhibitions was at the
October Gallery last spring – the canvases and
sculptures of Palestinian Laila Shawa, ‘chronicling the
trials and tragedies’ of the Palestine-Israel conflict
REVIEWS: BOOKS
Tripoli Witness
By Rana Jawad
Gilgamesh Publishing, 2012, £9.95
Reviewed by Oliver Miles
R
ana Jawad is a British journalist of
Lebanese Muslim origin. She went
to Libya for the BBC in 2004 when
she was 22 and stayed there until after the
revolution. She wrote a blog under the
pseudonym Tripoli Witness while Gadaffi
held out in Tripoli.
The book falls into two parts. The longer
first section describes Gadaffi's Libya as it
was. The second is made up of her Tripoli
Witness postings from February to August
2011, with ‘retrospective’ comments. It is
well and simply written, with very few hints
of the haste in which it must have been put
together.
The account of Gadaffi's Libya is factual
and written with a minimum of spin. It
makes an excellent introduction to a subject
on which sources are scanty.
As a non-Libyan Arab Jawad was better
placed than a non-Arab to get a feel for
life in Libya, but was nevertheless kept at
arms’ length as a foreigner and a journalist;
contact with foreigners and journalists
meant trouble. She paints a vivid picture of
boredom, chaos and occasional real fear,
the sinister and mysterious world described
in Hisham Matar’s semi-autobiographical
novel In the Country of the Men. Gradually
she made some real friends, to whom she
was able to turn in times of difficulty. In
her fifth year in Libya she fell in love and
married a Libyan, but disappointingly she
says nothing about the circumstances and
very little about her husband.
She describes the resentment in Benghazi
of the privileges that Tripoli enjoyed
und
under Gadaffi, as well as the resentment
by Tripolitanians of changes in Tripoli.
Libya is more homogeneous than almost
any other Arab country but she explores
regional differences and tribalism, which is
part of Libya's social fabric, binding Libyans
together rather than dividing them. She
describes the heart-warming emergence
of the Amazigh (Berber) minority from
repression (although many of the rights
denied to them by Gadaffi were denied
to Arabs as well). Not surprisingly she is
particularly interesting on the media, both
on the frustrations and perils she faced as
virtually the only foreign correspondent
resident in Libya and on the ludicrous
performance of Gadaffi's media.
Most topics of interest to students
of Libya are therefore touched on. An
exception, which perhaps proves the rule
because she is reporting her own firsthand experiences, is Islamic extremism.
Foreign commentators, particularly in the
American media, can find an Islamist under
every bed but Libyans habitually claim that
while all Libyans are Muslims almost all
Libyans are moderates. It will be interesting
to see whether the national election due
this month reveals anything like the same
support for Islamists that appeared in the
Egyptian elections. Local elections already
held in some towns have not.
Rana Jawad’s account does not break
new ground. It raises some big questions
without attempting to answer them: how
do you undo decades of policing, and the
knowledge of the many thousands who
suffered at the hands of dictatorship? Have
dictators in the Arab world or in Africa
destroyed any possibility of the changes that
the populations are fighting for?
The second part of the book, the Tripoli
Witness blog, is a reminder of the dramatic
events of 2011. Like everyone in Tripoli
Rana Jawad was pretty well penned-up
indoors. Her account is sharp and touching,
with one or two high points – the old
woman queuing in the bank who stuns
everybody by blurting out that there
are no men in Tripoli and they are all in
Benghazi (fighting for freedom) – but
mainly concerned with vital but mundane
questions like the availability of bread or
petrol.
She offers little hope for Libya's future,
believing that Gadaffi has left the country
in a state with which the new authorities
will not be able to cope. Since she wrote
in November 2011 there has been good
progress and although the situation remains
fragile it is possible to hope that she is
wrong.
Oliver Miles was British ambassador to
Libya in 1984, where he broke off diplomatic
relations after the murder of Yvonne
Fletcher. He retired from HM Diplomatic
Service in 1996 and is now a director of
MEC International Ltd, a consulting firm
that advises mainly on the Middle East,
and deputy chairman of the Libyan British
Business Council
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 23
REVIEWS: BOOKS
Encountering Islam.
Joseph Pitts: An English
Slave in 17th century
Algiers and Mecca
By Paul Auchterlonie
Arabian Publishing, 2012. £48
Reviewed by Peter Clark
J
oseph Pitts, whose dates were
probably1663-1739, was a lad from
Exeter who became a sailor in his early
teens, sailed to Newfoundland and then in
1678 or 1679 in the west Mediterranean.
Here he was captured by ‘Barbary Pirate’,
and spent the next 15 years or so as a slave
in Algiers. Under pressure, he embraced
Islam and accompanied his master to
Tunisia, Egypt and on to Mecca and
Medina, performing the pilgrimage. After
his manumission, he was able to escape
from the world of which he had become
part and return (thanks to British officials
and merchants) via Smyrna (Izmir) to his
family in Exeter. In 1704 he published his
memoirs of captivity, in Exeter. There were
later expanded editions, the last of which
forms the core of this book.
Pitts was probably the first person from
Britain to undertake the pilgrimage and
certainly the first to record his experiences.
It is a most remarkable document that
has often been referred to and has been
periodically reprinted: but not in such an
excellent publication as this.
Paul Auchterlonie has placed Pitts into
context. For the author of such a remarkable
work, little is known about the man
himself. Most personal information has to
be derived from observations within his
book. But what the fascinating introduction
does is put Pitts’s life and adventures into
the wider political and social framework.
In recent years Nabil Matar and Daniel J
Vitkus have drawn attention to the personal,
economic and cultural relations between
western Europe and the Islamic world. The
personal contacts were largely through
enslavement of men and women either by
raiders or pirates. From the 16th to the early
19th century there was a captivity literature
describing experiences and brutalities. Pitts
encountered cruelty, but also instances of
kindness. During his 15 years in North
Africa and Arabia, he had to master the
languages – Turkish was obviously much
used. Other captives had to become
Muslims and to use Arabic or Turkish.
Throughout the Mediterranean there
was a lingua franca, a mixture of Spanish,
Portuguese, Italian and French. There is one
story of an Irishman who became a Muslim
and also lost his mother tongue from lack
of use.
Pitts’s own account is full of acute social
observation. His account of the rituals of
Islam is more accurate and unbiased than
anything that had been written in western
languages before, and Pitts comes across
as a sympathetic person: resourceful,
intelligent and philosophical. Exeter was a
24 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
strongly Protestant city and his observations
of Muslim life is only negative when he
describes phenomena that resembled
Catholic practices, such as belief in the
intercessory authority of saints or the use
of the tasbīh, rosary or ‘worry beads’. One
would have liked to know much more about
the man. Alas, the whereabouts of his grave
is unknown.
The production, as we have come
to expect from Arabian Publishing, is
faultless. There are extensive notes, a map,
a comprehensive bibliography and some
excellent reproductions from Pitts’s original
work.
Peter Clark is a regular visitor to the UAE
and was Cultural Attache there 20 years
ago. He is the translator of Dubai Tales by
Muhammad al-Murr
REVIEWS: BOOKS
Dubai High, A Culture Trip
By Michael Schindhelm ,
translated by Amy Patton.
Photographs by Aurore Belkin
Arabian Publishing, 2011. £21.95
Reviewed by Peter Clark
M
ichael Schindhelm is one of
the leading opera and theatre
directors of the world. Between
2007 and 2009 he was appointed as a
cultural adviser to the government of Dubai.
