Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Is there room for critical thinking in Islam? That's in addition to the history of atheism in Islam , the Qarmatians , the feminist movement (esp. in early 20th century). Those who don't see the role of colonialism, the Victorian morality that accompanied it, dictatorship and dependency, the failure of the nationalist-led modernization project (including 'secularism' from above) and the subsequent rise of Islamic fundamentalism, the stalinization of most the official left and repression, impeiralist domination, etc. do not see the diversity and history of Islam from Dakar to Bali.

"The British establishment is trying to destroy Labour," writes Paul Mason. "[We must] build a vibrant political culture where anti-Semitism is combated, where any illusions about Vladimir Putin’s Russia are punctured and the truth is told about the crimes of Stalinism; a culture where people are educated in the values of the Labour movement and its diverse traditions – social democracy, syndicalism and democratic Marxism – not just given a manifesto, a rulebook and a list of doors to knock. "We need a movement that helps people develop a belief in their own agency - not the agency of states, religions, autocrats or, for that matter, iconic Labour leaders. That part is up to us." Actually, it is not in the interest of the "British establishment" to destroy Labour. What the "establishment" wants is a resurrection of New Labour, a shift in the balance of forces within Labour so that the right-wing takes over. Ultimately, what is ai...

The Managerial Class A book launch

Shooting and stabbing violence in London. " We've seen a normalisation in attitudes toward violence globally - and also we take offence about pretty much everything. If we look at people now - things escalate on social media now about absolutely nothing. People now, when placed in conflict situations, react in a much more expressive manner. And if people who are running countries react in that manner, it's a signal for everyone to react that way."  —   Martin Griffiths   is a consultant surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust in London. I would add the structural violence of the state: austerity and cuts, marginalisation and exclusion  (remember 2011 riots?), and commodification of everything, This rise in violence in London is merely a symptom. There are other symptoms, too. To identify the disease the diagnosis has to be general . 

"Even a whole society, a nation, or even all simultaneously existing societies together, are not the owners of the globe. They are only its possessors, its usufructuaries, and like boni patres familias [good fathers of families] they must hand it down to succeeding generations in an improved condition... The rational cultivation of the soil as eternal communal property", is "an inalienable condition of the existence and reproduction of a chain of successive generations of the human race." — Marx, Capital , vol. 3 "It seems to me axiomatic that the expansionary, competitive and exploitative logic of capitalist accumulation in the context of the nation-state system must, in the longer or shorter term, be destabilizing, and that capitalism . . . is and will for the foreseeable future remain the greatest threat to world peace." Capitalism "may be able to accommodate some degree of ecological care, especially when the technology of environmental prote...

Trump, trade, and the tech war

How not to evaluate the relevance of Marx's Capital

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Black holes

The accident of birth is the greatest source of inequality in the US,” wrote economist James Heckman. It’s equally true in the UK today, where the strongest predictor of academic achievement is how much your parents earn. Though two-thirds of our kids attain a C or above in English and maths GCSEs each year, that number falls to just over a third of kids on free school meals. Heckman has also shown that the best way to tackle this inequality is to invest in children’s development as early as possible in their lives. It isn’t enough to transform schools – we have to start much earlier than that. How babies learn - and why robots can't compet e

The class system

Gender gap in Britain If the figures provided by the companies are genuine ... 1. 'Free market': Leading robbers in this are banks and budget airlines such as easyjet and ryanair.  2. Transparency: For how long has this been going on? Who has been complicit in hiding this?  3. Justice: Will the women affected get back what they have been robbed of?  4. Certainly many women, and men, knew about the gap for years, but accepted it and kept silent. Aren't they also complicit? 4. Exploitation: Like what is happening between the rich and poor countries through multinational companies, debt, etc, when you get something "cheap", or if you feel that your standard of living is OK, someone else /other people, another class must be paying for it.

Crucial. A debate between Michael Roberts and David Harvey

The Iranian philosopher Dariush Shayegan An obituary

Last month the National Crime Agency reported a  35% annual rise  in the number of suspected slavery victims found in the UK, with more than 5,000 people referred to the government mechanism that supports them in 2017. Labour exploitation, rather than sexual exploitation, was the most common type of modern slavery cited. How did we let modern slavery become part of our everyday lives?

Caricatures by Gerhard Haderer 31 illustrations d’une franchise brutale par Gerhard Haderer qui montrent ce qui cloche avec la société moderne

A short story Yes, we have no bananas By Stephen Langfur

Satire A teenager's trip to Israel

From identity politics to academic masturbation

Turkey Inside the Islamic Cult Whose Leader is Embraced by Israeli Figures