Cultural Connection

Middle East culture and art updates from various contributing writers across the Middle East and the Western world.



Nicholas Blincoe
Written by :
on : Friday, 18 May, 2012
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The Dictator of Laughs

Admiral Shabazz Aladeen, dictator of Wadiya, has much in common with other despots. He is an ophthalmologist like Al-Assad of Syria, and rewrites his nation’s dictionary like Turkmenbashi of Turkmenistan. (When he changes the words ‘positive’ and ‘negative’, alike, to ‘Aladeen’ the work of HIV doctors in Wadiya suddenly becomes a lot more complicated). At heart, however, Aladeen is a caricature of the one-time Brother Leader and Guide of the Revolution, Colonel Muammar Qadhafi....

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Written by :
on : Friday, 11 May, 2012
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In It Together

In It Together Muslim/Christian Relations: Co-Operation Not Conflict was a talk organized by Friends of BibleLands, an organization which supports the charitable work of Biblelands in the Middle East. It is a Christian organization which runs a range of social service programs in Lebanon, Egypt, Palestinian Authority-governed areas, and Israel; it has done so for over a century. BibeLands programs are open to all without discrimination on the basis of religion or ethnicity. They are provi...

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Kate Knight
Written by :
on : Friday, 4 May, 2012
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A View from the Casbah

We start at the highest point of the Casbah. The houses here date to the 13th century, and are packed in such a way that at street level you have to duck and bend your body to ...

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Tagged with: , ,
Written by :
on : Saturday, 28 Apr, 2012
1

Resilience and Injustice

From 20 April through 3 May, the Palestine Film Festival brings a wide range of films addressing Palestinian realities to London. The program is provocative and challenging, an...

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Helena Alves
Written by :
on : Thursday, 12 Apr, 2012
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Art & Conflict – The Case of Syria

At a time when diplomacy and journalism seem not to be doing much for Syria, can art do a better job? Dash Arabic Series Cafe tried to answer the question in an evening of conv...

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Ati Metwaly
Written by :
on : Thursday, 22 Mar, 2012
1

Restoring Egypt’s Splendor

No other country in the Middle East has an Opera House with a history of almost one and a half centuries long. The Khedivial Opera House or Royal Opera House was built in 1869,...

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Written by :
on : Wednesday, 21 Mar, 2012
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The Art Rendezvous of the Middle East

The Global Art Forum is part of Art Dubai’s discussion programme that this year includes the fourth edition of ‘The Big Idea’ – a forum for young UAE based artists and ...

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The Majalla: The Leading Arab Magazine
on : Tuesday, 20 Mar, 2012
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A Spring in Their Step

“Norouz celebrates the revival of nature, and reminds us of the fact that darkness and gloom are bound to be followed by light, rebirth and revival. Norouz always reminds us ...

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Helena Alves
Written by :
on : Tuesday, 13 Mar, 2012
1

One Night for Syria

For once the images that reach us from Syria will not be from a shelling in Homs framed through the news hour of a major television network. As the fighting and killings con...

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Ati Metwaly
Written by :
on : Tuesday, 6 Mar, 2012
2

From Violence and Barricades to an Open Air Gallery

Mohamed Mahmoud Street is where the heavy white smoke of tear gas suffocated hundreds of young people while dozens of motorbikes carried the injured to the field hospitals set ...

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