Picture above by Stefan Bladh: Syrians crossing the Orontes river between Turkey and Syria on a winter day, by trying to follow a ford in the river.
Occasionally, I moderate debates and seminars, often in English. Examples below.
The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: Consequences of War and Prospects of Peace
A seminar at the Museum of the Mediterranean (Medelhavsmuseet) on December 3 2024, with three distinguished speakers: Hugh Lovatt, ECFR; Dimi Reider, editor in chief of The Lead and co-founder of +972 Magazine; Hebatalla Taha, Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) at Lund University, and with me as the moderator.
The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars and Caliphs
Had a talk on stage in Stockholm with the historian Marc David Baer, author of the masterpiece The Ottomans: Khans, Caesars and Caliphs. The occasion was the launch the Swedish translation of his book, Osmanska riket: Khaner, kejsare och kalifer (Natur & Kultur), translated by Erik MacQueen. My talk with Professor Baer is now available on Youtube. Click above!
Iran, kvinnorna och revolutionen
ABF Stockholm och Olof Palmes Internationella Center arrangerade ett seminarium den 26 januari 2023. Talare: Fataneh Farahani, professor i etnologi, Stockholms universitet
Elisabeth Löfgren, Svenska Pen, ordförande i Fängslade författares kommitté
Peimaneh Mollazehi, författare och människorättsaktivist född i Baluchistan i sydöstra Iran.
Jag modererade. Länk om seminariet här. Aktuellt i Politiken skrev om seminariet. Länk till artikeln här (endast för prenumeranter).
Strengthening justice and accountability within Syria
A seminar arranged by Kvinna to Kvinna Foundation and the International Legal Assistance Consortium (ILAC) on the occasion of the launch of a new ILAC report: Rule of Law Assessment Report Syria 2021. 7 December 2021, At Medelhavsmuseet, Stockholm.
Turkey’s Neo-Ottomanist Moment: A Eurasian Odyssey?
How shall all the moves in Turkey 's foreign policy be understood? See the discussion with Cengiz Çandar, author of the newly released 'Turkey's Neo-Ottomanist Moment: A Eurasian Odyssey', and Aslı Aydintasbas from the European Council on Foreign Relations as discussant. And myself as moderator. A UI & SUITS event (Swedish Institute of International Affairs & Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies).
Exclusive dialoge and press conference with the Iranian human rights defender Narges Mohammadi
The prominent Iranian human rights defender Narges Mohammadi, who was released from jail in October, has just been sentenced to another 2,5 years in prison plus 80 whiplashes. Despite this threat, an although she has not seen her children since 2015, and in spite of already having suffered from what she describes as ‘white torture’ inside Iranian jails and interrogation centers, she remains unwavering in her call for an end to the death penalty and other human rights abuses in Iran. She made this clear in a press conference and dialogue that I moderated with her on Clubhouse – with well over 500 participants in various countries. The dialogue was co-hosted by Baran Publisher, PEN in Sweden, Norway and Denmark and Amnesty International in Sweden. 31 May 2021. Link to the Clubhouse invitation here.
Book launch of Turkey’s Mission Impossible: War and Peace with the Kurds by Cengiz Çandar
Recording of my talk with Cengiz Çandar at the studio of Stockholm University. Photo: Per Luthander
Turkey’s Mission Impossible: War and Peace with the Kurds (Lexington Books) is the opus magnum of the renowned Turkish journalist Cengiz Çandar. In our talk, Cengiz Çandar explains why he considers the Kurdish question to be ”the mother of all questions in Turkey” and how he came to be the special advisor to late President Turgut Özal in his attempt to make a historical rapprochement with the Kurds in the early 1990’s. Plus much more. The talk, co-hosted by Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies (SUITS) and the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI) can be seen via this link or on YouTube below. It is followed by a Q&A session.
Prize ceremony for the Israeli lawyer Gaby Lasky
Gaby Lasky during the prize ceremony in Stockholm. Foto: Joakim Wohlfeil
On August 6, 2019, the Israeli lawyer Gabi Lasky received a Human Rights Award in the memory of the Swedish lawyer Anna Dahlbäck, who passed away much too early. From our discussion it was clear that Gaby Lasky and Anna Dahlbäck had been soul mates, if they only had had the chance to get to know each other. Gaby Lasky described the shrinking democratic space in Israel/Palestine, and how defenders of human rights, like herself, are attacked and seen as traitors. Gaby Lasky also expressed her passionate and principled support for the universal human rights.
