Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

An Iraqi looking for a white Westerner with a middle class mentality to empower her

"Just three and a half years after the signing of the refugee deal, these camps have become symbols of Europe's failure to protect those who knocked on its door for help. These camps, with Moria chief among them, are now places where already traumatised people are stripped off their dignity." The invisible violence of Europe's refugees camps

The American state has done it again. They have saved the hapless and helpless Arabs and Muslims from a villain that cannot be a friend of the American regime, creating PR and American heroes in the process. The Americans are so powerful and they have the right to choose who is a friend and who is an enemy.  In fact the assassaniation is a revenge for Americans and Westerners killed by ISIS. It is an act that serves American domestic politics, especially Trump's politics. Like the assassination of Osama bin Laden , the intent and the instructions were to kill. No capture, no trial, no hearing, no "international law," no burial. The Assassination of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi I agree with the blog editor's reply to those who do not consider the killing an assassination. It is like the word "terrorism": "When they do it it is terrorism. When we do it, it is fighting for freedom." Related The word "assassin"  doesn't come from ha

The first time I left the camp, I felt that crossing the fence was an adventure. But this adventure was sufficient to dispel any illusions I once had of “deliverance”. I walked away from the fence and headed through the woods towards the city and its bustling life. But little by little I was feeling more lonely and isolated, and I was realizing  that the Syrian lady was clueless and did not understand that the fence was not protecting us from evil Nazis outside, but it was protecting the outside from us. A Syrian Refugee visiting a Nazi Camp

"An alternative from the people of the global south"

Western news coverage: The white perspective

She was the first Arab parliamentarian woman and the first officer in the Egyptian Liberation Army.

 Via Corey Robin The fashionable fear in the media and academia of the working class as the bacillus of populist authoritarianism is very much in conflict with the empirical evi dence of decades of history, including contemporary history: "Many observers fear that [capitalist] democracy is currently at risk — including in the United States and some European countries. Some commentators blame less-educated members of the working classes for the democratic backlash....But are industrial workers really an anti-democratic force? In a new study, we systematically examine how citizens have sought to promote democracy in about 150 countries. Here’s what we find: Industrial workers have been key agents of democratization and, if anything, are even more important than the urban middle classes....We investigated all major mass protest movements around the world from 1900-2006, and recorded who dominated each movement — industrial workers, urban middle classes, rural laborers, ethnic

ما هي الدوائر الدولية المعادية للإصلاح السياسي بالمنطقة العربية؟ Who are the international powers opposing political reform in the Arab region? لا يذكر كاتب المقال قوى أخرى معادية  للثورة أو قوى تلعب دورا متذبذبا خلال المسار الثوري. شرائح من الطبقة الوسطى مثلا تعادي التغيير الثوري والبرامج الراديكالية أو  تتذبذب في مواقفها وتحالفاتها. توجد أحزاب إصلاحية وليبيرالية وأحزاب إسلامية  معادية للثورة  تكتفي بإصلاحات طفيفة وتعقد تحلافات مع الدوائر الدولية لمواصلة السياسات الاقتصادية والاجتماعية المعادية للتنمية الحقيقية والطبقات العمالية والشعبية .

"White dominance is evident in the consumption of resources, in the balance of economic power, in capital flows, in the interpretation of conflicts, and in the writing of history. In all these areas, a new age is dawning," Charlotte Wiedemann writes.  For centuries, Europe dominated the world politically  and  imposed on it a capitalist market economy, which to this day benefits itself more than anyone else. Wiedemann has some very valid points, but speaking about "the end of white dominance" is premature. Yes, the world seems to be moving towards a multipolar world. However, economy goes hand in hand with military power. The U.S. and its European allies still have the upper hand. Although China looks as a rival, in reality it is still not a threat and it is not a power that could create an equilibrium in geopolitical terms. One has only to look at the American military budget and military bases around the world. That is coupled with NATO's military power.

