Nèdeem Elmahjoub's blog

"The Assad regime has become a representative of the internal First World in Syria, the Syrian whites. I think the elites in the West find Bashar al-Assad more palatable than other potential interlocutors. He wears expensive suits and has a necktie, and, ultimately, these elites prefer a fascist with a necktie to a fascist with a beard. Meanwhile, they don’t see us, the Syrian people. Those who are trying to own the politics of their own country have been rendered invisible." Syria's "Voice of Conscience" Has a Message for the West

A Dr.  preaching neo-orientalism, imperialism and patronizing other countries , brandishing an empty term ("democracy) of the West, i.e. the capitalist, imperialist democracy of the Western powers that we have seen in practice not only in wars and occupations, but in IMF adjustment programmes, in global capitalism's uneven development, in plunder by corporations, in NGOs working with repressive regimes and perpetuating power structure, in Western powers working with local regimes in aborting, diverting or co-opting uprisings or confining it to the parliamentary capitalist democracy, oppression within the undemocratic European Union itself, level of corruption on an unprecedented scale, driving down wages, undermining unions (even banning people from joining a union), gambling with pensions, corporatization of education, undermining academic freedom, a development of an oligarchy and a mediaocracy, depolitization, passivity and narcissism, a plague called identity politics ins

In a foundational work of medical literature, The Welfare of Bodies and Souls (Kitāb maṣāliḥ al- abdān wa al-anfus) of Abū Zayd al-Balkhī (849–943), we find the author stating:  "The best drink that humans, through their reason and understanding, have devised a means of producing, is the refined grape-drink among whose properties is that it intoxicates [al-sharāb al-ʿinabī al-raqīq alladhī min ṭabʿi-hi al-iskār]. It is, of all beverages, the most noble in essence, most superior in composition, and most beneficial—if taken in moderation, and not to excess." Abū Zayd is, of course, speaking of grape-wine. "The benefit of a substance to the body lies in what the substance provides the body by way of health and strength, whereas its bene t to the soul lies in what the substance provides the soul by way of happiness and ani- mation: for these two things—I mean: health and happiness—are the end to which all people strive in this world; and they are not found together in

Britain: The party of war " For the past 18 months, Britain has been complicit with mass murder as our Saudi allies have bombarded Yemen from the air, slaughtering thousands of innocent people as well as helping fuel a humanitarian calamity" How Britain's party of war gave the green light to Saudi in Yemen and A Brief History of the Yemen Clusterfu*k How U.S. and Saudi Backing of Al Qaeda Led to 9/11   (The Washington Post) " These days, Canada is the second-largest arms exporter to the Middle East. Our Alberta oil sands produce more carbon emissions each year than the entire state of California. Our intelligence agency is allowed to act on information obtained through torture." Think Canada is a progressive paradise?

Hizbollah, Syria, and the Arab Uprisings

" Though it was originally published before the iconic events of 9/11, now more than a decade ago, S. Sayyid’s  A Fundamental Fear: Eurocentrism and the Emergence of Islamism  (1997) has assumed even more timely significance since its first appearance. In this pioneering book, Sayyid provocatively suggests, and one can still see the logic of his proposition, that we must see political Islamism as a particular phase of decolonization of Muslim political cultures. Sayyid took the rise of Islamism as a challenge to ‘Western’ political hegemony, and particularly its self-congratulatory declaration of the End of History. That proposition still demands attention." Islamism — A Eurocentric Position?

لأن الشيوعية قد أصبحت، بفضل المنظرين الماركسيين، في نظر الشغيلة وعموم الفقراء والمهمشين مرادفة للعلمانية أحيانا، للإلحادية حينا آخر، للتقدمية عند البعض، للتنويرية عند البعض الآخر، وحتى أنها قد أصبحت تظهر في الوعي العمومي (الشيوعية كمرادف للماركسية) كفرقة سياسية أو ايديولوجية تنازع الايديولوجيات الأخرى (الشيوعية في مواجهة الدين)...فمن الطبيعي أنه حينما تظهر الشيوعية كشيء واقعي، كشيء بسيط يمكن أن تصل اليه الجماهير بنهوضها الثوري التلقائي، وبدون الحاجة للمذاهب النظرية والايديولو جية، بل ضد المذهبية نفسها، فإن تلك الجماهير التي تباشر الشيوعية في حركتها بمستويات وأشكال متنوعة لا ترى فيما تقوم به أية شيوعية....وهذا طبيعي، لأن الجماهير لا ترى في حركتها حركة علمانية أو حركة إلحادية أو تقدمية أو تنويرية، فهي لا تواجه سوى شروط حياتها المادية المباشرة، ولا تستهدف غير تغيير أسلوب الانتاج الرأسمالي الذي يدفعها الى حضيض الفقر والبطالة والمجاعات والحروب وقمع أجهزة الدولة وتسلطيتها. لذلك فهذه الجماهير لا تتجه لعلمنة الدولة (فتلك مهمة العلمانيين، أي أولائك الذين يطمعون في تحرير الدولة من كهنوت الدين

