Decolonise Palestine Teach-In: Media, Power, and Propaganda

About This Event:

This roundtable discussion focused on the role of media, power, and propaganda in the current genocide unfolding in Gaza. Panelists were invited to reflect on how journalism around the world differs in its depiction of the war and how that contributes to discrepancies in knowledge and understanding. The discussion also addressed media faultlines, censorship, militarization, and digital resistance.

Speakers:

Hicham Safieddine is  Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in the History of the Modern Middle East at UBC.  He researches financial, economic and intellectual history (19th and 20th centuries) with a particular emphasis on the MENA region. He is the co-founder of e-zines Al-Akhbar English and The Legal Agenda’s English Edition. His press writings have appeared in The Toronto Star, Al-Jazeera English, The Monthly Review, Le Monde Diplomatique, Al-Adaab, Middle East Eye, Egypt Independent, Assafir, Jadaliyya, and Al-Ahram Weekly.

Rana A. Sharif is a Los Angeles-born, interdisciplinary scholar, educator, and community activist. She is faculty in the department of Gender and Women’s Studies at California State University, Northridge and is completing her PhD in Comparative Literature and Languages at UCR where she is a UC Chancellor’s Dissertation Year Fellow. Her research examines the use of new media tools and technologies including social media, digital online archives, and location-based technologies in the context of Palestine. Her work reveals meaningful ways Palestinians tell life-affirming stories, build community, and offer languages of resistance otherwise foreclosed by the logics of settler colonialism, militarization and occupation. Rana is a member of the Palestinian Feminist Collective (PFC), currently serves on the board of the ACLU of Southern California, and hosts and produces shows for the SWANA Region Radio on Pacifica Radio’s KPFK (90.7 fm).

Ahmed Shihab-Eldin is an Emmy-nominated journalist, producer and actor. His most recent project is an investigative documentary produced with the BBC called Queer Egypt Under Attack. He has been an avid contributor to Al Jazeera English, The New York Times, The Huffington Post and PBS. In addition he worked as a Senior Correspondent for AJ+ where he produced award-winning documentaries focused on social justice and human rights. Ahmed is currently developing a podcast and documentary series. 

Moderated by Adel Iskandar, Associate Professor of Global Communication and Director of the Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies (CCMS) at Simon Fraser University. Iskandar's work deals with media, identity and politics; and he has lectured extensively on these topics at universities worldwide. Iskandar's engaged participatory research includes supporting knowledge production through scholarly digital publishing such as "Jadaliyya" and academic podcasting such as "Status."

Co-Sponsors: Centre for Comparative Muslim Studies, SimonFraserUniversity; Third World Approaches to International Law Review; UWIN RAACES (Researchers, Academics and Advocates Centering Equity and Solidarity, University of Windsor); Social Justice Centre, Kwantlen Polytechnic University