Southern Miss to Host Public Forum on Recent Egyptian Revolution Feb. 21
Thu, 02/17/2011 - 04:31pm | By: Tearanny Street
As the revolution in Egypt continues to unfold, a diverse group of faculty and students from The University of Southern Mississippi will host a public forum addressing the situation Mon., February 21 at 6:30 p.m. in the Liberal Arts Building room 108.
Sponsored by the Department of Political Science, International Development and International Affairs, the Forum on Egypt seeks to help individuals understand the nature of the Egyptian Revolution. A question and answer session will immediately follow the panel discussion. This forum is free and open to the public.
Panelists include: Dr. Nagwa Megahed, Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence from Cairo, Egypt;Dr. Dia Ali, computer science professor; Dr. Isaac Gang, computer science instructor and Mohamed Ismail, president of the Southern Miss Arab American Association. Megahed, Ali, and Ismail are all native Egyptians and Gang is Sudanese. Ahmed Abdelzaher, a computer science doctoral student, will also serve on the panel live from Cairo via Skype.
“Calling for democracy, freedom and social justice are very legitimate demands (basic human rights),” said Megahed, who was granted a second year of teaching and researching for the Southern Miss Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. She is currently offering courses in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies. “Overall, from day one of the revolution on Jan. 25, Egyptians realized that they hold the power to make change and they did.”
Megahed's son, Mohamed Ismail, serves as the president of the Southern Miss Arab American Association that is collaborating with the Center for Human Rights and Civil Liberties and Students for Human Rights to coordinate this event.
Dr. Bob Press, associate professor of political science at Southern Miss, a champion of human rights, believes this forum will help those who attend better understand the Egyptian Revolution and how Egyptians feel about their revolution.
“It is an example of the courage and determination of ordinary Egyptians, young to old, wealthy to poor, to be free of oppression and live lives of dignity. In 18 days of demonstration, they ousted a 30-year autocrat. Those attending will come away with a better understanding of what the Egyptian Revolution means to Egyptians both in Egypt and at Southern Miss.”
For more information, please call Tearanny Street at 601.266.6823 or email at Tearanny.Street@usm.ed.