From the Editors
Jadaliyya Launches DARS Page: Daily Acts of Resistance and Subversion
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الآن . . . القسم العربي بحلة جديدة
Jadaliyya Launches Photography Page (click here!)
Call for Photos: Become a Contributing Photographer at Jadaliyya
Bassam Haddad
إعادة الحساب الدائمة: إساءة فهم سوريا بعد سنتين
[ننشر هنا الترجمة العربية لمقالة بسام حداد التي نشرت على "جدلية" باللغة الإنجليزية في 18 آذار الماضي. وقد أنجز الترجمة مازن حكيم] يا ليتني حصلت على دولار في كل مرة كتب أحدهم فيها عن "نهاية اللعبة" في سوريا خلال الأشهر الثمانية عشر الماضية... بعد حوالي سنتين من انطلاقة الانتفاضة السورية، يجد المحللون أنفسهم يتخبطون بالبحث عن تصور محتمل لسير الأحداث في المستقبل. على أرض الواقع، يقلق معظم السوريين حول سلامتهم الشخصية أكثر من أي أمر ...
Keep Reading »The Apology: O.N.E. (Obama, Netanyahu, Erdogan)
Below is the headline introduction. In dramatic development in Israel-Turkey ties, PM speaks by phone with Erdogan, voicing regret for loss of life in Mavi Marmara incident; two agree to normalize relations as Turkish PM underlines importance of strong ties [LINK HERE]. PHONE CONVERSATION BETWEEN NETANYAHU AND ERDOGAN N: Hi, Erdogan. [with a Netanyahu smirk, which is accentuated when on American TV] E: Hi. [sadly disapproving face] N: Hey, man, I only got a ...
Keep Reading »Perpetual Recalculation: Getting Syria Wrong Two Years On
If I had a dollar for every time someone wrote about the “End Game” in Syria during the past eighteen months . . . . Nearly two years into the Syrian uprising, analysts find themselves scrambling for potential scenarios. On the ground, most Syrians are more concerned about their personal safety at this point than they are about much else. The metrics seem to change constantly, causing political actors, constituencies, and observers alike to recalculate. Is it that the ...
Keep Reading »The Sad Potential End of Beheadings in Saudi Arabia
What is the world coming to? First stone-throwing is banned (primarily officially) and now this. What’s next? Prosecuting “honor crimes” as regular ones? In a fast-paced world, and a faster-paced Saudi Arabia (KSA), anything seems possible. According to an AhramOnline report, Saudi Arabia may stop beheadings due to swordsmen shortages. This potential bold move (one only hopes it would be reversed) dispels the rash and irresponsible critiques of KSA’s violations of human ...
Keep Reading »The Syrian Regime Bravely Condemns the Israeli Airstrike on Syria
Several days after Israeli air force struck targets inside Syria, President Bashar al-Asad bravely condemned the assault. Moreover, he also asserted with defiance that Israel is trying to “destabilize” Syria, debunking thereby the claims that, by striking a part of Syria's sovereign territory, Israel was trying to promote Arab unity and social justice from the gulf to the ocean. The Syrian regime reserved for itself once more the right to retaliate when it sees fit, ...
Keep Reading »"انتصارالـ "ميتا – خطاب" على سوريا وعدم ارتباطه بها: "رحنا ضحيّة
لا تحاول تبسيط ما يجري في سوريا لأنك ستفشل. ولكننا لا نستطيع أن نذعن للتعقيد كذلك. إن العديد من النقاشات حول سوريا – وخصوصاً تلك التي تجري خارج سوريا– هي وبكل بساطة منفصلة عن واقع المأساة في هذا البلد، وقد تكون كتاباتي من بينها. فمثلاً، ولأول مرة بعد خمس عشرة عاماً من البحوث المعمقة عن السياسة والمجتمع السوري، بما تطلبه ذلك من زيارات متعددة ومطولة في كل سنة، أمضيت العامين المنصرمين وأنا أكتب (وأتعذب) حول سوريا دون أن تتاح لي الفرصة للزيارة، وذلك يعود بشكل رئيسي ...
Keep Reading »The Triumph and Irrelevance of Meta-Narratives Over Syria: “Rohna Dahiyyah”
Do not try to simplify what is going on in Syria. You will fail. We also cannot yield to complexity. So many of the discussions on Syria—especially those occurring outside Syria—are simply detached from the tragedy, including perhaps my own writings. For instance, for the first time after fifteen years of extensively researching Syria’s politics and society, with multiple and often long visits per year, I spent the last two years writing (and agonizing) about Syria without ...
