Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

A biography of a town – and camp – in resistance

A new centre of attraction for the Middle East? Related World Oil:  Contemporary transformations in ownership and control

From 2021 Rich countries drained $152tn from the global South since 1960

Lessons from the struggles in Sudan, Syria, and Palestine

John Nichols does not delve into class and capitalist imperatives that have shaped the American ‘foreign policy’. Class and capitalism in the US are the two drivers why she became “ the dictatress of the world’ and ‘no longer the ruler of her own spirit’. To know the origins of the US imperialism and its features one should refer to Gabriel Kolko Williams Appleman Williams Howard Zinn Robert Brenner Eric Foner Ellen Meiksins Wood Peter Gowan Dylan Riley and others.

Old, but very interesting and not a difficult read. It is in English and translated to Arabic . Today we speak about universes, not a universe, though. According to Paul Thagard, Stephen Hawking was wrong

Another example of the fragmentation of modern social thought : marginalisation, ghettoisation, inequality, unemployment, class … do not feature in this good article as an answer to the ‘why’ in the title, and it gives the impression that a ‘Muslim’ is not affected by those socio-economic phenomena along racism, ‘Islamophobia’ and police violence. Update: Alain Gabon responded to a question I had sent to him with the following: The Middle East Eye  editorial policy “dictates that a piece must be read in 5 mns and be easy reading, due to the fact everybody reads online on their cells these days).”  “Rather than a repetition  of History ,” wrote Gabon in his draft article, “all those  interrelated events —the murder of the Arabic youth, the  banlieues  riots recalling those of 2005, and this new legal discrimination against the ‘ hijabeuses ’— a re different  symptoms  of the  same long , deep, and structural problem s  that France—its various governments right left or centre, its mains

The policy of postmortem detention

The UN has accused France's security forces of systemic racism. Poor French suburbs catch media attention when they are in flames Related Reading Britain’s 2011 riots

Hassan Hamdan / Mahdi Amel 

An account available in four languages “We had great hopes and dreams of a better world in which social justice would prevail, and even if we were not able to fulfil our dreams, others will follow us to accomplish what we failed to achieve.” Albert Arié Related The Arab Gramsci

“Egypt’s historical trajectory is emblematic of pervasive military rule, particularly during the republican era that began in 1952. To entertain any notion to the contrary implies either a lack of historical understanding or a novice comprehension of political dynamics.” “This stance not only exposes the moral bankruptcy of some Egyptian liberals, but also underscores their complicity in endorsing state violence against their ideological and political adversaries. Such actions run counter to the basic principles and commitments of liberalism, which are firmly rooted in values of pluralism, tolerance and acceptance.” This is misguided/selectively liberal-biased approach. Liberalism from its inception was contradictory . Liberalism cannot be taken in isolation from the political economy of capitalism and its operations worldwide. “Pluralism, tolerance and acceptance” have to be analysed in history and reality, not by a sweeping statement such as the one made by Al-Anani in his article .

“If you think people are going to burn down a police station because they read a tweet, that’s a conspiracy-theorist way of seeing things, which ignores the social reasons behind these conditions. People have lost their lives, and the way it’s been handled hasn’t given the families any confidence. The police force needs to be rebuilt, and its control body cannot depend on itself.”  “What the working-class neighborhoods have been suffering for years, others are suffering today, even if not with the same severity. So everyone understands that it’s the same social order that’s at stake.” “ The Left’s ‘software’ has changed , and the basic axiom of the American sociology of riots, according to which they always have a political explanation, has been adopted. The subtext today is: Who protects us from the police?” “However, there is still a yawning gulf separating the Left from the poorest housing projects — and we should be under no illusions about its ability to impact the course of event

A Dutch Research Council study found that 40% of economic growth between 1738 and 1780 could be attributed to the trade. The King apologises for country’s role