:

DE sign:
(Deconstructing in-order to find new meanings)

A blogging space about my personal interests; was made during training in Stockholm #Young Leaders Visitors Program #Ylvp08 it developed into a social bookmarking blog.

I studied #Architecture; interested in #Design #Art #Education #Urban Design #Digital-media #social-media #Inhabited-Environments #Contemporary-Cultures #experimentation #networking #sustainability & more =)


Please Enjoy, feedback recommended.

p.s. sharing is usually out of interest not Blind praise.
This is neither sacred nor political.

Showing posts with label #ArabWorld. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #ArabWorld. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 16

The Architecture of Refugees I

The Architecture of Refugees: The Question of Ethics


Uploaded on May 12, 2017
Hosted by the MIT Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture

Significant transformations in the world's political landscape are signaling the emergence of a new world order that undermines the
certitudes established at the end of World War II. At the core of such discussions, the concept of human rights is significantly challenged, calling for a discussion at the core of ethics for the revisions of the principles and mechanisms of intervention. In reaction to these new transformations some have called for a World Parliament representing the people and not governments to replace the UN General Assembly.

The workshop addresses the agency of architecture and design in a context where the disrespect of human rights is aggravated by
the incapacity of global institutions to react efficiently. What are the ethical questions regarding the architecture of refugees? What timescales, short or long terms, represent a priority for architecture and through which agenda – refugee relief, historical preservation, camp upgrades and daily life, or rebuilding and resettlement? What is the role of design in front of the degradation and destruction of cultural artifacts? How can design be channeled towards peace building objectives and possible resettlement projects? What are the material, technological, systemic responses to address emergency needs in the context of refugee camps?

Speakers:

Ethics of International Law as a Framework for Displacees and Refugees
Balakrishnan Rajagopal

Ethics and Politics of Post-Conflict Repair
Delia Wendel

Material Culture and Historical Conservation
Admir Masic

After Belonging
Carlos Minguez Carrasco

Architecture of Exile: The Permanent Temporariness of Refugee Camps
Alessandro Petti

Panel Discussion moderated by El Hadi Jazairy

Friday, March 24

City Debates (at) AUB 2017

"City Debates 2017 explores the emergence of urban-based political movements in various national contexts where “the city” and/or some of its ingredients (e.g. housing, public space, services, livelihoods) have been serving as the basis for new forms of claims. By documenting comparatively these movements through profiling the actors, strategies, tools, networks of solidarity, forms of lesson sharing, and the frames through which claims have been formulated, the Debates seek to investigate critically and comparatively these new forms of collective action. We ask: Are we indeed witnessing emancipatory political claims or, to the contrary, a reduction of the horizons of the political to the minimal necessities of everyday life? Furthermore, as professionals of the built environment, how do such movements affect our practice? How do they change the premises and assumptions of our profession? On what grounds should we engage such social movements and the spaces they create? What can we learn from their tactics and strategies? ..."


2017 Sous les Pavés, la Plage…
Itineraries of Urban Social Movements

excerpt of http://www.aub.edu.lb/fea/citydebates/Pages/2017/index.html#


Abstracts > http://www.aub.edu.lb/fea/citydebates/Pages/2017/abstracts.html



City Debates 2017 Opening

City Debates 2017 Panel 1: The 'Urban' in Social Movements


City Debates 2017 Panel 2: Alternative Urban Ideals


City Debates 2017 Panel 3 Discontent and Mobilization in the Face of Neoliberal Policies


City Debates 2017 Panel 4 Urban Social Movements and Local Governance

City Debates 2017 Panel 5 Urban Struggles at the Margins


City Debates 2017 Ananya Roy - The Politics of Space & Scale in the Age of Trumpism


City Debates 2017 Roundtable 1: Mobilization Experiences: Emerging Strategies and Frames


City Debates 2017 Roundtable 2: Towards an Urbanisme Engagé


City Debates 2017 Closing Panel Wrapping Up the Debates

Sunday, October 4

Athens Democracy Forum 2015

Athens Democracy Forum 2015 http://athensdemocracyforum.com/ ENHANCING SOCIETY THROUGH BETTER GOVERNANCE

