Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

Cairo: A Museum of Ghosts

Millions of ordinary Americans support Donald Trump. Here's why

Is the World Living or Dead? "[T]ere's considerable evidence that human social behaviors, even in the most specialized and highly technologically mediated societies, have not really evolved much in sophistication and may even be said to have regressed in some ways, compared with the prior understandings of peoples living at a much lower level of specialization and technological intervention. For we have accepted monstrous imbalances of power and seem to have lost the determinative notion of reciprocity that gave some earlier forms of social organization their stability. And sadly, it is science, aiding and aided by capital, which has actually been key in dismantling the idea of social and environmental reciprocity and instead justifying a profoundly anti-social and anti-ecological set of behaviors."

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