Muslim Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh (MCCGP)
Lauren Booth, who announced her conversion to Islam in October 2010, is the sister-in-law of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. She was married to actor Craig Darby and the couple has two children, Alexandra and Holly. As a journalist, Booth has written for the New Statesmen, the Mail on Sunday, the Sunday Times and the Daily Mail. She is a vocal peace activist and a supporter of the Stop the War Coalition; a member of Woodcraft Folk, Media Workers Against the War and the National Union of Journalists.
IUC October, 2013 Lecture of the Month
Topic: Sunni and Shiite Divide: Similarities and Differences
A Tip of the Iceberg in the Syrian Ordeal by Imam AdbuDemi'h A. Tadese
For more information contact IUC office at 412-467-6442
When a 16th century Iranian court is thrown into turmoil by the heirless Shah's death, his daughter, Princess Pari, incites dissent with her efforts to instill order and taps the assistance of a eunuch servant to navigate a Machiavellian power struggle.
Talha Ramani, a Fulbright Scholar and Carnegie Mellon University Robotics graduate student, will present “Christian Concepts in the Quran: Jesus, John the Baptist and Mary”.
Sheikh Atef Mahgoub, the Spiritual Director of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, will present "Judaism and Islam: 10 Major Similarities and More" as part of our Muslim Journeys series.
Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East
The continuing struggle for a just and fair peace between Israelis and Palestinians should concern all of us. Dr. Jeff Halper is an American-born Jew who has lived in West Jerusalem for forty years and is co-founder and director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD.org). He will be presenting a workshop on how we can best direct our energy to advocate for Palestinian-Israeli peace.
Dr. Jeff Halper’s talk presents the political situation in maps, and also walks through a house demolition in slides. It ends up asking: Where do we go from here?, in which he will talk about options for resolving the conflict – two states, one state (bi-national or democratic) or a regional confederation – or towards apartheid or the warehousing of the Palestinian population.
Dr. Jeff Halper is the co-founder and director of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions. He is a tireless advocate for justice and civil rights for all Israelis and Palestinians. He has written three books including "An Israeli in Palestine: Resisting Dispossession, Redeeming Israel" from which he will be reading. A light lunch will be served at 11:30am and after the reading and discussion.
Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, World Affairs Council of Pittsburgh
Dr. Eckart Woertz, a Senior Researcher at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs, will be speaking about the issues of Middle East food security and the impact of the global food crisis. He will also be addressing the effects and geopolitical importance of food trade and food boycotts.
Pitt Global Studies Program, Pitt Dept of Political Science, Pitt Dept of Sociology, Pitt Jewish Studies Program, Pitt National Lawyer's Guild
Dr. Rachel Kutz-Flamenbaum will be on the panel talking about human rights and peace movements in Israel and the panel will feature a speaker from an Israeli organization, Breaking the Silence, which is a group of Israeli military veterans whose goal is to expose the Israeli public to the reality of everyday life in the Occupied Territories. Prof. Jonathan Harris from Political Science is also on the panel.