It was 5 a.m. local Khartoum, Sudan, time when Dr. El-Waleed Moussa spoke Wednesday night about the volatile political situations in Libya, Egypt and Tunis, as well as the effects of U.S. and western foreign policy on the region’s recent history.
“The revolutions happened in spite of the War on Terror, not because of it,” Moussa said.
It was perhaps the first time the University has played host to this use of international video conferencing, in which experts from across the world could engage in dialogue with Oregon students.
Moussa spoke as part of a University panel discussion held in the Living Learning Center Performance Hall Tuesday evening focused on the revolutions and anti-government uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East.
Approximately 100 people attended the event billed as “Revolution in the Arab World.” In what was called a “historic” event by Robert D. Clark Honors College Dean David Frank, two academics from the Middle East were able to join in the conversation by way of video conference.
Media Professor Radwan Ali, an ethnic Kurd originally from Syria now teaching at Iraq’s Salahaddin University spoke on issues concerning recent anti-government protests in Syria as well as the issue of Kurdish self-determination and autonomy across the region. Moussa talked about how the differences and breakdowns in civil societies in these countries made their revolutions or possibilities for revolutions different from country to country.  He also spoke about what he views as the three major periods in modern Middle Eastern history: the Cold War, Islamic Revivalism and the War on Terror — all notable because of the involvement of foreign governments in regional affairs.
University faculty members like Vice Provost for International Affairs Denis Simon, associate professor of international studies Dennis Galvan and associate professor of geography Shaul Cohen, along with graduate teaching fellow Jason Schnoor, also gave brief speeches touching on their various areas of expertise and experiences in the Middle East and Africa, albeit in person. According to a University press release, planning for the event began in February and was sponsored by organizations like the Global Oregon Big Idea, the University’s Carnegie Council on International Ethics Initiative, the Robert D. Clark Honors College and University Housing.
Frank said, to the best of his knowledge, the use of video conferencing in such an international capacity was a first of its kind for the University. Although at least once during the meeting the connection gave out, Moussa and Ali were able to speak and communicate through most of the meeting, which lasted slightly more than an hour and a half.
In an English language statement and later through an Arabic translator, Ali stressed how he wished to speak less about the situation in Iraq so much as the treatment of the Kurdish minority in his native Syria, and its maltreatment at the hands of the governing Ba’ath government and the long ruling Assad family.
Simon spoke less on the Middle East and focused on China and its reactions to the political upheaval in the region. He said China’s ruling communist party had been able to stifle dissent by monitoring Internet chatter and, as a result, prevented anti-government demonstrations from occurring. He also said that China’s middle class felt it had too much to lose by openly opposing the government.
Galvan spoke on not just the Middle East, but on the influence that revolutions there were having in Western and Sub-Saharan Africa. 
“People around (West Africa) are thinking that if it could be done there, it could be done here,” Galvan said.
Cohen’s presentation highlighted how demographics like a large youth bubble, joblessness and disproportionate wealth distribution made the Middle East a prime region for dissatisfaction against governments and ruling parties.
Schnoor, who was studying in Cairo in late January at the beginning of the uprising to oust former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, read aloud a passage from a journal he kept during his time in Cairo. In it he questioned the U.S.’ support of the Mubarak regime, and its apparent lack of concern on issues like Israeli expansion into the Palestinian West Bank, which has become a source of great Arab resentment in the region.
Frank said he felt the program was a success because of the unprecedented nature of the video conferencing and the important messages relayed by the event’s guest speakers.
“This for me was a real historical event given that we were able to bring the voices of people of the region into the auditorium so students and community members could hear for themselves the pain and the optimism as well … of the people who lived there,” Frank said.
[email protected]