Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

From the archive "Islamist violence" An interview with Karen Armstrong Religion Fights Back Fields of Blood: Religion and the History of Violence (Armstrong's book e-book)

Theoretical laziness

Rome, Italy Neo-fascist violent against Roma

London Viral video shows violence not in 'Sharia Law Zone'

New soil study confirms 1943 Bengal famine was caused by Winston Churchill’s policies, not drought

Britain needs new council houses–not musicals about them

Britain Leftists consider it "capitualtion" and "disappointment". They forgot that it was in 2017 Labour Manifesto. Labour wants to end free movement

Kremlin doubts figures showing Russians too poor to buy shoes

‘Why this race? Running forever behind development? Why don’t we think more about the very notion of developing? For whom, for what? For growth rates? What is development? What does it mean to develop a country by increasing the number of poor people?’  A very interesting interview with geographer Habib Ayeb. I cannot digest though his assertion that the solution would be a return to the agricultural economy and that small farmers could feed humanity. I find it weird. Food Sovereignty and the Environment

Imperialist values "Throughout the 20th century and into the 21st, through the crucial decades of state formation as the Gulf monarchs entrenched their rule, Washington and London provided the regimes with security guarantees, arms and training for their security forces. This empowered the Saudis and their fellow royals to jail and torture dissidents, crush all challengers and shut down any possibility of political change, most recently in  Bahrain in 2011 . Such violence has always been central to western power in the world. The Gulf monarchs have merely acted as our subcontractors."  —David Wearing Support from the UK has enabled the world's worst humanitarian disaster

Protesting Politics in Algeria

Bourgeois values In "normal" times they justify exploitation, plunder, murder and complicity in murder, austerity, Islamophobia and xenophobia. They propagate mediocrity, commodification, celebrity culture and miseducation. When the shit hits the fan, they call for "national unity".

Off-the-record Life and Fate by Vasily Grossman

"When you see how quickly anti-Arab, anti-Muslim, anti-foreigner stereotypes can reappear, there is a colonial impregnation that goes back a long way and is still very strong. It remains in the collective unconscious. It takes the form of a certainty, incredible to me, that our world is superior to any other. It is clear that the West, i.e. the last expansionist powers, considers itself – and is considered by the majority of its population – as the panacea of modern civilization. In reality, it is an imperialist and unequal construction, creating irreparable disparities. There is a blind violence in equating the ne plus ultra of civilization with something that in certain respects is monstrous. 
When we talk about violence, we must keep two criteria in mind. First, that violence is rarely good and should be avoided. That’s a moral judgment, which I accept. If objectives can be achieved without resort to violence, that’s much better. I’m definite that violence is not something I...

"And as polling shows, public attitudes on migration are softening markedly." Are they? Labour must make a principled case for free movement

Show us the truth about Vietnam

Germany's relentless campaign to silence pro-Palestinian voices See also “Germany is a big supporter of denying Palestinians their right of return

The great visionary of Arab cinema

Gender and Empire Essential readings I would add to the list: Desiring Arabs by Jospeh Massad

This has been going on for decades. The gender pay gap in Easyjet and British Gas, for example, is above 45%. We should add that in a few workplaces unions are not allowed and that they have done little to fight the injustice because they have been weakened and "neoliberalised", and parliament knows about it. But it seems that at universities unions have been passive or complicit. One can only wonder how many of these employees, workers, students, professors believe in "liberating" other women in far away countries. I've often heard white students in their teens studying in two elite universities, who want "to help and empower" women in Africa and the Middle East! Cultural arrogance has blinded them from seeing what is around them and how capitalism works. Big university gender pay gap revealed See also You are not only exploited, you are more exploited than others Ethnic academic minority pay