Founder and Creator: Ahmed Amer Co-Creator: Yasmine Flodin-Ali

Karavansarai is a pop-up using underutilized space in Raleigh, NC, serving homemade chai and Middle-Eastern drinks. Follow on Instagram @karavansarai_nc for the next location.

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PRESS: VoyageRaleigh Interview "Rising Stars: Meet Ahmed Amer"

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What is Karavansarai?
The karavansarai were public inns along trade routes that stretched from Asia to North Africa. They existed primarily as a social good and to fulfill travelers' needs. These public inns, occupied by travelers from across Asia and North Africa, often became cultural and material exchange places.

Why are we doing this?
The processes that build the city are not democratic. Planners and developers always act in the interests of capitalism, and those interests are not ours. The city is a product of our activities, and the interests of real estate capital should not constrain our activities.

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We must take back the public square. We do not need to seek permission to gather. Instead, we will find suitable spaces and appropriate them for our purposes, especially those unused and underutilized spaces — the dilapidated excesses of Capital. We will breathe life into dying spaces. By changing our relationship to property, we begin reclaiming ourselves and the tools needed to build a more just city.