As the world lurches from crisis to crisis, democracy is under extreme pressure. From the rise of Islamist extremism and regimes in states that reject liberal democracy, to growing inequality and the rapid expansion of new technologies, democratic foundations are being threatened in a world where profound changes happen almost overnight. In this era of global uncertainty, these issues and more will frame the debate at the third, expanded Athens Democracy Forum (September 13-15). The event, hosted by the International New York Times and the United Nations Democracy Fund, takes place in Athens, Greece - a living showcase of democracy under extreme challenge as the nation once again goes to the polls on September 20.
Greece may be the birthplace of democracy but, in recent years, the nation has had its foundations shaken by a political, economic and social crisis that has threatened, at times, to tear Europe apart. And in other parts of the world, the Arab Spring, the Maidan protests in Ukraine, the political paralysis in the U.S. Congress, are testament to democracy under threat. 
Held to coincide with the UN International Day of Democracy, our annual forum brings together diplomats, scholars, corporate executives, politicians, thought-leaders, and journalists from around the world to discuss at the foot of the Acropolis the state of liberal democracies and the major challenges they face in the world today. 
In addition to the main conference on September 15, a rich program of affiliated events - including an international student debate at the Old Parliament; a Google Hangout featuring political activists under house arrest; and a symphonic visual concert by Rufus Wainwright at the awe-inspiring Odeon of Herodes Atticus - will also take place throughout the city.






Democracy Under Pressure

"Signs of democratic dysfunction are everywhere, from Athens to Ankara, Brussels to Brasília. In the United States, the federal government has shut down 12 times in the last 35 years. According to the political scientists Christopher Hare and Keith T. Poole, the two main American political parties are more polarized now than they have been at any time since the Civil War. Meanwhile, a Gallup tracking poll shows that trust in the presidency and in the Supreme Court stands at historic lows — while faith in Congress has plummeted so far that it is now in the single digits.
Some citizens of democracies have become so unhappy with their institutions that — according to disturbing new studies of public opinion around the world — they may be tempted to dispense with partisan politics altogether. Would it not be better to let the president make decisions without having to worry about Congress — or to entrust key decisions to unelected experts like the Federal Reserve and the Pentagon?

According to a growing share of Americans, the answer is yes. Back in 1995, the well-respected World Values Survey, which studies representative samples of citizens in almost 100 countries, asked Americans for the first time whether they approved of the idea of “having the army rule.” One in 15 agreed. Since then, that number has steadily grown, to one in six.
To be sure, that still leaves five out of six Americans who would rather not have a military coup. And of course, not every American who tells a pollster that he would rather have the army in charge would actually support a coup. But the willingness to countenance alternative forms of government, if only by a small minority, reveals a deep disillusionment with democracy, one that should concern everyone living in an advanced democracy, including those in Europe and Asia.
The generational differences are striking. When the World Values Survey asked Americans how important it was for them to live in a democracy, citizens born before World War II were the most adamant. On a scale of one to ten, 72 percent assigned living in a democracy a ten, the highest possible value. Among many of their children and grandchildren, however, democracy no longer commands the same devotion. A little over half of Americans born in the postwar boom gave maximum importance to living in a democracy. Among those born since the 1980s, less than 30 percent did.
Political scientists are well aware that poll after poll shows citizens to be more dissatisfied than in the past. Yet they resist the most straightforward conclusion: that people may be less supportive of democracy than they once were.
Ronald Inglehart and Pippa Norris, for example, argue that expectations of citizens have grown rapidly in recent decades, leading to disappointment with the performance of individual politicians and particular governments. But while government legitimacy may have taken a hit, regime legitimacy — that is to say, faith in democracy as such — is as strong as ever, they say.
Worryingly, though, questions in the World Values Survey that directly speak to regime legitimacy no longer support that optimistic interpretation. In countries from the United States to Sweden, and from the Netherlands to Japan, citizens over the last three decades have become less likely to endorse the importance of democracy; less likely to express trust in democratic institutions; and less likely to reject nondemocratic alternatives.
This raises a question that would have seemed strange, even preposterous, to us until we started to embark on our current research: Could the political system in seemingly stable democracies like the United States be less imperturbable than meets the eye?
Scholars have long believed that democracies are stable once they have, in the words of Juan J. Linz and Alfred C. Stepan, become “the only game in town.” In such “consolidated” democracies, where an alternative system of government no longer seems like a possibility, an overwhelming majority of the citizens believes that the only legitimate form of government is democratic. Mainstream political actors refrain from subverting the rules of the democratic game for partisan advantage. And political forces that seek to dismantle the main aspects of the democratic system, like an independent judiciary, are weak or nonexistent.
Until recently, all of these statements described countries like the United States. Today, it is far from obvious that they still do.
It is not just that citizens like democracy less than they once did: Respect for the rules of the democratic game is also eroding. While most Americans still have a deep emotional attachment to the Constitution, the informal norms that have kept the system stable in the past are increasingly disregarded in political practice. Parliamentary procedures long reserved for extraordinary circumstances, for example, are used with stunning regularity. It is not uncommon to threaten impeachment, or to use the filibuster to block legislation — not because the bill is especially transformative, but simply because a legislative minority disagrees with it.
The rise of parties that are critical of key aspects of liberal democracy, like freedom of the press or minority rights, is even more disconcerting. Since the early 1990s, votes for populists have soared in most major Western democracies, whether the National Front in France or the People’s Party in Denmark.
It is no foregone conclusion that such parties will one day take over the government, nor that they would dismantle liberal democracy if they did. And most citizens say they still want to live in a democracy. But the democratic consensus is more brittle than it was. Scholars who long ago concluded that postwar Western democracies have “consolidated” must reckon with the possibility that a process of what we call “democratic deconsolidation” may be underway.
In our view, there are three main explanations for this development."
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/15/opinion/across-the-globe-a-growing-disillusionment-with-democracy.html

