Side notes on a Revolution in the making

With the Iranian revolution heading to its 100 days of protests, there are clear signs that there is no turning back. The wave of contestation of the mullah-lead regime and the extreme violence of the counter-reaction of the different layers of the establishment leaves no place for ´dialogue´ or ´reform´, as some interested voices of pundits and journalist may be trying to make believe. 

That this will be the last winter under the cleric yoke it´s almost clear. December seems to be a bad months for dictators, and the former Romanian dictator whose last visit before being condemned to death for decades of crimes against his own people was Iran, experienced this on his own skin. What it largely unclear is what will be the next steps of this transformation? Will the perpetrators of the 43 years of dictatorship brought to justice? Would they be able to escape to sunnier lands? Would they eventually use the assets transferred through third outside the country and make a come-back as ´democratic´ participants to the inner competition for power within the incoming free regime?

Reading the notes of the Polish journalist Ryszard Kapuściński who chronicled the last months of the Shah and the instauration of the new clerics´ regime, one may notice a lot of similarities: a ruling elite, with the Shah on the top of it, living in complete denial about the real needs and aspirations of the people; the constant persecution and murder of intellectual elites; the active role of repression forces - like SAVAK - in maintaining the regime and violently discouraging of dissent; the widespread corruption and the large scale stealing of natural resources; the persistence of protests for month before the Shah - at last - and his family decided to leave the country.

There are also many more small differences that do distinguish one regime from the other, one being the desperate blindless of religious fanatics who may not spare anything to stay in power. There is no other danger for humanity than a religious fanatic in position of power. Hence, the refusal to leave the theatre with minimal decency. Also different is the deep hate those mullahs seem to have for the culture of the country they kept hostage.

Even when on the wrong side of history, Iran remains an important regional player and the changes taking place sooner or later within the country may send waves of change across the region. Time will show what kind of changes will be involved and especially who will be the agents of those changes. 

The Revolutionary Women of Iran

 

There is a lot to be said why more than one month after the protests asking an end of four decades of oppression in the Islamic Republic of Iran do still have such a low and relatively distorted reflection into the German media. But for those really looking to understand what are the roots of discontent and why women are on the forefront of the protests, Golineh Atai published exactly one year ago a book featuring nine women from Iran, most of them unknown outside the borders of Iran - the most famous of them is Masih Alinejad who may not be everyone´s cup of tea but nevertheless she started a movement encouraging women to speak out against the government.

Born in Iran, Golineh Atai moved to Germany as a child, shortly after the religious establishment started its take over of power, economy and society in Iran. 

The women movement in Iran has a longer history. Women like Sediqeh Dowlatabadi or Forough Farrokhzad opened the way to more acceptance towards women. Personalities like Nasrin Sotudeh or Shirin Ebadi and the many many unnamed women who refuses the hear to the rules made for them by greedy blood-thirsty clerics. 

What is really disturbing reading the testimonies gathered in Iran. Die Freiheit ist weiblich is the terrible mistreatments ongoing in Iran prisons and the even more horrible barganinig with the corpses of people murdered in prison or during the protests. It is simply.

The book by Golineh Atai is eyes opening and helps to map the mental realm of the current protests. More and more people outside Iran should read such testimonies because it shows how resolute the women of Iran are to challenge a regime way too courted by Western governments and companies. The ongoing Iranian Revolution will definitely change more than a regime in Iran, it will redefine a better and more peaceful Middle East while pushing forward the Western democracies to restrain their appetite for friendly diplomatic lakeys of dictators. 

Antiracist and Antibias Teaching in the School Community

 

Diverse learning is challenging not because there are not enough people qualified to do it, but due to the lack of proper resources and inspiration to continue antiracist and antibias teaching projects. Resources are important to save time and energy, by using patterns already proved successful. The inspiration of other educators following the same path is an encouragement in the hardest moment when there is no support for continuing among parents and other educators and even a clear opposition to an antiracist and antibias teaching.

Educator and social change activist Liz Kleinrock created a very useful collection of resources aimes to offer A Guide to Antibias and Antiracist Work in Your School Community. Those expecting to get a theoretical explanation of the pedagogical processes may be disappointed, because the book is mostly packed with example and testimonies of the regular experiences of the everyday teaching. Which is exactly what teaching is all about: teaching is rather a process than a corpus of theories and methodologies that should be followed blindly. It has to do with being able to adapt to a reality always on the move. 

