Middle East Law Students Association

Look for news about upcoming events for the Spring semester in the coming weeks. Check back soon!

MELSA featured in the Harvard Crimson: A California State professor fiercely criticized the Obama administration’s foreign policy at a Harvard Law School speech yesterday for continuing what he termed the Bush administration’s policy of seeking to solidify American power.

As’ad AbuKhalil—a politics and public administration professor at California State University Stanislaus—offered a blistering critique of the Obama administration’s record thus far, focusing on combating beliefs that Obama’s foreign policy has marked a departure from the expansionist philosophy he said was espoused by the Bush administration

As evidence, AbuKhalil pointed to similarities between Obama’s landmark speech to the Muslim world in Cairo and Bush’s speeches. He said both had a kind exterior but carried an underlying message that “Muslims would be tolerated, provided they do what they are told.”

AbuKhalil also criticized what he said was a limited range of viewpoints with influence over U.S. foreign policy. (click to read more)

The 3rd Annual Harvard Arab Weekend, Nov. 12 to 15, 2009.
The Weekend is a conference hosted by the Harvard Arab Alumni Association in collaboration with a number of student organizations at Harvard, including MELSA, aimed at promoting much-needed dialogue and a better understanding of the Middle East and North Africa.

http://www.harvardarabalumni.org/MENAweekend/

MELSA will host a panel discussion on the impact of international trade policies on economic development in the Middle East, featuring featuring Prof. David Harvey from CUNY. Friday, Nov. 13, 2009, at 2pm in Austin North, Harvard Law School.

David Harvey is the Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). A leading social theorist of international standing, he received his PhD in Geography from University of Cambridge in 1961. He is among the top 20 most cited authors in the humanities. In addition, he has been cited as the world\'s most cited academic geographer and the author of many books and essays that have been prominent in the development of modern geography as a discipline. His work has contributed greatly to broad social and political debate, most recently he has been credited with helping to bring back social class and Marxist methods as serious methodological tools in the critique of global capitalism, particularly in its neoliberal form. In 2007, Dr. Harvey was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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Additionally, MELSA and the HKS Arab Caucus are organizing a panel on the impact of social media in the Middle East, Nov. 12, at 6 pm in Emerson 305, Harvard College. Panelists will examine the impact of social media, including twitter and blogs, on social and political discourse in the Middle East.

"Obama's Middle East Policies: the Persistence of the Bush Doctrine," a talk by Professor As`ad Abukhalil, Nov. 23, 2009 at 7 pm.

"The Indeterminacies of Occupation: Israel and the Palestinian Territories," a talk by Aeyal Gross, Visiting Fellow at the HLS Human Rights Program and faculty at Tel Aviv University. Oct. 22, 2009.

A Lost Levant: A Reporter's Reflections on Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq," a talk by Anthony Shadid. April 14, 2009.
Anthony Shadid is a journalist based in the Middle East, winner of the 2004 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for his coverage of the Iraq war, and author of Night Draws Near: Iraq's People in the Shadow of America's War.

2009 Boston Palestine Film Festival screenings at Harvard Law School. Oct 20, 21, 26 & 27.

MELSA Calendar