Keep Reading »Violent Clashes at Cairo’s Roxy Square and Beyond, Up Close in Photo and Video
When I set out to the Itihadiyya Presidential Palace in Heliopolis, Cairo, I wanted to capture some footage of the Muslim Brotherhood's pro-Mohamed Morsi sit-in and the clashes that were reported earlier in the evening, with five deaths and more than three hundred injuries confirmed. At that time, I was uncomfortably speaking at an American University in Cairo panel on the Middle East and Knowledge Production. I got some of that "knowledge" produced right in my ...
Keep Reading »Noura Erakat and Yousef Munayyer on Gaza Assault: Interview with MSNBC's Chris Hayes
In a repetition of its aerial and ground offensive in Winter 2008/09, Israel has once again embarked on a military campaign against the Palestinian population in Gaza. This assault comes just after US Presidential elections and just before Israel's Parliamentary elections. Israel claims that its objective is to diminish Hamas's military capacity, yet most analysts attribute the war to PM Netanyahu's domestic electoral considerations. The latest round of armed ...
Keep Reading »في جذور الأسباب البنيوية للانتفاضة السورية
للانتفاضة السورية الحالية أسباب بنيوية تتجاوز العامل المستمر، أي القمع. ترتبط هذه الاسباب بالمعطيات السياسية ــ الاقتصادية التي اجتاحت سوريا منذ العام 1986، عندما بدأ النظام عملياً في تحويل تحالفاته الاجتماعية والسياسية من العمال إلى الأعمال. والاشارة تحديداً تخص العلاقة المتصاعدة في العقود القليلة الماضية بين النخبتين السياسية والاقتصادية في سوريا، وتداعياتها على تحديد السياسات على مدى يقرب من الـ 25 عاماً. يسود هذا التفاعل الجديد للسلطة معظم الاقتصادات السياسية العالمية، ...
Keep Reading »Homsi Comic Relief Speaks of Strong Spirits Despite All
Two youngish Syrian men in Homs discuss "Bashar's Reforms" (islahaat) while pointing to the destruction of their homes (we don't know if these are indeed their homes, but that's immaterial here) and cars. The script itself is clean and elegant as it is acerbically satirical. (though some of the comments under the Youtube video are disturbingly/disgustingly sectarian). There really is nothing to say except that it is worth watching. I apologize for not ...
Keep Reading »welcome back . . .
I was just flying back from Amman to Washington DC on United Airlines, sitting at an aisle seat. As I looked to my left diagonally across the aisle, I saw four UA screens playing the same film, Sex in the City (2). (read reviews here, here, and here, though they don't all do justice to it--if you have other piercing reviews, please post them in the comments section. Watch the trailer here). I looked to the lady sitting to my right, and she's reading a book, which seemed to ...
Keep Reading »What's With World Cup Praying?
I don't have time to write about this now, but what's with world cup praying on behalf of so many players in the field (especially those coming in and out)? I've been watching football (the original football where one mostly uses their feet--the plural of foot, hence, "footbal"--not the sport where one mostly holds the ball using their hands) since 1974, and I have yet to witness such frequency of praying and exhibition of religious symbols. Could the economist be ...
Keep Reading »Bio
Bassam Haddad is Director of the Middle East Studies Program and teaches in the Department of Public and International Affairs at George Mason University, and is Visiting Professor at Georgetown University. He is the author of Business Networks in Syria: The Political Economy of Authoritarian Resilience (Stanford University Press, 2011). Bassam is currently editing a volume on Teaching the Middle East After the Arab Uprisings, a book manuscript on pedagogical and theoretical approaches. His most recent books include two co-edited volumes: Dawn of the Arab Uprisings: End of an Old Order? (Pluto Press, 2012) and Mediating the Arab Uprisings (Tadween Publishing, 2013). Bassam serves as Founding Editor of the Arab Studies Journal a peer-reviewed research publication and is co-producer/director of the award-winning documentary film, About Baghdad, and director of the critically acclaimed film series, Arabs and Terrorism, based on extensive field research/interviews. More recently, he directed a film on Arab/Muslim immigrants in Europe, titled The "Other" Threat. Bassam is Co-Founder/Editor of Jadaliyya Ezine and serves on the Editorial Committee of Middle East Report. He is the Executive Director of the Arab Studies Institute, an umbrella for five organizations dealing with knowledge production on the Middle East and Founding Editor of Tadween Publishing.