Tunisia: A social experiment against state policies

How to Understand the European Union

" The fundamental problem with the EU these days is that it needs a federal state structure simply in order to exert its basic functions. The EU 28 is a dysfunctional mess in virtually everything it does. The eurozone is stuck in a perma-crisis. The EU is pathetically weak towards Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, and largely absent in Syria. Now we know that it cannot even do trade deals. My overall conclusion is that the next phase of European integration — which will happen eventually — will have to be preceded by a period of disintegration. Brexit was only the start." — Wolfgang Münchau, the Financial Times After creating such a crisis and plunder, that is probably how neo-liberal EU will restructure itself, but with more plunder  (privatisation and robbery), more attack on the living standard of the workers, more nationalism and xenophobia at home and abroad. I think Stratfor.com analysis regarding the future of the EU is more sound than the above o

The Birth of the American International Relations

" A new study from Princeton spells bad news for American democracy—namely, that it no longer exists. Asking "[w]ho really rules?" researchers Martin Gilens and Benjamin I. Page argues that over the past few decades America's political system has slowly transformed from a democracy into an oligarchy, where wealthy elites wield most power. Using data drawn from over 1,800 different policy initiatives from 1981 to 2002, the two conclude that rich, well-connected individuals on the political scene now steer the direction of the country, regardless of or even against the will of the majority of voters."

"This is the importance of Ngugi. Born in 1938, the son of a tenant farmer in rural, British-occupied Kenya, Ngugi grew up working the pyrethrum farms that were once the property of his ancestors. He came of age during the Mau Mau rebellion, followed by the Churchill government’s violent ​response, which included​ the detention of 150,000 Gikuyu people in concentration camps where they were electrocuted, whipped and mutilated. He vividly describes this period in his novels “ Weep Not, Child ,” the first East African novel published in English, “ A Grain of Wheat ” and “ Petals of Blood .” "Such a rich body of work [Wizard of the Crow] is of potentially tremendous importance to our understanding of how the world came to be as it is. Ngugi captures the progression from the raw plunder and violence of colonialism to the corruption of national Third World elites by the predatory forces of global capitalism, which he cheekily represented in “Wizard of the Crow” by the fictional

Power, violence, dominantion A decade after his death, French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu still stands tall

Of course refugee children should face dental  tests – we need to make sure we’re getting the ones we ordered and British hospitality

"If you're not angry, what kind of person are you?"  — Ken Laoch

" It is difficult to apportion blame accurately, but it is not an intractable puzzle, so  long as we consider history and common sense. On the one hand, and at the most basic level, how could one absolve the regime? It was not Jabhat al-Nusra or Qatar that ruled Syria with an iron fist the past four decades. It is one thing to hold external actors responsible for playing a fundamental role in weakening the opposition by hijacking it and encouraging militant elements in the push to overthrow the regime. It is another thing to cling to this narrative as cover for the regime’s decades of repression, its damaging neoliberal economic policies, and other ills. The killing and destruction we are witnessing today in Aleppo and elsewhere is being perpetrated by all sides, but overwhelmingly by the Syrian regime. This destruction is not a break with, but rather a manifestation of, the essential tenets of its rule under different circumstances. The regime in Syria would react in the same

" These days, Canada is the second-largest arms exporter to the Middle East. Our Alberta oil sands produce more carbon emissions each year than the entire state of California. Our intelligence agency is allowed to act on information obtained through torture." Think Canada is a progressive paradise?

Protests erupt in the Egyptian city of Port Said

Benedict Anderson on 'mapping the terrain' of nationalism