Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

The seasons after the 'Arab Spring' Related The most dangerous man in Sudan I n socio-economic terms, the 1950s coups/revolutions, especially in Egypt, Iraq and Syria, brought radical changes. The current revolutions have been unable to even articultae similar ones. The Arab uprisings: an appraisal

How Britain tried to erase India's third gender

Enzo Traverso says, "the Stalinist legacy, made up of a mountain of ruins and dead, did not erase the origins of communism in the tradition of the Enlightenment and eighteenth-century rationalist humanism. 
By contrast,  "[N]ationalism and imperialism, Pan-Germanism and the idea of `living space', `redemptive' anti-Semitism and racism, eugenics and extermination of the `lower races', hatred of the left and charismatic dictatorship are tendencies that had appeared, in more or less developed forms, from the end of the nineteenth century on. Nazism did not create them, it simply radicalized them. 
If Nazism achieved a fusion of three different struggles - a colonial assault on the Slavic world, a political struggle against communism and the Soviet Union, and a racial fight against the Jews - into a unique war of conquest and extermination, this means that its model could not be Bolshevism. It would be more relevant and coherent to find its `model' in the col...

This was written in 1984:  The extent of criticism varies greatly from one part of the Left to another, but there is at least no disposition now to take the Soviet regime as a “model” of socialism: indeed, there is now a widespread disposition on the Left to think of the Soviet regime as an “anti-model.” How could it be otherwise, given some of the most pronounced features of that regime? The socialist project means, and certainly meant for Marx, the subordination of the state to society. Precisely the reverse characterizes the Soviet system. Moreover, the domination of the state in that system is assured by an extremely hierarchical, tightly controlled, and fiercely monopolistic party aided by a formidable police apparatus. Outside the party, there is no political life; and inside the party, such political life as there exists is narrowly circumscribed by what the party leadership permits or ordains — which means that there is not much political life in the party either. ...

Why I stopped contributing to wikipedia I have edited some sections on wikipedia, but I have particularly created new ones, especially sections related to the Arab uprisings: added the last part that begins with "contrary to ..." in  this section . and the last two sections : "The Arab Spring: reform or revolution" and "Space and the city in the Arab uprisings". added more info to "Symbols, slogans and songs" section and created " Commentary " section for Algeria 2019 protests page. On "Humna rights in Egypt" page I created " International complicity " section. When I edited the war in Yugoslavia page and there was a copyright issue, my editing was removed, but I was informed and an explanation was given. But it seemed that I touched a taboo when I edited Gadi Eizenkot's page , using only two mainstream sources: Haaretz newspaper and the Goldstone report , a United Nations Human Rights Council well-...

Beyond Brexit: an existential crisis I don't know though who the author refers to when he uses "we" and "our".

England: corruption "But the fact is that the cases so far brought by the NCA are probably the tip of an iceberg of suspected corruption. Of the properties owned by overseas companies in England and Wales, two-thirds are registered to firms in the British Virgin Islands, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man - which means it can be difficult to work out who ultimately benefits from the asset  The government is supposedly committed to banning the ownership of British property through shadowy companies - but nothing has been done.  Until there is more clarity on who owns what, already-stretched financial crime investigators will struggle to seize the suspected billions of stolen loot washing around the British property market ."

Brexit New model party Politically parallels: Weimar Republic and Britain

More propaganda against Britain. This time is by Amnesty against the "amazing professionalism of our Royal Air Force." "Precision bombing" Raqqa is in ruins like Dresden

How One Palestinian University is Remaking "Israel Studies"

Stephen Rosen: “[W]hat is nationalism? And what nationalism is actually Western invention. Imperial China had no nationalism. Where do they get their ideas of nationalism? Well, they got their ideas of nationalism from the Japanese, which emerged as a national state in the 19 [century].  Well, where did the Japanese get their ideas about nationalism, which were then translated into Chinese? They got it from the Germans. So what they imported was a 19th-century version of social Darwinism in which race  is of the fundamental basis of nationality and there are very – when you hear Xi Jinping [a communist/Marxist?] and other Chinese leaders talking about cultural pollution, when you talk about the natural affinity of all Chinese people wherever they are, you begin to worry that there is this submerged, and sometimes not even so, some racialist component.” — The historian Lord Acton put  the case against "nationalism as insanity" in 1862. Bertrand Russell  criticizes n...

Syria: just another news item while I am sitting comfortably at a café in a rich city sipping coffee... The assault on Idlib and its consequences See also Inside Syria's Secret Torture Prisons: How Bashar al-Assad Crushed Dissent

German Jews warned not to wear kippas

Russia "A lot of the continuities I see are really more focused on the internal evolution of the system. I think that a lot of what people, certainly in the West, criticize Putin for certain kinds of authoritarian behavior, reining in the regions, control of the press, galloping corruption–all of these things were not only present under Yeltsin, but actually the foundations were laid during the Yeltsin years for what then developed under Putin. The clearest example I can think of this is the constitution. That was imposed after this slightly dodgy referendum in 1993. All of Putin’s presidential power derived from that moment where Yeltsin resolved the conflict with the Parliament by force. If you want to undo this contrast between Yeltsin, the democrat, and Putin the authoritarian, all you’ve got to do is look at that moment and then you understand that in that particular moment when a liberal, or someone committed to a liberal free market transformation of Russia, when Yelt...

Poland He fought within Solidarność for a peaceful transformation of the system, where strong workers’ organizations and widespread civic participation would lead to a democratic socialism, based either on continued state ownership or extensive social democratic-type economic intervention. (There were plenty of hothead activists in the movement, Modzelewski later recalled, “but nobody called for the privatization of the economy, or reprivatization of property confiscated by the state in 1945. Nobody.”) "I Didn't Sit Eight and a Half Years in Jail to Build Capitalism"

It sounds interesting. Unfortunately, a subscription is required. «Le capitalism, seul responsable de l'exploitation destructrice de la nature»

The Battleship Island A 2017 South Korean movie.

Ken Loach blames "fake left" politicians

It is the richest country by GDP, not in a state of war, with one of the "best" education system in the world,  47% of women at work, "the rule of law", an army of missionaries who have been "liberating women" in "backward" countries... Top 10 most dangerous countries for women

Contrary to its title, the "interview" is mostly about art in a social context. But you’re an artist making commodities even though you despise neoliberal commodification. “It’s a system I’ve benefited from, no question. We risk becoming further cogs in the wheel of production. Only poetry and the more serious classical music seem able to resist becoming commodities. There’s a sense that  art has been eroded by the market . The world that  Steve Bannon wants is here. And it’s our fault.” Whose? “Liberal lefties like me. I’m going to dare the art world is a part of it.” Part of what? “The ruin of art’s ability to stand opposed to the order of things.” Anish Kapoor: "If I was a young Muslim, would I feel angry enough to join ISIS?  "