The fourth session in the Aula Árabe Universitaria event series will be taking place in Madrid, given by Iraqi political activist Haifa Zangana.

Coinciding with the twentieth anniversary of Iraq’s invasion in 2003, and forming part of the Environmental Event Days organized by Casa Árabe to mark the holding of COP-28 in the United Arab Emirates, this fourth conference in the Aula Árabe Universitaria event series is being presented by Haifa Zangana, the Iraqi writer, painter and political activist.

Climate change, which includes rising temperatures, a lack of rain, desertification, the drying of farmlands, forest fires, floods and air pollution, has been recognized worldwide as a global threat to the environment, requiring both immediate and strategic solutions. However, the effects of war, occupation and neo-colonial policies which thrive upon highly polluting extractive industries, the exhaustion of natural resources and the dumping of metals produced by modern ammunition, depleted uranium and white phosphorus remain a mere footnote in governments’ and international organizations’ projects and environmental initiatives, as is the case in Iraq and Gaza.

In her talk, Haifa Zangana will be highlighting the responsibility held by the US-led war on Iraq, without setting aside America’s major role in the current war on Gaza, environmental degradation, damage to people’s health, and the major life-threatening impact this is all having. Furthermore, she will be analyzing the ways in which official Iraqi policy, or rather the lack thereof, has chosen to ignore the root cause of the disaster and, as a result, has cut off all initiatives to establish environmental justice.

Organized with the cooperation of the Master’s degree in International Relations and African Studies at the UAM, the bachelor’s degree program in International Relations at the UCM and the University Master’s degree program in International Journalism at the URJC. The session will be introduced by Marta Íñiguez de Heredia, a professor of Politics and International Relations at the UAM. An initial commentary on and reaction to the presentation by Zangana will be given by Isaías Barreñada, a professor of International Relations and the coordinator of the degree and dual degree programs in International Relations at the UCM, and Amal Abu-Warda, a professor of International Political Communication by Geographic Areas in the URJC Master’s degree program. For Casa Árabe, the session will be moderated by Olivia Orozco, Casa Árabe’s Training and Economics Coordinator.

Further information: https://en.casaarabe.es/event/aula-arabe-universitaria-5#15823