He stayed there for two years. Dubai High
is a fictionalised account, based on a diary
for the year 2008. It is a credible account
of a year of personal disillusionment. In
2007 Dubai’s enterprise, prosperity and
limitless prospects gave the Ruler a Bobthe-Builder complex. (‘Can we fix it? Yes,
we can.’) Nothing seemed impossible. The
Emirate could buy the best, paying the top
international rates. Michael Schindhelm
turned up, ready to deliver. He had an office
in a brand new skyscraper and a staff but
no clear job description. The rules of the
game seemed to change without notice.
He was given a new job title. It was unclear
who drove the policy or to whom he was
responsible and where his role fitted into
the broader picture. It is a not unfamiliar
story. The situation was aggravated by the
recession that hit Dubai. Building projects
were discontinued. Property prices slumped.
Cars and possessions were abandoned.
Migrant labourers from South India were,
of course, worst affected, returning home
to debts and disappointment. The streets of
Dubai were not for them paved with gold.
Schindhelm gives a convincing picture
of the society of Dubai, especially the
kaleidoscopic expatriate community,
on fixed contracts, with no permanent
commitment to the place and hardly any
contact with the people of the Emirates.
Everyone was talking but no one was
listening. He can be sharply funny: ‘The
shopping mall is a sadomasochistic
funhouse of global consumerism. It far
transcends the simple old-fashioned
business of exchanging cash for essential
goods. It’s consumer porn, an interminable
transacting of stimulated desire and
temporary relief. Lust after the brand and
suffer the exquisite whiplash of the price
tag…’
What went wrong? Is it to be ever thus?
There is certainly a culture clash in Michael
Schindhelm’s experience. He was in Dubai
at a critical time, but other consultants and
experts, both resident and on short-term
contract, have survived and been able to
operate. Schindhelm was cut off from any
wise national who could have told him
how to bridge the gap between declared
aspiration and realistic achievement. Dubai
has produced venues and institutions of
international excellence, from airlines to
golf courses. Dubai and the United Arab
Emirates have also registered enormous
cultural achievements in the last 10 years.
UAE nationals are familiar with what is
best in the world. They know more about
the rest of the world than most visitors to
the country know about them. The wish
to be associated with quality international
brands – be it Guggenheim, the Louvre
or Booker – is an acknowledgement of
a wish to be associated with nothing but
the very best. From the book Michael
Schindhelm seems to be uncurious about
how Dubai’s achievements have been
secured, or how the system works. We do
learn of layers of foggy uncertainty between
the ruler’s articulated dreams and their
implementation. The ruling family and the
merchant princes preside over a system of
unregulated capitalism. Yet generally things
work well. Some foreigners in Dubai and in
the rest of the UAE have helped to achieve
a great deal in cultural fields. How that
happened does not emerge in this book. We
are left with sad disillusionment.
Peter Clark is a regular visitor to the UAE
and was Cultural Attache there 20 years
ago. He is the translator of Dubai Tales by
Muhammad al-Murr
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 25
REVIEWS: BOOKS IN BRIEF
Europe’s Muslim Women
Beyond the Burqa controversy
Sara Silvestri
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7:NDC9I=:7JGF6
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Sara Silvestri, senior lecturer in religion and international politics at City University, London
urges readers to move beyond the ‘burqa debate’ and appreciate the complexity of Europe’s
female Muslim population.
Between 2008 and 2010, Silvestri conducted face to face research in Britain, Belgium, France,
Italy, and Spain. Through interviews and questionnaires, she recorded the views of Muslim
women from a variety of backgrounds and professions. Bringing their voices to the fore,
Silvestri shares the daily concerns, aspirations, and challenges of these women, illuminating
their agency, community, and relational status within their families and society.
H6G6H>AK:HIG>
Hurst and Co, September 2012, £16.99
Arab Christianity and Jerusalem
Raouf Abujaber
As the focal point of the three major monotheistic religions, Jerusalem is home to a diverse
spread of different religious communities who have a complex history of alliances and rifts.
Today's Christian communities are the survivors of the last two centuries of Islamic and
Jewish governance, albeit often in the face of seemingly overwhelming challenges. Raouf
Abujaber, who has written widely on Ottoman history attempts to chart this struggle, using
interview and archival research.
Gilgamesh, July 2012, £24.95
After the Spring
Economic Transitions in the Arab World
Magdi Amin et al
The Arab Spring is perhaps the most far-reaching political and economic transition since
the end of communism in Europe. The authors of this book include Magdi Amin, lead
economist at the International Finance Corporation, Nazar al-Baharna, former Minister
of State for Foreign Affairs of Bahrain, and Ragui Assaad, Professor of Planning and Public
Affairs, Minnesota University. They and others argue that significant economic reforms must
accompany the major political transitions that are underway. Although each country will
develop according to its own distinctive history and economy, each will also undoubtedly
be affected by its wider trade and investment linkages, the contagion of news cycles, the
international links of its people and the sharing of their political aspirations.
OUP USA, May 2012, £22.50
26 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
OBITUARY
Yousef Daneshvar
Y
ousef Daneshvar was born in
Bushehr, Iran in 1930. As a young
man, he is fondly recalled as having
been a gifted student with a keen mind,
a good heart, and a love of sports, taking
part in wrestling, volleyball and table
tennis. Having completed his high school
education in Tehran, he eschewed taking
a university degree and instead, took on a
variety of projects, culminating in a leading
role in the establishment of Japan’s first
Embassy in the capital.
Having discovered his niche – an intrinsic
ability to bring people together and resolve
difficult situations, he applied himself to
the business world and established his first
company at the age of 21, Ravand Trading
Company in Tehran, followed soon after
by the Bila Valley Mineral Water Company
in Azerbaijan Province. In the years that
followed, his commercial activities and
interests continued to expand and he
returned to the place of his birth to build
Bushehr’s first deluxe hotel.
In 1969, he made a calculated move
to Dubai, then still a dependency of
the United Kingdom, and founded
Danchalesco International Limited, which
began as agents for the Hawker-Siddeley
Group, a British company engaged in
aircraft production. As a result of this
partnership, Danchalesco built the first
desalination plant in Jebel Ali, which in
its second phase is the world’s largest.
Since this accomplishment, the business
diversified into electrical installations and
became the distributor for Avery-Weight
Tronix of Birmingham. It continues to
operate today under the name Danlesco
Gulf LLC.
In the early 1970s, he moved from Dubai
to London. Having moved far from home,
he rose to the challenge and successfully
launched several trading companies,
including Lemax Engineering. During this
time, he met his future wife, Farideh, with
whom he had two sons: Kooros in 1977 and
Kambiz in 1980.
In later years, he revived the BritishIranian Chamber of Commerce, investing
his charm, time, formidable intellect and
network of contacts towards improving
business-relations between his home
country and his adopted one. The BICC
flourished under his guidance as its Deputy
Chairman and continues to grow in size
and significance. In 2007, he was made an
Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the
British Empire (OBE) for services to British
business interest in Iran.
With his classic flair for incidental
timings, Iran Heritage Foundation
welcomed both a long-standing patron and
friend to its Board of Trustees in the year of
its 15th anniversary in 2010, adding to its
team of directors a dynamic business and
community leader.
He was diagnosed with cancer of the gall
bladder in early 2012 and sadly passed away
a few months later on March 31 after post-
operative complications developed. He is
survived by his wife, Farideh, and two sons,
Kooros and Kambiz.
Responsible for many ‘firsts’ in business,
Yousef Daneshvar was modest about his
accomplishments. He will be remembered
as a distinguished Iranian, a champion of
Iran’s heritage and culture, as well as of
its people; his vitality, verve for life and
magnanimity will be sorely missed, as
will his warmth, his disarming smile and
generosity of spirit.
