Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

“At this time, we are seeing a regression in the humanitarian dimension of those civilisations, as countries protect themselves by closing their doors. I hope that this novel, somehow or other, will have given voice to brittle lives, which are judged by others without understanding them or investigating what brought them to their current state." Lebanese author Hoda Barakat wins international prize for The Night Fall But the awarding body is funded by the UAE!!!

Radcliffe  [who drew the borders of what would be India and Pakistan] was remarkable for his lack of knowledge about the region’s history or present, not to mention lack of personal stake in its future. But as an arbiter of international boundaries, he was hardly an anomaly. As a rule to which there are few exceptions, our current borders are the result of imperial horse-trading, wars of expansion and conquest, and ragged lines cutting clumsily through ethnic areas, as statesmen have deftly minced up the globe seeking to settle scores and extract maximum gain. Whether carved up willy-nilly by colonialist patricians trying to cram notions into nation-states, or the outcome of aggressive land-grabbing, our current system of borders is neither rational nor historical. In a time of mass migration and displacement—with growing diasporas and asylum-seekers finding safety in caravans on their journey to the US-Mexico border, with refugees braving and often drowning the waters of the Medi...

"Liberal democracy"  Workers at Amazon warehouses who fail to pack goods for delivery quickly enough are being automatically fired by a computer programme which measures their performance, according to new research.

An interesting report by Reuters How China is replacing America as Asia's military titan

Good! Marx deserves better critics

Turkish Voters Upset Erdogan Competitive Authoritarianism Note: " Erdogan refused to take an IMF loan to bolster finances because it would mean severe austerity measures being imposed.  The net foreign assets figure, a proxy for the country’s financial defences, slumped by $9.4bn between March 6 and March 22 to $19.5bn, the lowest level on a US dollar basis since 2007. Excluding swaps, net foreign assets have stood at less than $11.5bn during the entire month of April, down from $28.7bn at the start of March on the same basis." —Michael Roberts blog

Walter Rodney's legacy By Angela Davis See also The Persisting Relevance of Walter Rodney's "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa"

"Half of England is owned by less than 1% of its population, according to new data shared with the Guardian that seeks to penetrate the secrecy that has traditionally surrounded land ownership. The findings, described as “astonishingly unequal”, suggest that about 25,000 landowners – typically members of the aristocracy and corporations – have control of half of the country."  Who owns England? See also a long read here

"Now that the Algerian masses have gained their streets back, many obstacles lay ahead. This regime is perhaps one of the most entrenched in the region that, with a small fix, could again fill its pockets and co-opt large swaths of the population, oppositional forces, and maintain discipline within its own ranks. If oil prices don’t bounce back soon, Algerian elites could still attract new investments in the oil sector that could fill state coffers with enough cash to reinstate the whole chain again to its pre-2014 levels. Like most people around them, Algerians have very little organizational power. This has shown people across the region that  sudden outbursts  could carry a protest this far at best. That Algerians have still poured into the streets in larger numbers every Friday since February 22 is impressive. However, it would be a mistake to expect hundreds of thousands of people to show up to protest indefinitely. Some popular organization has to emerge now and pr...

A critical review of UK's Labour Party economic policies Bill Jefferies' conclusion is that "What seems very radical and alternative now is firmly predicated on the existence of the market and will prevent measures that challenge or threaten that market in the future. The fact that socialism, a real alternative society and different world, plays no part at all in these alternatives is telling. Economics for the Many, in the words of McDonnell, aims to ‘inspire people with an alternative’ to neoliberalism by showing that another world is possible. Another world is possible but the arguments for it remain to be made." Economics for the Many

Stone Men The Palestinians Who Built Israel