Webinar Video: Perfecting Liberation: Legacies of Colonialism in Algeria and South Africa – Lessons for Palestine

The video of the webinar held on 1 November 2020 by the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the Global Justice and Human Rights Law Network and the NLG is now available.

The event explores the historical and present struggles against colonialism and its legacies in Algeria and South Africa, as well as the ongoing Palestinian liberation movement. Watch the full video here:

The event is facilitated by Lamis Deek, a Palestinian-born, New York-based human rights lawyer who has handled a wide range of criminal, administrative and civil cases related to Palestinian, Arab and Muslim rights including defense against terrorism charges, repressive and violent state and federal policing, zionist efforts to shut down mosques, defending protesters, and defending Palestinians and allies against Israeli lawfare based attacks.
Lamis is a also an activist and community organizer and member of the National Lawyers Guild and Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, among other Palestinian organizations.

The speakers for the event were:

Ubai Aboudi is the Executive Director of the Bisan Center for Research and Development in occupied Palestine. Ubai was released only days before after nearly 12 months of Israeli imprisonment, including two months jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention. His arrest sparked an international outrage, leading hundreds of scholars worldwide, including Nobel laureate George Smith and world renowned Noam Chomsky, to call for his immediate release.

Toufic Haddad is a Palestinian author, journalist, publisher, academic, UK-based teaching fellow and is currently based and working in Al Quds, Jerusalem, Palestine. Toufic authored Palestine Ltd.: Neoliberalism and Nationalism in the Occupied Territory- the most comprehensive analysis of the role of Oslo’s neoliberal frameworks have played in laying the political, social and economic fabric for an era of neo-colonialism and `disaster capitalism’ in Palestine. He is also the co-author of Between the Lines: Readings in Israel, the Palestinians and the U.S ‘War on Terror’ , and Towards a New Internationalism: Readings in Globalization, the Global Justice Movement and Palestinian Liberation. Toufic has also worked in various Palestinian based organization including Badil Center for Residency and Refugee Rights and the Alternative Information Center.

Na’eem Jeenah is a South African academic, author, community leader, activist and the executive director of the Afro-Middle East (research) Centre in Johannesburg, is part of the Advisory Council of the World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies, and a Board member of the Denis Hurley Peace Initiative (part of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference). Na’eem was heavily involved in the struggle against Apartheid, an remains active in challenging the role of capitalist groups in South Africa and with international anti-war movements. Na’eems publications include Pretending democracy: Israel, an ethnocratic state (as editor), and MENA uprisings and transformation and their impact on Africa. His most recent publication (as editor) is Political Islam: Conceptualising power between Islamic states and Muslim social movements.

Brahim Rouabah is an Algerian political activist, organizer and academic. He is the co-founder of the UK based Algeria Solidarity Campaign and US based AlgeriaRevolt collective. He is currently working on his PhD in Political Science at the City University of New York, Graduate Center and a teaching fellow in political science at Brooklyn College.

Introductory remarks were made by Suzanne Adely, IADL Bureau Member and President-Elect of the National Lawyers Guild, a long time Arab community organizer, member of Al-Awda New York, and the co-director of a bi-national food workers alliance; and by Charlotte Kates, International Coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. She also coordinates the National Lawyers Guild International Committee and is a member of the Organizing Collective of the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel and Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition.

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