News about tensions in the Middle East fills Italian and foreign newspapers daily. From newspaper pages to various social media platforms, these news items become the center of debates that have animated meetings, clashes and protests all over the world.
This event offers a conference and a discussion with two Italian journalists, special guests who have addressed this topic in different contexts.
Lorenzo Trombetta, journalist and scholar expert on the Middle East, in dialogue with Professor Malek Abisaab, McGill University, will propose a historicized reading of the birth of confessionalism, understood as a new grammar of power starting from the second half of the 19th century, as a lens to analyze the current challenges in Syria and Lebanon.
With the sequence of events triggered in October 2023, profound changes have been recorded in the Middle East region. Despite the many challenges, these Mediterranean countries appear as two interconnected laboratories in an attempt to overcome the logic linked to political sectarianism.
The reflection on the possible inclusive democratic participation of different political actors will also involve an analysis of the civic engagement that emerged with the recent demonstrations in support of Palestine.
Marina Catucci, New York correspondent for the daily newspaper “Il Manifesto”, in dialogue with Cristina Carnemolla, associate professor of Italian and Hispanic studies, and Roberto Viviani, a doctoral student at McGill University, will reflect on the reactions that news about conflicts in the Middle East have provoked within the North American university system. The references to History will be read in light of current events to try to provide interpretative tools for the future.
Malek Abisaab, associate professor of history at McGill University, will animate the conference.
Wednesday, May 14th 2025 – 6:30pm
Istituto Italiano di Cultura 1200 Du Dr. Penfield, Montreal
Free entry, with reservation RSVP – Event in English
Lorenzo Trombetta has been a journalist for 25 years based in the Middle East. Trained as an Arabist and researcher in Damascus, Syria (PhD) and Amman, Jordan, he then worked as a correspondent in the region, based in Beirut, Lebanon, for the Italian news agency ANSA. He is the author of books on contemporary Syria and has worked as a consultant on development issues in the Middle East for UN agencies and international organizations operating in the region with European funding. Based in Rome, he is now a Senior Analyst for the Middle East for ANSA and for the Italian geopolitics magazine Limes, with which he has collaborated for a quarter of a century.
Marina Catucci – She is correspondent from the United States for the newspaper Il Manifesto, she collaborates with several Italian radio and television broadcasts Released every Friday, Elettorale Americana is the podcast she curates on U.S. politics. She has recently published Manifesto Americano, edited by Paesi Edizioni
Reservation no longer available
