These remarks were delivered on 17 November 2019 at the 19th annual Mikhail Memorial Lecture. Phyllis Bennis: “Syria, Turkey, the Kurds, ISIS and the New Global War on Terror” On behalf of our extended Mikhail family, I am humbled and pleased to welcome you all to the 19th annual Maryse and Ramzy Mikhail Memorial Lecture … Continue reading Introducing Phyllis
Category: Quotes
These remarks were delivered as part of the 20th annual Maryse and Ramzy Mikhail Memorial Lecture Series. More information on the series is available at mikhaillecture.wordpress.com Good evening, thank you, John, and thank you to Dean Gilbert and the University of Toledo College of Arts and Letters and everyone who worked to make this event … Continue reading Introducing Laila
"Oppression greets us from all angles. Oppression wails from the soldiers radio and floats through tear gas clouds in the air. Oppression explodes with every sound bomb and sinks deeper into the heart of the mother who has lost her son. But resistance is nestled in the cracks in the wall, resistance flows from … Continue reading “The Resistance”
As I prepare to leave for Turkey, and as I continue to absorb the onslaught of the news and reflect on this harrowing summer, the words of Rachel Corrie echo,* written in an e-mail to her mother from Rafah, Gaza three days before her death: I'm having a hard time right now. Just feel sick … Continue reading “This has to stop.”
This piece was originally published on the Kenyon Observer blog, describing the importance of comprehensive sexual assault education and bystander intervention. Trigger Warning: The following includes descriptions and links to content that may serve as a trigger for victims of sexual violence. For four consecutive years I’ve attended the training session necessary to host parties on this … Continue reading Lessons From Steubenville
A Prayer by Naguib Mahfouz from Echoes of an Autobiography, translated by Denys Johnson-Davies I was less than seven years old when I said a prayer for the revolution. One morning I went to my primary school escorted by the maid. I walked like someone being led off to prison. In my hand was a copybook, … Continue reading ثورة
"The connotations of 'tolerance' are deeply problematic. Allow me to elaborate on this point: the root of the term 'tolerance' comes from medieval toxicology and pharmacology , marking how much poison a body could 'tolerate' before it would succumb to death. Is this the best we can do? Is it our task to figure out … Continue reading On “Tolerance”
"There are random moments —tossing a salad, coming up the driveway to the house, ironing the seams flat on a quilt square, standing at the kitchen window and looking out at the delphiniums, hearing a burst of laughter from one of my children’s rooms— when I feel a wavelike rush of joy. This is my … Continue reading “Arbitrary Moments of Nearly Painful Happiness”
"You could even argue whether being a Muslim is actually a religion or is it a nationality, way of life or cult, whatever you want to call it."-Tennessee’s lieutenant governor, Ron Ramsey Tennessee Official Gets It Wrong
tess m. waggoner 