Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

The 2010s: the refugee 'crisis' showed Europe's worst side of the world

Land and the rentier economy

"One might have thought that the methods applied in the days of European colonialism and the resulting patterns were a thing of the past. But that would be mistaken. These methods and patterns are now seeing a resurgence, awakening in new and grotesque spasms. We don't even dare hope that these will be the last." Late colonial convulsions See also: A rotten legacy

Britain "After urging land reform I now know the power of the billionaire press"

Orwell's 1984 : why it still matters

Unpatriotic propaganda by The Guardian against our "thriving liberal democracy" and "tolerance" And this is only public racism, i.e. racism by people who have courage. Who knows about the hidden one. Racism rising since brexit vote, nationwide study reveals

Brexit A YouGov analysis of more than 25,000 voters suggests the following division of leave voters in the referendum, linked to the 2017 election result. •  Middle-class leave voters: Conservative 5.6 million; Labour 1.6 million.  •  Working-class leave voters: Conservative 4.4 million; Labour 2.2 million. (A few of the remaining 3.6 million leave voters supported smaller parties; most did not vote in 2017.) So the largest block of leave voters were middle-class Conservatives, followed by working-class Conservatives.  Just one in eight leave voters was a working-class Labour supporter. To be sure, had even half of these 2.2 million voters backed remain, the result of the referendum would be different. But to suggest that the referendum’s 17.4 million leave voters were dominated by working-class Labour supporters is simply wrong. Labout's Brexit tactics are "failing spectacularly"

Why the Gulf Wealth Matters to Britain [and the US] 
A summary 
Anglo-American interest in the enormous hydrocarbon reserves of the Persian Gulf does not derive from a need to fuel Western consumption. 
The US has never imported more than a token amount from the Gulf and for much of  the postwar period has been a net oil exporter. Anglo-American  involvement in  the Middle East has always been principally about the strategic advantage gained from controlling Persian Gulf hydrocarbons, not Western oil needs. 
What remains a US strategy: the US and Britain would provide Saudi Arabia and  other key Gulf monarchies with  ‘sufficient military supplies to preserve internal security’. 
In a piece for the Atlantic a few months  after  9/11, Benjamin Schwarz and Christopher Layne explained that  Washington 'assumes responsibility for stabilising the region’ because  China, Japan and  Europe  will  be dependent on its resources for the foreseeable future: ‘America  wants to discou

Egypt's crackdown on workers' rights

How poverty in modern Britain echoes the past

Domestic workers in Britain When escaping an abusive employer is a crime Don't blame Britain. Blame those abusive Saudis and Kuwaitis who are "backwards" and don't know anything about "women rights".

In an interview with Al Jazeera in October last year, he said: "It was such a different world then. Britain was a different country. It was a country with a heart. We have lost some of our early love for each other. "And today, 'immigrant' is a dirty word, it's ridiculous." Harry Leslie Smith

The average salary in Britain is £26,000. A salary of £51,200 is needed to "afford" to rent a one-bed London home. We have achieved something after hundreds of years of human evolution, technological and scientific development.  The BBC, faithful to Britain's spirit, has filed this infomation in their Business, not Society, section.

Britain drifts [more] towards repressive regimes as Brexit looms

Confessions of a foreigner Scratch beneath the surface... I am a person who engages only in matters of substance and matters which the British generally don't like to talk about or feel uncomfortable when they hear them. It disturbs their faith. Here are two examples:  1. I made a mistake the other day and has a chat with an English. A woman openly said to me: "a language teacher must not express his/her political/cultural views in class. "What about freedom of speech," I asked. She went silent then she said: "but you are a language teacher, why should you talk about other things?" I asked whether what she said had anything to do with the fact that students are considered customers and my views might annoy/upset them, unlike in other countries where students do not pay £9,000+ for their higher education. She agreed, but still opposed me expressing my views in class.  This is not an isolated case in my life in London. A couple of years agao I upset

Britain has gone to huge trouble to humiliate itself

Someone has advised me not to feel guilty by living in Britain. Here is an answer: "I was in the Indian Police five years, and by the end of that time I hated the imperialism I was serving with bitterness which I probably cannot make clear. In the free air of England that kind of thing is not fully intelligible. In order to hate imperialism you have got to be part of it." — George Orwell, The Road to Wigan Pier Orwell had his reasons at the time. I have my different reasons today. The fundamental remains: Britain is an imperialist state and I am part of it.

The end of May?

The number of homeless people dying on the streets or in temporary accommodation in the UK has more than doubled over the past five years to more than one per week. The average age of a rough sleeper when they die is 43, about half the UK life expectancy. Homelessness in Britain

The likely U.S.-led strikes on Syria will be another spectacle .