Armin Yavari is research assistant at the Iran
Heritage Foundation
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 27
OBITUARY
Pope Shenouda III
T
he Coptic Pope Shenouda III, the
117th Pope of Alexandria and the
Patriarch of the see of St Mark,
died on March 17, 2012 ending a 40-year
incumbency. Born Nazeer Gayed Roufail
into a devout Christian family on August
3 1923 in Asyut, Upper Egypt, he became
a monk in 1954 and joined the Syrian
monastery in Wadi al-Natrun. Upon his
ordination as a bishop in 1962, he took the
name Shenouda, after the namesake 4th
century scholar.
His 40-year episcopacy was not without
political challenge. In 1981 President
Anwar Sadat banished Shenouda III to the
monastery of St. Bishoi; their relationship
had deteriorated in part over the newlyconcluded Peace Treaty with Israel
which Pope Shenouda believed should
have been part of a more comprehensive
peace package resolving issues with the
Palestinians.
Restored to favour in 1985 by President
Hosni Mubarak, Shenouda III worked
tirelessly throughout his incumbency
to implement his missionary vision. He
oversaw a huge expansion in the Coptic
Church’s diaspora. He consecrated two
bishops in Africa. And he oversaw major
diocesan growth in the United States,
Australia and New Zealand, as well as
Europe and the UK.
Shenouda III was committed to
ecumenical dialogue and in 1973 travelled
to Rome. His meeting with Paul VI was
the first between the Roman Catholic and
Coptic Popes for 1500 years. However, his
robust opposition to the ‘Nestorian heresy’,
culminated in the Church of the East being
denied membership of the Middle East
Council of Churches in 1998.
The last years of Shenouda’s incumbency
were overshadowed by civil unrest,
repeating the cycle of violence that the
Christian communities had already
experienced in 1981. Despite the
overwhelming challenges of these events
(27 Copts were killed in the Maspero Cairo
demonstration on October 9, 2011) and
criticism by young and liberal Copts of
his conservatism, he strove, to the end of
his days, to foster unity with leaders from
28 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
the Muslim Brotherhood and the military,
and they attended services for Orthodox
Christmas in January 2012.
Shenouda III was buried at Bishoi
monastery in the Wadi Natrun, following
his funeral in St. Mark’s cathedral, Cairo. In
these stressed times, Egypt’s estimated 10
million Copts are now anxiously awaiting
the emergence of the 118th Pope and
pray that he will have the fortitude of his
predecessor.
Dr Erica C D Hunter is the Chair, Centre
of Eastern and Orthodox Christianity and
Lecturer in Eastern Christianity, Department
for the Study of Religions, SOAS
OBITUARY
Chris Rundle
C
oming just five months after Sandy
Morton’s passing, the recent death
of Chris Rundle is a further blow to
Iranian and Middle Eastern Studies in the
United Kingdom.
Chris Rundle at first appeared destined
to be an expert on the Soviet Union. After
his National Service during which he
completed the course at the famous Joint
Services School for Linguists where he
learned Russian, followed by a first class
honours degree in Russian and French
from Cambridge, and a year translating
Russian journal articles at the Central Asian
Research Centre, he applied for a job in the
Foreign Office’s Research Department. He
was surprised to discover that he had been
assigned to the Middle East Section. After
some desultory private lessons he joined
late one of Professor Lambton’s Persian
language classes at SOAS and not only
survived but managed to pass the exam.
After a year in Tehran perfecting his spoken
Persian he was sent to Kabul to become the
last of a long line of Oriental Secretaries,
which post he filled admirably from 1968
to 1970, after he had got over his initial
shock of encountering Afghan Persian at the
frontier post, and discovering that he could
hardly understand a word. It was during
these two years in which I was a UNA
volunteer English language teacher in Kabul
that I got to know him quite well.
I use the word ‘quite’ advisedly. On
returning to Britain in 1970 and looking
him up I was amazed to discover that he
had in the mean time married an Afghan
lady. Discretion had of course been
necessary in this case while Chris was
working in Afghanistan, but in general
discretion and self effacement were
important characteristics of his character,
and in this he was the perfect diplomat.
He did reveal a lot about himself however
in his memoir entitled ‘From Colwyn
Bay to Kabul’, in which he also wrote a lot
about his travels and some very interesting
and judicious chapters distilling his deep
knowledge about contemporary Iran and
Afghanistan.
Beyond the bare facts though he gives
rather little detail about his long and
distinguished career in the Foreign Office.
Of course unlike Ambassadors who are
the public face of the business of foreign
relations and subsequently are quite often
in the news, Chris as a member of the
Research Department was essentially a
back room boy. But among the highlights
of his career were his four years in Iran
during 1979 before the American Embassy
occupation, and as one of the first senior
diplomats to return there in 1981. These
four years very nearly ended tragically for
him and his wife, when they were involved
in a serious car accident, in what is still
regarded by some Iranians as being in
suspicious circumstances.
Chris Rundle took the chance to do a lot
of travelling during his busy life. An earlier
Oriental Secretary in the Kabul Embassy
who had also learned Persian in SOAS
called Hugh Carless accompanied Eric
Newby on a trip in Afghanistan recounted
in ‘A short walk in the Hindu Kush’. Chris
accompanied two well known authors,
Peter Levi and Bruce Chatwin on a trip to
Nuristan, described in the former’s book
‘The light garden of the Angel King’.
Writing his memoir referred to above
was a part of a very active new career Chris
embarked upon after his retirement from
the Foreign Office. He became a member
of the Board of the British Institute of
Persian Studies, an Honorary Fellow of
Durham University with a publication
in their Middle Eastern Series, as well
as writing a large number of articles and
other contributions to bodies ranging from
Chatham House to the Royal Society for
Asian Affairs.
His familiar presence at conferences and
specialist society meetings and his well
considered and judicious contributions to
them will be sorely missed.
He leaves his wife Homa and daughter
Susanne.
Peter Colvin was formerly Middle East
Specialist Librarian in SOAS Library and is
currently a part time voluntary manuscript
cataloguing consultant in SOAS and the
Royal Asiatic Society Libraries
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 29
LISTINGS
Events in London
T
HE
EVENTS
and
organisations listed below
are not necessarily endorsed
or supported by The Middle East in
London. The accompanying texts
and images are based primarily
on information provided by the
organisers and do not necessarily
reflect the views of the compilers
or publishers. While every possible
effort is made to ascertain the
accuracy of these listings, readers
are advised to seek confirmation
of all events using the contact
details provided for each event.
Submitting entries and updates:
please send all updates and
submissions for entries related
to future events via e-mail to
mepub@soas.ac.uk or by fax to
020 7898 4329.
BM – British Museum, Great
Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG
SOAS – School of Oriental and
African Studies, Thornhaugh Street,
Russell Square, London WC1H
0XG
LSE – London School of Economics
and Political Science, Houghton
Street, London WC2 2AE
JUNE EVENTS
Friday 1 June
6:30 pm | Dastforoush (Film)
Organised by: Omid Cultural
Society. Dir Mohsen Makhmalbaf.
Followed by a discussion with Parviz
Jahed. Tickets: £6/£3 Students.
Omid Cultural Centre, 45 Queens
Walk, London W5 1TL. T 0781 884
0824 E omidculturalsociety@yahoo.
co.uk W www.omidculturalsociety.
com
7:30 pm | The Beloved (Play)
Organised by: Bush Theatre. Until
Saturday 9 June. By Amir Nizar
Zuabi. A twist on the historic
tale of Abraham and Isaac from
Palestinian Theatre Company
ShiberHur. When Abraham returns
home from a journey with his son,
his wife is troubled by the boy’s state
of mind. What took place on the
mountain that day is the beginning
of a lifetime of suffering. Tickets:
£18. Bush Theatre, 7 Uxbridge Road,
London W12 8LJ. T 020 8743 5050
W www.bushtheatre.co.uk
Saturday 2 June
2:30 pm | The Beloved (Play) Also at
7:30pm. See listing for Friday 1 June
for details.
