Leila-Khaled
Location: MadLab
Description: Join us in celebrating the launch of Leila Khaled Icon of Palestinian Liberation by Sarah Irving
Date: 25-05-2012
Start Time: 19:00
End Time: 22:00
Booking: £3 with complimentary drink
Dubbed ‘the poster girl of Palestinian militancy’, Leila Khaled’s image flashed across the world after she hijacked a passenger jet in 1969. The picture of a young, determined looking woman with a checkered scarf, clutching an AK-47, was as era-defining as that of Che Guevara.
In this intimate profile, based on interviews with Khaled and those who know her, Sarah Irving gives us the life-story behind the image. Key moments of Khaled’s turbulent life are explored, including the dramatic events of the hijackings, her involvement in the Marxist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (a radical element within the PLO), her opposition to the Oslo peace process and her activism today.
Leila Khaled’s example gives unique insights into the Palestinian struggle through one remarkable life – from the tension between armed and political struggle, to the decline of the secular left and the rise of Hamas, and the role of women in a largely male movement.
Sarah Irving is a writer and researcher who has lived in Manchester for 15 years and is the author of three books on Palestine. She has worked for various periods in the Middle East for over a decade, as a human rights observer, fair trade good buyer, tour guide and journalist.
We also hope to welcome Linda Clair, chair of Manchester PSC and a friend of Leila Khaled since the 1980s.
Tags: launch, Sarah Irving
[...] event has now been re-scheduled to take place at the Manchester Digital Laboratory on the 25th [...]
[...] So, after various to-ings and fro-ings the details for the rescheduled launch for the Leila Khaled biography have been hammered out. Manchester Digital Laboratory – better known to geeks and social entrepreneurs in the city as Madlab – have very kindly taken on hosting the event, with help from our city’s finest independent publishers, Comma Press (which, amongst many other titles, is home to The Madman of Freedom Square, a wonderful collecting of short stories from Iraqi write Hassan Blasim). The event is rescheduled for Friday May 25th to fit in with Madlab’s timetables, and full details are here. [...]
Looks great, looking forward to it…
Brilliant; really glad you have stepped up to host this! Looking forward to it.
I’m so sorry to miss this. I live abroad but am from Manchester and visit my family there fairly often. It was thanks to Leila Khaled that I first learned what happened to the indigenous people of Palestine in 1948. I remember so well when the plane was hijacked because I wanted to know how and why a young girl could get herself involved. Then I read her story and realized that it was an attempt to draw the attention of the world to a grave injustice that was being deliberately ignored. While governments still remain silent more and more people are becoming aware of the oppression of the Palestinian people. They have my full and active support.