http://athensdemocracyforum.com/gallery/athens-democracy-forum-0/2014-videos/1006



















https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLi-CMaS2NmYsEgpnfKNETb0DeJtXYx564




Published on Jul 20, 2015
(ITA subtitles.) After months of negotiations Greece reaches a bad agreement with Eurozone partners. What will happen now? Can Greece be a catalyst for a wider European mobilisation? With Costas Douzinas, Margarita Tsomou, Srecko Horvat, Jerome Roos. Hosts Lorenzo Marsili, artistic direction Berardo Carboni.




Uploaded on Nov 20, 2008
Introduction to Ancient Greek History (CLCV 205)

In this lecture, Professor Kagan describes the mechanics of the Delian League and its transformation into the Athenian empire. This transformation caused Athens to rival Sparta as an equal in power and prestige. He also argues that this process took place rather smoothly due to the good relations between Sparta and Athens. Professor Kagan argues that Cimon the Athenian generally played an important part in this development. Finally, Professor Kagan begins to describe the workings of Athenian democracy by comparing it with modern American democracy.

00:00 - Chapter 1. The Rise of the Athenian Empire (Cont.)
10:25 - Chapter 2. Competition for Power between Sparta and Athens
15:51 - Chapter 3. Cimon, His Popularity and Rise to Power
30:29 - Chapter 4. The Thasian Rebellion and the Eventual Removal of Cimon
42:59 - Chapter 5. A Fuller Athenian Democracy
55:12 - Chapter 6. Organization of Athenian Democracy: The Legislative
01:04:42 - Chapter 7. Organization of Athenian Democracy: The Executive

Complete course materials are available at the Open Yale Courses website: http://open.yale.edu/courses

This course was recorded in Fall 2007.



Published on Nov 28, 2014
The government of the United States borrowed ideals from democratic rule in ancient Athens, Greece.



Published on Oct 3, 2014
Athenian democracy developed around the fifth century BC in the Greek city-state (known as a polis) of Athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica. Athens is one of the first known democracies. Other Greek cities set up democracies, most following the Athenian model, but none are as well-documented as Athens.
It was a system of direct democracy, in which participating citizens voted directly on legislation and executive bills. Participation was not open to all residents: to vote one had to be an adult, male citizen, and the number of these "varied between 30,000 and 50,000 out of a total population of around 250,000 to 300,000." At times, the opinion of voters could be strongly influenced by the political satire of the comic poets at the theatres.


This video is targeted to blind users.

Attribution:
Article text available under CC-BY-SA
Creative Commons image source in video

Sunday, September 22

P e a c e 1Day

May there be Peace One Day on this Earth

Over the years Peace One Day has delivered successful global campaigns that have touched millions of lives all over the world and instigated actions that promote reconciliation and peace-building through sports, dance, education, film, music, art and other areas.
Below is an overview of Peace One Day’s core campaigns. The theme for 2013 across all of these campaigns is: Who Will You Make Peace With?
Peace starts with individual action, and your actions will inspire others. So who will you make peace with? Who will you bring together on Peace Day, Saturday 21 September 2013?


INDIVIDUALS

Peace Day is about empowering individuals to make a difference. It is everyone’s legacy. If it isn’t everyone’s, it’s not going to work.
Through detailed analysis conducted with the support of McKinsey & Company, the Peace One Day 2012 Report found that approximately 280 million people in 198 countries were aware of Peace Day 2012 – 4% of the world’s population. The report further estimates that approximately 2% of those people (5.6 million) behaved more peacefully as a result. Peace One Day expects to double those figures for 2013, creating a solid foundation for informing 3 billion people about Peace Day by 2016.
As an individual, the first thing you can do to help is register your support for Peace Day 21 September here:
http://peaceoneday.org/

#2013 Theme
Who Will You Make Peace With?...