Folkrätt och internationella konventioner efter IS fall i Syrien och Irak
Arrangör: Centrum mot våldsbejakande extremism, CVE. I panelen: professor emeritus Ove Bring, kammaråklagare Henrik Attorps och CVE:s chef Jonas Trolle. Den 25 april 2019 på ABF Stockholm. Länk här.
Faces of Hunger and Conflict
In December 2018, I moderated a panel debate on the theme ‘Faces of hunger and conflict’, hosted by SIPRI, the United Nations World Food Programme, the United Nations Association of Sweden and the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The debate was followed by a photo exhibition.
The panel debate focused on UN Security Council Resolution 2417, which acknowledges the link between hunger and conflict. The panelists – SIPRI Director, Dan Smith; Eva Svedling, State Secretary to the Minister for International Development Cooperation and Climate, Sweden; Petra Hallebrant, Secretary General of the United Nations Association of Sweden; and Arif Husain, Chief Economist of the United Nations World Food Programme – discussed how Resolution 2417 can be operationalized to prevent and eradicate conflict-induced hunger and how to promote investment in food security to contribute to mitigating severe food insecurity and the risk of conflict. More on the debate on SIPRI’s website.
Audience interaction during the panel debate. Photo: SIPRI
Prospects of Reform in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
A talk with the Saudi human rights defender, Yahya Assiri, at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI). Yahya Assiri represents the three incarcerated Saudi Right Livelihood Award Foundation Laureates: Dr Abullah al-Hamid, Professor Mohammd Fahad al-Qahtani and the lawyer Waleed Abu al-Khair. A UI event on Nov 23, 2018, co-arranged with the Right Livelihood Award Foundation and Amnesty International, Sweden.
FN och Jemen
Modererade Svenska FN-förbundets seminarium i Stockholms konserthus inför FN-dagen. Temat den 20 oktober 2017 var FN och Jemen. Mer info här.
Profiles of the Missing – with International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP)
Picture below: Queen Noor of Jordan, board member of ICMP, addresses the audience at UI (Swedish Institute of International Affairs). The whole seminar – including testimonies about the genocides in Srebrenica in Bosnia, and against the Yazidi people of Iraq, can be seen here.
Merchants of men
On stage with Loretta Napoleoni, talking about her book Merchants of Men – på svenska: Kidnappningsindustrin (Fri Tanke)
Building Blocks of Justice – Women's Empowerment and Strengthening Rule of Law in Syria
A discussion at the Almedalen Week with Bassem al-Kuwatli, head of RMTeam; Raheb Alwany, representing NGO network Badael; Lena Ag, secretary general of Kvinna till kvinna; and Leif Stenberg, head of Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University.
Kriget mot kvinnorna.
Internationella kvinnodagen 2016. Arr: Re:Orient. På Kulturhuset i Stockholm.
A talk with Olof Palme Prize Laureates
With the Laureates in the Swedish parliament.
Photo: Per Luthander.
In the Swedish Parliament: Moderated a discussion with the Olof Palme Prize Laureates, the Palestinian pastor Mitri Raheb from Bethlehem and Gideon Levy, well known profile of Haaretz, who has been covering life in the occupied Palestinian territories for the last 30 years. The prize ceremony (see picture) was held in the same old Chamber where late PLO chairman Yassir Arafat expressed his support for a two state solution in December 1988 (which was breaking news then). Arafat's announcement paved the way for the Olso process, which was supposed to lay the foundation for a Palestinian state by 1998. Yet the two state solution still is a distant day dream.
Mitri Raheb's argues that it's too late for a two state solution now, due to illegal settlements on the West Bank, and too early for a one state solution. Gideon Levy suggests that the international community calls for equal right for all – regardless of their ethnic or religious background – between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River.
Read Mitri Raheb's speech on this link.
Check Olof Palme Foundation website for more updates.
The State of the Middle East: A broader perspective for a resolution to the conflict
On the occasion of the launch of the third edition of the SIPRI Director Dan Smith's book The State of the Middle East, I moderated a talk with Dan at The Museum of the Mediterranean in Stockholm, in January 2016.
Loretta Napoleoni on stage at Nalen, Stockholm
the islamist phoenix
Interview with the author Loretta Napoleoni about her book The Islamist Phoenix. Title of Swedish translation: Islamiska staten (Fri Tanke, 2015).
På Bokmässan i Göteborg med den nu bortgångna författaren, orientalisten och kulturjournalisten Sigrid Kahle och hennes sista kärlek i livet, författaren Carl-Göran Ekerwald. Sigrid Kahle var en enastående personlighet.