December 11th Film Screening

 

The CAC and Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT Present:

 

TUNISIA, YEAR ZERO

“The story of the first democracy in the Arab world.”
A Film by Feriel Ben Mahmoud
 
December Film

 

We will be joined by Guest Speaker Professor Rachid Aadnani
for a discussion after the film.

Date: December 11, 2o15

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: Center for Arabic Culture

191 Highland Av. Suit 6B. Somerville, MA 02143

About the Film:

On January 14th, 2011, the people of Tunisia took to the streets in mass protest and toppled the government of Ben Ali. The event has a tremendous impact in the region which triggers the Arab Spring. Following the revolution, Tunisians make the radical choice to draft a new state constitution. Called to the urns for the first free elections of their history, the citizens of Tunisia will have to choose which model of society they wish to live in. Islam, secularism and women’s status become the major themes of a campaign under high pressure.

Following the events day by day, TUNISIA, YEAR ZERO tells the story of a difficult birth: that of the first democracy in the Arab world. In 6 months, no less than 110 political parties were created. In this political turmoil, a few of them emerge: the Islamist party Ennhada seduces those disappointed with the revolution. Some other modernist parties, such as Ettakatol and the PDP, are divided on the content of their policies as well as on which strategy to adopt. Leading the polls, Ennahdha will confirm its success in the elections with more than 90 seats out of 217.

How could these results be predicted? TUNISIA, YEAR ZERO gives the reasons for the outcome of the elections.

This Event is Free and Open to the Public

Donations Welcome

 

Keep Arabic Culture Alive!

Donate to CACKeep Arabic Culture Alive!

 

Zobian Family

“We are very proud and happy to be part of the CAC family, where we made many new friends and rekindle old friendships, while our children learn our language and culture in a wonderful family environment.”
 
Dr. Assef Zobian and Family

 

The Center for Arabic Culture (CAC) is a nonprofit organization that promotes Arabic language, culture and the Arab American experience at its best, through its Arabic school at Mt. Ida College in Newton and its Center at the Armory in Somerville.

CAC’s main goal is to build bridges and open exchanges between the Arab-American community and the New England Community at large. CAC is reaching its 10-year mark and its existence is only possible because of generous donors like you, the vision of its founders and current Board, the hardworking staff member, its teachers and the many volunteers.

Why support CAC?

  • At the CAC Arabic School we pride ourselves in offering a secular education embracing everyone and for all age groups starting from 3 year olds to adults, holding small class sizes.
  • Our organization succeeded in establishing the first Arab American Children Choir in New England. With 25 members, the choir introduced Arabic music through various concerts in the Greater Boston Area.  It sang with the NY Arabic Orchestra at the 2015 annual CAC spring Celebration.
  • We are becoming a valuable resource to numerous organizations in Massachusetts. The Boston Public Library, the American Cancer Society, the Somerville Office of Commissions and the Aga Khan Documentation center at MIT, to name a few, have all relied on CAC for advice, inquiries, events, and educational resources.
  • In 2015, CAC featured Arab-American artists, Arabic films, exhibitions, and held cooking classes, Arabic colloquial classes and a fashion show at the Armory in Somerville.  It organized and sponsored comedy shows and concerts, as well as talented musicians from Boston together with musicians from New York under the direction of our ardent supporter and musician Bassam Saba.
  • CAC was able to train and supervise more than 20 interns during 2014 and 2015, the vast majority of whom are of non-Arab descent and interested in learning about the Arabic Culture.

    Mark Naylor

    “I started learning Arabic six years ago for work reasons, but I’ve continued my studies (and started my children learning here) because of the warm welcome, support, encouragement, and professionalism of the CAC staff, teachers, and families. We couldn’t ask for a better environment in which to learn about Arabic culture and language!”
    Mark Naylor, founder of Partner Capital,
    a company focused on US real estate
    investing by Middle East clients

We pride ourselves in having created all this programming with only one paid staff member and a large team of volunteers.  With your support we can continue to bring more content.

Please continue to be generous as our services are unique and are not offered elsewhere in Massachusetts. We aim to offer an intensive summer course for children this summer and we hope to grow our extra-curricular activities for them.  Your funding makes our programming for you possible.  The school tuition barely pays for the rent and the teachers.

All our contributing donors above $100 will automatically become CAC members and enjoy our membership benefits according to their level of contribution. CAC is a registered 501(c) (3) non-profit organization.  Donations are tax-exempt.

