Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Historical Drama This looks a good South Korean TV series The Nokdu Flower

Extremism Via Michael Roberts "Inequality of wealth is more extreme than inequality of income in OECD countries. On average in the OECD the richest 10% of wealth holders own 53% of all personal (net) wealth, while the richest 10% of income holders own 24% of all personal income. It's wealth that matters - wealth being property and financial assets less any debt. Most people have little wealth at all. But note the ratios are much higher in some countries. In the US, the richest 10% of wealth holders own a staggering 79% of all personal wealth, followed by the Netherlands and social-democratic Denmark. The least unequal major country is Japan where the top 10% own 'only' 41% of all personal wealth. OECD graph (2015)

Capital vs labour  in Indonesia, Germany, India, Turkey, Russia ...

Beyond Today Let's not forget what happened 10 years ago when Taliban militants landed on the Isle of Wight and the bravey of our men in defending our country from bearded monsters who wanted to spread their medieval values in Britain by force. On the deadliest day 5 commandos lost their lives in repelling the invaders. Prince Harry, expressing a steely face , made a resounding speech in which he stated:  "We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." But the militants kept coming in and a guerrilla war dragged on for weeks. K. still remembers how he lost his comrades. He now suffers from post traumatic stress disorder that makes him smash things in the kitchen sometimes. A captured Taliban militant, Ahmed Masood, was quite determined: " We fought you four times now. We will keep fighting you until we convert you to our values....

Breaking news The BBC: "On Tuesday,  the UK raised the threat to British shipping in Iranian waters in the Gulf to the highest level." Iranian boats in Iranian waters were threatening a British ship. The Iranian navy claims that the British ship was carrying weapons of mass destruction that could hit Tehran in 45 minutes. The Iranian supreme leader, in a speech broadcast on state TV, said: " I strongly believe that the British ship was carrying WMD. I do believe that the British developed them with the knowledge of the 'international community', and they pose a threat to the whole region. We will defend our people and our land with whatever means possible..." No one was able to very the claim that the British ship was carrying any WMD. Jeremy Hunt, a would-leader of the free world, was open about it: "We are desparate for a war and we will stand shoulder to shoulder with our American, Saudi and Emirati allies against the Mullahs and their way...

A graphic short story The Mother

"'O my body!  Make of me always a man who questions!'  It is a plea that remains as relevant as ever today, as we question the structure of power and oppression in the digital age."

[I]t would be a mistake to judge the particulars of politics with the proverbial "Sunday School" sense of morality that is farthest removed from the abiding concerns of those who habitually lie. States, particularly the most powerful states, lie and these lies are for the best interests of the ruling elites in charge of those states. The bully who cried wolf

Tunisia Gay politician is running for president The article has ignored a crucial background that proves that the anti-homosexuality law is not religious -based law. "As noted by Tunisian Law Professor Sana Ben Achour, the criminalization of homosexuality in Tunisia began with the passage of 1913 Penal Code, imposed by colonial authorities during the French protectorate.  Previous iterations of the Tunisian penal code, such as the Qanun Al Jinayat Wal Ahkam Al Urfya (قانون الجنايات والأحكام العرفية), issued in 1860’s  under the Husainid dynasty , included no provisions criminalizing homosexuality..." [like in today's South Korea's constitution, for example] In the 1860s by the way Tunisians were Muslims! A similar law was passed by the French in Lebanon. Similar policies were either passed or encouraged by Victorians in the colonies. Even Muslim writers adopted the Victorian language of "perversion" in their literature. The British criminalised...

The history of the empire shows us not only that there is nothing especially “British” about values such as tolerance, freedom, human rights or democracy but that often what we call “British values” were influenced by both empire and resistance to empire. The oft-told story of a benevolent Britain “bestowing” freedom on her colonies when they were deemed ready for it is largely myth. In reality, resistance, often violent resistance alongside famous non-violent movements, was a central part of the story. From Insurgent Empire to Brexit

Talking about sex and sexuality in Palestine  (in Arabic) Generally speaking, the 1950s nationalist revolutions were much more radical then the 2011 "revolutions".* Similarly, the current writings about religion and sexuality in the Middle East are much less radical than the 1960 and 1970s writings by the Syrians Abou Ali Yassin  and Sadiq Jala Al-Azm, for example.  Although different sexual practices, albeit discreet, are very common, Wilhelm Reich's Sexual Revolution is still relevant for the region. Contemporary writings do not step outside the dominant bourgeois discourse, and they tend to anchor their analyses in a Western-centric persepctive of sexuality, ignoring commodification and sexualisation of the body by capitalism.  Even from a bourgeois perspective, the tendency is to disassociate the dominance of capitalist relations, i.e. bourgoeis norms and morality, from changes in people's sexual practices and gender relations. After all, that was the co...

"[I]t is during arduous struggle to become free by their own efforts" that a people are most likely to acquire those "feelings and virtues" that are conducive to the maintenance of freedom. — John Stuart Mill . The very same Mill who defended the British empire!

Britain "Nine months after Blair was elected, indie band Cornershop were No 1 in the singles charts with “Brimful of Asha”, a song about a female Bollywood singer. The old certainties seemed to be giving way to exciting new possibilities. By the time  Greetings from Bury Park  was published, I was convinced that the arc of British history was bending towards tolerance... I was wrong"

From the archive This piece needs updating since it was written 70 years ago. Although genetics and AI are far from changing our biological structure, it is not anymore an impossibility.  Most people know Albert Einstein as a world-famous physicist. He was a socialist, too.

Greece A very short summary: Capital and a pro-capital oligarchic party presided over a crisis. A leftist party capitalised on that, but capitulated before the power of capital then implemented what it was imposed on Greece by the institutions of capital. Now the old pro-capital party is back in town. You cannot get a full and more beautiful citcle than that. "Greece is a small and weak capitalist economy; it cannot succeed without success in the rest of Europe; and that applies to a socialist Greece too.  But at least the Greek people would be in control of their own capital assets and labour allocation." What decides "success" within global capitalism is productivity. Greece can never be France or Germany unless its economic productivity matches the French or German one. And it is not about working long hours; it is about what technology and machines employed. Completing the vicious circle

"Since the war [in Yemen] began, the UK has sold at least £4.7bn-worth of arms to Riyadh," claims the Guardian. That is not a lot in terms of GDP, but it still makes a difference for us here in the UK in terms of jobs at least. Our government is just doing business with an ally. Blame the Saudis: had they stockpiled more of what they needed before the war ( lawfully! ), they wouldn't have put the UK in such a position. Similarly, don't blame Deutsche Bank for axing jobs. Blame those thousands who will lose their jobs during the coming three years; those who were not smart enough and did not work hard enough to keep the bank stronger and competitive. 

There are similarities between the South Korean protest movement in the 1980s and the regime crackdown and the Arab uprisings since 2011, but one of the differences was that South Korea had already embarked on industrialisation and achieved it. Capitalist relations dominated and thus the struggle for bourgeois democracy was part of that transformation. The slogans and songs by the current protest movements in Sudan and Algeria come to mind when we read the following:  Protests inspired by South Korea's "March for the Beloved" See also March for the Beloved

Iraq Threats and arrests face Basrah activists

One of the differences between a "democratic-led" coalition and an authoritarian-led one is that the first is much better at "surgical strikes" At least 544 civilians killed in Russian-led assault in Syria