7:00 pm | Festival of Kurdish Music
at SOAS (Concert) Orgabised by:
Peyman Heydarian, SOAS. Doors
open at 6:30 pm. A festival of
Kurdish music in Sorani, Goran and
Kurmanj dialects. Tickets: £10/£8
conc./£6 SOAS students. Lucas
Lecture Theatre (G2), SOAS. E
events.santur@yahoo.com W www.
thesantur.com
Monday 4 June
7:30 pm | The Beloved (Play) See
listing for Friday 1 June for details.
Tuesday 5 June
7:30 pm | The Beloved (Play) See
listing for Friday 1 June for details.
Wednesday 6 June
7:00 pm | Eyal Weizman: The Least
of All Possible Evils (Book Launch)
Eyal
Weizman,
Goldsmiths,
University of London. Organised by:
The Mosaic Rooms. Eyal Weizman
discusses his new book 'The Least
of All Possible Evils' (Verso, 2012).
The principle of the ‘lesser evil’
exercises a powerful influence on
Western ethical philosophy and
modern politics, most recently in
the invasion of Libya. Weizman
examines the dark side of this
pragmatism. Admission free. The
Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell
Road, London, SW5 0SW. T 020
7370 9990 E rsvp@mosaicrooms.
org W www.mosaicrooms.org
2:30 pm | The Beloved (Play) Also
at 7:30pm. See listing for Friday 1
June for details.
30 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
Thursday 7 June
4:00 pm | AGM Lecture: The
Legacy of the Aramaeans and the
Aramaeanization of the Ancient
Near East (Lecture) John Healey,
University of Manchester. Organised
by: Palestine Exploration Fund
(PEF). Professor Healey will discuss
the Aramaization of the Middle East
in the period from approximately
900 BCE to 900 CE, showing how
the use of Aramaic spread into new
areas beyond its original home.
Admission free. Stevenson Lecture
Theatre, Clore Education Centre,
BM. T 020 7935 5379 E execsec@
pef.org.uk W www.pef.org.uk
6:45 pm | What to do about
Iran? (Panel Debate) Max Boot,
Council on Foreign Relations; Mark
Dubowitz, Foundation for Defense
of Democracies in Washington
DC; Roxane Farmanfarmaian,
University of Cambridge; Fawaz
Gerges, LSE; Daniel Levy, ECFR and
Middle East Task Force at the New
America Foundation. Organised by:
Intelligence Squared. Doors open at
6:00pm. A group of leading analysts
– doves and hawks, Iranians,
Israelis and Americans – debate the
prospect of a nuclear armed Iran.
Chaired by Nader Mousavizadeh,
Former Special Assistant to UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
Tickets: £25/£12.50 Students. Royal
Geographical Society (with the
Institute of British Geographers),
1 Kensington Gore, London SW7
2AR. T 020 7792 4830 E info@
intelligencesquared.com W www.
intelligencesquared.com
7:00 pm | Fathieh Saudi: Poetry
Reading (Reading) Fathieh Saudi,
English PEN. Organised by: The
Mosaic Rooms. An evening of
poetry readings by Fathieh Saudi
who will be reading from her
recent collection 'Daughter of the
Thames and Prophetic Childhood'.
Admission free. The Mosaic Rooms,
226 Cromwell Road, London,
SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 9990 E
rsvp@mosaicrooms.org W www.
mosaicrooms.org
7:30 pm | The Beloved (Play) See
listing for Friday 1 June for details.
Friday 8 June
6:00 pm | Vladimir G. Lukonin
Memorial Lecture: The Horses
of Ancient Iran (Lecture) John
Curtis, BM. Organised by: BM. To
celebrate the BM’s special exhibition
on The Horse, this lecture will trace
the history of horses in Iran from
their domestication in around 3000
BC down to the beginning of the
Islamic period in the 7th century
AD. To be followed by a reception.
Admission free. BP Lecture Theatre,
Irini Gonou: A Tale of Two Cultures (see Exhibitions, page 35)
BM. T 020 7323 8489 E asmith@
britishmuseum.org
W
www.
britishmuseum.org
7:30 pm | The Beloved (Play) See
listing for Friday 1 June for details.
Saturday 9 June
10:00 am | 'Grand Designs':
Amenhotep III and the landscape
of Thebes (Study Day) Organised
by: The Egypt Exploration Society.
Although the monuments of
Amenhotep III were part of the
landscape of Thebes many of them
were unknown until recently, this
study day will explore the idea that
Amenhotep had a 'grand design' for
the city encompassing monuments
and possibly waterways. Tickets:
£27 EES Members/£32 nonmembers/£18
EES
Student
Members/£22
Student
nonmembers. Brunei Gallery Lecture
Theatre, SOAS. T 020 7242 1880
E contact@ees.ac.uk W www.ees.
ac.uk
2:30 pm | The Beloved (Play) Also at
7:30pm. See listing for Friday 1 June
for details.
7:30 pm | Flamenco Extraordinaire
(Play) Festival of Arts. Hamed
Nikpay combines his Persian musical
traditions with Flamenco and jazz
combined with lyrics from both
classical and contemporary poets
such as Rumi, Emad Khorasani,
and Fereydoon Moshiri. Tickets:
Various. Cadogan Hall, 5 Sloane
Terrace, London SW1X 9DQ. T 020
8904 3003 E festivalofarts@aol.com
W www.festivalofarts.co.uk
Sunday 10 June
9:00 am | Antique Textile & Tribal
Art Fair, London Organised by:
Clive Rogers Oriental Rugs in cooperation with Michael Hawes.
£5. Olympia Kensington Hilton
Hotel, 380 Kensington High Street,
London W14 8NL. W www.orientrug.com
Monday 11 June
8:45 am | Change and Continuity
in the Middle East: Rethinking
West Asia, North Africa and the
Gulf after 2011 (Conference)
Organised by: British Society for
Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES)
and the LSE Middle East Centre.
BRISMES Graduate Section Annual
Conference 2012. Tickets: Various.
New Academic Building, LSE. T
020 7955 6250 E mec.brismes.
graduate@lse.ac.uk W https://sites.
google.com/site/brismesgs2012/
Tuesday 12 June
7:00 pm | Salafi Film Screening
(Documentary) Organised by:
London Middle East Institute,
SOAS (LMEI). Admission free. KLT,
SOAS. T 020 7898 4330 E vp6@soas.
ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/
events/
Wednesday 13 June
The Prophet (see June Events, page 31)
7:00 pm | The Last Fatimid
Fortifications, the Towers of
the Vizir Saladin (Lecture) Dr
Stéphane Pradines Archaeologist,
Institut français d’archéologie
orientale (IFAO), Cairo. Organised
by: Islamic Art Circle at SOAS. Part
of the Islamic Art Circle at SOAS
Lecture Programme. Chaired by
Doris Behrens-Abouseif, SOAS.
Admission free. Khalili Lecture
Theatre, SOAS. T 0771 408 7480
E RosalindHaddon@aol.com W
www.soas.ac.uk/art/islac/
Thursday 14 June
6:00 pm | A War of Choice: Lessons
from Britain’s War in Iraq 200309 (lecture) Jack Fairweather,
former Baghdad bureau chief for
The Daily Telegraph. Organised by:
The British Institute for the Study of
Iraq (Gertrude Bell Memorial). BISI
Bonham Carter Lecture. In the 30th
lecture in this series, Fairweather
will discuss his book, 'A War of
Choice: Britain’s War in Iraq 200309', arguably the first full analysis of
Tony Blair’s decision to invade Iraq.
