Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

The Right proves, in short, that the liberal faith in the impeccable consistency and logic of the status quo is unfounded. They're almost like hackers saying, if this system is as secure as you say, how come we can break into it ? Or, to put it another way, if your version of reality is the only version possible, how come it contains us ? Karl Rove used to be mocked by liberals for saying, "We're an Empire now and, when we act, we create our own reality." The chaos in Iraq seemed to horrifyingly rebut this unspeakable smugness, but did it? Did they not create their own reality? Wasn't the chaos, the civil war, the patrimonial corruption, the torture, the complete social breakdown, the million bodies, their own reality? — Richard Seymour But I think  this analysis  should be a complement to "the confidence men" article although Seymour's use of "democracy" is close to that of  the Financial Times' and the Guardian's, for instance

"These brave women fighting for freedom, equality and justice face increasing challenges, amidst a violent, Islamic fundamentalist backlash. After 30 years in power, Al-Bashir and his regime have powerful socio-economic, religious and militarised allies throughout the region – and now these forces are working together to fight back against change in Sudan." "Sudan's women face backlash from Islamic fundamentalists"

According to research by the London School of Economics, if you’re a working class graduate with a first class degree you’re less likely to land an elite job than a middle class graduate with a 2:2. And even if you do succeed in getting the position, you'll earn on average 16% less than your middle class counterparts. Why? In this "investigation " Amol Rajan, media editor at the BBC, either has failed to answer why or he was censored (an editor edited him!). The main reason according to Rajan is "class prejudice". Class, thus, is like racism "a prejudice". not a production of socio-economic structure of property and power: how production is organised, who gets the profit, who owns what, and what power relations govern the producers and the owners of capital.  Furthermore, class society has to reproduce itself in terms of power relations and ideas, (i.e. ideology). This main division in society has to be deflected towards "identity politic

The Taliban of San Francisco

Bassam Shakaa: The Making of a Palestinian 'Organic Intellectual'

Britain's National Breakdown Over Brexit (Written before Johnson became PM)

Made in Algeria: Football, Racism, and the Africa Cup of Nations Further reading: For the Muslims

Syria 1942 Providing food and clothes to Greek refugees.     (Credit to Huda's Welten Blog)

"The killer clowns offer the oligarchs something else too: distraction and deflection. While the  kleptocrats fleece us , we are urged to look elsewhere. We are mesmerised by buffoons who encourage us to channel the anger that should be reserved for billionaires towards immigrants, women, Jews, Muslims, people of colour and other imaginary enemies and customary scapegoats. Just as it was in the 1930s, the new demagoguery is a con, a revolt against the impacts of capital, financed by capitalists." From Trump to Johnson: nationalists are on the rise — backed by billionaire oligarchs

“It is worth noting,” [Martin Luther] King said, “that Abraham Lincoln warmly welcomed the support of Karl Marx during the Civil War and corresponded with him freely. … Our irrational obsessive anti-communism has led us into too many quagmires to be retained as if it were a mode of scientific thinking.” Abraham Lincoln and Karl Marx (Click on Free view when subscription message pops up)