Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

The very same media that participated in the counter-revolution and supported the reactionary forces from day one: they chose the name ("Arab Spring"), they beat the drums of "democractic elections" and shouted "transitional justice", they supported the powerful and the more financed who was able to perpetuate the status quo, but offering some concessions such as some liberties and clownish parliament, they have re-defined the slogans raised by those who rose up on 10 December 2011... The terrorism of today is the creation of your Terrorism of yesterday: the invasion of Iraq, and in the case of Tunisia it is the destruction of Libya, and it goes back decades ago when imperialist economic policies (through the IMF, the World Bank, and other institutions), support of dictatoship, uneven development, made all type of diseases possible. Terrorism in Tunisia

Syria: "The revolution continues" Life and Death in Syria (in figures)

" The Evil Empire Has the World in a Death Grip " Western banks backed up by the World Bank are even worse looters than the oil and timber companies. Perkins writes: “Over the past three decades, sixty of the world’s poorest countries have paid $550 billion in principal and interest on loans of $540 billion, yet they still owe a whopping $523 billion on those same loans. The cost of servicing that debt is more than these countries spend on health or education and is twenty times the amount they receive annually in foreign aid. In addition, World Bank projects have brought untold suffering to some of the planet’s poorest people. In the past ten years alone, such projects have forced an estimated 3.4 million people out of their homes; the governments in these countries have beaten, tortured, and killed opponents of World Bank projects.”

Imperialism and super exploitation  (Part 1) Thoughts on the debate on imperialism  (Part 2) Can we be so clear about the division between ‘oppressor’ and ‘oppressed’ nations?

Palestinian teachers' strike marks major rift between public and PA

"هل قرأنا القرآن" أو النقد المزيف الأساس الذي يقوم عليه نقد يوسف الصديق لما يسميه "المؤسسة التفسيرية" هو التأويل، أو مثلما جاء عليه عنوان كتابه: القراءة. فهو يحاول، بأساليب فيها الكثير من الاستعراض المعرفي (المجاني أحيانا)، أن يصور تلك المؤسسة التفسيرية كنوع من المؤامرة الشاملة لقولبة النص القرآني وتحنيطه في تأويل (قراءة) أحادي يسلبه طابعه "الكوني" و"العقلاني" الأصلي الذي يميزه، بحسب الصديق، حين كان يتخذ شكل "الشذرات الشفوية"، قبل أن يتم تجميده في مصحف مكتوب موحد ورسمي (مصحف عثمان). عمل يوسف الصديق إذا يستهدف استعادة النص الضائع قبل أن تطاله يد المؤسسة التفسيرية، واستعادة طابعه "العقلاني" وأسلوبه الذي يجعله بحسب الصديق "نشيدا كونيا" لا مجرد أحكام شرعية وحكايات خرافية كتلك التي تمتلئ بها كتب التفسير والسيرة. وهكذا فإن ميدان نقد الصديق للتراث التفسيري ليس التاريخ بل التأويل (القراءة). والمؤسسة التفسيرية المنقودة في الكتاب المذكور لا تقع ضمن التاريخ، بل ضمن مؤامرة (تتقصد تآمرها ذاك وواعية به) لطمس الروح

The New York Times' first article about Hitler's rise is absolutely stunning

' Cultural Marxism': a uniting theory for rightwingers who love to play the victim

I laughed when I read this: " The good news is that the Pentagon is wiping out Somali insurgents on the ground and from the air. The bad news is that al-Shabab keeps coming back stronger."  — Foreignpolicy.com, March 11

The Middle East: a summary " Military primacy, and the routine use of deadly military force, remains the cornerstone of US foreign policy in the Middle East. The 2015 nuclear non-proliferation accord with Iran represents a rare yet fleeting bright moment for diplomacy in a region where wars—in Libya, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen—and the mass displacement of peoples continue unchecked. The United States has done much to precipitate the violence through its unjustifiable and destructive 2003 invasion of Iraq. Today the Obama administration abets the devastation from the air and by arming, directly or indirectly, its weak and embattled client governments. These include Iraq, the Saudi-backed forces seeking to regain control of a barely functioning Yemeni state, a shifting cast of Islamic militants fighting the Assad regime in Syria, and the Kurdish forces fighting the most infamous of the insurgencies, the Islamic State. A host of other outsiders including Russia, Turkey, Iran, Israel,

Egypt Running on Empty "The 2011 uprising did not create the mess—the decisions of powerful actors did. Pining for the status quo ante, the elites failed to meet the most basic popular demands; now they are trying to contain the lingering tensions while building a new regime amidst intense competition among old regime figures and newer entrants. These struggles, in addition to the structural fiscal weakness of the state and the poor economy, generate fears of a polity coming undone and explain the viciousness of the backlash. Is it a house of cards? Many Egyptian observers say that no amount of aid from the Gulf, US diplomatic cover and police brutality can keep the state running. More than one person openly told me that Sisi might be overthrown, despite the huge investments and grand spectacles that went into putting him on the wobbling throne, and despite his attempts to place his sons high up in intelligence agencies. It is a bold prognostication. Yet one need only read t

Violence and the City in the Modern Middle East

Fusillez Sartre  ou "Parce qu’elle est le partenaire indispensable des indigènes, la gauche est leur adversaire premier."