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The Anguish in the American Dream
As we cope with downturns in American power in the world and the American economy at home, there is much talk about reviving, renewing, rescuing, or redefining the American Dream. We would be better off facing the anguish inherent in the American Dream. Once we recognize that the dream has always been dependent on domination, we can see more clearly our options for a just and sustainable future. Whether celebrated or condemned, the American Dream endures, though always ambiguously. We are forever describing and defining, analyzing and assessing the concept, and with each attempt to clarify, the idea of an American Dream grows more incoherent yet more ...
Keep Reading »Rational Choice Theory Takes on the Arab Revolutions
![[Image from Google Images]](/content_images/3/sm_egypt-revolution15.jpg "[Image from Google Images]")
In a recent op-ed in the New York Times, "How Tyrants Endure," political science professors Bruce Bueno De Mesquita and Alastair Smith offer a rational choice perspective on the Arab revolutions. It's a fairly short article, but given its large claims and the fact that Bueno De Mesquita does significant consulting for the Pentagon and CIA, it deserves some critical attention. Briefly, rational choice theory, of which Bueno De Mesquita is a major proponent, posits that individuals, including political actors, make decisions based on "rational" self-interest. These interests are often material in nature. As in microeconomics, individuals attempt to ...
Keep Reading »عن الكتابة والثورة : حوار مع محمد صلاح العزب
![[Mohamed Salah Al-Azab, image from Chris Stone]](/content_images/3/sm_IMG_2844.jpg "[Mohamed Salah Al-Azab, image from Chris Stone]")
التقى كريس ستون مع الكاتب محمد صلاح العزب في القاهرة يوم ٣٠ مايو، ٢٠١١. لم نترجم المقابلة إلى العربية الفصحى بل حاولنا أن نحتفظ بلغة الحوار الطبيعية قدر الإمكان. ذكر كريس لمحمد أن الفكرة كانت نشر مقابلة معه وأخرى مع كاتب مخضرم مثل صنع الله ابراهيم . سأله محمد إذا كان قد ذكر اسمه للأستاذ صنع الله، فيبدو أنهما اختلفا في ندوة أدبية مؤخراً. كريس: ماذا كان موضوع الندوة؟ محمد: كان عن كتاب يتناول الثورة. ك: أنا ملاحظ أنو أصلاً في كتب. م: بس خلي بالك الكتب اللي كلها عن الثورة ديت كلها حاجات استهلاكية بس يمكن ما فيش حد طلع كتاب خالص غير أحمد زغلول الشيطي اللي طلع كتاب اسمه "مائة خطوة من الثورة : يوميات من ميدان التحرير، دار ميريت." لانو ...
Keep Reading »Panel Summaries for Day 2 of Jadaliyya's "Teaching the Middle East" Conference
Panel 4: Peripheries and Exceptions The second day of the conference began with a panel that focused on states and issues that have been marginal to the dominant discourses about the Arab uprisings. However, the goal of the panel itself was to highlight the actual centrality of these issues to a deeper understating of these uprisings and their consequences for teaching the Middle East. Asli Bali, in her “Comparative and International Law of the Middle East After the Uprisings: Re-assessing the State of the Arab State,” highlighted the ways in which “law” is exceptionalized in Middle East studies and, in turn, how the Middle East is viewed as exceptional in legal ...
Keep Reading »USAlafis?
![[Image from the scene]](/content_images/3/sm_thatsright.jpg "[Image from the scene]")
A radical Christian group appeared at the Arab American Festival in Dearborn, MI (June 18-20), carrying offensive signs and uttering derogatory language. One of its members instigated a fight and the police ordered the group to remove itself to cheers from the crowd. Enjoy!
