Edward Said Memorial Lecture - A History
Edward Wadie S
aid was a Palestinian-American literary theorist and one of the most articulate and visible advocates of the Palestinian cause. He taught English and Comparative Literature at Colum bia University . Before his death in 2003, Professor Said was seen as one of the leadin g literary critics of th e 20th century, and described by many as an 'Intellectual Superstar' in the United States. The ESML is AFOPA's showpiece event. This year's guest speaker, Noam Chomsky, is a world renowned linguist, philosopher, and human rights activist.
The Edward Said Memorial Lecture, ESML, is a annual public lecture to honour the memory of a path-breaking scholar, courageous advocate, passionate critic and an unfailing humanist, the late Edward Said.
2011 - PROF. NOAM CHOMSKY 5th November, 2011
Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, and activist. A Emeritus Professor at MIT, Chomsky is regarded as one of the fathers of modern linguistics and as a major contributor to analytical philosophy. Chomsky is self described as a libertarian socialist and has been critical of the US foreign policy since the Vietnam war. He has also been critical of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.
Chomsky published more than 150 books and was cited as a source more often than any other living scholar from 1980 to 1992. He is also the eighth most cited source of all time, and is considered the "most cited living author". Some of his latest books are 'American Power and the New Mandarins' and 'Gaza in Crisis: Reflections on Israel’s War Against the Palestinians (with Illan Pappé)'
The Edward Said Memorial Lecutre organisers, the University of Adelaide and the Australian Friends of Palestine Association (AFOPA), celebrate Chomsky's recognition as a recipient of the 2011 Sydney Peace Prize.
AFOPA is also honoured to present this unique event to our supporters, and hoped you enjoyed a spectacular evening with Prof. Chomsky.
Noam Chomsky talks at the 7th Edward Said Memorial Lecture in Adelaide from AustFriends of Palastine Associa on Vimeo.
2010 - Tariq Ali 9th October 2010
High-profile British Pakistani author and political commentator Tariq Ali delivered the sixth annual Edward Said Memorial Lecture at the University of Adelaide on Saturday 9 October. A leading figure of the international left since the 1960s, Tariq Ali will discuss possible ways forward for Israel and Palestine.
Tariq Ali was a long-time friend of Said's and interviewed him many times, publishing this material in the book, Conversations with Edward Said, in 2005.Tariq Ali was born in Lahore in 1943. He was educated at Oxford University where he became involved in student politics, in particular against the war in Vietnam. He has remained at the forefront of anti-war campaigns.
Today he is a broadcaster, filmmaker and commentator, writing regularly for The Guardian, CounterPunch and the London Review of Books. He is a member of the editorial committee of the New Left Review and the author of a number of fiction and non-fiction books including, most recently, The Obama Syndrome and a series of historical novels about Islam.
Recordings from lecture,
2009 - Professor Saree Makdisi 19th of September 2009
Palestinian-American author and academic Professor Saree Makdisi will delivered t
he annual Edward Said Memorial Lecture at the University of Adelaide. Professor Makdisi comes from a distinguished academic family and is also the nephew of the late Edward Said, considered one of the most famous Palestinian intellectuals in the world until his death in 2003.
The Washington-born academic is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of California in Los Angeles. He is also a regular commentator on contemporary Arab politics and culture and is widely published in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Houston Chronicle, London Review of Books and the San Francisco Chronicle.
Professor Makdisi addressed many of the issues raised in his 2008 book Palestine Inside Out: An Everyday Occupation when he delivers the fifth annual lecture this month, titled "From Occupation to Reconciliation". "We have a current impasse in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians because the notion of a two-state solution has broken down beyond repair," he said. "A one-state solution, in which Israeli Jews and Palestinians would share and live as equals in a single, democratic and secular state is the way to go, I believe". This solution was also championed by Edward Said.
2008 - Doctor Sara Roy 11th October 2008
Harvard scholar Dr Sara Roy, the daughter of holocaust survivors, delivered the annual Edward Said Memorial Lecture at the University of Adelaide on Saturday 11 October. Dr Roy is a political eco
nomist and senior research scholar at the Centre of Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University. She has worked in the Gaza Strip and West Bank since 1985, conducting research on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and on US foreign aid to the region.
Her latest book, Failing Peace, published in 2007, draws on more than 2000 interviews and extensive first-hand experience to chronicle the impact of Israeli occupation over a generation. Hailed by literary critics as a "must-read" of the Israeli/Palestine conflict, the book provides a powerful account of the reality of life in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Dr Roy devotes a large section of her book to her Jewish upbringing, arguing that her background does not exclude her from questioning the social laws that govern Jews.
Dr Roy's current research examines the social and economic sectors of the Palestinian Islamic movement and the critical changes that have occurred in the past decade. She has authored more than 100 publications dealing with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and is a well-known media commentator on the subject, writing for a host of international journals. In addition to her academic work, Dr Roy has served as a consultant to international and human rights organisations, the United States Government, private voluntary organisations and business groups working in the Middle East.
Recordings from lecture,
2007 - Dr Ghada Karmi 6th October 2007
Palestinian-British author and academic Dr Ghada Karmi delivered the annual Edward Said Memorial Lecture at the University of Adelaide on Saturday 6 October. Dr Karmi is an honorary research fellow and assistant lecturer at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom.
A well-known international commentator on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Dr Karmi appears widely in the British and Arab media and frequently has articles on the Middle East published in The Guardian (UK), The Nation (US) and Journal of Palestine Studies. Although born in Jerusalem, Dr Karmi has spent most of her life in Britain, where she studied medicine and initially practised as a physician, specialising in the health and social conditions of ethnic minorities, migrants and asylum seekers.
In her 2002 autobiography, In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story, she describes growing up in the Jerusalem neighbourhood of Katamon, with its mixture of Christian and Muslim Palestinians. With her family she was forced to flee in 1948 and settled in London, where her father worked for the BBC Arabic service
2006 - Professor Tanya Reinhart 7th October 2006
Professor Reinhart is an Emeritus Professor of Linguistics and Media Studies at Tel Aviv University in Israel. Her second book, A Road Map to Nowhere: Israel/Palestine since 2003, is due for release this year.
Reinhart's timely book has been described as a "searing exposé of the peace process", giving readers an insight into the Israel-Palestinian crisis and the propaganda that affects its coverage.
It argues that the current situation has brought no real progress and that, under cover of diplomatic successes, Israel is using the road map to strengthen its grip on the remaining occupied territories.
Recordings from lecture,
2005 - Dr Robert Fisk 1st October 2005
The inaugural Edward Said Memorial Lecture delivered by Dr Robert Fisk. Robert Fisk, the highly regarded Middle East correspondent for The Independent in the UK, is one of the few Western journalists to have interviewed Osama Bin Laden. 
He is about to launch his new book `The Great War for Civilisation: The Conquest of the Middle East', an eyewitness account of recent history in the Middle East. Fisk was stationed in Baghdad during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq and the ensuing US-led occupation of Iraq. He has criticised other journalists for their "hotel journalism", leaving them out of touch with the events and atmosphere of the Baghdad streets. He covered the Iranian revolution, the Iran-Iraq war, the Persian Gulf War and the conflict in Algeria. He covered the Lebanese civil war and wrote a book on the conflict, `Pity The Nation'. Fisk has also reported on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Fisk has received many awards for his journalism, including the Amnesty International UK Press Awards in 1998 for his reports from Algeria and again in 2000 for his articles on NATO bombing of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He has been awarded the British International Journalist of the Year award seven times.
Recordings from lecture,