Free Ali! Free Alaa! Free Ramin! Free Fateh! Free US All!

And the list goes on. It’s pretty depressing really. The backlash against civil rights activists in the region seems to be in full force these days. Why is it a backlash? Because I believe it is closely connected to the US continuing troubles in Iraq and to the fact the Bush’s second term in office is drawing to an end. The regimes are taking a defiant stand in resonance with Ahmadinejad’s own stands. Continue reading →

A Heretic in New York!

I just got back from a trip to New York where I took part in the Festival for International Literature organized by PEN World Voices. This marked the first time in what seemed like forever that I was treated as a literary figure and not a political one. It was quite a refreshing change to say the least. I spoke at two panels: Exiles in America, and Truth and the Internet, both of which proved quite interesting and lively indeed. Continue reading →

Dissent and Reform in the Arab World

An American Enterprise Institute event

Rather than impose democracy on the Arab world, the United States seeks to support the building blocks for political and economic reform that already exist throughout the region. But as the first installment in AEI’s Dissent and Reform in the Arab World conference series has shown, the brave and bright reformers at the heart of democratic change have little political space with which to work and grow. Continue reading “Dissent and Reform in the Arab World” →

The Mohammed Cartoons: European Society and Freedom of the Press

The violence that followed the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed in several European newspapers has raised questions about European models of social integration and underscored that their debates at home can have dramatic implications abroad. The story has also raised questions about freedom of the press and self-censorship in the media. In a world threatened by a clash of civilizations, does freedom of the press include the right to offend the most sacred beliefs of others? In a time of fundamentalist terrorism, can we allow violence and the threat of violence to determine the content of our speech?

To examine these issues, the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution and the Heinrich Böll Foundation hosted a panel on The Mohammed Cartoons: European Society and Freedom of the Press. Commentary was provided by Ammar Abdulhamid, Visiting Fellow, Saban Center for Middle East Policy; Thomas Kleine-Brockhoff, Die Zeit; David Ignatius, The Washington Post; and Claus Christian Malzahn, Der Spiegel. The briefing was moderated by Philip Gordon, Director of the Center on the United States and Europe.