Qantara.de - Dialog mit der islamischen Welt

Tens of thousands of people who suffered at the hands of Ben Ali's dictatorship have made submissions for compensation to the Tunisian Truth and Dignity Commission. The first public hearings were held in mid November. Sarah Mersch spoke to Sihem Bensedrine, president of the commissionMore

Arab liberal thinkers are seemingly unable to come up with realistic solutions to the ongoing socio-political crises and armed conflicts in the Arab world. An essay by the Lebanese journalist and writer Karam HilouMore

Morocco′s Party for Justice and Development (PJD) faces a stiff confidence test on 7 October when parliamentary elections are held for the second time since constitutional reforms were adopted in 2011. Moreover, rumours that the Makhzen is finished with the PJD means that the main opposition – the Party for Authenticity and Modernity (PAM) – poses a serious challenge at the polls. Analysis by Matthew GreeneMore

Our country needs to respect and value minorities more and to empathise with them more. It also needs an honest debate about what we – not they – must bring to the table, writes Lamya KaddorMore

Simmering for decades beneath the surface of autocratic repression, conflicts such as the Sunni uprisings in Syria and Iraq, Shia unrest in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, not to mention the rancour of the Kurds and Palestinians, are ongoing. The West is partly to blame. By Ishac DiwanMore

″A German artist once asked me why some people leave their country, while others just stay there and die. The question was put in a friendly way, but there was something very bitter about it. As if he was asking why I didn’t dutifully stay in Syria and wait for my death,″ writes Nather Henafe Alali in his second columnMore

The author and political analyst Majed Kayali criticises Arab intellectuals for defaming democracy, which, despite everything, is still in his opinion the most effective system of government and society humanity has thus far devisedMore