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Our Wound Is Not So Recent Prominent French philosopher Alain Badiou, in his new book about the terrorist attacks of November 13 in Paris, recalls the pressing need of offering the world’s youth, who are highly frustrated by capitalism that does not honour its promises, an ideological alternative. He tries to shed light upon the enigmatic death impulse that drives the jihadists to kill people indiscriminately. It is popularly argued that a type of radicalisation, which builds upon the social and religi ous causes, yields unprecedented violence. Badiou, however, sees these attacks through different lenses; for him, they are symptomatic carnages of our time where there is no limit to global capitalism.  Released on January 11 by Fayard.
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The  Era of Predatory Bureaucratization – An Interview with David Graeber  " In England, it is fascinating to analyse the strategies of the different political parties. Britain got rid of the industrial apparatus and is now trying to kill the university system, so what is going to be left to export? For now, it’s all based on finance and real estate. Why? Why is it that every rich person in the world wants to own a house in London? There are many other beautiful European cities. What’s the appeal? I realised two things: first, you can get everything you could, possibly want, in England, thanks to a docile and subservient working class. I had a friend whose job was to deliver lobsters at any time of the night. Secondly, and most importantly: if you come from Bahrein, Russia or Hong Kong, something could still go wrong, there could still be social unrest. Not in England, it is perceived: the historical defeat of the English working class is Great Britain’s main export product.&q
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تونس من رئيس الجمهورية الى آخر صحفي برتبة مخبر "يساندون التحركات السلمية ويدينون الاعتداء على الأملاك الخاصة والعامة".....لا شيء جديد في هذا، فهذا ما كان قد قاله بن علي ذات جانفي 2011، وبرهان بسيس ذات ديسمبر 2010 وبشرى بالحاج حميدة ومختار الطريفي ذات 13 جانفي 2011...لا شيء جديد حقا.... الجديد أن النعرة الأخلاقية المدافعة عن الملكية الخاصة (وليست هناك ملكية خاصة إلا ملكية طبقة البورجوازيين، فالبقية لا يملكون سوى أوهام الملكية) قد تسربت لأكثر الأنصار السابقين للحراك الثوري وأكثرهم ح ماسة لاستعادة المسار الثوري. فكأنما هؤلاء قد استبطنوا الماتراكاج الاعلامي بحيث لا تخلو مساندتهم، هم أيضا، للحراك الانتفاضي الحالي من لازمة "التنديد بالمندسين واللصوص والارهابيين"، بحجة أن أعمال النهب ضد المغازات الكبيرة أو حرق مقرات البوليس "تشوه الحراك أمام الرأي العام". وما هو هذا الرأي العام؟ الرأي العام، أصدقائي، ليس سوى القيم والأفكار العمومية والأخلاق...التي يكرسها النظام الاجتماعي السائد. وإذا كان هناك تمرد حقيقي ضد النظام فهو بالضرورة تمرد ضد هذا الرأي العام
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"Britain has been cozying up to Russian money for years, and a dead spy isn’t going to change that." "The present era has been defined by globalization, financial globalization above all, and true to form, Britain has positioned itself in recent years as the global capital for capital. The city of London has become a  hub  for the world’s money, clean and dirty; London property is now the  investment  of choice for the world’s leading plutocrats and kleptocrats. Dean Acheson’s 1962 quip that Britain has lost an empire and not found a role is pretty but untrue — the role is evident in the glass skyscrapers and condo buildings now planted across the capital city." Initially, the British government "blocked all efforts for a public inquiry, seemingly for fear of jeopardizing its trade ties with Russia." "Foreign Secretary William Hague preemptively submitted a public interest immunity certificate, a move designed to keep the government’s classifie
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"We were walking through Neukölln, a former West Berlin neighborhood and longtime immigrant enclave... Today, people from  more than 160 countries  call Neukölln home, andjournalists and politicians take Uzun’s tours to better understand one of Berlin’s most diverse neighborhoods. This is where Uzun takes her tour groups. Here, she tells them how the Rixdorf quarter of Neukölln has actually been home to immigrants for centuries: In the 18th century, King Friedrich invited Bohemian Protestants to help settle the land here, even freeing them from taxes and exempting them from military service. “They were allowed to keep their language,” said Uzun, pointing out a street sign still in Czech. “It took them 140 years to really integrate.” Today, more than 40 percent of the neighborhood’s 325,000 residents have an immigrant background, which Germany defines as either being from a different country or having foreign parents or grandparents; about a quarter of the residents don’t ha
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A liberal analysis. Some good arguments though. ISIS: The 'Islamic State' between Orientalism and the Interiority of MENA’s Intellectuals
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