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The Securitisation of Political Rule: Security Domination of Arab Regimes and the Prospects for Democratisation
![[Graph of number of successful coups by Arab states. Image from moorenextdoor.wordpress.com]]](/content_images/3/sm_coups_by_year_and_state.jpg "[Graph of number of successful coups by Arab states. Image from moorenextdoor.wordpress.com]]")
Among the more interesting features of the current wave of uprisings and protests sweeping the Arab world is the general absence of the armed forces from regime efforts to defeat popular challenges to autocratic rule. Even in Libya, where the revolt has taken an unambiguously military character and the Qaddafi regime is additionally confronted with foreign intervention, the regular army has not emerged as a prominent actor. Where senior officers have played a significant role, such as in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen, they have acted to remove rather than preserve the rulers who appointed them. Not because they have come to reject the politics and interests of existing ...
Keep Reading »[Arab Elites in the Era of Despotism]النخب العربية في زمن الإستبداد
![[بلا عنوان. المصدر غير معروف]](/content_images/3/sm_corruption.jpg "[بلا عنوان. المصدر غير معروف]")
"يا أخي نحن العرب عالة على أنفسنا قبل العالم، ساستنا حفنة جهلة انتهازيين، منظوماتنا التعليمية ضعيفة جدا، مستشفياتنا خربة، سجوننا ممتلئة، مثقفونا إن استحقوا الصفة لا وزن لهم، الفساد يأكلنا" مقطتف من حوار مع المثقف التونسي عمر الشارني. بطبيعة الحال هذا الكلام يبدو غير ذي جدوى الآن لأن العالم العربي انبثق من الرماد ولكنه يعبر بإخلاص عن الوضع الثقافي والسياسي والاجتماعي العربي في المرحلة البائدة. فالثورات المشتعلة نيرانها في أكثر من بلد في عربي أدت إلى تسليط الضوء لأول مرة وبشكل جماهيري على كل مظاهر التسيب التي ظلت تنخر المجتمعات العربية لنصف قرن من الزمن. هذه هي المرة الاولى في تاريخ الشعوب ...
Keep Reading »Bashar al-Asad to Announce Amending Article 8 of the Constitution?
![[Meeting of the National Progressive Front. Image from dp-news.com]](/content_images/3/sm_Syrianpf.jpg "[Meeting of the National Progressive Front. Image from dp-news.com]")
[The following was reported by Syria Now on May 5, 2011. The original Arabic version of the story can be found here. Translation by Ziad Abu-Rish.] News source: President Bashar al-Asad will soon announce amending Article 8 of the constitution . . . but no formation of religious parties allowed in Syria. The Lebanese newspaper, al-Banaa, reported that sources close to decision-making circles in Syria claim that President Bashar al-Asad will soon announce amending Article 8 of the constitution, which [currently] limits rule of the state to the Socialist Arab Ba'th Party, to include all parties affiliated with the National Progressive Front. The Front will also be ...
Keep Reading »Syria: Quickly Going Beyond the Point of No Return
![[Faysal Khabba, Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations in Geneva. Image from csmonitor.com]](/content_images/3/sm_Syriahumanrightscouncil.jpg "[Faysal Khabba, Permanent Representative of Syria to the United Nations in Geneva. Image from csmonitor.com]")
[Below is latest from the International Crisis Group (ICG) on Syria] Syria: Quickly Going Beyond the Point of No Return The situation in Syria is quickly going beyond the point of no return. By denouncing all forms of protest as sedition, and dealing with them through escalating violence, the regime is closing the door on any possible honourable exit to a deepening national crisis. With little the international community can do, the optimal outcome is one whose chances are dwindling by the day: an immediate end to the violence and a genuine national dialogue to pave the way for a transition to a representative, democratic political order. Over the past several weeks, ...
