June-July Edition of The Middle East in London Hits Newsstands
30 June 2011
The June-July edition of The Middle East in London, the bi-monthly magazine of the London Middle East Institute, is now out.
The magazine is a leading resource on Middle Eastern communities in London. It includes event, film and book reviews, as well as original articles on cultural, political, economic and other issues that affect these communities.
The extraordinary events that have taken place in the Arab world during the last five months began in North Africa, so it is appropriate that this issue of The Middle East in London should focus on that region.
North Africa has normally received far less attention in Britain than the rest of the Arab world. Britain has rarely been at the forefront of engagement with the southwest Mediterranean – that was traditionally left to France, particularly in the wake of the Entente Cordiale of 1904, which set the pattern of British and French policy in the region throughout the 20th century. Libya was something of an exception because of the Second World War and, latterly, because of British interest in Libyan oil and gas. Yet, apart from tourism, the region never penetrated British political or economic horizons.
Since January, however, North Africa is no longer of marginal interest. It is not only the effect of recent events on the holiday habits of Britons, for Britain stands alongside France in NATO-led operations to protect civilians in Libya. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office is taking a great interest in the outcome of the Tunisian revolution. Increasing attention is being paid at a national and European level as to how the Moroccan monarchy restructures its relations with an increasingly vocal opposition. And there is expectation about the ability of Algeria’s Bouteflika regime to engage popular expectations to avoid another political collapse.
These events also have resonance here in London, which has long-standing, albeit relatively small, North African communities, concentrated in discrete parts of the city – North Kensington for the Moroccans and Finsbury Park for the Algerians.
Despite the British Government’s determination to avoid ‘burden-sharing’, it is inevitable that many new migrants will arrive here. That, in turn, means that North Africans will be a more prominent factor in the growing ethnic diversity that shapes the capital, whatever happens in the region. It will also mean that, for us, the ‘Middle East’ will expand westwards and we will take an ever-greater interest in North Africa, which was, until the start of this year, a neglected part of the Arab world.
For further information, contact:
www.lmei.soas.ac.uk
