Zoghby to discuss Middle East, US elections
on April 8
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Courtesy of Communications and Marketing |
James Zoghby, renowned Arab-American author and founder and president of the Arab-American Institute (AAI), will discuss the impact of the Middle East policy debate on the upcoming US presidential elections in a lecture Tuesday at the American University in Cairo (AUC).
The lecture, titled The Stakes Have Never Been Higher: The Middle East Policy Debate at the 2008 Elections, will start at 5 p.m. in Ewart Memorial Hall and will analyze how presidential candidates should be questioned on issues such as the war in Iraq, US relations with Iran and US support for Israel.
According to their website, the AAI “represents the policy and community interests of Arab-Americans throughout the United States and strives to promote Arab-American participation in the U.S. electoral system.
“At this time, I think it is very important to have people like James Zogby [speak] in order to promote more understanding between the East and the West,” said Magda Bagnied, adjunct professor of journalism and mass communication, “The importance of his lecture comes from the fact that he is dealing with pressing issues of prime importance in this part of the world.”
Inas Hamam, associate director for communications in the office of communications and marketing, explained that the university has been working with AAI for the past year.
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, Zoghby was a founding member and leader of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign, the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and the Save Lebanon, Inc. campaign. He also wrote a number of books, including What Ethnic Americans Really Think and What Arabs Think: Values, Beliefs and Concerns.
“We have many types of immigrants, some of them are self-hating Arabs, some ignore and deny their Arab origin and some are very active as a bridge between the Arab world and the West. James Zogby falls into the latter category,” said Said Sadek, professor of sociology at AUC.
Zogby is a frequent guest on both American and Arab television and radio programs. He now hosts Viewpoint with James Zogby, aired on Abu Dhabi TV and LinkTV. He also hosted the popular A Capital View on the Arab Network of America for several years.
“He is one of the most renowned Arab-Americans and his organization, AAI, works hard to bring Middle East issues and issues relating to Arab-Americans into US politics where they can have some kind of impact,” said Hamam.
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