Keep Reading »[What Can Neo-Liberal Egyptian Parties Offer Us?] ما الذي يمكن أن تقدمه لنا أحزاب الليبرالية المصرية الجديدة؟
![[لافتة كتبت عليها بعض مطالب المتظاهرين في مصر أثناء الثورة. المصدر ويكيميديا]](/content_images/3/sm_مطالبالمتظاهرين.jpg "[لافتة كتبت عليها بعض مطالب المتظاهرين في مصر أثناء الثورة. المصدر ويكيميديا]")
هاهي الليبرالية المصرية تعيد تقديم نفسها للساحة السياسية عقب ثورة جماهيرية في صورة أحزاب عديدة تحت التأسيس. وبمجرد إنطلاق المبادرات، وأهمها أحزاب المصري الديمقراطي الاجتماعي والعدل والمصريون الأحرار، اندلعت المواجهة السياسية والفكرية بين رموزها وبين الإسلاميين من أنصار الدولة الدينية أو المرجعية الدينية للدولة. يخوض الليبراليون المصريون الجدد هذه المواجهة من منطلقات بناء دولة المواطنة لكل المصريين، و "الدفاع عن الحرية" ، التي كانت دوما المنطلق الفلسفي الرئيسي لليبرالية. في الوقت نفسه تتراجع قضايا المساواة والتحركات الاجتماعية دفاعا عن الأجر وحق تأسيس النقابات المستقلة، على الأقل للمرتبة الثانية أو الثالثة بعد استعادة عجلة الإنتاج وغيرها، على أجندة الليبراليين، ...
Keep Reading »The Political Underpinnings of Kuwaiti Sectarian Polemics
![[2008 election poster in Kuwait. Image from author's archive]](/content_images/3/sm_electionsposter.jpg "[2008 election poster in Kuwait. Image from author's archive]")
I am hesitant to write about sectarianism because I once heard that writing about divisions only increases awareness of them and deepens them. But regional commentators—and some international ones—seem to be writing about sects in the Middle East in a purely polemical manner. However, the Kuwaiti case is instructive for understanding that sectarianism isn’t necessarily a fact of life in the Gulf, and that the polemics employed throughout the region at present, while they take on religious overtones, largely stem from political goals. Sunni-Shi’a relations in Bahrain are a result of a unique amalgamation of historical events particular to that island whereby power has ...
Keep Reading »Al-Jazeera's "Inside Story" Debate on International Intervention in Syria, with Jadaliyya Co-Editor
[From AJE] It has been an uprising that has so far claimed more than 450 lives. And with Friday billed another day of rage, violence in Syria does not seem to be abating. Western powers have now convened a special session of the UN's top human rights body on Friday to investigate possible abuses by Bashar al-Assad's forces against anti-government protesters. There are growing calls to establish a fact-finding mission. And US and European diplomats have asked the UN Human Rights Council to order a probe into recent events. But will this be enough to deter the crackdown on Syrian protesters? And how? Inside Story, with presenter Nick Cark, discusses ...
Keep Reading »Tribes of Libya as the Third Front: Myths and Realities of Non-State Actors in the Long Battle for Misrata
Recent news reports originating from Libyan state media have Libyan tribes sending representatives to the rebels in Misrata, hoping to negotiate for peace and for control of the city. An April 24 article in The Guardian quoted Libya’s deputy foreign minister, Khaled Kaim, as threatening a “very bloody” assault against the rebels in Misrata if they fail to negotiate. “I hope to God we can avoid this,” Kaim lamented to The Guardian. Why do Qaddafi’s tales of “tribal” identities mobilizing against rebels gain traction in the international media, whereas other Libyan government pronouncements (about cease-fires and civilian casualties, for example) are greeted with ...
Keep Reading »Al-Maqaleh's Betrayal: Translation and Commentary
The Betrayal My faith in poetry is betrayed, as blood, gushing from the heart of the square, now masks the face of words My eyes can no longer make out the shape of things, the tone of things Blood, blood, and more blood It shrouds my soul, my tongue it envelopes the horizon and stains people’s bread, falling on plates, coffee cups, and the eyes of children. * * * What dark shadow casts its corpse across our homeland, in this city made of light? What day long bloody hours lurk over the public square, in a time of darkness, hunting for young men at the age of youthful dreams and the ...
Keep Reading »Aesthetic Uprisings
Signs of the Times: The Popular Literature of Tahrir: Protest Signs, Graffiti & Street Art. Curated by Rayya El Zein and Alex Ortiz. Special Issue of Shahadat, April 2011. Full issue available here. In the heady days that followed the January 25 demonstrations in Egypt, the air seemed to crackle with images from the myriad protests and demonstrations and strikes and uprisings all across the country. For those of us following events from outside, it became part of the daily routine: together with watching the latest reports from al-Jazeera and reading the latest online news, we took in the images being posted (sometimes within minutes of being taken) on ...
