Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

England The power of capital is portrayed as being in the interest of "the people" How to smash the last pockets of resistance

Global capitalist economy A well-known economist, Nouriel Roubini, with a career at the World Bank and IMF (notorious institutions), is unable to provide a solution! Could it be because there might be something flawed in determining the causes? After all, when someone is well into the system and merely wants to help managing it is not supposed to question the fundamentals. Related: It's all going pear-shaped

The nation-state: e.g. Britain "The liberal-nationalist hope is always that one can have the fantasy of social harmony and enjoying-together without the exclusionary Othering. Even if nations are, by definition, exclusive, the hope is that they need not be chauvinist about it." "Behead those who insult the nation-state"

Algeria Here is one of the reasons that the Algerian protest movement is unable to carry out a revolution: The protesters "call for" and "demand" . That is not what the history of revolutions inform us about how to "remove a ruling elite."   Here are some conditions: A regime has to face a mounting pressure that makes it implode from inside. A revolutionary movement that paralyses the economic machine through a general strike. A split in the military/winning of a significant section of the armed forces. The regional and foreign intervention is weak or unable to prolong or co-opt the revolutionary movement. On the contrary, favourable international conditions have to exist. That is absent today. The movement has a strong mass support because the majority/at least a coalition of social strata, including a section of the middle classs, not only desire change, but also believe in the viability and achievability of an alternative. The movement p

Manufacturing consent and views Here is an interesting and a telling comparison one should make: the way the mainstream, corporate media (from the Times to the BBC) have reported about some Westerners killed or kidnapped and the genocide* in Myanmar.  Compare how many articles, number of words and images have been used to report on one British Muslim woman who had joined ISIS and the genocide against Muslims in Myanmar.  *The United Nations and a Havard researcher, for example, have used the word genocide. 

A picture about Hong Kong, which incorporates sociology, political economy and international relations in one short piece is rare to find. A must read. Hong Kong's resistance

The failed repatriation efforts come as  a UN report  revealed the extent to which the Myanmar military, known as the Tatmadaw, systematically used sexual violence, including the gang rape of men and women, as part of a strategy to intimidate the Rohingya during “clearance operations” in 2016 and 2017. It was these crackdowns that precipitated the exodus of more than 700,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh, where they still live in squalid camps. Rohingya refugees turn down second Myanmar repatriation effort

The Meaning of Israel's Massive House Demolition in East Jerusalem Related: My interview with Jeff Halper in June 2008

In Russia, the Fight is Alive

Stray Dogs By Tsai Ming-Liang