Festival: Spring is yet to come!, Amsterdam

Five years after the first uprisings in the Arab region, the festival ‘Spring is yet to come’ offers the unique opportunity to meet global changemakers, artists, thinkers, writers and researchers and discuss prevailing topics in contemporary societies.

Spring is yet to come’ aims to set up a new agenda for future collaboration and exchange based on common perspectives. The festival provides workshops, panel discussions, lectures, films and art performances on 5 current issues: Citizenship, Social Action, Economy, Heroes and Victims and Social Inheritance.

Programme

Click here for the full programme

Spring is yet to come consists of workshops, panel discussions, lectures, films and art performances and will take place in 4 different rooms. The programme is divided into 3 blocks with 2 intermissions for tea and dinner. A sketch of the program is presented on the following page.

Photo Exhibition by Lotfi El Ghariani

In anticipation of the festival, one can get inspired during the month of April by an exhibition of photos created by the Tunisian photographer Lotfi El Ghariani and other photographers of the Arab region in the café of Pakhuis de Zwijger.

Confirmed speakers

Paul Aarts

Dept. of Political Science, UvA.

Ahmed Abdelhamid

Ahmed Abdelhamid is the author of mn Europa el Balad, co-founder of Ketabna and Sasa Post.

Karim ben Bécher

He studied at the Université de Paris Sorbonne and is the Tunesian ambassador at the Netherlands.

Faten Busheri

This multimedia journalist and rights advocate originates from Bahrain. She is the Head of Information and Media Relations at EBO HumanRights and a contributor at Global Voices.

Sinan Çankaya

Is a cultural anthropologist at the University of Utrecht who does research and advice on police organizations, safety and diversity management.

Hilla Dayan

Dr. Hilla Dayan, lecturer at Amsterdam university college and co-founder of Academia for Equality and of gate48, platform for critical Israelis in the Netherlands.

Youssef Cherif

Youssef Cherif is a Tunisian award-winning blogger (Fayla) and a frequent writer/commentator on North African Issues, with focus on Tunisia.

Derar Eleyan

He is the Vice President of Admin & Finance Affairs at the Palestine Technical University - Kadoorie TulKarem, Palestine.

Khadija Elmadmad

Besides being a law professor at Hassan II University, Khadija Elmadmad is chairholder at UNESCO for migration and human rights.

Lotfi el Ghariani

Lotfi Ghariani currently lives and works in Tunis. His work has been featured in many exhibitions both in his home country and abroad including: Spring Arts Fair Tunis, F.I.A.P - Maharès in Tunisia 2007. He represented his country at the 6th International Biennial of Arts, Tunis, 2010.

Mohammed Hussainy

Mohammed Hussainy is a Jordanian writer specialising in Iraqi issues who writes for Al Ghad newspaper and Al Arabiya. He is the director of the Identity Center in Amman, Jordan, which aims to encourage political participation in Jordan and the wider Arab world.

Mariam el Maslouhi

Mariam el Maslouhi is an experienced coach, specialized in working with children and teenagers. Next to that, she is the co-founder of the Bades foundation, which focuses on the Moroccan Rif.

Samir Makdisi

Samir Makdisi is a Lebanese professor of Economics at the American University of Beirut and currently co-managing (with Ibrahim Elbadawi) a major three year research project on "Transition from Autocracy to Democracy in the Arab World" with the participation of 15 scholars from various Arab countries and abroad.

Amade M'Charek

Amade M’charek is Professor Anthropology of Science at the department of Anthropology of the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests are in forensics, forensic anthropology and race.

Abrahim Miro

Currently the minister of Economy and Finance at the Syrian Interim Government, Abrahim Miro graduated at the University of Amsterdam and worked at De Nederlandsche Bank.

Abdallah Yahya

This Tunesian film and documentary maker is the creator of “Un Retour”, a documentary which chronicles the Tunisian village of El Omrane in Sidi Bouzid, 283 km from Tunis, where massive arrests are carried out against young people demonstrating for their right to work.

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