Status/الوضع

In the first of a series of interviews that aims to profile the newest and noteworthy academic institutions in the MENA region that are helping to advance critical learning, Jonathan Adler of the Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative interviews Katy Whiting of the Sijal Institute. The Sijal Institute is an intensive language and cultural school and institute in the Jabal Amman neighborhood of Amman, Jordan. Whiting discusses the Sijal Institute's efforts to fill gaps in Arabic language instruction, develop new pedagogical strategies, and design more effective cultural immersion programs.

In this interview, Jonathan Adler, the managing editor of Tadween Publishing, sits down with Adel Iskandar to revisit one of Tadween’s first books, Mediating the Arab Uprisings, and to discuss the continually contested arena of media politics in the Middle East.

Hosts: Bassam Haddad, Matt Atteberry, Thomas Serres

In this episode, we explore the sociopolitical issue of racism through the lens of football, with some emphasis on French football. This includes the history of pseudo-scientific thinking, its influence on racial discrimination, the problem of enforcing good behavior, and what FIFA might do. In addition we discuss a name change for the podcast, who looks like the Champions League favorites, and a football detective story so convoluted it could only happen in today’s media environment.

Our guest, Thomas Serres, takes a deep dive into Ligue 1 in France, and the political overtones of bigotry directed at fans of the Algerian national team in French society. As in most European countries, racism has been a recurring problem in French football stadiums. It has notably resulted in deadly clashes between antifascist and neo-Nazi groups of PSG fans in the 2000s. At the same time, these clashes have also allowed the growing securitization of ultras and forms of indiscriminate repression. Race has also been a problem at the national level. When the notoriously multiracial French national team faced major defeats, pundits and politicians have often blamed the "mentality" of players of African or North-African origins. In addition, racist discourses have fueled the public space after each major victory of the Algerian national team, as public displays of "Algerianess" were portrayed as a threat to public safety and a form of betrayal.

Courtesy of Voices of the Middle East & North Africa (VOMENA).

Shahram Aghamir spoke with Peyman Jafari, a historian at Princeton University about the latest wave of anti-government protests in Iran.

On Friday Nov 15, protests broke out in 30 cities across Iran after a surprise announcement by the government it would ration gasoline and raise prices by 50 percent to 300%. The protests swiftly turned into anti-government demonstrations targeting the theocratic regime as a whole.

And, as in previous protests, demonstrators utilized Twitter and other social media platforms to organize, to communicate with the outside world and document the typically heavy-handed response by the regime. In the first twenty four hours, hundreds of images and video clips showed security forces brutally attacking protesters.

Amnesty International Verified video footage as well as eyewitness testimony from people on the ground and information gathered by human rights activists outside Iran reveal a harrowing pattern of unlawful killings by Iranian security forces: At least 106 protesters in 21 cities had been killed as of Wednesday, and Amnesty International believes that the real death toll may be much higher, some reports suggesting as many as 200 fatalities. State media have reported only a handful of protester deaths, plus those of four members of the security forces.

Adding to lethal attacks on the protests, within twenty-four hours, the government has used other tool in their arsenal - The Iranian authorities shutdown the internet for 5 days to stop the flow of information to the outside world and to cut off communication among the Iranian people themselves.

NetBlocks, a non-governmental organization that monitors Internet accessibility around the world, has reported that “The ongoing disruption is the most severe recorded in Iran since President Rouhani came to power, and the most severe disconnection tracked by NetBlocks in any country in terms of its technical complexity and breadth."

Courtesy of VOMENA.

Protesters took to the streets of Baghdad once again on October 25 calling for radical changes to the existing political and economic system.

Ever since a new wave of protests erupted in Baghdad on October 1 and quickly spread to several southern cities, Iraq has been rocked by demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience rooted in long-standing grievances over unemployment, inadequate services, economic mismanagement and corruption. The security forces have responded harshly; killing more than 260 protestors and injuring thousands more. Nevertheless, the unrest continues, and the protestors have expanded their demands to include an overhaul of Iraq’s political structure, which was established after the U.S. led invasion in 2003.

To get a better picture of what is happening in Iraq and the role of the U.S. and regional players in that country, VOMENA's Shahram Aghamir spoke with NY Professor Sinan Antoon.

Sinan Antoon is a celebrated poet, novelist, translator, and scholar of modern Arabic literature and contemporary Arab culture and politics at the Gallatin school at NYU. His latest novel is titled 'The Book Of Collateral Damage'.

Jadaliyya’s Iran Page brings Iranian feminist experiences of the 1979 revolution and its aftermath together in a new audio interview series.

In the first episode, Jadaliyya’s Iran Page co-editor, Manijeh Nasrabadi, interviews Homa Hoodfar on revolutionary upheaval, the contested role of women in the national liberation project and to reflect on what feminism means to her.

On 17 September 2019, Ismail Ziada, a Dutch national of Palestinian descent, brought a civil suit against Benny Gantz, head of Israel’s Blue and White Party and the Israeli Army General Chief of General Staff during the 2014 Gaza onslaught and Amir Eshel, Israeli Air Force Chief. The suit alleges war crimes for the killing of six of Ziada’s family members including his mother, three brothers, sister-in-law, and twelve-year old nephew when the family’s home in the Al-Bureij refugee camp was bombed in 2014. The hearing will determine whether the Dutch court has jurisdiction. In this interview, Noura Erakat speaks with Liesbeth Zegveld, Ziada’s attorney and renowned human rights attorney, scholar of international humanitarian law, and professor at Leiden University.

Interviewed by Noura Erakat | English

On 24 September 2019, Jadaliyya Co-Editor Noura Erakat joined Professor Duncan Kennedy to discuss her new book, Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine at Harvard Law School. Erakat comments that the conversation was particularly significant because she uses Kennedy’s concept of “legal work” to shape her analytical framework regarding the relationship between international law and Palestine. The 50-minute discussion features a robust Q & A with the audience.

Artists Tania El Khoury and Roy Dib in conversation focusing on Dib's practice, cultural policy in Lebanon, the growing censorship against Lebanese artists and activists, and the recent case of Mashrou' Leila.

With the protestors successful in ousting Bouteflika, those who take to the streets are hoping to keep this revolutionary spirit alive. Khalil Bendib of VOMENA speaks with Algerian scholar and activist Hamza Hamouchene about the ongoing movement, its endurance, and its promise for the future of Algeria.