Keep Reading »حنين إلى الضوء
حنين إلى الضوء سنان أنطون “إلى أحرار سوريا” ضع أذنك اليمنى أو اليسرى على الأرض وانصت . . . هل تسمع الأقمار وهي تختنق بالتراب؟ الأشجار تشهق تمدّ جذورها لتقبّل جباه الموتى الجدد الأغصان ترتعش وليس لدى الريح ما تقوله الآن الليل في حداد لكن شفاهاً أخرى ستستيقظ غداً لتردّد ذات الكلمات وتقبّل الشمس
Keep Reading »Bahrain: Arbitrary Arrests Escalate
[The following report was released by Human Rights Watch on May 4 and 5, 2011, in both English and Arabic, respectively.] (Washington, DC) - Security forces arrested two former members of parliament from Bahrain's largest opposition group, Human Rights Watch said today. The arrests were the first targeting elected representatives of the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, which won the popular vote in October 2010 elections, since the large-scale crackdown against protesters and opposition members began ...
Keep Reading »Art for Change at the Square for Change in Yemen
[This post was sent to Jadaliyya by Woman from Yemen.] Walking through the old city in Sana'a there is no doubt that art is alive and is a part of our culture. Architectural beauty is not only appreciated but expected as well. The Revolution has revealed many hidden talents. "We have talent, but the Revolution gave us the opportunity to express them" said Khallad al-Faqih, member of al-Fajr Youth Coalition. Artists have used these talents to promote principles of the Revolution and ...
Keep Reading »What Happened to Protests in Jordan
In the wake of the “Arab Spring,” Jordan witnessed nine consecutive weeks of Friday protests as well as numerous sit-ins calling for political and economic reforms. But as NATO’s intervention in Libya deepened, civil society in Bahrain was brutalized, protests in Syria expanded, and struggles over the limits of regime change in Egypt and Tunisia continued, a tense calm eventually prevailed in Jordan. There are no more Friday protests. In fact, there are almost no more manifestations of contentious ...
Keep Reading »A Sense of Nervous Anticipation Looms in Pakistan
There is a nervous tension in the air in Peshawar after the killing of Osama bin Laden. Over the past couple of days, people are holding their breath. Waiting. Waiting to see what will happen next. Rumors are rampant. It almost feels as if death is right now looming above people’s heads. Death, people feel, is waiting to strike Peshawar, waiting to strike Pakistan, yet again. We hope not. We pray not. Yet everyone here feels that things are about to get worse, yet again. Questions are being raised in ...
Keep Reading »What Churchill Said
The end of the nineteenth century and beginning of the twentieth century were decisive years in British asymmetric warfare in its colonies and against colonial rebels. Those years were significant not only because of the consolidation of colonial war-fighting doctrine, as enshrined in Major General Charles Callwell’s Small Wars: Their Principles and Practice, but also because there emerged for the first time a concerted anti-war movement in the Metropole, which attempted to attenuate the effects of ...
Keep Reading »Boat Rocking in the Art Islands: Politics, Plots and Dismissals in Sharjah's Tenth Biennial
On April 6th, Jack Persekian, director of the Sharjah Art Foundation and Art Director of the Sharjah Biennial was summarily dismissed by Sharjah ruler Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi. The Foundation is the umbrella organization that oversees the reputed Biennial. The reason, according to the Foundation’s statement, was the “public outcry” in response to a work exhibited in the Biennial. Although initially left unidentified, within days it became clear that the main work at the centre of ...
Keep Reading »Culture III
This is our third weekly edition of Jadaliyya's Culture. Previous weeks can be found here and here. This week's harvest includes: Boat Rocking in the Art Islands: Politics, Plots, and Dismissals in Sharjah's Tenth Biennial by Hanan Toukan Al-Shabbi's "The Will to Life" by Gaelle Raphael Al-Maqaleh's Betrayal: Translation and Commentary by Stephen Day All culture posts can be found in the culture section here. We look forward to your comments and contributions. ...
Keep Reading »Al-Shabbi's "The Will to Life"
Abu Al-Qasim Al-Shabbi The Tunisian poet Abu al-Qasim al-Shabbi (1909-1934) is well known and appreciated throughout the Arab world. His words are committed to memory and reproduced in textbooks. With the recent Arab uprisings, his poems, and more particularly “The Will to Life” and “To the Tyrants of the World,” have witnessed a revival, yet with a whole new tone. It seems that the Arab spring has infused "The Will to Life" with a newly found hope, a new urgency, and new life. Its opening ...
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