Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Le Hezbollah, une force contre-révolutionnaire

Syria, the uprising and the media scene

Spain: how much of state violence will be used? "To move forward we need to understand: why are regions, states and peoples beginning to re-pose the question of national self-determination now? For Spain and Italy it is clear: the mixture of austerity, corruption and political sclerosis at the centre has limited the reality of regional democracy. It has pushed autonomous regions such as  Catalonia  towards independence and places such as Lombardy and Veneto towards seeking fiscal autonomy from an essentially dysfunctional central state." The big picture Catalonia, Lombardy, Scotland ... Why they fight for self-determination now?

"Under Xi, it seems that the majority of the party elite will continue with an economic model that is dominated by state corporations directed at all levels by the Communist cadres. That is because even the elite realise that if the capitalist road is adopted and the law of value becomes dominant, it will expose the Chinese people to chronic economic instability (booms and slumps), insecurity of employment and income and greater inequalities. On the other hand, Xi and the party elite are united in opposing socialist democracy as any Marxist would understand it.  They wish to preserve their autocratic rule and the privileges that flow from it.  The people have yet to play a role.  They have fought local battles over the environment, their villages and their jobs and wages.  But they have not fought for more democracy or economic power." Xi's taking full control of China's future and an article by the author of The Party: The Secret World of the Chinese Commun

"Finance, in a certain sense, is there to keep people from becoming too comfortable, too secure. But, as you say, when you take away people’s comfort and security, you may not like the reaction you get." Disrupters

The NYT ties religion to Harvey-Weinstein-type of criminal behaviour

"While countries like Zimbabwe, Malawi and El Salvador have recently banned child marriage, it remains legal in the US - and half of states have no set minimum age below which you cannot get married." (the BB website) Why? Because many Americans, and Westerners, are busy "liberating" Muslim women!

Charting China's 'great purge' under Xi

The Invention of Monogamy

The cities of post-Soviet Central Asia

Imperialist feminism and liberalism

"The developmental project is a continuation of the colonial project." Against Colonization and Rural Dispossession

Agriculture and Food Sovereignty in Syria See also The Political Economy of the Syrian Uprising and Regime Persistence