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![[مقطع من غلاف رواية أصفال الندى لمحمد الأسعد عن دار الفيل ، القدس، 2013.]](/content_images/3/hero2_atfal.jpg)
![[Crop from below infograph by Visualizing Palestine]](/content_images/3/hero2_vppalestinedit.jpg)
![[Newseum Chief Executive Officer James C. Duff speaks during the Journalist Memorial Rededication of 88 journalists who died reporting the news in 2012, at the Newseum in Washington, May 13, 2013. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)]](/content_images/3/hero2_AP254157428908.jpg)
![[مقطع من غلاف رواية أصفال الندى لمحمد الأسعد عن دار الفيل ، القدس، 2013.]](/content_images/3/herosm_atfal.jpg)
![[Crop from below infograph by Visualizing Palestine]](/content_images/3/herosm_vppalestinedit.jpg)
![[Newseum Chief Executive Officer James C. Duff speaks during the Journalist Memorial Rededication of 88 journalists who died reporting the news in 2012, at the Newseum in Washington, May 13, 2013. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)]](/content_images/3/herosm_AP254157428908.jpg)
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 »غنائم البارون ماكس فون آوبنهايم: الآلهة السورية إنبعثت من جديد في برلين [The Baron's Trophies: Syrian Gods Resurrected in Berlin]
![[معرض تل حلف في متحف البرغامون، برلين. تصوير إبتسام عازم]](/content_images/3/sm_M55.jpg "[معرض تل حلف في متحف البرغامون، برلين. تصوير إبتسام عازم]")
تعود تماثيل الآلهة الأثرية لمملكة تل حلف السورية مرة أخرى إلى الحياة في متحف بيرغامون للحفريات التاريخية بعدما كانت قد تعرضت للقصف في برلين عام 1943 وتحطمت إلى 27 الف قطعة. سجل معرض «الآلهة الناجية من قصر تل حلف» في الأسابيع الثلاثة الأولى منذ إفتتاحه في شهر كانون الثاني ( يناير) حضوراً مميزاً تجاوز خمسين ألف زائراً، بالإضافة إلى اهتمام إعلامي ألماني واسع. عند الدخول إلى الصالة الأولى في جناح المعرض يفاجأ الزائر بألواح خشبية تتناثر فوقها حجارة من مادة البازلت. والهدف هو التذكير بحال هذه المعروضات الأثرية السورية، بعدما ضربت طائرات الحلفاء المتحف عام 1943 بقنبلة فسفور أثناء غاراتها على برلين النازية خلال الحرب العالمية الثانية، فأحرقته وهدمته. ليس «الإحتفال» بـ «الآلهة ...
Keep Reading »مزمور
![[ لوحة بلا عنوان، أحمد السوداني. المصدر غير معروف]](/content_images/3/sm_Ali5.jpg "[ لوحة بلا عنوان، أحمد السوداني. المصدر غير معروف]")
مزمور ”إلى شهداء سوريا" لا يذهب الشهداءُ إلى الجنّة فأبوابها مغلقة منذ قرون والتجّار الذين اشتروا أنهارها ينظرون من الشرفات العالية إلى الطوابير الطويلة وحشود المشرّدين في الخارج
Keep Reading »Special Bodies, Speculative Personhood: Bradley Manning and Mohamed Bouazizi
![[Image from lawanddisorder.org]](/content_images/3/sm_Guantanamo.jpg "[Image from lawanddisorder.org]")
He was very sincere. We are like soulless bodies since he left. –Basma Bouazizi, sister If Brad Manning, 22, is the Collateral Murder and Garani massacre whistleblower then, without doubt, he’s a national hero. –Wikileaks He may be a mutilated trunk dismembered all about, the spirit removed all around and separated from the limbs, yet he lives and breathes the vital air. –Lucretius, De Rerum Natura Bradley Manning and Mohamed Bouazizi’s names have become known because they galvanized world attention through what has been perceived as incalculable personal sacrifices. By comparing the respectively imprisoned and immolated bodies of two of the ...