...Is Peace One Day’s theme for 2013.
Peace Day is not only about a reduction of violence in areas of conflict, it is also about reducing violence in our homes, communities and schools.

more on #PeaceOneDay



The International Day of Peace, sometimes unofficially known as World Peace Day, is observed annually on 21 September. It is dedicated to world peace, and specifically the absence of war and violence, such as might be occasioned by a temporary ceasefire in a combat zone for humanitarian aid access. The day was first celebrated in 1982, and is kept by many nations, political groups, military groups, and peoples. In 2013, for the first time, the Day was dedicated by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to peace education, the key preventive means to reduce war sustainably.[1]
To inaugurate the day, the United Nations Peace Bell is rung at UN Headquarters (in New York City). The bell is cast from coins donated by children from all continents except Africa, and was a gift from the United Nations Association of Japan, as "a reminder of the human cost of war"; the inscription on its side reads, "Long live absolute world peace".[2]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Day_of_Peace

Wednesday, June 19

Ila souria Competition

 Ila souria Competition > July



عبّر عن نفسك

في هذه الفترة من الانتاج الاعلامي الغزير من جميع المصادر، ولكن حيث نسمع كل شيء ما عدا رأي الشعب السوري، تقدّم “إلى سوريا” للشابات والشباب السوريين فرصة التعبير عن أنفسهم

إن معارف المختصين والجردات و تحليل المختصين من كل أنحاء العالم، كلها أشياء أساسية لا يمكن فصلها عن رأي اللاعبين الحقيقيين للثورة وخاصة الشباب الذين يساهمون غالباً، في هذا السياق المأساوي، بحياتهم لبناء المستقبل

أي مستقبل؟

لذلك تعرض “إلى سوريا” على كل واحد، السؤال التالي

ما الذي يساعدكم على البقاء والحفاظ على الامل منذ بداية الثورة؟ بأي مستقبل تحلمون؟ وكيف تفكرون بإمكانية تحقيقه؟

هناك طريقتان للإجابة على هذا السؤال

ـ إما بواسطة نص،

ـ أو بواسطة صورة ( أو الإثنين معاً للذين يرغبون بربط كلماتهم بتصوّر ما

نص مع حريّة تعبير كاملة و مطلقة (رسالة، قصة، شعر، إلخ) وصورة مع الامكانيات اللامحدودة للغة المرئية (رسوم، كاريكاتور، منحوتات، تصميم، صور، ملصقات، إلخ)

الشروط

إجابة نصية= 200 كلمة كحد أقصى باللغة العربية أو 300 كلمة باللغة الفرنسية او الانكليزية.

300 dpi مع دقة jpg إجابة صورية= الابعاد القصوى للصورة: إرتفاع 20 سم ـ العرض 15سم، مسجّلة بقطع

تجدر الإشارة إلى أن المنشور سوف ينشر بالأبيض والأسود (مستوى الرمادي):على المبتكر إذاً أن يأخذ بعين الاعتبار هذه المعطيات الاساسية في تكوين اللون، إما من خلال العمل مباشرة على هذه الثنائية أو عبر اختيار الالوان الملائمة في الاطار المفروض

نطلب من الجميع الالتزام بهذه الشروط لاسباب تتعلق بالتصميم الرسمي الذي علينا تسليمه للطابع.

من المستحسن تحديد الاسم او العائلة او اسم مستعار والعمر ومكان الاقامة الحالي والمعتاد (للنازحين والمنفيين

ستنشر الردود على الانترنت على موقع “إلى…” و مجموعة مختارة ستنشر (كتاب، حجم 24ـ 18سم) باللغة العربية او الفرنسية او الانكليزية مع نشر أعمال المؤتمر الاول لإلى…، إلى سوريا.01، اللذي سيقام في معهد العالم العربي في باريس، في تشرين الاول المقبل

يجب ارسال النصوص والصور المقترحة بالبريد الالكتروني وذلك قبل ٧ تموز ٢٠١٣ على العنوان التالي

ila.alaati@gmail.com

نشكركم على تعريف اصدقائكم و معارفكم على هذه المبادرة. و ننتظر شهاداتكم بفارغ الصبر

إلى سوريا

http://www.ilasouria.org/الصفحة-الرئيسية-welcome/

EXPRIMEZ-VOUS !

Dans cette période de foisonnement médiatique de toutes origines mais où l’on entend tout sauf l’opinion du peuple syrien, Ila Souria propose aux jeunes syriennes et syriens de s’exprimer.

