What connections can be drawn between the waves of student and popular protest that swept the world in 1968? Amina Elbendary asks Hossam Issa, an Egyptian student in Paris in May 1968…

May 1968 was an exceptional moment in world history, but like moments of protest before and since it had its roots in events long before and its echoes have continued to reverberate long afterwards. In addition to the revolt in Paris in May, 1968 also saw protests in other parts of the world, including Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Mexico, Pakistan and the US. The ongoing war in Vietnam and continuing racial tensions led to student demonstrations in the latter country, notably at Columbia University in New York and at Berkeley in California.

In Egypt’s case, the 1968 events came at a time when the state was already under pressure from failing development goals, and it had resorted to coercive measures in the years leading up to the 1967 defeat. However, popular protest against the regime had been growing since the mid 1960s, and, as Hossam Issa, Professor of Law at Ain Shams University in Cairo recalls, confrontation between students and the authorities had already taken place in summer 1966 when postgraduate students on state-funded study abroad were summoned home to discuss their criticisms of the government with the then president, Gamal Abdel-Nasser.

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Photo from Artists Against Apartheid III in Montreal from photojournalist Ion Etxebarria.

Photos documenting the 3rd edition of Artists Against Apartheid in Montreal that brought together multiple artists, musicians, poets and performers as part of the global campaign struggling for Palestinian human rights through an international campaign of boycott, divestment and sanctions on the Israeli government.

Artists Against Apartheid III attracted upwards of two-hundred people in Montreal to a lively concert crossing multiple musical styles from Jazz, to hip-hop, to folk. A cultural element to this international boycott campaign is growing in Montreal and internationally. This latest event in Montreal featured multiple musicians and artists from the celebrated hip-hop group Nomadic Massive and the roots, improvisational African Diaspora-driven Kalmunity Vibe Collective.

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An evening of Palestinian films to commemorate 60 years since Al-Nakba – the catastrophe of dispossession brought about by the establishment of the State of Israel – and to celebrate the Palestinian voice.

1947-1948: Zionist forces provoke the exodus of 750,000 refugees, forcibly evicted from their homes and villages. May 15 has been chosen to mark the tragedy.

2008: 5 million Palestinians live scattered throughout the world and demand recognition of their right to return. 4 million Palestinians live under brutal occupation in the West Bank and under a state of permanent siege in Gaza.. And over 1 million live in Israel as second-class citizens.

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It is with great shock and dismay that we have learned of your intention to participate in the Israeli Writers’ Festival this May, in conjunction with the “Israel at 60” festivities (largely supported by the Israeli Foreign Ministry). The function of cultural events such as this one in the international public relations campaigns of apartheid regimes is strongly reminiscent of the same maneuverings by the South African apartheid government. Have you forgotten the morally unconscionable historical ties between apartheid Israel and apartheid South Africa during the years of sanctions, when millions of dollars of weapons were supplied by Israel to the apartheid regime?

The friendships that you have shared with the late Palestinian scholar Edward Said, or John Dugard, UN Special Rapporteur on Palestinian Rights in the Occupied Territories, have offered you ample insight into the depths of the violence inflicted daily on Palestinians by the Israeli state. The 2001 World Conference Against Racism, held in Durban, South Africa, labeled Israel as a “racist, apartheid state” and denounced its policies as “crimes against humanity.” Archbishop Desmond Tutu has even asserted that the situation in Palestine is worse than apartheid South Africa.

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Lettre ouverte à Erri de Luca.

Cher Erri de Luca

Si nous prenons la plume pour vous écrire c’est que nous sommes avant tout des lecteurs de vos livres, qui apprécions beaucoup votre travail ainsi que votre parcours, si nous en croyons les articles que nous avons lus à votre sujet.

Nous croyons savoir que vous êtes un homme épris de justice. Nous savons aussi que vous vous intéressez à la Bible et au judaïsme, et que vous avez appris l’hébreu. Cette curiosité vous honore. Toutefois l’histoire du judaïsme, qui comporte de très belles pages dépasse, et de loin, celle de l’Etat d’Israël qui ne comporte que des pages tachées de sang. C’est parce que nous avons peur que vous confondiez les deux que nous vous demandons de reconsidérer votre participation au prochain Festival International des Ecrivains de Jérusalem, au mois de Mai.

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I am a Palestinian lecturer in Cultural Studies living in Gaza. I happen to also have South African citizenship as a result of my marriage to a citizen of that beloved country. I spent more than five years in Johannesburg, the city in which I earned my PhD and lectured at both traditionally black and white universities. At Vista in Soweto, I taught your anti-apartheid novels My Son’s Story, July’s People and The Late Bourgeois World.

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THURSDAY, MAY 8th, 8:30pm
Doors: 8-15$
La Sala Rossa, 4848 St. Laurent
Montreal, Quebec

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Representatives of 25 Egyptian and Arab syndicates, led by Mohamed Salmawy and Ibrahim El-Moalem, chairman of the Arab Publishers Union, submitted a memorandum to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 24 February explaining the reasons behind the Arab protest at Israel’s invitation as guest of honour at this year’s Paris Book Fair, which opened in the French capital last week.

“Honouring Israel, and celebrating the sixtieth anniversary of Israel’s independence, a state which constantly violates international peace and the basic human rights of the Palestinian people, can only be seen as an unjustified provocation for Arab and international public opinion,” the memorandum read.

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On March 11th 2008 Montreal’s experimental band Jerusalem in My Heart and crew crammed into the CKUT studios and pulled off an incredible live set in a room that, I guarantee you, was a lot smaller than they make it sound…

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Friday, March 7th, 7pm
Concordia University, H-435, Hall Building
1455 de Maisonneuve west
(Guy-Concordia metro)

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