New Issue of Exiled Ink! on Women’s Poetry

Summer 2007 Issue of Exiled Ink! now available

Contents:

The Landscape of Exiled Women with poetry, prose and essays on a range of subject areas including Ayan Hirsi, Nwal Al Sadaawi, Crossing the Border, Exiled D. R.Congolese women writers, the male perspective, poetry etc by Mehrangiz Rassapour, Keena-Diid Caynaane, Abdullahi Botan, Jennifer Langer, Rouhi Shafii, Reza Baraheni, Isabelle Romaine, Pireeni Sundaralingam, Sulaiman Addonia and Fathieh Saudi

The Poetic Exilic Space with poetry by Shanta Acharya, Yuyutsu RD Sharma, Mark Hill, Mir Mahfuz Ali, Nkwachukwu Ogbuagu and Fathieh Saudi

 

Russian and Chechen Spaces with essays on Ilya Kormiltsev, German Sadulaev and Andrey Platonov by: Miriam Frank, Anna Gunin and Robert Chandler

Exiled Lit Cafe 2 July 2007: Bells of Speech

The next appointment with Exiled Writers Ink takes place on Monday, 2 July 2007, at the Poetry Cafe, 22 Betterton Street, London WC2 at 7 pm

Bells of Speech

with music by Tara Jaff (Kurdish harpist and singer) and poetry by Nazand Begikhani, Moniza Alvi and Richard McKane. The event is chaired by Fathieh Saudi.

Entry fee 4 pounds, 2 pounds for Exiled Writers Ink members

For more information see: www.exiledwriters.co.uk

Colloquium on community media

Finding and Funding Voices: the inner city experience. A one-day international colloquium on community media

The Graduate Centre, London Metropolitan University, 166-220 Holloway Road, London N7 8DB.
9.00 am – 5.30 pm, Monday September 17th, 2007.

Community media can provide opportunities for social groups excluded or misrepresented in the mainstream to come in from the margins and give voice to their cultures and concerns. In inner cities across Europe there are many examples of young people, migrants, minority ethnic communities (for example), using media which they own and control, and of local authorities including media in their plans for urban regeneration: ‘giving a voice to the voiceless’ requires supportive policies and funding from a range of departments in central and local government, not just ministries of media or culture. At EU level the community radio sector is not even recognised and it has taken the European Parliament to launch a study on community radio which will be completed by September.
 
In the UK the community media sector is at a critical moment as plans for the digital switch-over threaten to exclude community TV and the expanding community radio sector has to make do with an inadequate central fund.
In some UK regions and nations the sector’s needs are recognised with complementary funding, but London lacks any overall plan.This colloquium will bring together community media practitioners and academics from the UK and abroad, London-based funders and policy-makers, and representatives of London communities to examine local issues.The event marks the launch of London Metropolitan University‘s Community Media Research Unit, based in the Department of Applied Social Sciences which has recently appointed two lecturers with special responsibility for developing community media courses within the university and in the North and East Londoncommunities where the university is located.For further details see http://www.communitymedia.eu or contact the organisers: Peter Lewis p.lewis@londonmet.ac.uk and Salvatore Scifo s.scifo@londonmet.ac.uk

The Blunders of Multiculturalism in Germany

by editor Sanaz Raji

Recently I read of a court decision regarding Nisha, a 26 year old Moroccan living in Germany. Nisha filed for an early divorce on the grounds that her husband was beating her. However, the court decision produced a shocking surprise– the female judge, following the logic of multiculturalism, said that Nisha (and other Muslim women residing with their Muslim spouses in Germany) should “expect” to be beaten, citing what I believe is a poor translation of the Qu’ran stating that a man has the right to “corporal punishment”. This absolute reading of Sura 4, verse 34, as allowed for Muslim women to be treated as Johannas Hari puts “reduced to third-class citizens stripped of core legal protections – because of the doctrine of multiculturalism, which says a society should be divided into separate cultures with different norms according to ethnic origin.” I’ve put an a link to his excellent article on this topic-

http://comment.independent.co.uk/columnists_a_l/johann_hari/article2496657.ece 

Guide to African London

The Mayor of London together with Transport for London recently published a small Guide to African London. It contains information on cultural organisations and events; radio and television programmes as well as newspapers on Africa; addresses of shops and restaurants; and contacts of community groups based in London.

The free guide is available at the bigger tube stations or can be downloaded as a PDF file: http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/culture/docs/african-day-guide.pdf

Public Statement by Serbian Refugee Council

Recently, the Serbian Refugee Council published the following statement on refugee protection in Serbia:

Public Statement by Serbian Refugee Council – World Refugee Day

On the occasion of June 20th, the World Refugee Day, the Serbian Refugee Council wishes to reiterate the pressing need for establishing a fully operational system of refugee protection in Serbia.

The adoption of the Law on Asylum, which Serbia still does not have, is one of the preconditions of our country’s accession to the European Union. The passing of this law is also required by Article 57 of the Serbian Constitution, which proclaims the obligation of the state to provide adequate protection to all refugees notwithstanding their country of origin.

A modern, comprehensive Law on asylum should prescribe the mechanism for determining and revoking refugee status, its criteria and procedure, as well as ensure the full protection of human rights for individuals who are entitled to shelter and asylum in Serbia “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, gender, language, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political beliefs”.

Photos From Our Launch Party

On Sunday May 20th , Inter-sections held its launch party at a yummy, chocolate filled joint called Coffee, Cake and Kink.

The launch party was a great success. Eleni, Lauren, and Sanaz had the opportunity to meet our readers and those who are getting acquainted with our blog. Kathrin couldn’t make it, but was there in spirit. We received excellent feedback and suggestions from those of you that night regarding our blog and look forward to engaging with you even further.

For those of you who live outside of London and in other parts of the world, here are a few photos to give you a flavor of that special evening.

Many thanks to Coffee, Cake and Kink for making that evening magical and to AHRC for funding this event.

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Newest Issue of The Public Historian About Public History of Slavery and Justice

The journal is edited by the University of California Press.

Issues can be ordered on http://ucpressjournals.com/journal.asp?j=tph

Across the African Divide: Music and Poetry from Somalia and Algeria

27 June 2007, 7pm, Oxford House Cafe, Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, London, E2 6HG (nearest tube Bethnal Green)

Hudaydi – king of the oud and poet

Tahar Lamri – Algerian born poet exiled in Italy

Algerian musician (tba)

Mohamed Bashe Hassan – author of two recently published books

Translation of the Somali work by: Dr. Martin Orwin of SOAS and by Said Jama Hussein

Further information: Ayan Mahamoud, Head of Somali Art and Culture and Oxford House (ayan.mahamoud@oxfordhouse.org.uk) and Jennifer Langer, Exiled Writers Ink (jennifer@exiledwriters.fsnet.co.uk).

The event is organised by Exiled Writers Ink (www.exiledwriters.co.uk)

Refuge & Rejection: New Issue Available

The latest issue of Refuge & Rejection looks at potential contributions which the field of Religious Studies can make to the topic of refugees and forced migration.

Refuge & Rejection (http://www.asu.edu/clas/history/proj/refugee/) is a multi-faceted, internet-based project on refugees from the perspective of the humanities. It provides a forum for humanities scholars interested in the study of people displaced by war, political upheaval, persecution, and natural disaster. The online format of the project allows a large community of humanities scholars to work together, while inviting a still broader audience into our common room.