" The protests have been remarkable for their territorial reach and the absence of political or sectarian banners in a country often defined by its divisions." Class remains the main determinant. "National unity" is a recipe of ignoring class and perpetuate the status quo in the name of "we are one nation, one people, etc. and let's all work together for Lebanon."

Soviet Film Festival Cairo, Egypt 1950s Credit: Rene Burri

"Impossible to anticipate the spur for rebellion. In Lebanon, it was a tax on the use of WhatsApp; in Chile, it was the rise in subway fares; in Ecuador and in Haiti, it was the cut in fuel subsidies. Each of these conjunctures brought people to the streets and then, as these people flooded the streets, more and more joined them. They did not come for WhatsApp or for subway tokens. They came because they are frustrated, angry that history seems to disregard them as it consistently favours the ruling class." There is something that's ours on the streets and we're going to take it back

We went to Iraq in 2003 and we "liberated" it from a brutal dictator. In fact we had tried to "liberate" Iraq before that, in 1991. 16 years later   " protests earlier this month were brutally put down by security forces, leaving nearly 150 people dead," reported the BBC. You see, there is no hope. These "backward people" even after helping them with training an army and security forces, they failed in front of the "Islamic State" and now they are killing their own people.

A very popular Algerian singer and political activist. She has been living in Prague since 2015. I don't think the word "monarchy" in the lyrics is meant to describe Algeria as a country ruled by a royal family.  This Arab woman needs, "empowerment," doesn't she?

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

"The women were demanding an end to the indefinite detention of asylum seekers, minors, pregnant women, and survivors of torture, rape and trafficking, a practice that is sanctioned in no European country apart from the UK; in the US, it was introduced under the post-9/11 Patriot Act and signed into law under President Obama. The political philosopher Howard Caygill goes so far as to argue that violence at the borders of the modern nation-state has been the chief means by which modernity has contained and denied the violence of its own civility: ‘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 f

s  North  China  Campaign  of  1860  was  not  unex- pected;  most  immediately,  it  followed,  and  was  partly  inspired  by,  wars  in Algeria  and  India  in  the  preceding  decades.  Yet,  there  might  seem  to  be a  contradiction  between  the  liberal  character  of  the  leaders  of  the  cam- pai gn  and  the ir  T ali ban -li k e  dem oli tio n  of  the  pal ac es  and  gar den s  a t Y uanmingyuan.  Ringmar ,  how eve r ,  disputes  tha t  a  contradiction  exis ts . Liberalism  in  the  mid-19th  century  championed  free  exchange.  When  the liberal ’  free-market  policies  met  with  resistance,  such  as  in  China,  violence, and  sometimes  barbarism,  became  a  natural  course  of  action s  North  China  Campaign  of  1860  was  not  unex- pected;  most  immediately,  it  followed,  and  was  partly  inspired  by,  wars  in Algeria  and  India  in  the  preceding  decades.  Yet,  there  might  seem  to  be a  contradiction  between  the  liberal  chara

Can Violence Ever Be Legitimate?

"Big issues transcend Brexit." Indeed. I remember when in late 2018 I asked someone who works in Parliament: with or without Brexit, will there be an end to obscene inequality, exploitation, austerity, tuition fees, support of dictators...? He replied: "No," with a strange look at me as if I had asked him questions that either he never heard of or they were irrelevant. Ken Loach

ore corporate management models, they increasingly use and exploit cheap faculty labor ... Students increasingly fare no better in sharing the status of a sub ‐ altern class beholden to neoliberal policies and values’ (Giroux, 2014, p. 20). The implications of this go far beyond the university itself, resulting in what Giroux, one of the leading writers on this topic, has called ‘the near‐death of the university as a democratic public sphere’ (p. 16). In these assessments, neoliberalism, in its impact on Higher Education, is associated with a range of other terms or ‘discourses’: The ascendancy of neoliberalism and the associated discourses of ‘new public management’, during the 1980s and 1990s, has produced a fundamental shift in the way universities and other institu ‐ tions of higher education have defined and justified their institutional existence. The traditional professional culture of open intellectual enquiry and debate has been replaced with an

"A Quiet Revolution" by Leila Ahmed I personally disagree with the word veil and hijab because they are not specific. They both mean a cover, but they don't specify what is covered. "Hijāb" in Arabic means "to cover"/"to hide". "Headscarf" is a more accurate term. 

