“Threads” book launch and discussion on the refugee crisis

Join Verso Books, Muftah, and the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research for the launch of Kate Evans’s new graphic novel, “Threads: From the Refugee Crisis” and a wide-ranging discussion on the refugee crisis in Syria and the Middle East.

Evans volunteered at the refugee camp in Calais, France, also known as “The Jungle” in late 2015/early 2016 and recounts the stories of many of the people she met there, all while arguing for the compassionate treatment of refugees and the free movement of peoples.

Evans is joined in conversation by journalist and Syrian rights activist Loubna Mrie, Maryam Jamshidi of Muftah.org, and Anthony Alessandrini of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research.

They discuss the wider context of the civil war in Syria, Western media portrayals of the refugee crisis, and the role of the US War on Terror in exacerbating the forced migration of people from war torn regions.

Filmed at Verso Books in Brooklyn on September 19, 2017.

“Threads: From The Refugee Crisis” is available from Verso Books:
https://www.versobooks.com/books/2458-threads

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About the speakers:

Kate Evans is a cartoonist, artist, and activist. She is the author of numerous books and zines including “Red Rosa: A Graphic Biography of Rosa Luxemburg”; “Bump: How to Make, Grow and Birth a Baby”; and “Funny Weather: Everything You Didn’t Want to Know about Climate Change but Probably Should Find Out.” She was awarded the John C. Laurence Award in 2016.

Loubna Mrie is a Syrian civil rights activist and photojournalist.

Maryam Jamshidi is a lawyer and writer with nearly ten years of experience working on issues relating to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Maryam’s writing has appeared in various academic publications, as well as in media outlets such as Al Jazeera English and TruthOut. She is the founder of Muftah.org and serves as Acting Assistant Professor of Lawyering at NYU Law School.

Anthony Alessandrini is a faculty member of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research and professor of English at Kingsborough Community College-CUNY. He is also on the faculty of the MA Program in Middle Eastern Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center, where he is a member of the Committee on Globalization and Social Change. He is the author of “Frantz Fanon and the Future of Cultural Politics: Finding Something Different”; the editor of “Frantz Fanon: Critical Perspectives”; and the co-editor of “Resistance Everywhere: The Gezi Protests and Dissident Visions of Turkey.” He is a Co-Editor of Jadaliyya E-Zine and a contributor to Status Audio Journal.

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Muftah launched in May 2010 to provide English-speaking audiences with incisive analysis on countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) that eschewed the Western media’s focus on terrorism, oil, and Islamism, and highlighted the complex factors that shape and influence regional countries and populations. Since then, we have extended our coverage to Central Asia and Eastern Europe, and plan to keep expanding to other parts of the globe that are similarly misunderstood and misrepresented by mainstream media outlets.

The Brooklyn Institute for Social Research is an interdisciplinary teaching and research institute that offers critical, community-based education in the humanities and social sciences. Working in partnership with local businesses and cultural organizations, we integrate rigorous but accessible scholarly study with the everyday lives of working adults and re-imagine scholarship for the 21st century.

Видео “Threads” book launch and discussion on the refugee crisis канала Verso Books