Archived Daytime Events (Global Eyes)

A pathway to peace in Syria seems more of a possibility this year than ever before. But the health needs of the population and refugees remain huge and largely unmet

The strongest independent analysis of the Syrian health worker crisis published so far, it collates data from multiple sources in a compelling four-part analytical approach, analysing the formidable challenges health-care workers in Syria face now and in the future, and carefully offering policy options and lessons for public debate. The UN published its Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic, finding that multiple war crimes had been committed by both sides. Powerful in its concentrated nature, the report dispassionately describes deliberate attacks on schools, hospitals, markets, water supplies, humanitarian relief personnel, and civilians; use of civilians as human shields; arbitrary arrests, forced conscription, reprisal executions, and forced displacement; withholding of humanitarian aid; use of chemical weapons including probable chlorine attacks; and intentional targeting of medical workers, facilities, and transport, including double tap attacks--deliberate targeting of those already harmed.

The first student rebellion in the Arab world took place at Syrian Protestant College (SPC) in 1882, in protest against the forced resignation of a respected professor in the medical school. SPC students and administrators engaged in a series of exchanges over a period of weeks, during which the administration refused to reinstate the professor, nearly all the other medical faculty resigned, and the students refused to attend classes. Although the students were not, ultimately, successful in their protest against SPC administrators and faculty, the "rebellion" marks an important moment of rhetorical negotiation in which students construct and deploy what I call an "imagined America" to speak back to (American) faculty and administrators at SPC, located in Beirut (present-day Lebanon). The documents surrounding this moment of crisis for the college, which include petitions written by students and responses from faculty, reveal that students were deeply enculturated in an "ideal" American identity, represented in and through their education, but their ability to claim such an identity was inherently limited

News stories continue to report violence in our society. These occurrences that happen in schools are sometimes connected to bullying behavior. There have been numerous cases involving police violence connected to racism. Fear surrounding terrorist acts have led to a backlash against Syrian refugees. So far this year, a record high of 15 transgender individuals have been murdered (Steinmetz, 2015). All of these events fuel the fire for action and for educators to use intentional efforts to change this culture. More than ever, there is urgency for educators to provide an inclusive and respectful environment for all. The physical education classroom offers a unique environment that is more conducive to teaching problem solving, cooperation and conflict resolution skills. Teachers can make intentional efforts to teach these skills, such as through the teaching of units in cooperative games and adventure programming.

The U.S. Department of Education is dedicated to establishing policies on federal financial aid for education, collecting data and disseminating research, focusing national attention on key educational issues, and prohibiting discrimination and ensuring equal access to education. Check with the appropriate individuals at your institution to see if there is already a process in place for working with these students. Because U.S. higher education is decentralized, your institution's policies might be governed by your state government, an accreditation board, a Board of Regents, or other departments within the institution, and the policies may have varying levels of flexibility.

Before the last six years of war destroyed the lives of millions, Syrian youth were among the most educated in the Middle East, with almost universal primary education enrollment and a 74% secondary school completion rate. In stark contrast, today 2.1 million children in Syria and another 700,000 living in neighboring countries have been forced out of school. The crisis caused by Syria is only the tip of the iceberg.

The author discusses the tendency for people to feel compassion and empathy for single identifiable victims versus large groups. Topics include the public response to the released image of a Syrian refugee child who drowned attempting to reach Greece, the suppression of emotions such as sympathy to avoid overwhelming emotional and financial costs, and research on ways to relieve fears regarding emotional and financial costs related to large-scale crises.

UK article discussing the overlap of political responsibility and humanitarian crisis.

Testimony on the the US role in the Syrian Refugee crisis.

As Syria’s anti-authoritarian uprising and subsequent civil war have left the country in ruins, the need for understanding the nation’s complex political and cultural realities remains urgent. Essays focus on key arenas of Syrian social life, including television drama, political fiction, Islamic foundations, and Christian choirs and charities, demonstrating the ways in which Syrians worked with and through the state in attempts to reform, undermine, or sidestep the regime. The contributors explore the paradoxical cultural politics of hope, anticipation, and betrayal that have animated life in Syria under Asad, revealing the fractures that obstruct peaceful transformation. Syria from Reform to Revolt provides a powerful assessment of the conditions that turned Syria’s hopeful Arab spring revolution into a catastrophic civil war that has cost over 200,000 lives and generated the worst humanitarian crisis of the twenty-first century.

This article explores the rhetorical function of al-Andalus (medieval Spain) in modern Syrian popular culture musically. The nostalgic performance of links between modern Syria and medieval al-Andalus assumed great rhetorical force in the 1960s as a result of ideologies of pan-Arabism, the loss of Palestine, the rise of Islamist threats at home, and the emergence of petrodollar regimes in the Arabian Gulf. Musical genres linked to al-Andalus play an important role as potent vehicles for constructing Syrian memory cultures. Drawing on heavily mythologized and nostalgic visions of an Andalusian golden age, musical performance in Syria sonically reinforces forms of nostalgic remembrance and enacts claims on Syrian pasts, presents, and futures.