Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

"Over its modern history, the West has not permitted any Arab liberal [and democratic] experiment to succeed, since, to start with, it has not allowed an Arab bourgeoisie to grow independent of its control. This is the reason why the West has always sought the explicit alliance of patriarchal and theocratic societies which vehemently oppose secularism." — Ghālī Shukrī, Diktātoriyat al-takhalluf al-'arabī , Cairo, 1994.

When Fascism Was American The US hasn’t seen the stirrings of fascist mobilization since the late 1930s when mounting fascist victories in Europe galvanized its adherents in America, chief among them Father Charles Coughlin and his Christian Front. This history has something to offer us today.

Egypt: Sisi’s procession passing on red carpet in 6 October stirs anger

A physician, in order to be admitted to practice, must demonstrate his theoretical and practical knowledge of medicine. A politician, on the other hand, who, unlike the physician, purposes to decide the fate not of hundreds of people, but of millions, does not have to show such proof of knowledge. This fact seems to be one of the  fundamental reasons for the tragedy which, for thousands of years, has devastated human society with periodic outbreaks. The practical worker, no matter whether he comes from a rich or a poor home, has to go through a certain schooling. He is not elected "by the people." Working people who have proved themselves over years in their profession should determine whether or not the future worker should be a socially potent factor. This demand may be ahead of the facts, but it is indicative of a tendency. Every cobbler, carpenter, mechanic, electrician, mason, etc., has to fulfill very strict demands made on his abilities. A politician, on the other hand

" We are again confronted with one of the most vexing aspects of advanced industrial civilization: the rational character of its irrationality. Its productivity and efficiency, its capacity to increase and spread comforts, … the extent to which this civilization transforms the object world into an extension of man's mind and body makes the very notion of alienation questionable. The people recognize themselves in their commodities; they find their soul in their automobile, hi-fi set, split-level home, kitchen equipment. The very mechanism which ties the individual to his society has changed, and social control is anchored in the new needs which it has produced." —  Herbert Marcuse,   One-Dimentional Man , 1964.

Marked out for attack: living in the UK 'asylum marke t'

In Egypt, second life for independent trade unions

"If you want to know why so many British Muslims have deserted groups like the Labour Party and Stop the War Coalition, it is because they have to choose between Blairite War on Terror supporters and Putinite War on Terror supporters. Because apparently supporting Eastern European oppression of Muslims instead of Western European oppression of Muslims (of course in Syria today you have the Western Europeans bombing one area and the Eastern Europeans bombing another side by side) is unfortunately what passes as “progressive” in much of the identity-politics dominated, reality-removed, solidarity-illiterate sections of those who call themselves “Left” today. That’s why."

The  New Yorker  is wrong. Young people are attracted to Bernie Sanders because of economic insecurity, not naive idealism

Yugoslavia after Capitalist Restoration

  Headlines on foreignpolicy.com - U.S. firms are making billions selling spyware to dictators.   - In a world where 1 in 7 people are displaced, your kindness is just condescension.

 History Of The Yemen Clusterf*ck "That scenario was repeated all over the Middle East during the Cold War, and it has a lot to do with how messed up the place is now. “For Allah and the Emir”; when Time ran that  headline   in 1963, that slogan sounded quaint and kind of touching. . . . It sounded like a nice alternative to Nasser, nationalism (and its much more dangerous corollary, nationalization) or, worse yet, Communism. So the West put its weapons and its money in on the side of “Allah and the Emir” over and over again, against every single faction trying to make a modern, secular Arab world, whether on the Nasserite, Ba’athist, Socialist, Communist, or other model. "...  Of course, the Houthi, as Shia, worship the wrong version of Allah, from the Saudi perspective. But that didn’t bother the Saudis, or the Americans, or the British, or the Israelis, back in the 1960s when they all joined hands (in a very non-peace-and-love way) to wipe out the modernizing Yem

Red Neoliberals: How Corbyn’s Victory Unmasked Britain’s  Guardian

Business is business Britain is at centre of global mercenary industry, says charity

Operation Ajax: The Story of the CIA Coup that Remade the Middle East

Clinton Final Shots: the Clintons and Colombian Death Squads   Blood, Money and Hypocrisy  Sanders   Sanders and the Middle East: Swimming in Two  Waters.

A new round of ‘creative destruction’ is coming globally and ZIRP, QE and NIRP will not stop it.

Workers and Thieves

Protests in Tunisia: An Interview with Nadia Marzouki

Capitalism, cronyism and Clinton