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Happy Anti-Imperialist Fourth of July

John Nichols does not delve into class and capitalist imperatives that have shaped the American ‘foreign policy’. Class and capitalism in the US are the two drivers why she became “ the dictatress of the world’ and ‘no longer the ruler of her own spirit’. To know the origins of the US imperialism and its features one should refer to Gabriel Kolko Williams Appleman Williams Howard Zinn Robert Brenner Eric Foner Ellen Meiksins Wood Peter Gowan Dylan Riley and others.

Is Philosophy Dead?

Old, but very interesting and not a difficult read. It is in English and translated to Arabic . Today we speak about universes, not a universe, though. According to Paul Thagard, Stephen Hawking was wrong

France: Why the Streets Are Burning Again

Another example of the fragmentation of modern social thought : marginalisation, ghettoisation, inequality, unemployment, class … do not feature in this good article as an answer to the ‘why’ in the title, and it gives the impression that a ‘Muslim’ is not affected by those socio-economic phenomena along racism, ‘Islamophobia’ and police violence. Update: Alain Gabon responded to a question I had sent to him with the following: The Middle East Eye  editorial policy “dictates that a piece must be read in 5 mns and be easy reading, due to the fact everybody reads online on their cells these days).”  “Rather than a repetition  of History ,” wrote Gabon in his draft article, “all those  interrelated events —the murder of the Arabic youth, the  banlieues  riots recalling those of 2005, and this new legal discrimination against the ‘ hijabeuses ’— a re different  symptoms  of the  same long , deep, and structural problem s  that France—its va...

Egypt Coup: A Decade on

“Egypt’s historical trajectory is emblematic of pervasive military rule, particularly during the republican era that began in 1952. To entertain any notion to the contrary implies either a lack of historical understanding or a novice comprehension of political dynamics.” “This stance not only exposes the moral bankruptcy of some Egyptian liberals, but also underscores their complicity in endorsing state violence against their ideological and political adversaries. Such actions run counter to the basic principles and commitments of liberalism, which are firmly rooted in values of pluralism, tolerance and acceptance.” This is misguided/selectively liberal-biased approach. Liberalism from its inception was contradictory . Liberalism cannot be taken in isolation from the political economy of capitalism and its operations worldwide. “Pluralism, tolerance and acceptance” have to be analysed in history and reality, not by a sweeping statement such as the one made by Al-Anani in his article . ...

Has France’s Left Woken Up to Racist Police Violence?

“If you think people are going to burn down a police station because they read a tweet, that’s a conspiracy-theorist way of seeing things, which ignores the social reasons behind these conditions. People have lost their lives, and the way it’s been handled hasn’t given the families any confidence. The police force needs to be rebuilt, and its control body cannot depend on itself.”  “What the working-class neighborhoods have been suffering for years, others are suffering today, even if not with the same severity. So everyone understands that it’s the same social order that’s at stake.” “ The Left’s ‘software’ has changed , and the basic axiom of the American sociology of riots, according to which they always have a political explanation, has been adopted. The subtext today is: Who protects us from the police?” “However, there is still a yawning gulf separating the Left from the poorest housing projects — and we should be under no illusions about its ability to impact the course of e...

History: The Arab Left

Today, we should add Workers Party in Algeria with its Trotskist foundation and tradition —led by a woman— and the Iraqi Communist Party that even made an electoral alliance recently with Muqtada Al-Sadr.  The alliance which united the Shi’i Islamist Sadrist movement, led by the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, and the Iraqi Communist Party (ICP) won more seats (54) than any other electoral coalition. From offensive to defeat