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Derrida and the Crisis of French Zionism
The life’s work of Jacques Derrida, often referred to by the name “deconstruction,” advanced a new way of reading. Emphasizing the deferral of meaning and the production of irreducible differences within the major concepts of European thought, Derrida’s thought was enormously controversial, particularly for its political implications. The complexity of deconstruction resists biographical interpretation, while Derrida’s life experiences undoubtedly affected its insights. He occasionally spoke of his unusual youth as a Jewish boy in French colonial Algeria, and linked this outsider status to the concern with difference, uncovered as essential to apparent identity, ...
Keep Reading »فارس يواكيم في ترجمة كتاب عنف الدكتاتورية لستيفان زفايغ
[“كتب” هي سلسلة تستضيف “جدلية” فيها الكتاب والمترجمين في حوار حول أعمالهم الجديدة، نرفقه بمقطع من الكتاب.] الكتاب ”عنف الدكتاتورية“ المؤلف: ستيفان زفايغ، ترجمة فارس يواكيم. بيروت، دار الفرات، ٢٠١٣. جدلية: كيف تبلورت فكرة ترجمة الكتاب، وما الذي قادك نحو الموضوع؟ فارس يواكيم: كنت أعرف ستيفان زفايغ روائياً صاحب أسلوب ممتع في السرد. وكنت أحرص على قراءة رواياته. ثم وقعت على كتاب من تأليفه لا علاقة له بالرواية. عنوان الكتاب "كاستيليو ضد كالفن ... أو ضمير ضد العنف". في الظاهر، كتاب يكثف الأضواء على مرحلة تاريخية وتحديداً الحقبة التي شهدت صعود كالفن، أحد أعمدة المذهب البروتستانتي. وفي الباطن، هو كتاب سياسي بامتياز. وفي الحالين، صاغه زفايغ بأسلوب أقرب إلى السرد ...
Keep Reading »The Very Risky Bet of Hollande in Mali: The Probable Long-Term Disaster
![[French President, François Hollande. Image from Rrance.Diplomatie/Flickr.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-02-05at9.56.43AM.png "[French President, François Hollande. Image from Rrance.Diplomatie/Flickr.]")
On 11 January, France's President François Hollande sent in troops to Mali, a few immediately but then 3500, a sizeable number. The stated objective was to fight against the various Islamic fundamentalists who had taken control of northern Mali. It was what the French would call a gageure - a word that derives from gage in the sense of a bet. It basically means undertaking something very difficult to achieve. I think one might best translate it as a "risky bet" and in this case, I would say it was a very risky bet. What did Hollande bet, and why did he do it? It is easy to see his reasoning as to why it was a good idea. He received a formal request from ...
Keep Reading »Algeria, an Immense Bazaar: The Politics and Economic Consequences of Infitah
![[French President Francois Hollande, left, and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika stand in a car as they drive through Algiers Wednesday, 19 December 2012. Image by Anis Belghoul/AP Photo.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-01-29at6.24.56PM.png "[French President Francois Hollande, left, and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika stand in a car as they drive through Algiers Wednesday, 19 December 2012. Image by Anis Belghoul/AP Photo.]")
In the last few months, Algeria has witnessed a frenetic activity of economic and trade delegations visiting the country. In November 2012 alone, Algiers received tens of high profile delegations succeeding each other from European countries such as Spain, Italy, France, the UK, Romania, Finland, and Turkey to Arab countries, including Egypt, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. With its substantial foreign reserves amounting to more than two hundred billion dollars, it seems that Algeria has become a hot destination for foreign investment at a time when Europe is undergoing a deep economic crisis. Even for the highly-mediatized visit of French President Hollande (that some ...
Keep Reading »Rhetoric or Critical Action? The Role of Human Rights in EU-UAE Relations
![[Emirati security forces crackdown on activists in Dubai, 2012. Image from Gulf Center for Human Rights.]](/content_images/3/sm_UAE106.jpg "[Emirati security forces crackdown on activists in Dubai, 2012. Image from Gulf Center for Human Rights.]")
An EU resolution passed in October 2012, which condemned human rights abuses in the United Arab Emirates, caused outrage among defenders of the Emirati regime and gave hope that human rights may play a greater role in EU foreign policy. Several months on, has this resolution proved to be anything more than empty rhetoric? The resolution criticized repression of political activists in the United Arab Emirates, where seventy-seven individuals have been detained without charge in the past year. It also called for authorities to conduct impartial inquiries into alleged physical attacks on prominent Emirati activist Ahmed Mansoor. Politicians and Emirati commentators ...
