Mashriq
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Interview with Quranet founder Ofer Grosbard
Parenting according to the Koran
At the suggestion of his Arab students, Israeli psychologist Ofer Grosbard created the project "Quranet", which uses texts from the Koran to solve educational problems in schools and families. More than ten years after its inception, the project is now attracting attention in the Arab world. Interview by Claudia Mende
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First Arabic website for parents of disabled children
"Habaybna" – for advice, community and inclusion
Reem Al Farangi from Gaza, mother to two children with autism, has created the first Arabic-language website for the parents of disabled children. "Habaybna" provides important information about early recognition, therapies and self-help – and connects parents from across the region. Claudia Mende reports from Amman
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Arab Spring 2.0
The Middle East's fearless protesters
The upheavals of the past year in the MENA region are arguably as momentous as those of the Arab Spring in 2011. Yet perhaps the biggest difference is that our interest seems to have evaporated. Why? Essay by Jannis Hagmann
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Women's rights in Jordan
The women of Dar Amneh
In Jordan, members of civil society have set up the first shelter for women who are under threat of death from their own families. For one year now, such women have been able to turn to Dar Amneh for help and support. A report by Claudia Mende
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Interview with Lebanese director Rabih Mroué
"First, they all have to go. And all means all"
The Lebanese director Rabih Mroué explains why a tax on WhatsApp led to an outbreak of mass protests in his country. And also why the government has until now refrained from using force. Rabih Mroue talked to Till Briegleb
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The Prophet and Sharia
Islamic family law reform – a question of interpretation
Equality in divorce, a ban on polygamy: reformers of Islamic family law have a clear agenda. They are exploiting the ambiguity of traditional jurisprudence. By Joseph Croitoru
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Interview with Lebanese writer Amin Maalouf
Petrodollars proved stronger in the Middle East than cultural tradition
Decades of oil exports have completely destabilised culture and politics in the Middle East. Speaking with Lena Bopp, the renowned writer Amin Maalouf says that the distorted political discourse in the Arab world is now impacting on the West
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Interview with the Moroccan thinker Hassan Aourid
Democracy cannot be stopped
Hassan Aourid is one of the most important political and intellectual figures in Morocco. In interview with Ismail Azzam for Qantara, Aourid outlines his vision of the decline of political Islam and the future of democracy and human rights in the Maghreb
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Interview with Hamid Dabashi
Europe’s coloniality persists after the fall of empire
An interview with the Iranian-American historian and cultural philosopher Hamid Dabashi about writing, Europe's past and present, right-wing populism and the Arab uprisings. By Tugrul Mende
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Anti-government protests
Is this Iraq's Arab Spring?
Iraq is currently facing such an alarming array of economic, political and social problems that many observers fear no-one will be up to the task of delivering the much-needed reforms. By Stasa Salacanin
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Middle East
Lebanon's protesters are here to stay
Demonstrators in Lebanon have been taking to the streets for days demanding the resignation of the government. So far, the government has offered little to pacify the people. How long can this go on? Diana Hodali reports
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Charlotte Wiedemann: "Now is the time for utopias"
The end of white dominance
In her latest book – "Der lange Abschied von der weissen Dominanz" – recently published in German, journalist Charlotte Wiedemann describes the upheaval in our changing, multi-polar world with startling clarity. By Christopher Resch