Special Newsletter: Full ArabCon Program, Speakers, and more

The Night Won’t End – A Film about Gaza

Location: National Arab American Museum

Date and Start Time: Thursday September 12, 7:00 p.m.

Movie screening followed by a conversation with:

Laila Al-Arian – Executive Producer, “The Night Won’t End”
Rhana Natour – Freelance Correspondent

Date and Start Time: Friday, September 13th at 10:00 A.M.
Location: Ford Performing Arts Center

Dr. Hatem Bazian – Scholar, Activist, Author

Khaled Beydoun – Associate Professor Law at the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law

Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi – Founding Director/Senior scholar of Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Studies Program at SFSU

Moderator: Abed Ayoub – National Executive Director, ADC

Date and Start Time: Friday, September 13th at 11:15 A.M.
Location: Ford Performing Arts Center

Al Jazeera Fault Lines’ Executive Producer, Laila Al-Arian, Said Arikat of Al-Quds Newspaper, and Ryan Grim of Drop Site News will join ADC’s Valentina Pereda to discuss the unique challenges journalists in Gaza and the United States face when reporting in a deeply censored and hostile environment.

Date and Start Time: Friday, September 13th at 3:00 P.M.
Location: Ford Performing Arts Center

Dissenters of the Biden-Harris Administrationdiscuss their career-changing decisions to leave their positions in the federal government over the U.S. financial and material support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Join Tariq Habash, former policy advisor in the U.S. Department of Education; Harrison Mann, former U.S. Army Major; and Maryam Hassanein, former political appointee in the Department of the Interior in this captivating conversation with those who have risked all to honor the values.

The panel will be moderated by Rania Batrice, Political Strategist, Activist. Read more here.

Date and Start Time: Friday, September 13th at 4:00 P.M.
Location: Ford Performing Arts Center

Campaign and organizing veterans Linda Sarsour, Dr. Manal Fakhoury, Nasser Beydoun and Mohammed Maraqa speak to ADC’s National Executive Director, Abed Ayoub, on the political realities faced by Arab American voters in this critical election. How do we continue to fight for the liberation of Palestine while defending our rights in the United States in the face of ongoing censorship and political challenges?

Speakers will provide insight on how Arab American communities and the anti-war coalition must continue to organize well beyond November’s elections, and what must be done to secure power in the current political landscape.

Date and Start Time: Friday, September 13th at 4:00 P.M.
Location: Ford Performing Arts Center

Panelists will explore how companies like META have been implicated in the censorship and shadowbanning of pro-Palestine content, examining the broader implications for free expression. Ali Awad, Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, Hamzah Saadah, and Jacob Berger join ADC’s Chris Godshall-Bennett to discuss how to organize and communicate in times of digital censorship. Learn more.

Date and Start Time: Saturday, September 14th at 9:00 A.M.
Location: Ford Performing Arts Center

Ali Awad graduated with a doctorate in law and a master’s in business from Georgia state university at age 24, one of the youngest JD/MBA graduates in Georgia state history. He started his law firm from the trunk of his car in 2017, and was featured in Forbes Magazine the following year. By 2021, his firm CEO Lawyer Personal Injury Law Firm was voted the fastest growing law firm in America. Read more.

Date and Start Time: Saturday, September 14th at 9:30 A.M.
Location: Ford Performing Arts Center

A conversation with Susan Abulhawa, Novelist, Poet, Activist; Huwaida Arraf, Civil Rights Attorney, Activist; and Zeina Ashrawi Hutchison, ADC Director of Development and Expansion
Palestinian women have been and continue to be pivotal figures throughout the 76+ years of resistance to occupation. In this conversation, panelists will share their experiences, insights, and strategies for confronting adversity, fostering community resilience, and advancing the cause of Palestinian liberation.

Date and Start Time: Saturday, September 14th at 2:30 P.M.
Location: Ford Performing Arts Center

Arab American elected officials from across the country including MI State Rep. Alabas Farhat, GA State Rep. Ruwa Romman, CO State Rep. Iman Jodeh, and IL State Rep. Abdelnasser Rashid will join Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud to discuss the critical work that happens at the state and local levels of government. While Washington DC politics often dominates the newscycle, most of the work that impacts the quality of our daily lives is decided by the 99% of local and state offices, nationwide.

Date and Start Time: Saturday, September 14th at 3:30 P.M.
Location: Ford Performing Arts Center

As students head back to their campuses across the country, this panel will convene Arab American members of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at various universities to discuss preparing for and responding to increased repression and violent crackdowns on student activism.

Zayna Jadallah from Wayne State University, Salma Hamamy from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ali Allam, President of Student Government at UM Ann Arbor, and representation from National SJP will discuss how to maintain the momentum built up during the Gaza solidarity encampments in the Spring of 2024. Moderating the discussion is Dr. Nancy Khalil, a distinguished scholar on Palestine and a dedicated advocate for human rights. Learn More.

Date and Start Time: Saturday, September 14th at 4:45 P.M.
Location: Ford Performing Arts Center

Dr. Finkelstein is a political scientist, author, and activist known for his critical analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and U.S. foreign policy. He is widely recognized for his influential books, The Holocaust Industry and Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom, which challenges prevailing narratives about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

This year’s gala will pay tribute to several organizations and individuals for their outstanding contributions to humanitarian causes and social justice.

Doctors Against Genocide will be recognized for their heroic efforts in Gaza and the West Bank, while members of the National Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) movement will be honored for their unwavering courage and moral integrity. The Amity Foundation will be acknowledged for their tireless advocacy on behalf of Michigan’s Arab American and Muslim communities. Additionally, the 2024 Rachel Corrie Award will be presented to musician and activist Macklemore for his dedicated support of the Palestinian cause.

Receiving awards on behalf of their organizations are:

Dr. Nidal Jboor, Doctors Against Genocide
Sarah Farhan, National SJP
Danielle Elzayet, Amity Foundation

The evening will feature keynote remarks by Dr. Cornel West, independent presidential candidate and longtime advocate for Palestinian rights. Additional speakers Dr. Fady Joudah, Palestinian-American poet and physician, Dearborn’s Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, and ADC’s Executive Director Abed Ayoub. Suehaila Amen will serve as the evening’s Master of Ceremonies.

The fight for civil and human rights continues to be a pressing issue, particularly for Arab communities and their allies. This panel will explore the current civil rights landscape, examining advancements and the remaining obstacles. A panel of attorneys and civil rights experts, including, Nabih Ayad from the Arab American Civil Rights League, Ibrahim Awad aka Karate Lawyer, and others, join the ADC team to discuss the state of civil rights and issues directly impacting the community.