Your gift is what keeps CAC going.

Donate to CAC

 

 

 

 

Photos By: Jan Komsta

The Aida Camp Alphabet

Come hear about this bilingual storybook made by children of Aida Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, The West Bank!

Book Reading Event with Professor Amahl Bishara

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Saturday, December 5, 4:30-6:00

191 Highland Av. Suite 6B. Somerville, MA 02143

Middle Eastern Reception & Light refreshments will be served. Free to the Public 

Children of Aida Refugee Camp at Lajee Center made this bilingual storybook. It is for people of all ages (5-105) to learn about everyday life in a Palestinian refugee camp. You will pick up some Arabic, too!

Copies are $20, bulk rates available. Also available is The Boy and the Wall (2005, $15), a bilingual children’s book about how a young boy dreams of resisting the wall that oppresses his community every day, and how his mother supports his dreams for freedom and his imagination. Both books feature collage art made collectively by children at Lajee Center.

For more information, email Amahl Bishara at friendsoflajee@gmail.com.

All proceeds benefit Lajee Center, www.lajee.org.

Thank you for your support of our work!

Massachusetts Peace Action Event! Nov. 14, 2015

A New Day? Organizing to Change US Policy on Israel and Palestine

November 14 @ 12:30 pm4:30 pm

RegisterButton300

A half-day conference 

Speakers

Rami Khouri: a Palestinian-Jordanian and U.S. citizen whose family resides in Beirut, Amman, and Nazareth. He is director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut and he is a Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Middle East Initiative . His journalistic work includes writing books and an internationally syndicated column, and he also serves as editor at large of the Beirut-based Daily Star newspaper.

MJ Rosenberg: A thirty-five-year career on Capitol Hill, at the State Department and, significantly, four years at AIPAC led Rosenberg to become a champion of Israeli-Palestinian peace and a vocal opponent of the right-wing “pro-Israel” lobby. Rosenberg writes for The Nation, Washington Spectator, and has a weekly column for the Huffington Post.  He blogs at  http://mjrosenberg.net/

Nadia Ben-Youssef: a lawyer and human rights advocate serving as the first USA Representative for Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. After four years in the Naqab (Negev) in southern Israel leading Adalah’s international advocacy efforts on behalf of the Palestinian Bedouin community, she is now developing Adalah’s US advocacy strategy to shape American discourse and influence American policy and practice towards a human rights-based approach in Israel/Palestine. Nadia holds a BA in Sociology from Princeton University, and J.D. from Boston College Law School.

Waves of violence and reprisals, demolitions and detentions, religious incitement and “extrajudicial executions” are once again the norm in occupied Palestine, even as Israel’s Prime Minister comes to the White House in November to collect billions more in US military aid.  For a time, this horrible pattern was seemingly about to change.  Is change still possible?

Our conference will bring together activists from a variety of local organizations and movements to ask:

• What is the current state of the US politics and policy regarding Israel-Palestine?

• What are the new opportunities arising from the growing partisan divide on the issue?

• What are the lessons from the struggle against South African apartheid?

• How can we organize more consistently and effectively to pressure our elected representatives?

The conference as a whole will assess the two Massachusetts senators, and also break up into workshops based on Congressional districts, with workshop leaders able to outline the experience so far and the members voting record.  It is expected that the conference will establish the organizational basis and mechanisms for improved ongoing work in this arena.

We invite area groups, activists and all those interested in Palestine/Israel/Peace issues to help better organize our efforts to challenge US government policy more effectively. In addition to other ongoing important campaigns such as direct solidarity, BDS and public education, we see the need for a simultaneous campaign to contest the reigning US government policies which enable Israeli occupation, oppression and military aggression.

Harvard University, William James Hall, room B1, 33 Kirkland St at Divinity Ave, Cambridge

Sponsored by the Massachusetts Peace Action Palestine/Israel Working Group.

Cosponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace – Boston, United for Justice with Peace, Arlington UJP, Greater Boston Code Pink, Friends of Sabeel North America – New England Chapter, Dorchester People for Peace, Watertown Citizens for Peace, Justice and the Environment, North Shore Coalition for Peace & Justice, Tree of Life Educational Fund, Jewish Women for Justice in Israel/Palestine, Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East – Massachusetts chapter, Palestine Israel Task Team of First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, UCC, Cambridge Bethlehem People to People Project, Grassroots International (list in formation).

