Dozens of Charlotte area residents with ties to Libya, Bahraini, and Yemen will hold a join together tonight (Feb. 22) as a sign of solidarity with the people protesting in their homeland.
Inspired by the successful ousting of the authoritarian presidents in Tunisia and Egypt, masses of Libyan people have been engaged in uprisings over the last several weeks. Human rights groups say that more than 200 people have died.
Charlotte organizers plan to meet Uptown at Marshall Park on East 3rd street at 7 p.m. For more information, visit the groups Facebook page or call (919) 413-1816.
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Friday, February 11, 2011
Charlotte professor heads to Cairo
An Egyptian-born Queens professor is headed to Egypt today. Mohammed el-Nawawy is expected to land in Cairo tonight.El-Nawawy, a professor of communication, is working on a new book about political blogging in Egypt. He plans to travel to the center of the protests Tahrir Square to talk to some of the bloggers who helped started this protest.
“I’m going to speak to some of the bloggers that I talked to before and get some feedback on how social media has affected their work on the ground,” he said.
“It’s history in the making,” he said. “To capture a slice of it will be interesting.”
El Nawawy plans to return to Charlotte on Tuesday, Feb. 15. On Wednesday, he plans to meet with the community at Myers Park Baptist Church to discuss the trip and also sign copies of another book, "Islam Dot Com: Contemporary Islamic Discourse in Cyberspace," which el-Nawawy co-authored with Sahar Khamis.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Charlotte groups to discuss white nationalist controversy
Groups concerned about racial prejudice will hold a discussion forum at the West Boulevard Library tomorrow.
Leonard Zeskind, president of the Kansas City-based Institute for Research & Education of Human Rights and author of "Blood and Politics: The History of the White Nationalist Movement from the Margins to the Mainstream" will be a guest speaker.
The forum is in response to controversy this month over first amendment rights and a white nationalists' organization, American Renaissance, decision to call off its conference that was planned to be held in Charlotte.
You can read some of the Observer's coverage about the cancelled conference here and here. And here are some photos.
Organizers of Saturday's forum said attendees will be given an opportunity to participate in a discussion about why a coalition of groups opposed American Renaissance coming to Charlotte. The hour and a half session will start at 1 p.m. at the library located 2157 West Boulevard.