Admission free, RSVP required as
seating limited. British Academy,
10 Carlton House Terrace, London
SW1Y 5AH. T 020 7969 5274 E
bisi@britac.ac.uk W www.bisi.ac.uk
7:30 pm | The Prophet (Play)
Organised by: the Gate Theatre.
Until 21 July. Written by playwright
Hassan Abdulrazzak and based
on extensive interviews in Cairo
with revolutionaries and soldiers,
journalists and cab drivers, this new
drama depicts both a revolution in
progress and the society from which
it sprang. Tickets: £10-£20. the
Gate Theatre, 11 Pembridge Road,
London W11 2HL. T 020 7229 0706
E boxoffice@gatetheatre.co.uk W
www.gatetheatre.co.uk
Friday 15 June
Tuesday 19 June
7:30 pm | The Prophet (Play) See
listing for Thursday 14 June for
details.
7:00 pm | The Awkwardness of
Nader Shah (Lecture) Michael
Axworthy, University of Exeter.
Organised by: The Iran Society.
Admission free for members and
guests.The Iran Society, 2 Belgrave
Square, London SW1X 8PJ. T 020
7235 5122 E info@iransociety.org
W www.iransociety.org
7:30 pm | Kayhan Kalhor
Ensemble - Passionate Poems
of Rumi (Concert) Organised
by: Barbican Centre. Songs from
Kayhan Kalhor's latest album with
new interpretations of Persian
classical music based on Rumi’s
poems. Tickets: £22 – £35. Barbican
Hall, Barbican Centre, Silk Street,
London EC2Y 8DS. T 020 7638
8891 W www.barbican.org.uk
Saturday 16 June
3:00 pm | The Prophet (Play) See
listing for Thursday 14 June for
details. Also at 7:30pm.
Sunday 17 June
2:00 pm | White Rabbit, Red
Rabbit (Play) Organised by: the
Gate Theatre & LIFT 2012. 17 &
24 June and 1 July. Also at 5:00 pm.
Unable to travel, 29 year old Iranian
playwright Nassim Soleimanpour
turns his isolation to his own
advantage with a play (written in
English) that requires no director,
no set, and a different actor for every
performance. Tickets: £10-£12. the
Gate Theatre, 11 Pembridge Road,
London W11 2HL. T 020 7229 0706
E boxoffice@gatetheatre.co.uk W
www.gatetheatre.co.uk
7:30 pm | The Prophet (Play) See
listing for Thursday 14 June for
details.
Wednesday 20 June
7:00 pm | The Oriental Carpet
Manufacturers – the early days
(Talk) Antony Wynn, author of
‘Three Camels to Smyrna’. Organised
by: Oriental Rug and Textile Society.
Talk about the founding of the
OCM in Turkey in 1908, and the
early days in Iran, up to the end of
the Great War, telling the story of
this iconic global carpet trade in
the 20th century. Tickets: £6 nonmembers (includes refreshments).
Swedenborg
Hall,
20/21
Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A
2TH. T 020 8886 3910 E penny@
orientalrugandtextilesociety.
org.uk
W
www.
orientalrugandtextilesociety.org.uk
7:30 pm | The Prophet (Play) See
listing for Thursday 14 June for
details.
Monday 18 June
Thursday 21 June
7:30 pm | The Prophet (Play) See
listing for Thursday 14 June for
details.
7:30 pm | The Prophet (Play) See
listing for Thursday 14 June for
details.
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 31
Friday 22 June
listing for Thursday 14 June for
details. Also at 7:30pm.
7:30 pm | The Prophet (Play) See
listing for Thursday 14 June for
details.
Sunday 24 June
Saturday 23 June
11:00 am | Self-fashioning' in
Ancient Egypt: the testimony
of graffiti (Seminar) Chloe
Ragazzoli, University of Oxford;
Elizabeth
Frood,
University
of Oxford. Organised by: The
Egypt Exploration Society. An
examination of the ancient Egyptian
visitors' inscriptions on historical
monuments, specifically from
the rich necropolis of Thebes and
the temple landscapes of Karnak
and Luxor. Tickets: £23 EES
Members/£28 non-members/£16
EES
Student
Members/£20
Student non-members. The Egypt
Exploration Society, 3 Doughty
Mews, London WC1N 2PG. T 020
7242 1880 E contact@ees.ac.uk W
www.ees.ac.uk
3:00 pm | The Prophet (Play) See
2:00 pm | White Rabbit, Red
Rabbit (Play) See listing for Sunday
17 June for details. Also at 5:00 pm.
Monday 25 June
3:00 pm | Palestine and the Wider
Mediterranean: A View from the
Middle AgesMarina Rustow, Johns
Hopkins University, Baltimore.
Anglo-Israel
Archaeological
Society (AIAS). (Lecture) AGM
Lecture. Admission free. Stevenson
Lecture Theatre, Clore Education
Centre, BM. T 020 8349 5754 W
http://aias.org.uk
6:00 pm | Kamran Djam 2012
Annual Lecture at SOAS: The Exilic
Mode in Persian Literature: The
Classical Background (Lecture)
Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak, University
of Maryland. Organised by: Centre
for Iranian Studies (LMEI), SOAS.
The first of two lectures to mark
the first Kamran Djam Annual
NEW
IN PAPERBACK
Lecture at SOAS. Professor KarimiHakkak will survey the exilic mode
in classical Persian literature from
tenth century Central Asia to the
waning of the classical tradition and
the dawning of the modern period
around the turn of the twentieth
century. Lecture to be followed by
a reception at 7:30pm. Admission
free. Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre,
SOAS. T 020 7898 4330 E vp6@soas.
ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis/
events/
contemporary poetry and prose of
Iran, primarily in the twentieth and
twenty-first centuries. Admission
free - Pre-registration required.
Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre,
SOAS. T 020 7898 4330 E vp6@
soas.ac.uk W www.soas.ac.uk/lmeicis/events/
7:30 pm | The Prophet (Play) See
listing for Thursday 14 June for
details.
Wednesday 27 June
7:30 pm | The Prophet (Play) See
listing for Thursday 14 June for
details.
Tuesday 26 June
6:00 pm | Kamran Djam 2012
Annual Lecture at SOAS: The
Exilic Mode in Persian Literature:
The Modern and Contemporary
Scenes (Lecture) Ahmad KarimiHakkak, University of Maryland.
Organised by: Centre for Iranian
Studies (LMEI), SOAS. Professor
Karimi-Hakkak's second talk (see
above listing) will address the
exilic mode in the modern and
7:30 pm | The Prophet (Play) See
listing for Thursday 14 June for
details.
7:30 pm | Alternative Geographies:
Arabic and Francophone Poetry
from the Middle East, Africa
and Europe (Reading) Southbank
Centre in partnership with The
British Council. In this rare event,
leading contemporary poets from
the Middle East, Africa and Europe
present an evening of poetry in
Arabic and French. Event will be in
Arabic, English and French.£8/50%
off conc. (limited availability).
THE MUSLIM
BROTHERHOOD
AND EGYPT’S SUCCESSION CRISIS
The Politics of Liberalisation and Reform in the Middle East
Mohammed Zahid
‘An interesting and challenging account of politics and
society in Egypt.’ – Ray Bush, Professor of African Studies
and Development Politics, University of Leeds
‘This book widens our understanding of the dynamics
of authoritarianism and democratization in the Middle
East and the challenges and dilemmas which any future
Egyptian reform process will face.’ – Elfatih A. Abdelsalam,
Professor of Political Science, International Islamic
University, Malaysia
‘Contributes to the debate on the role of the Muslim
Brotherhood in Modern Egypt...and draws attention
to the new Muslim Brotherhood discourse not only in
Egypt but in the entire region.’ – Mahjoob Zweiri, Assistant
224 pages 216 x 135mm PB 9781780762173 £14.99
32 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
Professor in Contemporary History and Politics of the
Middle East, Qatar University
www.ibtauris.com
Weston
Pavilion,
Southbank
Centre, Belvedere Road, London
SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200 W www.
southbankcentre.co.uk
Thursday 28 June
7:00 pm | My Father’s Paradise,
the Story of the Jews of Kurdistan
(Lecture & Discussion) Yona Sabar,
UCLA; Ariel Sabar, author of ‘My
Father’s Paradise’. Organised by:
Gulan. Doors open at 6:00pm.
First of two events on the Jews of
Kurdistan, see listing for Saturday
30 June. With Kurdish harp music
performed by Tara Jaff + the first
showing of historic images of Iraq
photographed during the 1940's
by Anthony Kersting. £10. Royal
Geographical Society (with the
Institute of British Geographers),
1 Kensington Gore, London SW7
2AR. T 020 7351 6212 E info@
gulan.org.uk W www.gulan.org.uk/
7:30 pm | The Prophet (Play) See
listing for Thursday 14 June for
details.
8:30 pm | Kiarostami Style
(Documentary) Organised by:
UKIFF. Tehran Taxi, Dir Bahman
Kiarostami (2011), 52 min. + The
Original Certified Copy, Dir
Hamideh Razavi (2011), Iran, 32
min. Both films in Persian with
English subtitles. Tickets: Various.
Cine Lumiere, Institut Français, 17
Queensberry Place, London SW7
2DT. T 020 7589 5433 W http://
ukiff.org.uk / www.institut-francais.
org.uk
Friday 29 June
7:00 pm | Solo Kanun Recital
with Maya Youssef (Concert)
Organised by: Asian Music Circuit.
Maya Youssef will perform her
interpretation of pieces from
Syrian, Arabic classical, Turkish
and Azerbaijani traditions. Tickets:
£10. Museum of Asian Music, 1-2
Bradford Road, London W3 7SP. T
020 8742 9911E info@amc.org.uk
W www.amc.org.uk
7:30 pm | The Prophet (Play) See
listing for Thursday 14 June for
details.
Saturday 30 June
8:00 am | Ilana Eliya in concert with
Daphna Sadeh and the Voyagers
(Concert) Gulan. A rare opportunity
to hear a concert of Jewish Kurdish
music featuring singer Ilana Eliya
supported by Daphna Sadeh & the
Voyagers: Daphna Sadeh, double
bass; Stewart Curtis, woodwind;
Nim Schwartz, oud and saz; Guy
Schalom, percussion. £10. Bernie
Grant Arts Centre, Town Hall
Approach Road, London N15 4RX.
T 020 7351 6212 E info@gulan.org.
uk W www.gulan.org.uk/
3:00 pm | The Prophet (Play) See
listing for Thursday 14 June for
details. Also at 7:30pm.
EVENTS OUTSIDE
LONDON
Tuesday 5 June
2:00 pm | The Future of
Contemporary Middle Eastern
Art Studies (Seminar) Farzaneh
Pirouz; Jane Jakeman. Organised
by: Khalili Research Centre. Part of
the Middle Eastern Contemporary
Art seminar series. Admission free.
Lecture Room, Khalili Research
Centre, University of Oxford, 3 St
John Street, Oxford OX1 2LG. T
01865 278222 W http://krc.orient.
ox.ac.uk/krc/
Wednesday 6 June
5:00 pm | On the Methodology
of Deriving Ethics from the
Qur’anic Worldview (Seminar)
Ahmed Abaddi, Secretary-General
of the Rabita Mohammadia des
Oulémas, Morocco. Organised by:
Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies.
Admission free. Oxford Centre
for Islamic Studies, George Street,
Oxford OX1 2AR. T 01865 278730
E academic.office@oxcis.ac.uk W
www.oxcis.ac.uk
Tuesday 12 June
6:30 pm | Pre Launch: Double
Bill: I Want to See (Je Veux Voir)
+ Incendies (Film) Part of the
Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival 2012
Pre Launch (Friday 6 - Sunday 15
July). I Want to See, Catherine
Deneuve journeys through war- torn
Lebanon. Incendies, Adaptation of
Wajdi Mouawad’s play ‘Scorched’,
a tale of family ties, duty and the
inescapable links between past and
present. Tickets: £5/£4 conc. FACT,
88 Wood Street, Liverpool L14DQ.
T 0871 902 5737 W www.fact.co.uk
/ www.arabicartsfestival.co.uk
JULY EVENTS
Sunday 1 July
(Concert) See listing for Friday 20
July for details.
Tuesday 24 July
2:00 pm | White Rabbit, Red
Rabbit (Play) See listing for Sunday
17 June for details. Also at 5:00 pm.
Monday 2 July
7:30 pm | The Prophet (Play) See
listing for Thursday 14 June for
details. Until Saturday 21 July.
Thursday 5 July
6:30 pm | Iran: The Next War in
the Middle East? (Lecture) Hamid
Dabashi, Columbia University.
Organised by: LSE Middle East
Centre. Admission free. Sheikh
Zayed Theatre, LSE. T 020 7955
6365 E r.lowe@lse.ac.uk W www2.
lse.ac.uk/middleEastCentre/
Sunday 8 July
10:00 am | All you want to know
about the Arab revolutions And don't know how to find
out
(Discussion/Performance)
Organised by: Southbank Centre.
A day of discussion, Play and
exchange, curated by novelist Ahdaf
Souief and writer and activist Salma
Said. Tickets: £12/50% off conc.
(limited availability). Purcell Room,
Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road,
London SE1 8XX. T 020 7960 4200
W www.southbankcentre.co.uk
Friday 20 July
7:30 pm | Beethoven Cycle –
Symphonies Nos. 1 & 2 (Concert)
Daniel Barenboim directs his first
Beethoven symphony cycle in
London bringing together Arab and
Israeli players in his West-Eastern
Divan Orchestra. See article by
Sarah Searight on page 13 'Music as
the food of harmony'. Tickets: £13£55. Royal Albert Hall, Kensington
Gore, London SW7 2AP. T 0845
401 5040 W www.bbc.co.uk/proms
/ www.royalalberthall.com
Saturday 21 July
7:30 pm | Prom 10: Beethoven
Cycle – Symphonies Nos. 3 & 4
(Concert) See listing for Friday 20
July for details.
Monday 23 July
7:30 pm | Prom 12: Beethoven
Cycle – Symphonies Nos. 5 & 6
7:00 pm | Prom 13: Beethoven
Cycle – Symphonies Nos. 7 & 8
(Concert) See listing for Friday 20
July for details.
Friday 27 July
6:30 pm | Prom 18: Beethoven
Cycle – Symphony No. 9, 'Choral'
(Concert) See listing for Friday 20
July for details. Daniel Barenboim’s
Beethoven cycle concludes on
the opening day of the London
Olympics.
EVENTS OUTSIDE
LONDON
Monday 2 July
9:00 am | The Edomites (Idumeans)
and the Nabataeans (Four-Day
Conference: Monday 2 July Thursday 5 July) Organised
by: ARAM Society for SyroMesopotamian
Studies.Tickets:
TBC. University of Oxford OX1. T
01865 514041E aram@orinst.ox.ac.
uk W www.aramsociety.org
Thursday 5 July
9:00 am | Zoroastrianism in the
Levant (Three-Day Conference:
Thursday 5 July - Saturday 7
July) ARAM Society for SyroMesopotamian Studies. Tickets:
TBC. University of Oxford OX1. T
01865 514041 E aram@orinst.ox.ac.
uk W www.aramsociety.org
Friday 6 July
9:00 pm | The Three Disappearances
of Soad Hosni (Film) Part of the
Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival
2012. An award-winning elegy to
the richest era of film production
in Egypt, seen through the work of
one of its most revered actresses.
Admission free. The Kazimier
Outdoor Screen, The Kazimier, 4-5
Wolstenholme Square, Liverpool L1
4JJ. T 0871 902 5737 W www.fact.
co.uk
Saturday 7 July
1:00 pm | The Arab Street Part of
the Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival
2012. Includes discounted & free
events. Street dance, music, food,
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 33
performance and film. the Bluecoat,
School Lane, Liverpool L1 3BX/City
Centre. T 0151 702 5324 W www.
thebluecoat.org.uk
1:00 pm | Ghussoun (Film) Part of
the Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival
2012. Fly on the wall documentary
about a young Iraqi woman
in Jordan. Admission free. the
Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool
L1 3BX. T 0151 702 5324 W www.
thebluecoat.org.uk
2:00 pm | Freedom Hour Part of the
Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival 2012.
Also on Sunday 8 and Saturday 14
July and at 5:30pm on Monday 9
-Thursday 12 July. Daily debates on
current affairs, freedom and change
in the Arab world. Admission free.
the Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool
L1 3BX. T 0151 702 5324 W www.
thebluecoat.org.uk
7:30 pm | Funoon Al Jazeera
(Performance) Part of the Liverpool
Arabic Arts Festival 2012 (Friday
6 - Sunday 15 July). Arabian Folk
dance performance exploring the
history, diversity, and depth of the
Arab culture. Tickets: £10/£8. the
Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool
L1 3BX. T 0151 702 5324 W
www.thebluecoat.org.uk / www.
arabicartsfestival.co.uk
Sunday 8 July
12:30 pm | Family Day Part of the
Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival 2012.
Live music, dance, workshops,
stalls and food suitable for all.
Admission free. Sefton Park Palm
House, Liverpool L17 1AP. W www.
arabicartsfestival.co.uk
7:00 pm | Caramel (Film) Part of
the Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival
2012. Romantic comedy about five
Lebanese women living in Beirut.
Admission free. the Bluecoat, School
Lane, Liverpool L1 3BX. T 0151 702
5324 W www.thebluecoat.org.uk
Monday 9 July
5:30 pm | Bidisha: Reading
and
Conversation
followed
by Freedom Hour Part of the
Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival 2012.
A reading from the writer, critic
and broadcaster Bidisha’s fourth
book, ‘Beyond the Wall: Writing A
Path Through Palestine’. Admission
free. the Bluecoat, School Lane,
Liverpool L1 3BX. T 0151 702 5324
W www.thebluecoat.org.uk
6:30 pm | Double Bill: Nomad’s
Home + From Palestine with
Love (Film) Part of the Liverpool
The Second Symposium
Deorientalizing citizenship?
Experiments in political subjectivity
Arabic Arts Festival 2012. Nomad’s
Home, Filmmaker Iman Kamel is
invited into tribeswomen’s circles
and discovers their lives are more
connected than might appear. From
Palestine With Love, Maya lives in
the occupied Palestinian territories.
She plans a life with her boyfriend in
Stockholm but the road from dream
to reality is filled with obstacles.
Admission free. FACT, 88 Wood
Street, Liverpool L14DQ. T 0871
902 5737 W www.fact.co.uk
7:30 pm | Nadim Sawalha: An Arab
Actor, for Better for Worse Part of
the Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival
2012. The actor reflects on 50 years
in British show business, stories and
anecdotes. Tickets: £3/£2 conc. the
Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool
L1 3BX. T 0151 702 5324 W www.
thebluecoat.org.uk
8:30 pm | Axis of Light (Film) Part
of the Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival
2012. The changing contemporary
art scene in the wider ‘Middle
East’ through the eyes of 8 artists
including: Jananne Al-Ani, Ayman
Balbaaki, Mona Saudi, Mona
Hatoum, Etel Adnan, Youssef Nabil,
Rachid Koraichi and Shirin Neshat.
Tickets: £4/£3 conc. FACT, 88 Wood
Street, Liverpool L14DQ. T 0871
902 5737 W www.fact.co.uk
Tuesday 10 July
5:00 pm | Fleeing Words (Reading)
Part of the Liverpool Arabic
Arts Festival 2012. An anthology
of Tunisian fiction, poetry and
articles; freedom of speech after
the revolution. Admission free. the
Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool
L1 3BX. T 0151 702 5324 W www.
thebluecoat.org.uk
6:00 pm | VHS Kahloucha (Film)
Part of the Liverpool Arabic Arts
Festival
2012.
Documentary
on amateur filmmaker Moncef
Kahloucha -- a North African Ed
Wood.Tickets: £5/£4 conc. FACT,
88 Wood Street, Liverpool L14DQ.
T 0871 902 5737 W www.fact.co.uk
8:00 pm | Rest Upon the Wind
(Performance) Part of the Liverpool
Arabic Arts Festival 2012. Written
by Nadim Sawalha the story of
Middle Eastern immigrants forced
through Ottoman oppression and
wars seeking refuge in America.
Tickets: £12/£10 conc. Unity
Theatre, 1 Hope Place, Liverpool
L1 9BG. T 0844 873 2888 W www.
unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
Wednesday 11 July
4:00 pm | Sufi Dance Workshop
12 - 13 November 2012
Goodenough College London
Organised by
Oecumene: Citizenship after orientalism
ERC funded project at
the Open University
What images of citizenship are emerging in relation to the processes of decolonization and deorientalization?
Keynote speakers Saba Mahmood and Walter Mignolo together with a selection of panellists will address this question
from multi-disciplinary perspectives. The possibility of conceiving practices of citizenship after orientalism points to
experiments that uncover, rearticulate and provoke subjugated forms of politics. Through addressing the intersections
between orientalism, colonialism and citizenship (panel 1), exploring possibilities of democratic politics for decolonizing
citizenship (panel 2) and troubling universal claims to rights (panel 3), we ask what images of citizenship are emerging in
relation to the process of deorientalization? It is this experimentation itself, rather than its outcomes, that constitutes
'citizenship after orientalism' as a field of investigation.
Ticket prices: £30 for both days to cover catering costs.
For more information visit www.oecumene.eu/events/2nd-symposium. If you have any further queries please contact us
via Oecumene-Project@open.ac.uk.
34 The Middle East in London June-July 2012
Part of the Liverpool Arabic Arts
Festival 2012. Open to all levels
from beginner to advanced.
Explore Sufi dance from Iraq led by
performer Duraid Abbas. Tickets:
£4.50/£4 conc. MDI, 24 Hope Street,
Liverpool L1 9BX. T 0151 708 8810
W www.mdi.org.uk
6:30 pm | El Shooq/Lust (Film) Part
of the Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival
2012. Tickets: £6/£5 conc. UK
Premiere. Umm Shooq has deserted
her family to marry the man she
loves. Selected as Egypt’s official
entry for the Academy Awards
in 2011. FACT, 88 Wood Street,
Liverpool L14DQ. T 0871 902 5737
W www.fact.co.uk
Thursday 12 July
L1 3BX. T 0151 702 5324 W www.
thebluecoat.org.uk
Suite, Liverpool Philharmonic Hall,
Hope Street, Liverpool L1 9BP.
12:00 pm | Lion of the Desert
(Film) Part of the Liverpool Arabic
Arts Festival 2012. Movie classic
starring Anthony Quinn and Oliver
Reed set between two world wars
depicticting the struggle for freedom
in the African desert. Tickets: £3/£2
conc. the Bluecoat, School Lane,
Liverpool L1 3BX. T 0151 702 5324
W www.thebluecoat.org.uk
7:30 pm | Alif Ensemble (Concert)
Part of the Liverpool Arabic Arts
Festival 2012. New music by Iraqi
oud player Khyam Allami, with a
band of musicians from traditional
and contemporary Arabic music
disciplines from Syria, Lebanon,
Egypt, Jordan and Palestine.
Tickets: £22.50/£15 conc. Liverpool
Philharmonic Hall, Hope Street,
Liverpool L1 9BP. T 0151 709 3789
/ W www.liverpoolphil.comc
6:30 pm | A Star is Born: Emerging
Talent Part of the Liverpool Arabic
Arts Festival 2012. Including a solo
piece from ballet dancer Ayman
Safiah (the Arab Billy Elliot).
Tickets: £5/£4 conc. Concert
Room, St Georges Hall, St George's
Place, Liverpool L1 1JJ. W www.
arabicartsfestival.co.uk
6:30 pm | Okay, Enough, Goodbye
(Film) Part of the Liverpool Arabic
Arts Festival 2012. A 40-year-old
lives with his elderly mother and has
given up on becoming independent.
One day she leaves him and he is
left with nothing but the small city.
Tickets: £5/£4 conc. FACT, 88 Wood
Street, Liverpool L14DQ. T 0871
902 5737 W www.fact.co.uk
8:00 pm | Merseyside Arabic Dance
Showcase (Performance) Part of the
Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival 2012.
Tickets: £10/£8 conc. An evening
of music and dance performances
from North Africa and beyond.
Unity Theatre, 1 Hope Place,
Liverpool L1 9BG. T 0844 873 2888
W www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
8:00 pm | 1979 (Performance) Part
of the Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival
2012. Iraq and Iran lead by Saddam
Hussein and Ayatollah Khomeini
engage in a devastating Gulf-war.
An installation-dance-performance.
Tickets: £10/£8 conc. Unity
Theatre, 1 Hope Place, Liverpool
L1 9BG. T 0844 873 2888 W www.
unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk
8:00 pm | Maysoon Zayid:
Laughing Widely (Performance)
Part of the Liverpool Arabic Arts
Festival 2012. A night of comedy
with Maysoon Zayid, actress and
professional stand up comedian.
Tickets: £12.50. Concert Room,
St Georges Hall, St George's Place,
Liverpool L1 1JJ. T 0151 709 3789
W www.arabicartsfestival.co.uk
Friday 13 July
TBC | Maysoon Zayid Workshop
(Arab Comedy Festival) T 0151 702
5324 W www.thebluecoat.org.uk
5:00 pm | Yemen Day Music, film,
food, Yemeni culture and more.
Admission free. Liverpool Arabic
Centre,163 Lodge Lane, Liverpool
L8 0QQ. W www.arabicartsfestival.
co.uk
Saturday 14 July
12:00 pm | The Big Saturday
Part of the Liverpool Arabic Arts
Festival 2012.Debate, film, poetry
and food including Libyan poet
Khaled Mattawa and live music
in the garden. Admission free to
some events and paying events. the
Bluecoat, School Lane, Liverpool
Sunday 15 July
3:30 pm | Reem Abdelhadi:
Laughing at the Government Part
of the Liverpool Arabic Arts Festival
2012. Reem discusses the history of
Arab political humour and the art of
drawing cartoons. Admission free.
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, Hope
Street, Liverpool L1 9BP. W www.
arabicartsfestival.co.uk
1:30 pm | Afternoon Symposium:
Khyam Allami with Maurice
Louca and TamerAbu Ghazaleh In
Conversation Part of the Liverpool
Arabic Arts Festival 2012. Join
Khyam and the musicians of the
Alif Ensemble for a wide ranging
discussion. Admission free to ticket
holders for the evening concert, see
listing below for details. Rodewald
EXHIBITIONS
Friday 1 June
Until 8 June | Iraq: How, Where,
For Whom? A collaborative
exhibition between the Iraqi
artist Hanaa' Malallah and the
UK duo kennardphillipps, who
share a critical and reflective
view of the occupation/invasion
of Iraq. The exhibition features
large-scale collages, installations,
photomontage pieces and sculptures
. Admission free. The Mosaic
Rooms, 226 Cromwell Road,
London SW5 0SW. T 020 7370 9990
E info@mosaicrooms.org W www.
mosaicrooms.org
Until 23 June | Disappearing
heritage of Sudan 1820 - 1956:
A photographic and filmic
research exhibition by Frederique
Cifuentes A unique collection
of photographs and videos that
document the remnants of the
colonial experience in Sudan from
the Ottoman, Egyptian, and British
periods. Admission free. Brunei
Gallery, SOAS. T 020 7898 4046 E
gallery@soas.ac.uk W www.soas.
ac.uk/gallery
Until 25 July | Irini Gonou: A Tale
of Two Cultures Greek artist Irini
Gonou's exhibition, which takes the
form of a dialogue between Greek
and Arabic culture, explores the
healing and protective power of the
written word as a specific cultural
idiom. Admission free. T 0207 435
7323 E info@lahdgallery.com W
www.lahdgallery.com
Until 12 August | Migrations:
Journeys into British Art
Exhibition exploring how British
art has been shaped by migration.
Featuring artists from van Dyck,
Whistler and Mondrian to Steve
McQueen and Francis Alÿs. Tickets:
£6/£5 conc. or £6.60/£5.50 conc.
including Gift Aid W www.tate.org.
uk/tickets Tate Britain, Gallery 2,
Millbank, London SW1P 4RG. T
020 7887 8888 E visiting.britain@
tate.org.uk W www.tate.org.uk/
britain/
Friday 22 June
Until 6 July | Home The Mosaic
Rooms first architecture exhibition,
presented by the Museum of
Architecture, will feature responses
from different Arab architects to the
notion of Home. Admission free.
The Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell
Road, London, SW5 0SW. T 020
7370 9990 E info@mosaicrooms.org
W www.mosaicrooms.org
Friday 6 July
Until 15 July | Laughing at the
Government A glimpse of the everchanging art of satirical cartoons
from the Arab World. Rolling digital
slide presentation. Admission free.
Walker Art Gallery, William Brown
Street, Liverpool L3 8EL. W www.
arabicartsfestival.co.uk
Until 29 July | Reading Emotions
Part of the Liverpool Arabic Arts
Festival 2012. Children’s visual
presentation of emotions through
a series of photographic artwork
and Arabic calligraphy. Admission
free. Thomas Steers Way, Liverpool
ONE, Liverpool L1. W www.
arabicartsfestival.co.uk
Friday 20 July
Until 24 August | Nermine
Hammam: Cairo, Year One First
UK solo show by Egyptian artist
Nermine Hammam featuring two
of Hammam's most recent series,
Uppekha and Unfolding, which
look at therecent civil unrest and
uprisings in Egypt. Admission free.
The Mosaic Rooms, 226 Cromwell
Road, London SW5 0SW. T 020
7370 9990 E info@mosaicrooms.org
W www.mosaicrooms.org
Friday 24 August
Until 22 September | Olympians:
Portraits of athletes from the
United Arab Emirates Olympic
and Paralympic teams Admission
free. Brunei Gallery, SOAS. T 020
7898 4046 E gallery@soas.ac.uk W
www.soas.ac.uk/gallery
June-July 2012 The Middle East in London 35
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