What unites marginalized Sunnis in Iraq and the hardcore ideologues within ISIS is their desperation to be rid of Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, who has left them with no choice but to operate outside of the political system in order to better their lives.
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Unthinkable Thoughts in the Debate About ISIS in Iraq
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The Arab Spring: The end of postcolonialism
These variations on the theme of delayed defiance hinge on the idea that the revolutions are simultaneously a rejection not just of the colonial oppression they have inherited but, a fortiori, of the postcolonial ideologies that had presented and exhausted themselves as its antithesis in Islamist, nationalist or socialist grand narratives.
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An Islamic School for Girls
by Julia Meltzer and Laura Nix In 1982, when she was just 17 years old, Houda al-Habash opened the doors to her Qur’an school for women and girls at the Al-Zahra Mosque in Damascus, Syria. …
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Lebanon, the Sectarianization of Politics, & Genderalizing the Arab Uprisings
In the interview, Maya discusses developments in Lebanon as they related to the uprising in Syria. She also discusses Lebanese politics more generally as well the workings of gender politics in the Middle East.
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Can Islamism and Feminism Mix?
TINY Tunisia, where a fruit seller’s suicide sparked the Arab Spring, held its first free elections on Sunday. Over 90 percent of registered voters turned out, far exceeding expectations. Lines of beaming blue-fingered voters poured out of polling places, proudly posting photos of their freshly inked hands on Facebook.
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Rich, Islamist and post-feminist
The ability of elite women to define whether or not Pakistan needs feminism is circumscribed by the fact that the battles feminism would have to fight have never been battles for them at all, but rather for those women who remain invisible as much because of their poverty as of their gender
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The Praxis of the Egyptian Revolution
Egypt’s momentous uprising did not happen because Egyptians willed it into being. It happened because there was a sudden change in the balance of resources between rulers and ruled. Mubarak’s structures of dominion were thought to be foolproof, and for 30 years they were. What shifted the balance away from the regime were four continuous days of street fighting, January 25–28, that pitted the people against police all over the country. That battle converted a familiar, predictable episode into a revolutionary situation. Decades ago, Charles Tilly observed that one of the ways revolutions happen is that the efficiency of government coercion deteriorates. That decline occurs “when the character, organization and daily routines of the population to be controlled change rapidly.”
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Portrait of a Revolutionary: Hossam El-Hamalawy
Hossam El-Hamalawy speaks about the role of Labour/Unions in the Egyptian Revolution Bassam [henceforth “B”]: How are you? Congratulations. Hossam [henceforth “H”]: Great. Thank you! B: Can you tell us about the post-revolution situation? There’s …