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.
In this very special issue of Status/الوضع, we try to understand the vital history of protest in the Gulf as a means to understand current day dynamics. Marral Shamshiri-Fard discusses her current research on the extraordinary Dhofar Revolution and the importance of framing history through the experiences of multiple actors, such as grassroots movements in Iran, Oman, and neighboring states of the Persian Gulf during the "long 1960s." Through the quelling of a Marxist revolt with transnational connections, the discussion presents both local and regional attempts at subverting a national liberation movement with global dimensions and potential repercussions. Beyond lamentation, this under-examined and forgotten history is illuminating in the current period where such popular action seems an extremely distant possibility.
We are also thrilled to have a discussion with Omar Shanti, the winner of MedReset Project’s Young Writer’s Prize, who spoke to Status/الوضع’s Kylie Broderick to discuss his recent paper on migration and literary production in the Maghreb region. His paper entitled “El Haraga” is the product of research on the Maghrebi literary fictional form in the works of Youssouf Amine Elalamny, Laila Lalami, and Boualem Sansal. The essay is also inspired by the cultural contributions of Algerian Rai music and its evocation of al-ghurba and estrangement from home as well as the circulation of global capital through colonial and post-colonial journeys and migrations.
The theme of exile remains a salient part of our coverage in this issue largely because of its substantial effect on tens of millions of people in the region, most prominently Syrians. Exiled from Syria, Nanda Mohammad, an actress with a celebrated career had to start all over in Egypt in 2012. Her story is one of a fiercely talented Syrian actress, with nostalgia for the past, and how she broke into the most prominent theaters in the world. In this deeply personal interview with Raghad al-Makhlouf, Nanda expresses her struggle with being diasporic and what that means in relation to building a Syrian theater far from home—a sort of refugee stage practice. On the same topic, three top Syrian actors find themselves collaborating in exile as they narrate personal and national stories of loss, displacement, and identity crises. Renowned actress Raghad al-Makhlouf interviews Helen al-Janabi al-Qaq, and Ibraheem Manaem, three actors who left Syria to Sweden and are now rebuilding their lives, professions, and narratives outside of home. And in Syrian creative production, we speak to Syrian filmmaker Derki about his award-winning film, “Of Fathers of Sons,” which won the Grand Jury Prize (for World Documentary) at the Sundance Film Festival. The film is also nominated for the Best Documentary Feature at the 2019 Academy Awards.
In a very unique and extensive audio documentary, our friends at VOMENA bring to this issue a stellar program that combines interviews with five incredible women in Yemen starting with a detailed review and context of the war in Yemen. Mira Nabulsi speaks to several women about their life stories and the dynamics faced by women as both victims of conflict and agent for change. This audio documentary digs deeper into life under conflict through the stories and voices of five Yemeni women, based in the cities of Sana’a and Aden. All of them are involved in women and grassroots activism. They talk about how they understand this war and how they view their role as Yemeni women politically and socially. We hear the stories of Amal Abdul Rahman, the co-founder the Mother of the Abductees Association, Professor Antelak Almutawakel of Sana'a University and the co-founder of the Youth Leadership Development Foundation (YLDF), engineer Arwa al-Muflehi an organizer with the women’s coordination committees at Aden’s Refinery Company, Engineer Nisma Mansoor a field coordinator for “Women Peace Track Initiative,” and Wameedh Shaker who serves as a gender consultant and member of the Women Pact for Peace and Security.
In most conflicts, women are grouped with children; they are categorized among the most vulnerable groups. This designation erases, in many cases, women who are engaged in the conflict, women who are actively relieving or caring for communities, or those who try to defy the war and go about their lives and activism regardless. This story was made possible by the "Muslim Women and the Media" training institute at the University of California-Davis.
The birthplace of the 2010/2011 uprisings, Tunisia has slipped from the headlines. We interrupt this silence with a rich interview with Max Ajl, who earned his PhD from Cornell University, who speaks to us about his doctoral research on the Tunisian national liberation struggle and post-colonial underdevelopment.
From locales where there was substantial popular action and political change to others where stagnation is the modus operandi, we speak to Curtis Ryan about regime survival strategies in the Jordanian Hashemite Kingdom. Ryan lays out how the Jordanian monarchy has held out the possibility of reform while also seeking to co-opt and contain its opponents during the Arab uprisings
We are proud to also present two books on Syria. The first is a video panel from the Asfari Institute at AUB on Syrian Traditional Music by Hassan Abbas, a researcher at the American University of Beirut. More than three hundred pages highlighting the large variety of musical traditions in the country and their continued transmission in times of crisis. The book was written in the framework of UNESCO’s Emergency Safeguarding of the Syrian Cultural Heritage project, which aims, first and foremost, at “restoring social cohesion, stability and sustainable development through the protection and safeguarding of cultural heritage in view of the on-going and growing destruction and loss of Syria's rich and unique cultural heritage.” Another title presented in this issue is a book by Dr. Wendy Pearlman which is an oral history of the Syrian conflict entitled We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria, an oral history of the Syrian conflict.
Also from our partners at the Asfari Institute, we have a terrific interview conducted by Dr. Hassan Abbas with artist and activist Hanane Hajj Ali about her career and work as an artist challenging legal, political, and social censorship since 1978. In a continuation of our efforts to address knowledge production in and on the region, the managing editor of Jadaliyya, Kylie Broderick, sat down with the founding director of Arab Council for the Social Sciences, Seteney Shami, to talk about networking, knowledge production, and scholastic communities.
We are extremely enthusiastic to have among our content for this issue the podcast contributions of the Maydan Podcast, which features conversations by Peter Mandaville with Sylvia Chan-Malik and Khadijah Elshayyal whose work deals with Islam and gender on either side of the Atlantic Ocean as part of the Muslim Atlantic Project. This is one of numerous installments of the Maydan Podcast which continues to be a feature of each issue of Status/الوضع.
Like every issue of Status/الوضع, we offer our listeners an insider’s perspective into the deliberations and contemplations underway within academic circles about various critical issues on the region. This installment is no exception as we offer the proceedings of several panel sessions including a very unique four-hour conference video from George Mason University about novel perspectives in the research and study of Islam in China featuring some of the top scholars on this topic.
Another panel video from Georgetown University features a stimulating session on the political upheaval and revolutionary action in Sudan. Speakers including Dimah Mahmoud, the co-founder of the Nubia Initiative and the Joint European Mentoring Initiative, Ahmed Koduda, a PhD student in political science at George Washington University, and Azaz Shami a social justice advocate focused on Sudan. By looking at regional actors, local action, and the global powers play out in the Sudanese political quagmire, viewers are treated to a nuanced and sophisticated analysis on a topic largely ignored by the mainstream media.
The quality and success of each issue of Status/الوضع is a testament to the growing network of scholarly examinations forged by our community. More so than ever before, the collaborations between institutions of higher learning and media initiatives have rendered Status/الوضع a sophisticated platform that embodies partnerships that bring together groups, initiatives, and institutions committed to furthering knowledge production on the Middle East and North Africa. From the Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship to VOMENA, we have fostered and sustained our relationships with colleagues doing substantial work in the region as well as covering it. We are thrilled to forge new partnerships with UCLA’s Center for Near Eastern Studies, the Gulf Center for Human Rights, al-Marsad research institute, and the University of California-Berkeley’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies alongside our long term and ongoing collaborations with George Mason University’s program in Middle East and Islamic Studies, Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Northwestern University’s program in Middle East and North African Studies, Orient XXI, and Mada Masr.