UW-Madison campus partners host panel discussion on protests in Egypt

As events in Egypt continue to make headlines around the world, the University of Wisconsin–Madison is organizing to bring the discussion to campus. The Division of International Studies, the African Studies Program and the Middle East Studies Program will host a roundtable discussion on the mass protests against Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his government.

The event will be held at noon on Monday, Feb. 14, in the Memorial Union.

A panel of faculty experts will present academic and personal perspectives on the situation in Cairo and across the country as civil unrest continues. Panelists are professors Nadav Shelef (political science), Névine El-Nossery (French and Italian) and Adel Talaat (veterinary medicine). Professor Michael Schatzberg (political science) will moderate.

Talaat is participating on the panel on behalf of his family in Egypt, in hopes to make the conversation more public. Talaat wishes to relay his family’s concerns and perspectives to the audience.

“I am from Egypt and my family still lives in Egypt. I’d like to participate to convey their concerns and hopes,” says Talaat. “I’d also like to see full democracy implemented in Egypt. Egyptians deserve nothing less.”

Gilles Bousquet, dean of the Division of International Studies and vice provost for globalization, will give opening remarks at the roundtable event. “The popular demand for greater freedoms — in Egypt, in Tunisia, around the world — illustrates how interconnected we have truly become,” says Bousquet. “Globalization is just as much about the dissemination of ideas as anything else. At our world-class university, urgent world events bring our community together to engage in debate and discussion to understand and better our world.”

Katrina Gray, a UW–Madison junior, was studying abroad in Alexandria when protests broke out. She witnessed her friends and neighbors join this democratic movement. Gray will be attending the event in support of the Egyptian people.

“The events in Egypt are truly led by the people and just as they are coming together as one voice, via social-networking sites, it is important that we use the organizations at our disposal to bear witness to their struggle and stand in solidarity with them,” says Gray. “Just as that movement began among peers talking, or crying or yelling, it is paramount that the discussion not end there. It’s important that the events in Egypt be discussed globally because it is a truly remarkable and fragile thing that they’ve done.”