Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Leaving after loosing hope for change

The road beyond Wigan Pier

A poor conclusion and no alternative, but to implicitly expect the liberal parties to change track. How Europe works to keep Africans in Africa

Why are Africa's coronavirus success being overlooked?

Downing Street has banned me from asking questions

Arms sales: the Swedish model Related An imperialist state The Swedish model?

When the camera wa a weapon of imperialism. And when it still is Related " I write as an African, a black man living in America. I am every day subject to the many microaggressions of American racism. I also write this as an American, enjoying the many privileges that the American passport affords and that residence in this country makes possible. I involve myself in this critique of privilege: my own privileges of class, gender, and sexuality are insufficiently examined. My cell phone was likely manufactured by poorly treated workers in a Chinese factory. The coltan in the phone can probably be traced to the conflict-riven Congo. I don't fool myself that I am not implicated in these transnational networks of oppressive practices." — Teju Cole

Poor tenants pay for landlords to live like kings

The Syrian refugee on the UK's coronavirus frontlines

Nesrine Malik : The pandemic exposed our failing healthcare systems; the disparity between the  perception of immigrants as a drain  and the reality of them as pillars of our communities; the gulf between races and classes; the incompetence of our politicians; the fatal consequences of diminishing public services. There is a naivety in the hope that once ideas are discussed and made popular, they will permeate policymaking and bring about change. History shows us that, during a period of economic upheaval, this is unlikely. The 2008 financial crisis is the clearest cautionary tale. If the loss of life is at a level deemed acceptable by big business and government, the focus will shift to moving on while minimising the need for change. The old order – that some are already writing eulogies for – will surge back rather than retreating. History shows us that whatever horrors a crisis exposes, they can be covered up in the shattered aftermath."

Free movement of capital, yes. Free movement of humans, no. " The immigration bill repeals EU freedom of movement and introduces the new framework - though not exact details - for who can come to live in Britain. Home Secretary Priti Patel said the new system promotes a 'high skill' economy." Are food processing, fruit-picking, retailing, catering, care, cleaning, etc the 'high skill' economy Patel is talking about? Surely not. The who is going to replace those doing those jobs, and which a country with a population of more than 60 million is so dependent on? What companies are going to dispose of such a source of cheap labour and profit? Are we heading towards an automation that will replace these 'unskilled' workers? I think not. How many white British people are willing to take these jobs (if there are any of them)? And even if we put capital and labour aside, isn't this the humane face of 'liberal' feminism and Priti Patel i...

The Specters of Comparison

State intervention may be back, but don't assume neoliberalism is dead Related Here is what the Financial Times , a supporter of neoliberal capitalism of last 40 years is suggesting to reform a system in a deep crisis and thus preserve it: "Radical reforms — reversing the prevailing policy direction of the last four decades — will need to be put on the table. Governments will have to accept a more active role in the economy. They must see public services as investments rather than liabilities, and look for ways to make labour markets less insecure. Redistribution will again be on the agenda; the privileges of the elderly and wealthy in question. Policies until recently considered eccentric, such as basic income and wealth taxes, will have to be in the mix."

It's time to get over it Related Liberal feminism is the one that encompasses Marie Claire magazine, Michelle Obama, Christine Lagarde, Malala Yousafzai, Beyoncé and many like them. You have them in almost every country whether with it is a Muslim-majority or a Christian-majority one, from Turkey to Colombia. An example of liberal feminism

Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief.    —Frantz Fanon,  Black Skins, White Masks

"At the end of the genocide of the Tutsi, the militia was 30,000 strong. The Interahamwe broke the world’s most atrocious records for the speed of the killing of human beings, estimated at five times that of the Nazis." The Violence of Denial—Rwanda and the Lived Memory of Genocide

"There is no alternative." —Margaret Thatcher "The best of all possible worlds." —Voltaire "Free market must be protected"

Neil Davidson (1957-2020) I recommend: Is social revolution still possible in the twenty-first century? Neoliberalism as a Class-Based Project

A good summary "Arab Workers and the Struggle for Democracy" Related The article above lacks a radical appraisal

 Food inequality under covid-19 and the community restaurant