Essays
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Muslim racism and imperialism
Power and exclusion
The outpouring of solidarity worldwide following the violent death of George Floyd should prompt us to step back and fundamentally question racist structures and privileges based on injustice – wherever they exist in the world. An essay by Tayfun Guttstadt
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Black Lives Matter in Egypt
The controversy surrounding racism – are Arabs racist?
The Arab world suffers from a system in which people are intolerant of "the other". This racist environment contributes to the growth of hostility and antagonism towards anyone who differs from our sense of what is "normal" or "conventional". By Khaled al-Khamissi
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Discourse and our terms of reference
Politics and religion in Islam – one world or two?
A heated debate is raging in the Islamic world about whether the religious and political spheres in Islam are one and the same. Before this matter can be settled, the terms "religion" and "state" have to be clarified, says Syrian writer Morris Ayek. This, he says, is the only way to avoid misunderstandings
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Listening to the pandemic
Federica Mogherini asks what we can learn from coronavirus
In the face of COVID-19, we need to admit the political mistakes of recent years and adjust our trajectory according to the compass of reality. People around the world – institutional and political leaders, but, ultimately, all of us – must put reality first
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Refugee crisis on the Greek-Turkish border
Europe's liberal warriors put democracy to the sword
The parties at the centre of Germany's political landscape have often exhorted citizens to distance themselves from the right-wing AfD party. And yet, Europe's response to what is happening on its outer border in Greece shows that the ruling centre has itself assimilated some fundamental nationalist ideas. An essay by Stefan Buchen
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First anniversary of the Hirak movement
The jury's still out on Algeria
Few would have thought that Algeria's Hirak protest movement would still be mobilising the masses 12 months on from its first peaceful demonstration. According to Isabelle Werenfels and Luca Miehe, the systemic change people hoped for post-Bouteflika has yet to materialise. External players need to brace themselves for ongoing political turbulence
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The longest duel
Iran and the USA square off
The Iranian people are being held hostage by the confrontation between America and the regime in Tehran. Stefan Buchen considers in his essay whether the country's culture can still continue to flourish in the face of this latest 'high noon'
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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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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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Syria's constitutional committee
Geneva is key to Assad's rehabilitation
Finding a lasting political solution to the Syrian conflict is the challenge facing the constitutional committee that has been meeting in Geneva since the end of October, under UN mediation. But achieving this goal is an illusion, since the Syrian regime has for years shown no willingness to surrender any of its power. By Kristin Helberg