This reality is adapting and complex and the role of the educator to create both the change and the premises of change. Therefore, the book collects different perspectives and suggests different angles to deal with white supremacy and antiracist education, from a standpoint that rather encourages empathy and understanding instead of accusing and a black-and-white worldview. An important pre-condition of such a process is the idea of unlearning according to which certain concepts and stereotypes acquire through mainstream education or family upbringing can adapt once faced with different arguments. This implies also including the representatives of the mainstream involved in the process of mentality change while avoiding the ´savior´ mentality.

The book is a great tool that may help teachers and educators to plan their lessons and understand different perspectives and points of views. It has a humble take, of someone who will never cease to learn and to adapt, because the aim is less to receive appreciation of the flawless planning but to dramatically push forward the limits of the narrowminded mentalities.

Rating: 4.5 stars

The Condition of Conditional Citizens

This quote from Conditional Citizens by Laila Lalami aimed at describing her experience as a Moroccan-born American citizen applies though to any other non-local conditions (including and particularly in Germany), both from the point of view of their contribution to the overall society than to the limitations and resent they experience on a daily basis:

´Immigrants continue to contribute to America in a million different ways, from growing the food on its tables to innovating the technologies its citizens use every day. Some are exceptional in their fields, while others work in the fields, doing jobs that few nations are willing to take because of their low wages. Whether documented or undocumented, immigrants commit far fewer crimes than native-born citizens. But whenever on offense, particularly a violent offense, involves immigrants, the entire project of immigration is called into question. The problem is, the nativists may say, they don´t assimilate´.

One can write novels and memoirs about how does it feel to carry the weight of your passport on your shoulder, every second of your immigrant life. No matter how educated and fluent you may be in the language, most often than not your identity and allegiance will be questioned, either by your colleagues or the neighbour next door, curious why strange sounds are heard from the other side of your door.

I may allow myself to describe this eternal condition as a Non-belonging.

Advocating for an universal science

 

For all the wrong reasons - from ideological to sheer ignorance - the history of science(s) is predominantly Western/white - centered. Ignoring the very historical facts, the non-European figures are mostly absent from the general scientific narrative, although the exchange of influences and the free circulation of ideas contradicts this simplified official reality.

Fouad Laroui, Moroccan-born economist and writer currently based in Amsterdam, sums up in his Plaidoyer pour les Arabes the noticeable absences of references of Arabic authors and thinkers from the history of sciences as well as the simplified vision of the non-Christian world, reduced to emotional, terrorist-oriented tendencies. 

Although I am usually very careful with the temptation - which manifests as well in some ideological takes on science from Eastern European countries - of assigning a non-European author to generally patterned European ideas, when the genealogy is based on a careful selection and confrontation of sources, the official versions of the history of sciences deserve to be challenged. By outlining the circulation and meeting of ideas from one cultural space to another, the diversity and complexity of the human mind is actually stated. It is a proof that long before our worlds are connected by social media, the cultural afinities were always there.

On the other hand, the plurality of possible worlds has another consequence: it shows us that the extremes and religious exaggeration and intolerance do exist outside the non-Western realm as well. If someone may follow the far-right discourses of the religious extremism, he or she will easily recognize a pattern so easy labelled as anti-Western as being uttered by non-Western sources. Which is equally historically inadequate. The same with the extremism. the propension towards non-scientific interpretations and readings of the world, such as the alternative medicine or spiritual practices, are not the exclusive domain of the ´less developed´ areas of the world, but do co-exist in the midst of Western daily practices as well.

Plaidoyer pour les Arabes is a book which contributes to a shape a fresh, colonisation-free approach on sciences. Such approaches may further open the ways towards a different, more inclusive history.

Dealing with Radical Ideologies - the Friends and Family Version

Since the pandemic started the plethora of conspiracy theories are taking over more public, particularly media, space but those theories and ideas, some of them delivered as a big package which includes anti-semitism and neo-Nazi ideologies, were always there. The problem right now is that they threaten the health and wellbeing of a large amount of population, while before it was rather considered ´other people´s problem´. 

German journalist Dana Buchzik wrote a book aimed at helping to deal with friends and family members ongoing a radicalisation process. It has to do with both women and men, educated or less educated, our mothers, brothers, fathers and sisters took over by the easiness and simplicity of a radical message.

Generally, the key towards change is education and developing a critical mindset. Being informed is not necessarily easy, as the question relies always about the sources of information and the ways in which the information is transmitted and further understood. The biggest mistake is to consider ´radicalised´ people as crazy, mentally unstable or retarded. This pattern unfortunatelly characterizes some takes on anti-semitism nowadays and are completely wrong because it diminishes - willingly or not, for politically safety reasons or not - the extent of radical thought. Those people who joined Daesh in Syria were not mentally unstable, but answered a very simple appeal of an ideology wrapped in the glossy papers of the social media. Even if in the end, the high-tech tool will be used for barbaric snapshots, such as the infamous beheadings copiously shared on social media.