Keep Reading »Early Perspectives from Algeria on Northern Mali and French Intervention
![[Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal points to a map of Algeria after a press conference held in Algiers, Monday, 21 January 2013. The Islamist militants who attacked a natural gas plant in the Sahara wore Algerian army uniforms, memorized the layout of the vast complex and included two Canadians and a team of explosives experts ready to blow the place sky-high, Algeria’s prime minister said Monday. Image by Sidali Djarboub/AP Photo.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-01-22at4.10.54PM.png "[Algerian Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal points to a map of Algeria after a press conference held in Algiers, Monday, 21 January 2013. The Islamist militants who attacked a natural gas plant in the Sahara wore Algerian army uniforms, memorized the layout of the vast complex and included two Canadians and a team of explosives experts ready to blow the place sky-high, Algeria’s prime minister said Monday. Image by Sidali Djarboub/AP Photo.]")
Thus far, Algerian press coverage and reactions are divided on France’s military intervention in northern Mali, Operation SERVAL, as well as the additional thrusts in the south by Mali’s jihadist coalition. Skepticism that has been prevalent in Algerian media coverage of calls for the internationalization of the Malian crisis remains a strong thread in opinion and editorial writing nonetheless. While significant strands of elite opinion—especially at the political level—appear to have somewhat rallied to support military intervention in northern Mali. At the same time, the Algerian government’s longstanding position in favor of "dialogue" and a "political ...
Keep Reading »Focus sur le Mali, troisième partie: Une périlleuse démonstration de force de l'ancienne puissance coloniale
![[Les habitants de Tombouctou protestent contre la prise de contrôle par le groupe islamiste Ansar al-Din. Image par Jemal Oumar/Magharebia.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-01-22at9.44.57AM.png "[Les habitants de Tombouctou protestent contre la prise de contrôle par le groupe islamiste Ansar al-Din. Image par Jemal Oumar/Magharebia.]")
[Cet article est le troisième d'une série de trois, avec des perspectives différentes sur les développements au Mali. Les articles précédents - « Mali in Focus, Part One: The Jihadist Offensive Revisited » et « Focus sur le Mali, deuxième partie: Une guerre qui menace toute la région » ] Large consensus politique sur la scène politique intérieure, soutien de la communauté internationale, urgence de la situation face à l'avancée rapide des milices islamistes, tout à première vue concourt à justifier l'intervention militaire française au Mali. Derrière la prétendue légitimité de « l'opération Serval&nbs
Keep Reading »Focus sur le Mali, deuxième partie: Une guerre qui menace toute la région
![[Des combattants islamistes armés traversent à vive allure la frontière entre la Mauritanie et le Mali le 21 mai. Image de Jemal Oumar/Flickr.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2013-01-18at11.35.19AM.png "[Des combattants islamistes armés traversent à vive allure la frontière entre la Mauritanie et le Mali le 21 mai. Image de Jemal Oumar/Flickr.]")
[Cet article est le deuxième d'une série de trois, avec des perspectives différentes sur les développements au Mali. Le premier article - « Mali in Focus, Part One: The Jihadist Offensive Revisited » ] « …Ce conflit est légitime et vital pour la sécurité des Français. Nous ne pouvons pas espérer conserver nos modes de vie et notre prospérité si nous n'allons pas à l'extérieur du territoire national participer à la stabilisation et au règlement des crises, à l'éradication des menaces qui finiraient immanquablement par venir nous menacer à l'intérieur du territoire national. » Ces mots ont été prononcés par le général de division ...
Keep Reading »Memory Wars and the Messiness of History: An Interview with Jim House on the Commemoration of 17 October 1961
![[Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, left, greets French Interior Minister Manuel Valls before a meeting in Algiers, Sunday, 14 October 2012. Photo by Sidali Djarboub via AP.]](/content_images/3/sm_ScreenShot2012-12-18at9.56.35AM.png "[Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, left, greets French Interior Minister Manuel Valls before a meeting in Algiers, Sunday, 14 October 2012. Photo by Sidali Djarboub via AP.]")
[Dr. James (Jim) House is a Senior Lecturer in French at the University of Leeds. His research interests have focused on the history and memory of the Algerian War of Independence along with antiracism in France. His monograph, "Paris 1961: Algerians, State Terror, and Memory," which he co-authored with Neil MacMaster, looks at the events the 17 October Massacre in the context of colonial violence and social memory. Dr. House's current research focuses on shanty-downs (bidonvilles) in Algeria and Morocco.] Muriam Haleh Davis (MHD): Were you surprised by French President François Hollande’s decision to officially recognize the massacre of 17 ...