Keep Reading »My Coming Out Story
![[Blue Arghile; Image From Unknown Archive]](/content_images/3/sm_arghile.jpg "[Blue Arghile; Image From Unknown Archive]")
I am a Sunni. Yes, I said it. I am a Sunni from Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. I was born in a hospital that no longer exists, having been torn down to make way for a tower that houses, most probably, more Sunnis. After being born in that hospital that no longer exists, I was bundled up and sent home with my parents to Tariq al-Jadidah, a neighborhood that is known as the “Sunni bastion of Beirut". I grew up there, a blonde little thing with a working mother who spoke, at best, broken Arabic, a father who was a professor, and two older siblings. I roamed the streets (when there was a ceasefire) with a pack of cousins who all lived either in the same building or in ...
Keep Reading »A Long Season of Change Ahead for Every Arab Nation
![[Map of Arab world using national flags. Image from unknown source.]](/content_images/3/sm_arabworldflags.jpg "[Map of Arab world using national flags. Image from unknown source.]")
In the six months since Mohammed Bouazizi immolated himself and set an entire region alight, analysts and observers have swung from issuing death certificates for the established Arab order to concluding that it has managed to withstand the challenge of mass insurrection. Both judgements are premature, and neither is correct. The fundamental reality that is all too often overlooked is that the Arab Spring is a dynamic process, rather than a single season. It will continue to wax and wane over the course of at least several years before there is any resolution. Upheaval is never something that develops, or spreads, at a uniform or linear pace. We should not be ...
Keep Reading »Two Stories by Luay Hamza Abbas
![[Image from Unknown Archive]](/content_images/3/sm_twoheads.jpg "[Image from Unknown Archive]")
Closing His Eyes (Ighmadh al-‘Aynayn) is a collection of seventeen short stories written between 2003-2007. It is the fourth and latest collection of short stories by Iraqi novelist, literary critic and short story writer Luay Hamza Abbas (published by Azmina, Amman, 2008). Through this collection, Luay Hamza Abbas’ talent as a storyteller has been acknowledged with national and international awards. The most recent of these is the Iraqi Ministry of Culture Award for Creative Short Story (2010) for his story bearing the title of the collection. “Closing His Eyes” has also won the Kikah Best Short Story Award in London in 2006. Abbas’ literary works began to attract ...
Keep Reading »Libya's Revolution Sparks a New Age of Music
![[Libya is Free, God Willing. Image from interzoneradio.blogspot.com]](/content_images/3/sm_tumblr_lgzot4KuPZ1qgk38ho1_500.jpg "[Libya is Free, God Willing. Image from interzoneradio.blogspot.com]")
After four decades of dictatorship where Qaddafi’s handpicked singer dominated the airwaves and stifled a once vibrant musical scene, Libya is now rocking and swaying to a flood of joyous and defiant sounds. At a recent Libyan pro-revolution rally in the midday heat of Doha, the protestors needed inspiration. They sang Libya original national anthem which Qaddafi hand changed when he came to power, laughed through a spoof of a song by Muhammad Hassan, the dictator’s preferred singer, then chanted, “The blood of the martyrs will not go in vein!” Then just as the several-hundred strong crowd were running of out steam someone remembered a line from a new pro-revolution ...
Keep Reading »Six Most Read Jadaliyya Posts This Month
![[Image by Jadesign editors]](/content_images/3/sm_most.jpg "[Image by Jadesign editors]")
Below is a list of the 6 Most Read Posts on Jadaliyya during the past 30 days. Some include a Spanish translation which was volunteered by other websites. Nearly all the posts below have been circulated on other websites. It is followed by the Most Read Post in Arabic, Most Watched Video, and Most Followed/Tweeted Report. Finally, we are featuring the Most Commented On post. Enjoy! Most Read Egypt’s ‘Orderly Transition’? International Aid and the Rush to Structural Adjustment (Spanish Translation of "Egypt's 'Orderly Transition'? International Aid and the Rush to Structural Adjustment") Gays, Islamists, and The Arab Spring: What Would ...
