Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

I think that the article, contrary to its title, it is a more a summary of the main ways the Palestinian have followed in their struggle against a settler colonial state since the first Intifida  than "why Isreal kills". Why Israel kills

One of the paradoxes of social life in late capitalism is that, even as more and more people abandon certain types of drug -- alcohol, tobacco, ecstasy, sex -- addictions  ar on the rise .  The number of alcoholics, opioid addicts, gamblers , social media addicts, porn addicts and so forth shows a secular increase. In other words, the drugs of sociability are declining, while the drugs of solitude are gaining ground. What kind of problem is this?  Trump says, massacre the dealers . The Duterte option . Liberals, with the soft paternalism of the moral reformer, say treat the disease . So we murder the problem, or we medicalise it. Hard cop or soft cop; either way, the problem is being suppressed . Toxicity in late capitalism

Al-Gami'ya Interview with director Reem Saleh

Prior to the 12 May demonstration in London, the Trade Union Congress had publised the results of a research: "The current period of wage stagnation is the worst for two centuries. Not since the beginning of the 18th  century (when it took 24 years ) , has it taken so long for real wages to recover from a slump." Britain's 17-year real wage squeeze

Aren't the people of Iran and North Korea entitled to the same protection racket? "They, arguably, are more threatened. Yet that isn't how the global hierarchy of violence works." Trump, Netanyahu, and the nuclear conflict with Iran

"But then –the third event—globalized capitalism that exhibits all the features that Marx so eloquently described in  Das Capital , and the Global Financial Crisis, made his thought relevant again. By now he was safely ensconced into the Pantheon of global philosophers, his every extant word published, his books available in all the languages of the world, and  his status, while still subject to vagaries of time, safe—at least in the sense that it could never fall into obscurity and oblivion. In fact, his influence is inextricably linked with capitalism. So long as capitalism exists, Marx will be read as its most astute analyst. If capitalism ceases  to exist, he will be read as its best critic. So whether we believe that in another 200 years, capitalism will be with us or not, we can be sure that Marx will." The influence of Karl Marx – a counterfactual

It is a sin to link to the Daily Mail, but it is good to know one more example of how a criminal regime apologises for its crimes by putting the blame on three or four individuals .

Why Israel is picking up a fight with Iran The writer forgot to mention that Israel is backed by the strongest military power on earth.

Those who would doubt Marx's commitment to a truly democratic society should study his eloquent (second in literary brilliance only to his  The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte ) description of the 1871 Paris Commune. The Commune abolished rents and debts, equalized wages, hailed culture and education, made leaders subject to immediate recall by the people, destroyed the guillotine. Women played a crucial role in all of its activities (see Gay Gullickson,  The Unruly Women of Paris ). It was, Marx said, “the most glorious achievement of our time. Howard Zinn on how Karl Marx predicted our world of today

US teachers strike New polls  show that 78 percent of Americans think teacher pay is too low, while more than half are supportive of the strikes. A Field Guide to the New Red-Baiting

Spain's feminist strike

"Reasons include the United States' interest in maintaining lucrative arms deals with the Gulf states – primarily Saudi Arabia – and the fact that many U.S. politicians support bombing Iran (as demanded by the  right-wing Israeli leadership)." Middle East nightmare – made in Washington

Exploitation and robbery "London was the least affordable region in England and Wales, with city-dwellers spending 41.1% of their annual salaries on rent in 2017."

"In reality, there was never any golden age of liberalization under Erdoğan. The praise he attracted from Western elites as a ‘moderate’ and a ‘reformer’ was motivated above all by the  AKP ’s staunchly pro-American foreign policy and readiness to maintain good relations with Israel (the same criteria that earn the Saudi regime its ludicrous plaudits as a moderating force in the region). It also helped that  NATO ’s favourite Islamists had taken up the neoliberal agenda with gusto, privatizing state assets into the hands of  AKP  cronies—including Erdoğan’s close relatives." Erdogan's cesspit

Here is what John Bolton wrote in May 2015 " The United States could do a thorough job of destruction, but Israel alone can do what’s necessary. Such action should be combined with vigorous American support for Iran’s opposition, aimed at regime change in Tehran." "To stop Iran's bomb, bomb Iran"

Which country works the longest hours ?

The West has become a vast moral project, an intimidating claim to write and speak for the world, and an unending politicisation of power. Becoming Western has meant becoming transformed according to these things, albeit in a variety of historical circumstances and with varying degrees of thoroughness. For conscripts of Western civilization this transformation implies that some desires have been forcibly eliminated—even violently—and others put in their place. The modern state, invented in Europe, is the universal condition of that transformation—and of its 'higher truth'. — Talal Asad, Conscripts of Western Civilization , 1992, quoted in Joseph Massad's Islam in Liberalism, 2015, pp. 251-2

Calculus of Power

K for Karl — Exploitation (episode 4)

Marx and Keynes in Berlin