Status / الوضع Issue 6.1 is Here!

We are excited to announce Issue 6.1 of Status / الوضع, bringing you new, in-depth, and diverse content on the Middle East and North Africa (and beyond), in audio and video, and in both Arabic and English. 

 

 

Our quest for sophisticated, nuanced, and locally-informed discussions, reflections, analyses, and meditations on the states and livelihoods in the Middle East and further afield is one that does not cease because options are limited. To the contrary, as mainstream media become less committed to diligence, all of us at Status/الوضع feel even more compelled to bring to the fore the forgotten, ignored, or underappreciated voices from some of the most compelling locales in the region and beyond. Whether it is the Sudanese uprising or the Algerian protest movement, we delve into these landmark contestations with confidence that audiences want complexity rather than oversimplification. And in ongoing struggles like that of the Yemeni people, we choose to foreground the inspiring stories of loss, strength, and perseverance among women in the face of abject precariousness. Also no longer in the limelight is the continued suffering of displaced communities whose home countries have been ravaged by war. Syrian artists, actors, and thinkers continue to build lives across the world and in the process create new possibilities and hopes. All of these and more are our way of interrupting the status quo.

After nearly three decades since Omar al-Bashir came to power, the Sudanese regime is facing a formidable challenge posed by a fresh wave of unrest, which started in the northeastern city of Atbara on 19 December. Protests, which first erupted over a government decision to triple the price of bread have swiftly escalated into anti-government rallies, marches, and work stoppages that have rocked several cities and towns. To learn more about who the protestors are, what their demands are, and the role of civil society groups in these protests, VOMENA’s Shahram Aghamir looks for answers from Professor Khalid Medani of McGill University.

From one major social movement to another, this issue’s Quick Thoughts features Mouin Rabbani’s interview with Professor Hugh Roberts at Tufts University about the ongoing Algerian protest movement. Roberts situates the active revolutionary actions against a backdrop of dwindling authoritarianism and a complex history of revolt and ideological intricacies. He showcases how the various forces currently contributing to a new political milieu in the country are effectively transforming the ambitions of a society in flux, thereby suggesting where this uprising seems to be heading. In addition to the Algerian example and perhaps as a backdrop of the changes continuing to unfold in the region at large, we also speak to Dr. Shafeeq Ghabra who discusses the cataclysmic political events experienced by the Arab world since 2011 and argues that they will not be resolved without a major future transformation of the status quo.

Against the backdrop of such cataclysmic, and sometimes catastrophic, mobilizations, we see a continuation of a decades-long systematic disenfranchisement of Palestinians. Particularly with the so-called “Deal of the Century,” a substantial corrective to the fraudulent notion of justice is necessary. This is why Noura Erakat’s new book is an immensely important signpost at this historical juncture. Erakat’s book and interview in this issue show how the strategic deployment of law has shaped current conditions. Her book, entitled Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine, is both a historical account of the legal frameworks leading up to the current day and an indispensable primer for the years ahead.