Keep Reading »Early Observations on Post-Mubarak Egypt
![[Image Source: Josh Stacher]](/content_images/3/sm_IMG_1564.jpg "[Image Source: Josh Stacher]")
Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s resignation, through a mix of popular revolt and military intercession, sheds light on the ongoing domestic and international challenges to democratization. On January 25 Egyptians launched the Middle East’s largest democratic experiment. Mubarak’s exit on February 11 then opened a still-ongoing negotiation between military leaders and the civilian masses. The long-term politics of post-Mubarak Egypt remain to be determined, but so far there is as much continuity as change.[1] Either by design or for lack of one, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), which turned tank turrets upon the Presidential Palace and ushered Mubarak ...
Keep Reading »That Was Hama in 1982. This Is Syria in 2011
[The below post was sent to us by an author that has asked to remain anonymous and only identified as Hamwia due to safety considerations regarding relatives in Hama and other parts of Syria.] A young man, studying medicine, was alone in his apartment. When the soldiers barged into his house he proclaimed his Christian faith, assuring them that he was not their enemy. It mattered not. He then became defensive, berating their boorish behavior. He was answered with a whack on the head with the butt of a rifle. Knocked down, he watched the soldiers loot the apartment, snatching all the money and jewelry they could get their hands on. Pursuing higher education, he was the ...
Keep Reading »We Want to Fill Cells; The Strong Heroes of Moscow Rap Against the Syrian Regime
[This clip was posted today on the "Fann al-Thawra al-Suriyya" (The Art of the Syrian Revolution) page on Facebook. The name chosen by its producer/s, "The Strong Heroes of Moscow," as well as the lyrics, parody the Syrian regime's propaganda and the discourse of its backers. We are reposting a version with English subtitles]
Keep Reading »آصف بيات في كتابه "الحياة كسياسة: كيف يغير أناس عاديون الشرق الأوسط"
آصف بيات باحث متميز في الحركات الاجتماعية ونشاط الطبقة العاملة والفقراء وسياسات المكان في الشرق الاوسط وقد صدر له حديثاً كتاب بعنوان "الحياة كسياسة: كيف يغير أناس عاديون الشرق الأوسط" . بيات متخصص في علم الاجتماع وكانت أعماله نتيجة بحوث ميدانية كما أنها، في ذات الوقت، متطورة من الناحية النظرية. وتعد أعماله مقارنة إلى حد كبير ويرجع ذلك لمعرفته الواسعة بإيران ومصر. وقد اشتغل بمنصب مدير أكاديمي في المؤسسة الدولية للدراسات الاسلامية في العالم الحديث والتي أسستها مجموعة من الجامعات ...
Keep Reading »"Teaching the Middle East" Conference: Conclusions and Moving Forward
The best way to conclude this summary and discussion of “Teaching the Middle East” — indeed, given the structure of the conference and the nature of the conversations, as set out by Bassam Haddad in his opening remarks and reiterated in his remarks before the two closing panels, the only way to conclude — is that the discussions that began at this conference have not yet concluded. Indeed, these discussions are really only getting started. This was part of the conception of the conference itself: as ...
Keep Reading »Introduction: Teaching the Middle East after the Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions . . . Beyond Orientalism, Islamophobia, and Neoliberalism
May 13-14, 2011, George Mason University “Teaching the Middle East after the Tunisian and Egyptian Revolutions…Beyond Orientalism, Islamophobia, and Neoliberalism,” a conference sponsored by the Middle East Studies Program and the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University, and by the Arab Studies Institute (which includes Arab Studies Journal and Jadaliyya), brought together forty participants for an intense two-day conversation regarding the future of ...
Keep Reading »Panel Summaries from Day 1 of Jadaliyya's "Teaching the Middle East" Conference
Panel 1: Focus on Egypt The conference panels were kicked off by a panel that used Egypt as a case-study, both in terms of understanding the dynamics of one particular uprising as well as thinking specifically about the pedagogical implications of that uprising on the teaching of Egyptian history and contemporary politics. Joel Beinin, in his presentation entitled "Workers and Egypt’s January 25th Revolution: Shifting the Discussion from Autocracy/Democracy to Political Economy and Equity," ...