Keep Reading »الشعب يريد عجلة إنتاج أخرى [The People Want Another Mode of Production]
![[عملة مصرية. المصدر غير معروف]](/content_images/3/sm_masari.jpg "[عملة مصرية. المصدر غير معروف]")
هاهى عجلة الإنتاج تتصدر الصورة السياسية فى مصر مرة أخرى، بعد أن أخلت فزَّاعة إنهيار الاقتصاد مكانها مؤقتا لفزَّاعات السلفيين والإخوان وغياب وعى الجماهير. جميع النخب تحدثنا الآن عن هذه العجلة السحرية: الشيخ محمد حسان يدعو لفض الاعتصامات ودفع عجلة الإنتاج، سمية الخشاب: عجلة الإنتاج الفنى أصيبت بالشلل، نائب رئيس الوزراء يحيى الجمل: أطالب بعودة عجلة الإنتاج سريعاً، صفحة على الفيسبوك عنوانها: الشعب يريد إستمرار عجلة الإنتاج، حملات إعلانية مكثفة فى التليفزيون وفى الشوارع وفوق الكبارى تمولها شركات كبرى، مصرية وغير مصرية، وتمزج بين صورة للمنتج أو للعلامة التجارية وبين شعارات من نوعية نعمل من أجل مصر. ثم يفاجئنا المجلس العسكرى بتمرير قانون تجريم الاعتصام والإضراب الذى ...
Keep Reading »Culture II
This is the second week of Jadaliyya's culture section. The first week included four pieces and can be viewed here. This week's bouquet includes: "A Damascene Diary" by Samar Yazbek "Memoir and Mythology" by Mimi Kirk "The Meaning of My Prayer" by Sargon Boulus We welcome your contributions, support, and feedback. For more information, read our Call for Posts, or contact us at Keep Reading »
"The Meaning of My Prayer" by Sargon Boulus
“Ma`na Salati” (The Meaning of my Prayer) appeared in Sargon Boulus’ posthumous collection `Azma Ukhra li-Kalb al-Qabila (Baghdad and Beirut: Dar al-Jamal, 2008). The Meaning of My Prayer Perhaps this is what I prayed for at times This is what I saw in moments of despair my eyes half shut sleepless until dawn That garden (Its leaves, from childhood, still glisten at noon washed by a sun no longer visible) A handful of trees A time not stained by the hand of days Summer, swarming with bees Not a sound about this cold country Not a word about the north, which will cover things, with its cold shadow Even though I have a fire, and my lamp overlooks a ...
Keep Reading »What is Sharia?
![[Sharia For Dummies. Image From Unknown Archive]](/content_images/3/sm_sharia_dummies.jpg "[Sharia For Dummies. Image From Unknown Archive]")
This question has animated scholarly, religious, and political debates for centuries. These debates have been lively, at times contentious, and have been held (under different circumstances and leading to different results) in different parts of the Muslim majority world as well as in parts of the world with few, if any, Muslims. More recently, it seems that the question “What is sharia?” has become a pressing concern in Western countries with growing Muslim minorities who continue to be unevenly incorporated into the imagined image of the “French”, “Swedish”, “German”, or “American” citizen. Central to this uneven incorporation (and at times, explicit discrimination) is ...
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 ...
Keep Reading »English Translation of Interview with Hossam El-Hamalawy on the Role of Labor/Unions in the Egyptian Revolution
[Below is both the English translation and the video of the interview. The interview was conducted by Bassam Haddad, then translated and transcribed by Christine Cuk. It was also reviewed by Mohamed Aly and Bassam Haddad. Thanks to Christine and Mohamed for volunteering to make this interview available to English readers, per their many requests] Jadaliyya is hereby presenting the first (deliberately belated) installment in a series called "A Portrait of a Revolutionary," ...