Members of the Kurdish Women's Protection Units A photo by Delil Souleiman (AFP and Getty)

"Over the past few years a number of brilliant scholars have been hounded out of the academy because of their political convictions, their commitments to struggles for Palestinian rights and against white supremacy. At the same time, cowardly administrations repeat right-wing talking points about free speech. It’s indicative of this capitalist, upside-down world that tells us that corporations are people but people are disposable, that we live in a knowledge society but facts, learning, and education are simultaneously devalued and commodified, that success brings freedom when in fact it brings debt and entrapment in the service of the capital accumulation of the very rich." Which side are you on? The Comradely Professor

The biggest threat to the U.S. is not China, Russia or the enemy within (Muslims, socialists, etc); it's another emerging super power with a larger economy, bigger military power and higher productivity, and it's a few miles away. Cuba. U.S. sanctions on Cuba

Supported the 2011 uprising from the beginning Fadwa Souleiman May Skaf

Poverty prize

"In her book  Learning From the Germans , the philosopher Susan  Neiman observes that the enormity of the Holocaust has forced Germany to address the darkest aspects of its past. But it has also allowed Britain and America not to do so, to avoid thinking too deeply about the history of slavery or of empire, to minimise their horrors in comparison with the Holocaust." —Kenan Malik, the Guardian online 13 October 2019

95 suicides or about one death every four days! "In the drive to make universities profitable, there is a fundamental confusion about what they are for. As a result, there has been a shift from prizing learning as an end in itself to equipping graduates for the job market, in what for some can be a joyless environment. At the same time as access to university was dramatically expanded, spending on public services was slashed: in the decade after the financial crash, day-to-day spending on public services as a share of GDP was at its lowest since the late 1930s. This meant savage cuts to local authorities, schools budgets and NHS mental health provision." In addition to the workload at university, according to a 2014 report , "a significant number of students  (45%) do paid part-time  work alongside their studies, with 13% doing a 35-hour week." That's what we call joyful learning and learning to develop critical thinking! In reality, corporate universit

Propaganda – Engineering Consent

Israa Abdelfattah, 41, was one of the most iconic leaders of the 2011 revolution. More arrests in Egypt

"This image has also become a stereotype because it is simplistic in its pitting supposedly free sisters in the West against wretched victims in Arab countries. Muslim societies are assumed to have sweeping patriarchal structures, while it is claimed that Western societies are pictures of progressive modernity, says Swiss social anthropologist Annemarie Sancar. Neither of these absolute views are correct." The West's gleeful obsession with "oppressed Arab women" Further reading: Islam in Liberalism by Joseph A. Massad "In his analysis of the emergence of 'military humanitarianism,' David Chandler notes that the development of the NGO regime prevalent in the 1980s focused on 'capacity buidling,' 'empowering,' and 'civil society' (and this is of course in line with the democratisation ideas...that Muslims lack civil society and one has to be created for them to advance democracy), 'as they argued the need for a lo

Via Michael Roberts Poland, the largest Eastern European country, goes to the polls today. The socially conservative Law and Justice party government is expected to increase its vote share in the election. The centre-right Civic Platform — which ruled Poland from 2007 to 2015 with EU President Donald Tusk remains unpopular because of its previous austerity measures in line with EU policy. In contrast, Law and Justice has raised welfare  benefits. The flagship policy was a child benefit scheme, dubbed 500+, that pledged a monthly payment of 500 zlotys for every second and subsequent child, a sum that could provide larger families with the equivalent of another salary. And now the government is offering a sharply higher minimum wage which would increase in steps from 2,250 zlotys (€511) today to 4,000 zlotys by the end of 2023 — a 78 per cent jump. This is the basis of support for Law and Justice probably despite its promotion of Catholic-infused conservative values; and its