Keep Reading »Effects of Neoliberal Policies on Farmers and the Food Price Crisis in Egypt (Video)
“Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest, and drinks a wine that flows not from its own wine-press” - Khalil Gibran Since the late 1970s the Egyptian government has steered the country toward economic liberalization. This entails the rolling back of the government's role across all public sectors, the lowering of import tariffs and an increased drive for exports. One of the sectors that were hit hardest by these policies is Egyptian ...
Keep Reading »Culture X
Our tenth week of Jadaliyya's Culture section features fiction from Iraq, poetry from Lebanon, and music from Libya: Two Stories by Luay Hamza Abbas, translated by Yasmeen Hanoosh Five Poems by Wadi Saadeh, translated by Sinan Antoon "Libya's Revolution Sparks a New Age of Music" by Khaled Mattawa You can read last week's posts here. All previous culture posts can be found here. We look forward to your feedback and your contributions. Please take a look at our Call for ...
Keep Reading »Five Poems by Wadi Saadeh
[These poems, translated from Arabic by Sinan Antoon, are from Wadi Saadeh's forthcoming collection "Man Akhadha al-Nazra Allati Taraktuha Waraa al-Bab" (Who Took the Gaze I Left Behind the Door). Lower Your Voice Lower your voice please! I want to hear what silence is saying Perhaps it is saying: come! And I want to follow it Signs Many signs on the roads Signs pointing to cities Signs pointing to streets Signs pointing to ...
Keep Reading »Still Seeking Justice for Those Who Died at Guantanamo: Two Letters on Father's Day
This month marks five years since three men who were never charged with any crime died in US custody at Guantánamo under circumstances that remain unexplained and that were never independently investigated. The men’s names were Yasser Al-Zahrani, Salah Al-Salami, and Mani Al-Utaybi, and they reportedly died on June 9 or 10, 2006. The military has persistently maintained that their deaths were suicides by hanging. Rear Admiral Harry Harris, commander of Guantánamo at the time, shamefully ...
Keep Reading »Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad on Rami Makhlouf in the New York Times
[From the New York Times. Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad was interviewed by the New York Times for their first story on the move to charity work by the Syrian Tycoon, Rami Makhlouf] Reviled Tycoon, Assad’s Cousin, Resigns in Syria By ANTHONY SHADID BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syria’s most powerful businessman, a confidant and cousin of President Bashar al-Assad, announced on Thursday that he was quitting business and moving to charity work, Syrian television said. The move, if true, would suggest ...
Keep Reading »Democracy Now! Interview with Toby Jones on Saudi Arabia's Role in Bahrain and Yemen
This is an interview conducted with Toby C. Jones on Thursday, June 16, in regards to Saudi Arabia's counter-revolutionary role in both Bahrain and Yemen. Transcripts of the interview follow the below video. While the United States remains heavily involved in the Libya conflict, it has been noticeably silent on the violent suppression of popular uprisings against autocratic regimes in Bahrain and Yemen, both of which are close allies of Saudi Arabia. In March, Bahrain called in Saudi troops to help ...
Keep Reading »Striking Back at Egyptian Workers
Mainstream narratives of the ongoing 2011 Egyptian revolution center around a “crisis of the state.” Among the elements of the crisis were the utter failure of top-down political reform, as shown in the shamelessly rigged 2010 legislative elections; mounting corruption and repression; emerging opportunities for collective action offered by networking sites like Facebook and Twitter; and the advent of neoliberal economic policies and the resulting constraints on the state’s capacity to deliver on its ...
Keep Reading »Hot on Facebook
But in re-considering [Midnight’s Children] on the thirtieth anniversary of its publication, it is also worth thinking about some of the doors that have closed in the intervening three decades.click | email | tweet
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