Keep Reading »Neither Regret Nor Remorse: Colonial Nostalgia Among French Far Right
[On 17 October 1961, tens of thousands of Algerian protesters peacefully demonstrated against violations against their civil liberties in Paris. In the midst of the war of Independence (1954 – 1962), the FLN (Front de libération nationale) was engaged in a violent struggle against France that relied on the mobilization within the Metropole as well as combat in Algeria. As a result of FLN activities, the prefecture of police French state imposed a curfew on all of the approximately 150,000 Algerians living in Paris at the time (many of whom were officially considered French). The details of what transpired that night remain controversial, but what is clear is that tens, ...
Keep Reading »Aesthetic Politics: Iranian Performance and the Challenge of Modernity
Amir Baradaran, Marry Me to the End of Love. Cite internationale des Artes, Paris, France, 23-30 June 2012. Curated by Feri Daftari. Not often is a performance as variegated in its political significance or as generous to critical exposition as Amir Baradaran's recent interactive piece, Marry Me to the End of Love. Inserting itself into current debates surrounding the politics of marriage and Islam in relation to Western modernity, as well as the origin and viability of aesthetic politics, the performance allows us to consider art not merely in its capacity to engage political debate, but also in its capacity to reconfigure the very terms on ...
Keep Reading »New Texts Out Now: Hilal Elver, The Headscarf Controversy: Secularism and Freedom of Religion
Hilal Elver, The Headscarf Controversy: Secularism and Freedom of Religion. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Jadaliyya (J): What made you write this book? Hilal Elver (HE): My experience in Turkey in relation to the headscarf is the main reason for writing the book. Turkey is very much a divided society: ninety-nine percent of the population is Muslim and it is a significantly religious society, yet it has also developed a secular legal order and social structure. I felt this duality even in my own family environment. My mother was an educated woman and a devout Muslim. For most of her life, at least when I was growing up, I witnessed the ...
Keep Reading »François Hollande au Maroc : plutôt les affaires que les droits de l'homme
C'est un Président français sévèrement diminué politiquement qui s'apprête à se rendre en visite d'Etat au Maroc, les 3 et 4 avril. Battant des records d'impopularité, François Hollande n'a cessé, depuis le début de son mandat, de chuter dans les sondages, où il a encore perdu cinq points, cette semaine, pour s'établir à trente six pour cent d'opinions favorables. Sa dernière prestation sur la deuxième chaîne française, n'y a rien changé. Peu ou prou de ses compatriotes ont été convaincus de sa capacité ...
Keep Reading »Positioning Gender Fluidity in Francophone Maghrebi Literature
The journey of self-discovery is a recurring theme in Francophone Maghrebi literature and film. Authors and directors place characters in a struggle against forces in both French and Maghrebi society, evoking various themes through which characters define themselves. While these characters embark on different paths in terms of their search for self-discovery, they prove that identities are not rigid. A multitude of factors contribute to the formation of these identities, illustrating a fluidity that ...
Keep Reading »لا أسف ولا ندم
لا أسف ولا ندم: الحنين الاستعماري في أوساط اليمين الفرنسي المتطرف في السابع عشر من أكتوبر 1961، تظاهر مئات الآلاف من الجزائريين سلمياً في باريس للاحتجاج على الانتهاكات التي تحدث لحرياتهم المدنية. في خضم حرب الاستقلال (1954-1962)، انخرطت جبهة التحرير الوطني في نضال عنيف ضد فرنسا اعتمد على الحشد داخل المدن الكبرى إضافة إلى القتال في الجزائر. وكنتيجة لجهود جبهة التحرير الوطني، فقد فرضت الشرطة الفرنسية حظر تجوال على ما يقرب من خمسة عشر ألف جزائري يعيشون في باريس في ذلك الوقت (والعديد منهم كانوا ...
Keep Reading »Mali in Focus, Part Three: A Dangerous Show of Force from a Former Colonial Power
[This article is the final of a three-part series featuring different perspectives on the recent developments in Mali. Previously published: "Mali in Focus, Part One: The Jihadist Offensive Revisited" and "Mali in Focus, Part Two: A War That Threatens the Entire Region"] Broad political consensus in the domestic political sphere, support from the international community, and the urgency of the situation due to the rapid advance of Islamist militias—together, at first glance, these ...
Keep Reading »Habits of French Colonialism
“In other days France was the name of a country. We should take care that in 1961 it does not become the name of a nervous disease.” -- Jean Paul Sartre, preface to Frantz Fanon’s Wretched of the Earth. In an early French film on the colonies, Enfants annamites ramassant des sépèques devant la Pagode des dames (Lumière Brothers, 1897), two French women smile condescendingly as they scatter coins to a group of Vietnamese children, who scramble to gather them. Little has changed ...
