2025 Said Symposium

The 2025 Said Symposium, “The Middle East: Struggles for Justice, Rights, and Peace Amid Mass Atrocities and Military Interventions,” to be held on November 19-20, 2025, honors Dr. Abdul Aziz Said’s legacy by convening scholars, activists, and policymakers to explore paths towards justice and peace in the region. Through panels, keynotes, and dialogues, the two-day conference examines both how internal dynamics such as authoritarianism and political Islam intersect with external forces and global power structures, and how struggles for peace and human dignity confront these forces.

Some of the key questions this year’s Said Symposium hopes to explore include:

· Where does the promise of Syria’s transition lie?

· What are the key obstacles facing Syria’s transition, and how can they be maneuvered?

· What has been the role of the media in representations of atrocities and aggression in the region?

· What have been the strengths and shortcomings of Global solidarity movements for Palestine, Syria, Iran, Yemen, and other parts of the region?

· What have been the normative and tangible gains of peace, justice, and rights activism for Palestine, Syria, Iran, and other parts of the region?

· What can we consider to be (Global) Middle Eastern actors’ role in preserving highly threatened international human rights and humanitarian legal norms and institutions?

· How can we define the military and geopolitical shifts taking shape in the region?

· What were the political and normative dynamics at play in the recognition of Israeli mass atrocities?

· Is there room for Peacebuilding at a time of genocide and mass atrocities?

· How can we assess and understand the role and transformations of Islamist actors and political Islam in the current moment?

PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE:

Day 1- November 19, 2025: Transitions, Power, and Resistance

9:15 - 9:30 am - coffee

9:30 - 9:50 am - Welcome

10 am - 11:30 am - Session 1: Opportunities and Challenges in Syria’s Post-Assad Transition

11:45 am -1:00 pm- Session 2: Avenues for Countering the Rise of Militarism as Geopolitics in the Middle East

1:15 pm - 2:15 pm- Lunch

2:30 pm - 4:30 pm - Session 3: Framing the Middle East: Media, Power, and the Politics of Perception

• Fireside Chat with Ayman Mohyeldin (MSNBC Anchor)

• Discussion on Digital Media

4:45 pm - 5:45 pm - Session 4: Day 1 Keynote Address by Yassin al-Haj Saleh

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Day 2- (November 20, 2025): Peacebuilding, Human Rights, and the Long Struggle for Justice

9:15 am - 9:30 am: Coffee

9:30 am - 10:30 am - Session 1: Day 2 Keynote Address: Sari Hanafi

10:45 am -12:15 pm- Session 2: Discussion with Noa Harell and Nimala Kharoufeh from Combatants for Peace: “Is There Room for Peacebuilding at a Time of Genocide and Mass Atrocities?”

12:15 pm -1:15 pm-Lunch

1:30 pm - 3:00 pm - Session 3: Critical Questions about Local and Global Mobilization in Times of Mass Atrocities, Authoritarianism, and Imperialism in the Middle East

3:15 pm - 4:45 pm-- Session 4: Gains, Persisting Challenges, and Lessons from Global Middle East Struggles for Peace, Justice, and Rights

5:00-5:45 pm- Session 5: Symposium Participant and SIS Community Dialogue

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Host or Publisher School of International Service