Democratiya Book Launch

Global Politics After 9/11:
The Democratiya Interviews
Edited by Alan Johnson, Preface by Michael Walzer
published by Foreign Policy Centre / Democratiya

Monday 21 April, 6pm, Committee Room 3a, The Palace of Westminster

A discussion on the future of progressive foreign policy to launch Global Politics After 9/11: The Democratiya Interviews.

Speakers

Charlie Falconer (Chair)
Alan Johnson (Democratiya.com, Editor of Global Politics After 9/11)
Denis Macshane MP (Labour Foreign Office Minister 2001-2005)
Michael Moore MP (Liberal Democrat Spokesman for International Development, tbc)
John Lloyd (Financial Times and Reuters Institute, Oxford )
Andrew Mitchell MP (Shadow Secretary of State for International Development)
Ladan Boroumand (Research Director, The Abdorrahman Boroumand Foundation for the promotion of human rights and democracy in Iran).

There will be a question and answer period. Copies of Global Politics After 9/11: The Democratiya Interviews will be available at a specially reduced price of 7.99.

RSVP is to Julie Utting Julie.Utting@JohnSmithTrust.org All press enquiries, and questions aside from RSVP related to the launch to Alan Johnson Alanjohnsonlfiq@aol.com. Places are strictly limited and will be allocated on a first to reply basis. Please give yourself time to get through security at Parliament.

Sponsors: The Foreign Policy Centre, The John Smith Memorial Trust, Democratiya.com, The Henry Jackson Society, Labour Friends of Iraq, Progress, Engage.

ABOUT Global Politics After 9/11: The Democratiya Interviews

Collects in-depth conversations with Paul Berman, Ladan Boroumand, Jean Bethke Elshtain, David Held, Saad Eddin Ibrahim, Mary Kaldor, Kanan Makiya, Joshua Muravchik, Martin Shaw, Anne-Marie Slaughter

Explores some of the central dilemmas of democratic foreign policy after 9/11 – What are the root causes of terrorism? What is the appeal of Jihadist ideology and how can democrats win the battle of ideas? Why are so many progressives content to say 'my enemy’s enemy is my friend'? How can democracy-promotion, humanitarian intervention and the responsibility to protect be rescued after Iraq? Should we be fighting a ‘war on terror’? Deploying 'smart power' sounds good, but what does it mean? Can the UN be reformed? Do we need a new ‘concert of democracies’?

Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment of Democracy, has said ‘The Democratiya Interviews do more to re-establish and invigorate a coherent concept of democratic internationalism than any single volume in recent memory. This book is both a breath of fresh air and an act of democratic solidarity.’

For Nick Cohen, author of the best-seller What’s Left?, ‘The principles Democratiya develops with such flair are the best route out of the swamp in which too many liberal-minded people have been stuck for too long.’

BUY ONLINE from Democratiya.com
http://www.democratiya.com/shop/buybook.html

Arabic Book Fair

To capitalise on the Arab World Market Focus at The London Book Fair 2008, which takes place at Earls Court 14-16th April, The Arabic Book Fair opens its doors to the public the preceding Sunday. While The London Book Fair is primarily a trade event, The Arabic Book Fair will be open to the public for one day only - Sunday 13th April, 10.30am – 5.00 pm, at the Royal College of Art, Kensington, London.

The Arabic Book Fair will be the first of its kind in the UK. The main aim of the event is to connect the Arab community, and people interested in learning Arabic, with the leading Children’s publishers from the Middle East. The event will also feature a number of UK retailers and publishers of Arabic and Arabic bilingual books, as well as Arabic publishers from Sweden and France.

The Arab Community in Britain has over 700,000 members most of whom live in the Central and Greater London area. A survey of the London Arabic schools has revealed a great interest by the schools in the event, many of whom go to great length to source books due to limited and patchy UK supply. The target audience for the Fair are predominantly Arabic speakers and those seeking to learn Arabic.

The concept for the Arabic Book Fair grew out of the frustration of parents in the UK trying to find Arabic books for their children. This unique event is being organised by Fe Britannia (translated means “In Britain” in Arabic), a group of British-Arab Mothers.

“We were raised in the UK and know firsthand the challenges that our families faced in teaching us Arabic as children; as parents we are determined not only to ensure that our children learn Arabic too, but that we make it easier for a whole generation of parents raising Arabic speakers in the UK”, Rasha Khalil.

The challenges parents face are not only getting hold of Arabic books, but getting hold of books that capture the imagination of the young reader. Many children in the UK don’t like Arabic books because of a certain perception shared by the parent and child- that Arabic is boring, the vocabulary is difficult and the books are ugly. Although there are fantastic Arabic books that dispel this often held negative belief, with a burgeoning new breed of young female Arab publishers that are determined to engage children in reading Arabic.

One of the organisers of the Fair, Rasha Khalil said: “We have been overwhelmed at the positive response from the publishers in the Middle East and Europe, but what surprised us more was finding such a large number children’s books published by Middle Eastern women, some of whom are mothers who wanted to provide the best for their children, just as we do – and why we are organising the first Arabic Book Fair in the UK.”

This quiet revolution in Arabic children’s books has been noted by the Arabic Book Fair organisers, who are determined not only to provide parents and teachers with a single place to view/buy a wide range of books, but also to support these smaller publishers and bring them to a wider UK audience.