Keep Reading »ثوار تحت الإحتلال: الإنتفاضة العراقية 2011 [Revolutionaries Under Occupation: The Iraqi Uprising of 2011]
في تغطيتها للإحتجاجات في العراق، نشرت مجلة الإكونومست مقالاً تحت عنوان "حتى بلد تعم فيه الديمقراطية غير مصون من الإحتجاجات." والمقالة تصف العراق كبلد يتمتع بحكومة منتخبة، ومع ذلك فان التظاهرات تعمه بسبب فشل الحكومة في توفير الخدمات الأساسية. وتعكس هذه المقالة إتجاهاً عاماً في فهم الوضع العراقي في الصحافة السائدة. فالمظاهرات في العراق -إن تم تغطيتها أصلاً - تصور على إنها ضد إخفاقات الحكومة في توفير الكهرباء والأمن والخدمات فقط. وهذه الصورة تغفل حقائق جوهرية تتعلق بالعراق ...
Keep Reading »Syrian Petition for Political Change: A Dramatic Missed Opportunity
Given the atrocities currently committed in Syria and the spectacularly bad press this generates for the regime, one would think that issuing an effective petition calling for political change in this country would be an easy task. All such a petition needs to do is to jump on the bandwagon of rapidly mounting protests and express the deeply felt anger across large sections of the Syrian population. In addition, any serious public appeal would demonstrate that there is a viable alternative to the regime; ...
Keep Reading »The Arab Uprisings and US Policy (Panel Video)
On Thursday, April 28th, 2011, the Middle East Policy Coucil held a one-day conference on Capitol Hill in Washingtong D.C., "featuring a discussion of the populist movements sweeping across the Arab world, their regional and global consequences, and how they are impacting U.S. interests and policy choices." Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad was one of the speakers at the conference, as were Anthony Cordesman (Center for Strategic International Studies), Barak Barfi (New American ...
Keep Reading »After Syria's "Great Friday": Al-Jazeera Interview with Bassam Haddad (conducted on April 23)
Below is Al-Jazeera's interview on Syria with Jadaliyya Co-Editor Bassam Haddad after the events of "Great Friday" on April 22nd, the bloodiest day that Syria witnessed since the beginning of the uprisings. In this interview, conducted on Saturday April 23rd, Bassam discusses the events as a turning point in the confrontation and the prospects for cohesion on all sides. He also addresses the role of the media, and media wars.
Keep Reading »A Damascene Diary
This account of events in Damascus, Syria, on Friday April 1st 2011 was originally published in Al Quds al ‘Arabi on April 7th, 2011. *** I will infiltrate the dreams of the killers. I will ask them: did you look into their eyes when your bullets closed in on their chests? Did you glimpse the hole of life? Before Damascus’ sky darkens, why don’t you look at the smooth red circles around their foreheads and stomachs, where our eyes will come to rest? Here in Damascus, the killers’ eyes will soon be ...
Keep Reading »Memoir and Mythology
Facts aren’t the only thing that should be checked in Three Cups of Tea The recent uproar over Greg Mortenson’s immensely popular nonfiction book Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission To Promote Peace... One School at a Time has centered around the question of whether the account is factual, and whether Mortenson is siphoning money from his $20 million-a-year charity, the Central Asia Institute (CAI). Three Cups of Tea is the ostensibly nonfiction narrative of Mortenson’s efforts to build secular ...
Keep Reading »[The Military Council Approves Egypt's Additional Emergency Law] المجلس الأعلى يقر قانون طوارئ إضافي
رزحت المجتمعات العربية لعقود عدة تحت وطأة القوانين الإستثنائية المقيدة للحريات السياسية. لذلك ما أن قامت الثورات والانتفاضات العربية الأخيرة حتى تعرضت هذه القوانين (وخاصة قوانين الطوارئ ومحاكمها التي تعرف في مصر بإسم محاكم أمن الدولة طوارئ) إلى هجوم عنيف في كافة أرجاء العالم العربي، ما أدى إلى إلغاء قوانين الطوارئ في عدة دول من بينها الجزائر وسوريا، وإلغاء عدد من الترتيبات المقيدة للحريات في كلا من تونس والمغرب. لكن بغض النظر عن جدية هذه الإصلاحات، ظلت مصر بعيدة كل البعد عن هذا المسار الإصلاحي؛ فلم ...
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