Keep Reading »مالي الحرب الماحقة
بدأت فرنسا حملتها في مالي ودس أنفها في شؤون مستعمرتها السابقة متعذرة بمحاربة "القوى الإسلامية المتطرفة" وضرورة وضع حد لسطوتها في مالي. خططت وأرست القواعد والجنود وقررت القصف ومطاردة هذه الجماعات، قتلت إلى حد الآن العشرات من عناصر" أنصار الدين" وقصفت بعض خزانات وقودها، وقال الجيش المالي إنه استعاد السيطرة على بعض المدن. أعلنت فرنسا أنها لن تتعدى الجنوب المالي، وإنه ليس من ضمن مخططاتها التوجه إلى الشمال، إنما ستمهد للقوات الأفريقية للقيام بتلك المهمة وتحرير الشمال من قبضة "الجماعات ...
Keep Reading »Mali in Focus, Part Two: A War That Threatens the Entire Region
[This article is the second of a three-part series featuring different perspectives on the recent developments in Mali. Previously published: "Mali in Focus, Part One: The Jihadist Offensive Revisited"] "...This conflict is legitimate and vital to the security of the French. We can not expect to maintain our lifestyles and our prosperity if we do not go outside our country to participate in the stabilization and resolution of crises, eradicating threats that could inevitably threaten us ...
Keep Reading »Jadaliyya's Maghreb Page Echoes in France
Paris-based weekly newspaper, Courrier International, has translated and featured a couple pieces from Jadaliyya's Maghreb Page. They include an interview with Moroccan-born artist, Lalla Essaydi, conducted by Maghreb Page co-editor, Samia Errazzouki, and an overview of the current situation in Morocco, written by Maghreb Page intern, Allison L. McManus. Below are snapshots of the French versions as they appear in Courrier International's print edition. [Courrier International's French translation of ...
Keep Reading »من أجل مدنية الحكم في موريتانيا
بعد الإطاحة بالطاغية معاوية ولد سيد احمد الطايع في انقلاب 2005، بدأ الأمل يتسلل إلى قلوب الكثيرين في مورتانيا حيث ظنوا أن البلاد دخلت في مرحلة جديدة تطبعها الديمقراطية ودولة المؤسسات والقانون. وازدادت قناعتهم أن الديكتاتورية قد أفل نجمها وسحق جدارها مع وعد المجلس العسكري، الذي تأسس بعد الانقلاب، بتسليم السلطة للمدنيين في انتخابات نزيهة تحت إشرافه. لكن سرعان ما اكتشف الموريتانيون أن الحرية لا توهب، بل تنتزع وأنه من المستحيل أن تمطر السماء ديمقراطية. فقد قام ذالك المجلس بجلب رجل غير معروف في المشهد ...
Keep Reading »"قراءة نقدية في مفهوم ''أوروبا المسيحية
لدى تناول موضوع أوروبا وفهمها لذاتها وبخاصةٍ لدى تناول قيمها، يبقى الحديث عن أوروبا "المسيحية" شائعًا وبشكل واسعٍ، وكما يبدو على نحوٍ متزايدٍ، أو تتم الإشارة على الأقل إلى جذورها المسيحية ويجري الإصرار على الطابع المسيحي الناتج عن ذلك. بيد أنَّ الاستقامة السياسية تقتضي حظر استخدام كلمة "مسيحي" في هذا السياق على نحو حصري، لذا تسارع أصوات حسنة النية جدًا إلى الحديث بدلاً عن ذلك عن تقاليد مسيحيةٍ-يهوديةٍ أو عن التراث اليهودي-المسيحي في أوروبا، ولكن هذا لا يبدل في خطأ الفهم كثيرا. إنما ...
Keep Reading »Exile and Memory in Contemporary Western Armenian Literature
A thick stack of black and white photographs flutters to the floor. A man stands over the jumbled pile and, looking past bent corners and nibbled edges, sees dozens of faces staring up at him. These faces are vaguely familiar—an old neighbor, a distant cousin, an aunt who used to spend summers with him. Some photos land face down and, from his height, the man can just make out the names and dates scribbled in purple ink across the backs. He kneels down and, with the tips of his fingers, quickly rakes ...
Keep Reading »A New Kind of Armenian-Turkish Reconciliation
In October 2011, the newly renovated Sourp Giragos Armenian Apostolic Church reopened in Turkey’s southeastern province of Diyarbakir. Among the hundreds gathered to celebrate its first mass in over ninety years were local men and women who had chosen the occasion to be baptized into the Armenian Apostolic Church. Raised as Sunni Muslims, these men and women were the children and grandchildren of Armenians who had converted to Islam to escape persecution in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire. Living ...
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