RegisterButton300Sign up to attend.  $5 donation requested / No one turned away.

For information contact pi@masspeaceaction.org or call 617-354-2169

Performing Troupe from Somerville's Moroccan Sister City, Tiznit. Nov. 1, 2015

Brickbottom Artists Association
Presents:

PERFORMANCE AND WORKSHOP

Sunday, November 1, 2015
The Brickbottom Gallery would like to welcome the Dramatic Association for Artistic Creation, a two-man performing troupe from Somerville’s Moroccan Sister City, Tiznit.
-2 p.m.  Theater workshop:  Art and culture are the pillars of tolerance
-7 p.m. Performance:  “What a Beautiful Life!”
All events are FREE and open to the public!
Jamal Taamart and Yassine Enssimi have been touring France, Bulgaria, Tunisia, Turkey, and Russia with the sponsorship of Royal Air Maroc.

to read more: Press Here

Call for Bi-lingual Volunteers at Boston Children Hospital

Call for Bi-lingual Volunteers at Boston Children Hospital- Cultural Navigator Program
BCH
Cultural Navigator Volunteers – At the Boston Campus, work closely with our International Health Center and Front Line Team to welcome patients and families from around the world and acquaint them with the Boston Children’s Hospital community.
We are seeking bi-lingual and multi-cultural volunteers that are fluent in Arabic.
As a Cultural Navigator Volunteer, expect to:
* Act as a connector between patients and families and hospital services
* Offer tour and introduction to BCH resources and amenities
* Escort families to appointments within BCH or to BCH affiliates
* Engage and play with patients (and/or siblings)
* Support social interpreting situations
Cultural Navigator Volunteers will NEVER:
* Provide medical or clinical interpretation for patients or staff
* Hold patients, babies or children
* Provide “babysitting services” to patients, babies or children
* Bring children that are unaccompanied by an authorized adult to the Center for Families
* Offer to relay medical or psychosocial issues to Care Team (Direct to Interpreter)
* Assist with completing clinical, financial or confidential paperwork (Direct to Interpreter)
What we’re looking for are people who love people. Ideally, we need individuals with rich interpersonal skills typically from a background in customer service, retail, or hospitality.
For More Information please contact us directly at:
VOLUNTEER SERVICES
culturalnavigators@childrens.harvard.edu
Sarra AbuSamra, Program Coordinator
Aisha Boykin, Program Coordinator

Mujid S. Kazimi Memorial Fund

Mujid S. Kazimi Memorial Fund

The MIT Department of Nuclear Science and Engineering has established an endowed fund in honor of our dear friend Professor Mujid Kazimi to support graduate students. Mujid passed away suddenly in July while on business in China.

Professor Kazimi, a pillar of the Arab-American community in the United States, was a staunch advocate for education and a strong supporter of the Center for Arabic Culture.
To read more about the Kazimi Memorial Fund and make a contribution, please click on the following link:

November 2015 Cook With CAC Session!

Class if Full! Registration is now closed

Check our website for the next class date! We will announce it soon!

Cook With CAC! Kunafa Nabulsieh Lesson!

kunafa

Join the New Cook with CAC session at Union Kitchen on November 13! Enjoy home-style Arabic authentic cooking you cannot find at any culinary school. We’ll learn a popular Arabic dessert “Kunafa”! It is a very famous Arabic dish and an excellent addition to the table during Thanksgiving and the holidays! It is a hands on Class! Learn and Dine!

Location: Union Kitchen 121 Washington St. Somerville, MA 02143

Date: Friday Nov. 13, 2015 6:15- 9:00 pm

Registration Fee: $35/ person

To Register today Click Here

Künefe

October Film Screening

 

The Center for Arabic Culture &
The Aga Khan Documentation Center at MIT
Present
Creative Dissent Exhibit Film Screening of

October Film

A Documentary by Lillie Paquiett

Going beyond the headlines, this story—filmed in the fourteen months leading up to the Revolution— highlights the years of mounting resentment against the ruling regime. Filmmaker Lillie Paquette follows key opposition figures and young democracy activists as they struggle against extraordinary odds to remove an uncompromising US-backed authoritarian regime determined to stay in power.

Date: Friday October 30, 2015

Time: 6:30 pm

Location: Center for Arabic Culture

191 Highland Av. Suit 6B. Somerville, MA 02143

Free and Open to the Public

Followed by an Open Discussion with director Lillie Paquette