The book is useful both from the point of view of the analysis and content, but also for the practical exercises and advice offered that may help healing some of the people we love of the radicalisation morbus. As a book published in German, it is a very useful tool for those living in the German-speaking realm that claimed for too long being ´cured´ of such deadly fantasies. 

Rating: 4.5 stars 

Religiosity in the IIIrd Reich

There are not too many available studies in English language about the involvement of German churches on behalf of the Nazi ideology. The German approaches are, for various reasons (loyalty towards their faith being one of them), outlining the diversity of situations therefore, the impossibility of an unique verdict. Frequently, the dissent among the Protestant denominations - like the case of the Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer - is mentioned, with many example of priests that actually ended up in the concentration camps.  

The recent book by Manfred Gailus, a researcher in this domain, Gläubige Zeiten. Religiosität im Dritten Reich - which I will freely translated as Worshipping Times. Religiosity in the Third Reich - outlines the various nuances and different directions that were followed or changed during those times. 

1933 represented for many of the German-speaking religious nominations a time of challenge. Some religious interpretations pledged the cause of a Messianic leader  while some through the very lenses of religious thinking openly rejected the religious interpretation of political events. There is definitely a chore anti-Semitic red thread in various interpretations - from Luther onwards or even earlier - that may continue until today and that were serving as encouragement for political persecutions. 

Not few members of the elites of the IIIrd Reich were Catholic - Hitler himself, Himmler as well - and remained so until the end of the war although there were opinions among the German Church leaders who actually forbade any involvement on behalf of the political establishment. 

Mentioning facts and events, the book by Manfred Gailus helps to see the situation in a more diverse way. The level of involvement on behalf of and support for the Nazi regime should be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The geography, social structure and political history of the different German regions should be taken into consideration, as well as personal ambitions and personalities of some religious leaders, as well as their direct connections with the Nazi establishment. 

Last but not least, Christianity itself in Germany was under relative threat by the movement created by Jakob-Wilhelm Hauer - Deutsches Glaubensbewegung -  /German Faith Movement/ - incorporated ancient, pre-Christian practices and symbolism, suited for the emotionally appealing Nazi doctrine.

There is very much left to be said, and access to archives as well as a less-belief-based, more scientifically oriented research will lead in a more dramatic way to a more clear picture of the religious landscape during those times and eventually, the hidden global connections - for instance, the help provided by Catholic representatives in Latin American countries for Nazi fugitives.

Both the methodological approach of the book and the factual repertoire of the book can be used for new directions and topics of research. Personally, I was expecting more documents and proper references including through official publications and public declarations, among others. Those expectations put aside, the research can be used as an example in approaching other establishment-oriented religious encounters with politics, no matter the religion and no matter the colour of the politics.

The Forgotten Yemen

The Houthi-led conflict in Yemen reached the stage of a global humanitarian crisis threatening the regional political and social stability in the region, but equally destroying the basis of Yemen as a country. Although currently overshadowed by the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war, this crisis has the potential to affect both the country itself and the region in its entirety. 

The participants at the international conference ´Legal, Political and Economic Dimensions of Extermism&Terrorism in the Middle East and the implications on regional and global Peace & Security. Confronting the Houthi Militia - the Interests and Responsibilities of the International actors´ held on June 1st in Berlin, outlined the need of continuing the humanitarian support of food, water and other supplies to the population affected by the crisis while trying to bring the belligerent parties to the negotiation table. Although acknowledging that there is ´no quick and easy solution´ to the conflict, the international decision makers should assume responsibility and use all the possible diplomatic tool in order to achieve social and political stability.

Ibrahim Jalal, research fellow at the Yemeni Policy Center, co-founder of the Security Distillery and scholar at the Middle East Institute´s (MEI) Gulf Affairs and Yemen Program, said that the ´death-focused ideology´ of the Iran-supported Houthi created a crisis on multiple folds: around one million landmines across the country; a collapse of education with the schools currently preponderantly promoting radical ideologies of the Houthi and with schools turned into military facilities; militarization of hospitals; the collapse of civil society; a supremacist/chauvinistic ideology. In his opinion, there is an open question what kind of Yemen the international community wants: one radicalized or one with a vibrant and safe civil society and political system in general.

There are noticeable ´transnational threats emanating from the Houthi movement´ explained Dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, Senior Director of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP). Although Iran´s support for Houthi is at a lower level compared to its regular support for another destabilizing actor in the region, Hezbollah, since 2015 a considerable amount of funding and ammunition is channeled to the Houthi militias. