Reform, Resistance and Conflicts in the Middle East, a conference at Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva

This is the program for the conference I've come for to Israel:

Reform, Resistance and Conflicts in the Middle East

8-9 January 2007

In 8-9 January 2007, The Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies and Diplomacy at Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheva will hold its third annual conference on reforms in the Middle East. The theme will be Reform, Resistance, and Conflicts in the Middle East. As in the two previous venues, distinguished scholars, journalists, and critical thinkers from Canada, Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Turkey and the United States will participate in the conference.

The overall aim of the conference is to explore reforms, democratization, and political struggle in the context of novel sites of resistance in various Middle East societies. Three sessions are planned: (1) What is Resistance and How Should Itt be Studied?; (2) Struggle for Democratization and Domestic Crises -- Case Studies; (3) "My Blog – Your Reality": Traditional and New Spaces of Resistance.

To better describe and understand new forms of the public sphere such as blogs, conference participants will seek to link culture and politics, on the one hand, economics and society, on the other, as they address the multiple meanings of modernity and democratization in and outside Middle East. Organizers intend to publish the proceedings of the conference.

Program

Monday – Tuesday, 8 – 9 January, 2007

The Conference will be held at:

W.A. Minkoff Senate Hall,
Bgu Marcus Family Campus,
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev,
Beer-Sheva

Monday, January 8, 2007

16:15 Greetings

Chair: Fred Lazin, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Jimmy Weinblatt, Rector, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Yoram Meital, Chair, The Chaim Herzog Center for Middle East Studies & Diplomacy

Guests Speakers

Azmi Bishara, MK, and an Arab Intellectual
Resistance as a Political Alternative?

Amnon Lord, Editor, Makor Rishon
Palestinian Warfare as a Strategic Threat for Israeli Society

17:45 Coffee Break

18:15 Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Complexity of Resistance

Chair: Fatma Kasem, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Sufian Abu Zaida, Palestinian Authority, Former Minister of Prisoners Affairs
The Meaning of Palestinian Resistance (al-Muqawama)

Neve Gordon, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Resistance as a Structural Effect: Israel's Occupation as a Case Study

Zvi Bar’el, Ha'aretz, and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
The Israeli Counter-Resistance

Tuesday, January 9, 2007

10:00 Reception

10:15 How Should We Study Resistance?

Chair: Pnina Motzafi-Haller, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Danny Filc, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Resistance as Counter-Hegemony

Amílcar Antonio Barreto, Northeastern University
The Logic of Irrational Resistance

Rafal Rohozinski , Cambridge University
Controlling the Internet: Policing, Public Policy or Creeping Censorship?

11:45 Coffee Break

12:15 Struggle for Democracy

Chair: Tamar Golan, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Denis Sullivan, Northeastern University
American Efforts to Democratize the Middle East: Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt and Palestine

Sharif Hafez, Egyptian future Center, Cairo
The Struggle for Democracy in Egypt

Ashraf Rady, Journalist, Egypt
Peace and Democracy: The Political Discourse of Political Opposition in Egypt

Muhammad Al-Atawneh, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Can Islam and Democracy Coexist?

14:00 Lunch

16:00 State and Resistance in Non-Arab Societies

Chair: Iris Agmon, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Avi Rubin, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
I'll See You in Court: Ottoman Judicial Reform, State and Resistance in the Late 19th Century

Haggai Ram, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Iran: The Multifarious Dimensions of Hegemony and Resistance

Yilmaz Akinci, Journalist, Turkey
Insight into Kurdish Resistance in Turkey

Yusuf Kanli, Journalist, Turkey
Walking on a Knife's Edge: Opposition in Turkish Media

17:45 Coffee Break

18:15 Weblogging as a Space of Resistance

Chair: Yoram Meital, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

Michael Dahan, Sapir College, Israel
The Blogosphere in the Middle East as a Potential Space of Resistance

Laila El Haddad, Palestinian Blogger
Blogging as Alternative Resistance in Gaza

Mohamed Mosaad Abdel Aziz, Emory University
Political Weblogging in Egypt

Hossein Derakhshan, Iranian Blogger
Internet in Iran: Are Weblogs and other forms of new media helping democracy in Iran?

The vision of this two-day conference is to explore democratization, reforms and political struggle in various contexts of resistance in Middle Eastern societies. An ensemble of scholars, intellectuals, and journalists, will provide answers to crucial questions concerning the following: how should we study resistance; the complexity of struggle for democracy and domestic crises in different communities; and Weblogging as a space of resistance.

For further information: 08-6472538
hercen@bgu.ac.il, www.bgu.ac.il/chcenter

English-Hebrew simultaneous translation will be provided