Les savoirs de spécialistes, les
inventaires et état des lieux, les analyses d’expériences de par le monde,
toutes choses essentielles ne peuvent être dissociées de l’opinion publique, et donc de celle des véritables acteurs de la révolution, en particulier des jeunes, qui dans ce contexte tragique contribuent, de leur vie souvent, à construire l’avenir .

Quel avenir ?
Aussi, Ila Souria soumet à chacun la question suivante :
Qu’est-ce qui vous aide à tenir et à garder espoir depuis le début de la révolution ?
De quel avenir rêvez-vous ? Comment pensez-vous pouvoir le réaliser ?

Deux façons de répondre à cette interrogation :
- soit par un texte,
- soit par une image (soit les deux pour certains qui voudraient associer une représentation à leurs mots).

Texte avec une totale liberté d’expression (lettre, récit, poésie, etc.) et image avec une infinité de possibilités de langages visuels (dessins, caricatures, sculptures, maquettes, photographies, collages, etc.).

Contraintes :
Réponse textuelle = maximum de 200 mots en langue arabe et de 300 mots en langue française ou anglaise.
Réponse graphique = dimension maximum de l’image : hauteur 20 cm – largeur 15 cm, enregistrée au format jpg avec une résolution de 300 dpi.

A noter que la publication sera éditée en noir et blanc (niveau de gris) : au créateur donc de prendre en considération cette donnée essentielle dans sa composition colorimétrique, soit en travaillant directement dans cette bichromie soit en choisissant les “bonnes“ couleurs dans le cadre imposé.

Nous vous demandons à tous de bien respecter ces contraintes pour des raisons pratiques liées à la maquette graphique que nous aurons à remettre à l’imprimeur.

Il est souhaitable d’indiquer les prénom et nom ou le pseudonyme, l’âge, le lieu de vie actuel et habituel (pour les déplacés ou les exilés).

Les réponses seront publiées en ligne sur le site ILA… et une sélection des réponses reçues sera publiée (livre, format 24x18cm) en arabe, français et anglais avec une parution pour le premier colloque de ILA…, Ilasouria.01, qui se déroulera à l’Institut du monde arabe à Paris en octobre prochain.

Les textes et les images proposés devront être adressés par mail à ila.alaati@gmail.com et cela impérativement avant le 07 juillet 2013.

Merci de faire connaître cette initiative, à vos proches et connaissances. Nous attendons avec impatience vos témoignages !

http://www.ilasouria.org/exprimez-vous/


HAVE YOUR SAY !

There is no shortage of opinions in the media about the situation in Syria. It seems everybody has something to say – but we’re not getting to hear from the Syrians themselves. That is why Ila Souria is reaching out to the young people of Syria, so their voices can be heard.

Specialists’ input, inventories and assessments of the state of affairs, analyses of pertinent experiences around the world… all are essential ingredients that cannot be dissociated from public opinion and the feedback of those who are directly involved in the revolution—especially young people who, in this tragic context, in many cases are giving their very lives to help build the country’s future.

What kind of future lies ahead?

Ila Souria would like people to consider the following questions:
What has given you hope, and kept your hope alive, since the beginning of the revolution? What kind of future do you dream of? How do you think it can be achieved?

There are two ways to submit your answers:
– in written format
– in visual format (or both, for those who wish to combine images and words).
Your written contributions can take any form you like (letter, story, poem, etc.) as can your visuals (drawings, caricatures, sculptures, models, photographs, collages, etc.).

Conditions:
Written contribution: Maximum of 200 words in Arabic or 300 words in French or English.
Visual contribution: Maximum height of 20 cm and maximum width of 15 cm, submitted in JPG format, resolution 300 dpi.
Please note that the final document will be published in black and white (grey scale). Creators should therefore take this into consideration in their colour choices and composition, either by working directly in black and white or by choosing an easily adaptable colour palette.
All contributors are asked to kindly adhere to these limits, which are required to meet practical printing considerations.
It is preferable to include your full name or pseudonym with your contribution, as well as your age, your current place of residence and your usual place of residence (for those who are displaced or in exile).
Contributions will be posted on the ILA website, and a selection will be included in a book (24 cm x 18 cm) to be published in Arabic, French and English. The book will be launched at the Ilasouria.01 symposium, which will be held at the Institut du monde arabe in Paris in October 2013.

All contributions must be sent by email to ila.alaati@gmail.com by July 7, 2013, at the very latest.

Be sure to spread the word about this initiative to as many people as possible.
We look forward to hearing from you!