The only way forward is to fight against the realities of Islamophobia by fighting for the realization of a new Arab Spring.In the classic 1966 film Battle of Algiers, Ali, a young, illiterate, unemployed bricklayer and draft dodger is arrested in Algiers for petty street crimes (he is a card swindler). In jail, Ali meets, unbeknownst…
Keynote presented to the inaugural conference of the Arab Council of Social Sciences, Beirut, March 2013 What does being a critical social scientist mean in the Arab world today? Or to ask the question differently: How can social scientists think Arab societies critically following or amidst the upheavals of the last few years? Such questions…
Gene Sharp, the most important theorist on non violent struggle, accepted to answer various questions about his work for the blog cosmopolita and the printed edition of El Espectador (20th of May 2011). In this interview Sharp speaks about his theory and also about recent political events, such as the revolt against Mubarak and the…
Syria video released by Amnesty International “Images of unarmed civilians shot in the head help explain why there have been so many fatalities. Together with footage of soldiers celebrating deaths, they document what appears to be a ‘shoot to kill’ policy,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa. “Other…
A deluge of articles, statements and comments on the peoples’ protests across a region defined in imperial geopolitical and cultural discourses as the Middle-East or the Arab World have so far been driven by two main questions: ‘how it happened?’ and ‘what will happen next?’ The ‘how’ and ‘what next’ are impossible questions at times…
The following is Alain Badiou’s full reply to Jean-Luc Nancy’s “What the Arab peoples signify to us“. With many thanks to Verso Books UK. Yes, dear Jean-Luc, the position you adopt in favour of ‘Western’ intervention in Libya was indeed a sorry surprise for me. Didn’t you notice right from the start the palpable difference…
The Arab peoples are signifying to us that resistance and revolt are with us once again, and that history is moving beyond History. They are doing it, as is appropriate, with all the fortune and misfortune that it involves. At the very least they have sent an irreversible signal whose effects we can expect to…