Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

I have not followed the series. I should though. Literally, masaameer means nails such nails on the wall or nails on the coffin “ The Saudi Arabia of Masameer  is a regressive, aggressively materialistic, American-influenced province torn between a laughably archaic past and cynical present; a characterless place populated by idiotic, self-centred buffoons unaware of their immense privileges.” “The liberation of the Saudi society was years in the making. MBS simply rode the wave and claimed the project as his own.” By saying there is a ‘ liberation of the Saudi society ’, one must raise their eyebrows at such an astonishing claim. 

"I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world ... I will make sure that we lead the world into the future on space and artificial intelligence. That America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century and that we strengthen, not abdicate, our global leadership." Harris’s reply to those who speak about US decline: More American imperialism in all spheres but led by a woman. How exciting! “ Even if the Democrats had allowed a Palestinian to take the stage , the identitarian horse-and-pony show would have been nothing but a performance meant to bolster America's bipartisan commitment to maintaining its imperial bulwark in the Middle East," Kazi said. Related AOC took the stage at the DNC to endorse Harris and thank Biden

“The Great Hope of Social Democracy stood and  championed the funders of a genocide with nary a word of criticism  — indeed, she even defended Harris on the question of the genocide, saying she is ‘working tirelessly to secure a cease-fire in Gaza and bringing the hostages home’. “With this speech, AOC solidified once and for all which side she is on the struggle to end the genocide in Palestine — the side of the establishment, the side that wants a temporary cease-fire and the continuation of the occupation and oppression of Palestine. She doesn’t want to end the apartheid system of Israeli domination; she stands with the Zionist oppressors and strongly endorses some of their strongest backers. AOC has betrayed the movement for Palestine; she is an enemy of that movement. We cannot continue to support politicians who may propose progressive domestic programs but support imperialism abroad . ]my emphasis N.M.] “ The incorporation of AOC into the establishment i...

“There is is still the idea today that   the history of colonisation is peripheral and not part of the national narrative ." “In secondary school, colonial questions are widely tackled, but they are diluted in broader themes, where they appear as secondary sequences.”

I like the use of the term regime rather than the mainstream one ‘government’. The latter has been made prevalent by the corporate media and most politicians, including a few on the left. Thus the term regime, they claim, can be applied only to authoritarian states. Like other definitions, once you repeat it many times it become normalised. The accurate terms – the ones that reflect the nature of something, the social relations, etc – are marginalised. This is also found in the academic fields. How is the Starmer regime likely to govern? Related Landscapes of capital

Human beings may respond to the appeals of leaders, the socialisation of education and the media and the global illusions of their time. They may believe, at least in part and for some of the time, what they hear, even if, once they have abandoned these beliefs, they deny that this was ever the case.  —Fred Halliday,  The Middle East in International Relations , 2005, p. 220

This will not happen soon, Cori, especially when accommodating voices, if not complicit ones, of people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are betraying their own principles. But in exposing the crimes and the complicity in crimes of power and wealth,   words of defiance against nefarious outfits   are always needed.

Well, the appeal would not resonate with a few of my students who want to work in institutions such as the IMF. They think of job prospects, but a few also believe that the IMF is still one of those institutions that could help ‘development’. Students at the age of 20 to 25 who have enrolled in elite institutions and who have only begun to know about the world, have an interest in believing in such a ‘liberal institution’ of imperialist domination.  Hardly any of those students has ever systematically studied the historical and global working of the capitalist system. On the contrary, even when they are introduced to an alternative, they cannot escape thinking of whether the alternative conflicts with their professional ambitions/careers in managing the system. Public Administration, for instance, is one of the disciplines they enrol in. Ironically, although I don’t have data to support my argument, a few of them end up in debt if the parents are not able to pay the full fees thus ...

Interview with Kevin B. Anderson Related A multi-polarity: a new alignment?

“The genocide in Gaza and the repression and criminalization of Palestine solidarity on and off U.S. university campuses and around the world  tell a larger story of global capitalist crisis .  The absolute savagery of the unfolding genocide has touched a raw nerve throughout the world precisely because it brings home the high stakes involved as the dynamics of global crisis play out, from Kenya to Argentina, from France to the United States, from Bangladesh to Nigeria.”

It had a criminal record, but still allowed to continue business as usual . You know, Scotland is a huge country with a huge economy. No one would have known about it.

“As multi-polarity grows, there are some who see this as a new stage of non-alignment, and even the creation of an anti-imperialist bloc. But the economic and political elites of the Global South are too deeply tied to transnational capitalism to be truly independent. Instead,  multi-polarity is a struggle within global capitalism  for a larger share of markets, profits and political power.”

A society is not the temple of value-idols that figure on the front of its monuments or in its constitutional scrolls; the value of a society is the value it places upon man’s relation to man. To understand and judge a society one has to penetrate its basic structure to the human bond upon which it is built; this undoubtedly depends upon legal relations, but also upon forms of labour, ways of loving, living, and dying. —The French philosopher Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Living – and dying – in the moment Related According  to Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor , Israel has killed 2,100 Palestinian babies under the age of two since October, out of a total of 17,000 children killed.

Western delusions of white innocence Related Innocence

عقلية عربية؟ 

An essay in two parts

 القناع الليبيرالي بين الأمس واليوم 

A must read “The extreme force with which Israel-solidarity is promoted by many German pundits, intellectuals, cultural leaders, party leaders, and left-wing activists isn’t a sign of the power of the pro-Israel consensus in Germany, but rather of its shallowness, and the anxieties and mistrust it provokes in its proponents.” Guilt and complicity in mass murder  (Part I) New German chauvinism (Part 2)

A resource that aims to explore, archive, and celebrate queer narratives in Arab history and popular culture. An interview with Marwan Kaabour and an excerpt from the book