Arabic language books will be on sale. The event will focus on children’s Arabic books (in Arabic and Bilingual Arabic/English), a particularly underserved area in the UK. Books exhibited will include a range of children’s stories, religious stories, activity books, Educational CDs and study guides for all age groups. The latest in language learning tools will be demonstrated during the Fair.

It promises to be a fun day out for the all the family, with free children’s book readings held hourly, children’s movie screening and music throughout the day.

Tickets cost £5 on the door (free entry for under-12s), or £2 if booked via website – www.arabicbookfair.com Advance booking is highly recommended to avoid disappointment.

About the Organisers

The Arabic Book Fair in London is being organised by Fe Britannia Ltd - formed purely to serve the needs of the event.

The company directors are all of Middle Eastern ethnic origin and this is a key motivator in seeking to fulfil the known needs of the community within the UK. “Mothers seeking to pass on their Arabic language and culture to their children”

Event summary:
Sunday 13 April 2008
10.30am – 5pm
Royal College of Art, Kensington, London

Key Facts:
-over 700,000 Arabs living in the UK
-over 11,000 school children in London speak Arabic at home*
- more London school children speak Arabic at home than French or Spanish*

* Based on a survey of 850,000 children in London schools, asked the question about first language spoken at home

For more information, please contact

Fe Britannia
Elvira Doghem-Rashid – Elvira@arabicbookfair.com - +44 (0) 7789815349

For more information about this event and the Arab World Market Focus at the London Book Fair 2008, please contact Amelia Rowland at Midas Public Relations on 020 7590 0813 or amelia.rowland@midaspr.co.uk.

How the Kurds are rebuilding after years of suffering

The following article by David Anderson, Labour MP for Blaydon, appears in Tribune

I have just spent my second week in two years in Iraqs Kurdistan region, which is more vibrant and secure than the rest of the country. I didn't support the initial invasion but five years later I was lucky to be on a parliamentary friendship and fact-finding mission meeting ministers, the President and union leaders.

We shouldn't live in the past though Iraqi Kurds could be forgiven for dwelling on their bloody history. I have now twice seen the Red House in Sulymaniya. For years, Saddam's thugs tortured and executed Kurds in this hell-hole. The dark and dank cells, torture equipment, the bloody noose and the official rape room are on display.

The Red House is but a small part of the picture. In the late 1980s, 182,000 Kurds were killed in Saddam's genocidal "Anfal" campaign. 5,000 people were killed in one single chemical weapons attack on Halabja and children are still being born with deformities from the poisons left over.

We toured Banislawa on the outskirts of the capital, Erbil. It was one of many "obligatory collective villages" but our translator called it a concentration camp. Saddam rounded up Kurdish villagers region and forced them into Banislawa where they had to build their own ramshackle dwellings. Marauding secret police would then select victims to be "disappeared." Mass graves are still being found.

Given this, it would be understandable were Iraqi Kurds to give up on Iraqi Arabs and seek independence. However, they have opted for democracy in Iraq and autonomy for the Iraqi Kurds – figuring the two go together. There are signs of hope in the wind, literally.

There was great celebration when we visited the Speaker of the Kurdistan National Assembly because the Iraqi flag was flying there for the first time. The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) had refused to fly the flag because it symbolised Saddam Hussein's toxic regime. The flag was redesigned and now flies alongside KRG colours. It gives hope that Iraq can stick together.

And Iraqi Kurdistan is rebuilding itself. Compared to my last visit, I counted many new housing, hotel and retail developments in the bustling cities. Ministers proudly told us of ambitious plans to build thousands of houses and revitalise their cities and countryside.

The region is rich in natural resources and beauty. It has huge reserves of oil, natural gas and minerals. Their fertile lowlands and stunning mountains, with powerful rivers and waterfalls, are stunning. It could be self-sufficient in food and export its surpluses. One day a small army of tourists will enjoy its unspoilt and largely unpolluted scenery and historic and archaeological sites. The Citadel in Erbil is 8,000 years old and the oldest site of human habitation in
the world.

It's impossible to stay in this landlocked country without coming to understand that this small sliver of territory, about the size of Scotland, is in a tough neighbourhood. We saw this with recent Turkish incursions into the region, which require a diplomatic rather than military solution.

History and geography explain the Kurdish saying that they have "no friends but the mountains" where successive generations have found refuge. Aircraft are the Kurds' other friends. They have sunk hundreds of millions into a massive airport being built in Erbil. We stood open-mouthed on the planet's fifth largest runway which seemed to stretch beyond the horizon. This bridge to the world will be able to take the biggest freight carriers and be an east-west travel hub.

Like the rest of Iraq, the region also faces a painful transition from a shattered and battered command economy to a market economy, which I discussed with the Kurdish union leader Hangaw Khan. Union leaders and ministers fought together against Saddam in the Kurdish military forces – the Peshmerga - "those who face death." I hope that the unions and government remain social partners so that the interests of the working people are met as tough decisions are taken to update the economy.

The rural economy could be crucial. We visited a rebuilt village, Kani Khan. Its roads were rough but the surroundings, in the foothills of the mountains, were awesome. We plan to raise funds for an English Language classroom – a symbolic token of friendship. We will also encourage external investment. It's in our interests that Iraqi Kurdistan prospers as a model to the rest of Iraq and the wider Middle East. Then perhaps so many people may not have died in vain.

Dave Anderson is Labour MP for Blaydon, Secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary group on the Kurdistan Region in Iraq and also Joint President of Labour Friends of Iraq.