Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

لَذَّةُ القَلَق The Pleasure of Distress

Trial of Uribe, former president of Colombia  (2002-2010) Uribe was given a platform by the London School of Economics in 2011 . I remember the day quite well. I saw not more than 20 people protesting his visit in front of the main building (the Old Building). Some, if not most of them, were not from the School. Some were from Colombia Solidarity Campaign and others from Venezuela Solidarity Campaign. Uribe's complicity with the paramiliatries and Colombian state terror, including the killing of trade unions and journalists, was known and made public long before 2011. Between 2000 and 2010 Colombia accounted for 63.12% of trade unionists murdered globally , according to the International Union Confederation.

As expected a couple of people will be blamed for the crime. "The murderers will be brought to justice," as Essex police said. Follow the news and you will see that no outcry will be made compared to a violent attack on a London Bridge or in Manchester. Others will also blame the people who allowed themselves to be smuggled/killed. 39 people found dead in lorry container "The possibility of feats of extravagant and unrestrained violence at and beyond the border [have historically] contrasted with the constraints of rational management of violence within the borders of nation-states.’ To put it simply, violence at the border serves a purpose, and so does the shock it provokes. It obscures the violence of the internal social arrangements of modern nations, which fight to preserve the privilege of the few over the many. "The rational management of violence within the nation-state," Caygill continues, "was only possible when potential and actual violen

In 1998 the Wall Street Journal ran an editorial that said that the IMF ‘has not been fighting financial fires but dousing them with gasoline’. The IMF pours the first tranche of gasoline. Vijay Prashad has an update The IMF does not fight financial fires but douses them with gasoline

I recommend Revolution Without Revolutionaries (Chapter 1) and  

A major improvement in workers' conditions Qatar dismantles kafala system of modern slavery Meanwhile, in a "democracy" it took a union more than a year to reach a collective bargaining agreement .

"One of the most indebted countries in the world, Lebanon is struggling to find fresh sources of funding as the foreign inflows on which it has traditionally relied have dried up. Promises of assistance from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, Lebanon’s former benefactors, have largely failed to arrive. The government needs to cut spending, raise taxes and fight corruption to unlock some $11 billion in international aid pledges made at a Paris donor conference in 2018." How Lebanon's Unrest is Both New and More of the Same (Click on Free and continue to website)

The UK universities benefiting from opioid money "Philanthropy" as a facade

What is it? The Advertising Standard Authority (ASA) said the Missguided advert featured "highly sexualised" images and "objectified women", while it told Boohoo to make sure its advertising was "socially responsible". The BBC's research found that on a typical UK High Street fashion retailer's website, 8% of women's modelling images were "racy", compared with 16% for online-only sites. Missguided said: "Our website reflects what appeals to the young women who love to buy from us - sassy, empowered, unafraid of what others think." In a world, "a free market," where almost everything is commodified, who has a monoply on definitions? Is sexualising and commodification of the body confined to fashion advertisement? Is it not one of the values that distinguishes "us," the "liberated", from the Other, but unites us with a commodified/sexualised Colombian or a Japanese?

Here is one of the reasons I once criticised/mocked the American historian Timothy Snyder when he boasted of "the rule of law." He doesn't contextualise that law in class, race and capitalist relations where "big thieves hang small ones."  Jailed for Life for Stealing a $159 Jacket? And 3,200 more serving Life Without Parole