Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

The Arab Gramsci

The “civilised” UK’s Home Secretary plans to use the navy against migrants A threat to Britain, to “our way of life” and to the economy: lone migrant children

Beirut’s ruling class – the stupidest mafia there is

“The essential thing is the interplay between fatality, technology, and capitalism” set the stage for nationalism/the modern nation. Excerpts from one of my favourite books Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism

Hiroshima and Nagasaki as Collateral Damage

Tracing the explosives

“This would not explain why two highly trained, US former special forces soldiers climbed into that boat on a quest to "liberate" a country that was not theirs.” Well, they were former American special forces. The American regime has been doing its best to ‘liberate’ other countries. Many American soldiers and many Americans believe in that mission. Despite the crimes and the criminal consequences of training death squads to invasions and toppling of even democratically-elected presidents, the ideological belief is still there. The American regime would be very happy if the plot against Maduro succeeded. One has just to look at a very recent coup, the one in Bolivia. Even the BBC’s tone would be different. Liberals would disagree with the capture or assassination of the president, but once the dust settles down “democratic elections”, “stability” and “liberal democracy” would be the talk of the day.  A ‘bizzare’ plot to capture a president

“Islamising stones is easier than Islamising souls”

Zeinab, and the world outside her window.  Photograph by Hana Gamal (El Mansoureya المنصورية)

Gaddafi’s prophecy comes true as foreign powers battle for Libya’s oil

Taking on the ‘fearsome foursome’ and ‘market power’

In the process of liberating other people, especially women, in a faraway country from bearded “terrorists”/“insurgents”, some of our heroic boys exercising their duty under extreme pressure make mistakes. When Muslims attack us in Paris or London, they are terrorists and Jihadis. A flood of articles, hourly updates and eye-witnesses’ accounts, repeated news items and pictures, When “our soldiers” (good Jihadis) execute civilians they act in “self-defence” and barely anyone hears about it. Did UK Special Forces execute unarmed civilians?

Decolonisation for the author does not include decolonising global capitalism, putting an end to - wealth accumulation in the hands of a few - obscene inequality - unequal exchange and monopoly of technology, - uneven development, - overthrowing of dictatorships/bourgeois classes in poor” and “developing” countries”, - debt, - imposition of economic programmes such as privatisation, etc. The author thinks ending discrimination and “reparations and restitution” will bring about decolonisation without touching the structure of the existent ownership and power relations. Colonialism made the modern world. Let’s remake it.

Hinting to economic and political domination/oppression without linking class to race, blurs and even hides what you call “structural” in any society.  Remember how the conflicts in Iraq and Syria have been mainly treated as sectarianism . That is what the following analysis does. There are black capitalists and black people who believe in the morals and ideas of the bourgeoisie. There are black imperialists and the recent example in the US is the most obvious. Then there is global power relations that perpetuates racism and class oppression. A black person in an A country could be oppressed racially and economically by the national ruling class and the country itself is dominated by Western imperialism, which perpetuates those oppressive class and racial relations globally. Any attempt to break out of such domination (see the recent experience of Latin America and Egypt, for example) is met by fierce opposition, sabotage or cooption by Western imperialism. Power and Exclusion ...

Boris, the Russian oligarchs and Page 3 model

Wealth or Income?

Genocide in Libya The book specifically recovers the hidden history of the fascist Italian concentration camps in Libya.

“We coup whoever we wants,” says Elon Musk

Black Saudi on African Migration and Slavery

“Analysts have thus far tended to ignore those Arabs who support the political project in north and east Syria. Several observers have amplified the voices of those Arabs who are critical of it, perhaps because that narrative fits more easily into the simple trope of sectarianism.” Arabs Across Syria Join the Kurdish-Led Syrian Democratic Forces