20/09/2004
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Alexandria
The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo were the special guests of Ismail Serageldin at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. They held a special seminar presenting their experience, when from 1977, by their sheer presence and tenacity they inspired the Argentinean nation to stand up to the military dictatorship that was waging the dirty war against its own citizens, with tens of thousands of persons simply disappearing.
18/09/2004
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Alexandria
Addressing inaugural session of the international conference on Freedom of Expression held at the library of Alexandria, Ismail Serageldin delivered a thoughtful and tempered address that does not leave much doubt as to his personal positions on the subject. In fact, he referred to it as the first freedom, from which all other freedoms flow, and the guarantor of democracy and human rights.
16/09/2004
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Alexandria
In his now traditional annual meeting of the Intellectuals, Serageldin presented his report to the General Assembly of Egyptian intellectuals. Serageldin reiterated that he considered this report a moral obligation, as they were the primary constituency of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. His report was comprehensive and drew a very positive response on the enormous amount of activities that had taken place.
24/08/2004
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Buenos Aires
Delivering an impassioned keynote address to a packed plenary hall of the International Federation of Library Associations, Ismail Serageldin, the Librarian of Alexandria and Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, reviewed the glorious past, attacked the current challenges and surveyed the possibilities of the digital future for the library world if we have the courage to dream and the ability to embrace this exciting future.
21/07/2004
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Alexandria
Ismail Serageldin addressed the closing session of a roundtable of distinguished Egyptian intellectuals discussing the challenges of the knowledge society. He emphasized that the culture of science and the values of scientific inquiry must be broadly embraced throughout society, and that the scientific method must be the only authority recognized in the magisterium of science.
21/07/2004
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Alexandria
Over the period 18-21 July 2004 Ismail Serageldin addressed the BA staff in a series of three long lectures covering much about math and science. The six hour mini-course was very well received by those who attended it, and may lay the ground for more such events in the future.
12/07/2004
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Alexandria
On the occasion of the centennial of the birth of the Nobel Laureate poet, Chile honored 100 persons world-wide, of whom Ismail Serageldin was one. A special event was organized at the BA where the Library also received a bust/medal of Neruda. Ismail Serageldin gave a short word of appreciation in which he lauded the eminent writer/poet.
01/07/2004
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Alexandria
Ismail Serageldin delivered the inaugural lecture in a the launch of a special exhibition and lecture series celebrating over a half century of the Watson-Crick discovery of the double Helix. The series of events is jointly sponsored by the British Council and the BA. There are many special exhibitions and experiments designed specially for youth and children.
01/07/2004
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Alexandria
Ismail Serageldin addressed a distinguished group of experts including the Minister of water Resources, sketching out a vision of high-value agriculture to make better use of the sector that consumes about 85% of water withdrawals in Egypt. The meeting was one of the activities sponsored by the committee on sustainable development of the BA.
30/06/2004
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Alexandria
In a marathon few days, Ismail Serageldin successively chaired the Board meetings of all the centers affiliated with the BA and the overall tone of the meetings was a very upbeat one. Despite the brevity of their existence the centers and museums are well on their way to implementing many ambitious plans n their respective domains, ensuring that the BA will be a lively place and a true producer of knowledge as well.
21/06/2004
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Berlin
Ismail Serageldin today addressed the International Publishers Association, on the topic of free expression, censorship and the Muslim World. His remarks sparked a lively debate in the panel and led a number of participants to comment afterwards that they had not had this kind of perspective from the Muslim world before.
18/06/2004
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The Hague
Ismail Serageldin gave an opening keynote address to a developmentally minded gathering held in the Senate chamber of the Dutch Parliament. The topic was the risk society from the perspective of the developing countries. On the big picture, Serageldin impressed the audience with the needs of the developing countries and their problems. But he also addressed methodological issues and analytical techniques.
16/06/2004
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Alexandria
Ismail Serageldin today welcomed some 50 eminent writers, journalists, artists and intellectuals from the Arab world for a workshop on the promotion of free expression. He emphasized that this was part of deepening the discussion of reform in the Arab World that the Alexandria Declaration had helped crystallize. He also posed some challenging philosophical questions for the participants to consider in their deliberations.
16/06/2004
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Alexandria
Ismail Serageldin introduced Michel Rocard, former PM of France to a packed audience in the Middle Auditorium of the BA for the second lecture in two days, the first having been delivered at the Institut d'Egypte in Cairo the night before. Mr. Rocard explained the construction of the new Europe and reflected on the likely role of Europe, the US and the Middle East.
11/06/2004
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Paris, France
In the gilded Jerome room of the premises of the French Ministry of Culture, a small group gathered to witness the Minister of Culture, Donnedieu de Vabre, give a laudatory speech about Ismail Serageldin, and bestow upon him the order of Officer of Arts and Letters. The small ceremony was attended by a few eminent persons from the French cultural scene and Egypt's ambassador to France, Hatem Seif-el-Nasr.
11/06/2004
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Paris, France
At the historic Institut de France, Prof. Emile-Etienne Beaulieu, President of the French Academy of Sciences, and Ismail Serageldin, Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, signed the first ever cooperation agreement between the prestigious academy and an Arab Institution. The agreement covers the collaboration of the two institutions in the international program, "la main a la pate", a hands-on approach to teaching science to children.
10/06/2004
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Paris, France
The newly established Foundation for Political Innovation welcomed Ismail Serageldin who delivered a speech about "Mirrors and Windows: Contemporary Views of the Self and the Other for the Dialogue of Cultures", which was followed by an active debate that lasted quite a while. Overall the lecture had a good impact on the audience, and many participants promised to follow up by E-mail and by other means on the many questions raised by the presentation and the debate that followed.
07/06/2004
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Toulouse, France
The Universit Paul Sabatier, Toulouse III, today held a special ceremony to honor Ismail Serageldin with a special Doctorate Honoris Causa, and to confer upon him a special medal of the university. The University of Toulouse is one of the oldest in the world, dating back from 1229 AD. The recent developments of the University saw a strong focus on sciences and a regrouping of the engineering and science node in Toulouse III, named after the eminent French Chemist Paul Sabatier, who received the Nobel Prize in 1912.
07/06/2004
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Toulouse , France
President Martin Malvy gave Ismail Serageldin a special medal of the region of the Midi-Pyrenees at a special luncheon held in his honor at the seat of the regional government in Toulouse. The short ceremony was followed by a tour of historic Toulouse and its new Mdiathque.
06/06/2004
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Alexandria
Ismail Serageldin published an important essay (in Arabic) in Al-Ahram today. Entitled "What comes after the Alexandria Declaration?" Serageldin made the case for focusing on a bottom up approach to Arab reform, and laid out a thoughtful and complete program of work for the coming year to move in that direction. The essay elicited many reactions and has already been translated into French and English, and at least one eminent intellectual reprised he title to make a strong case for the civil society approach being pursued.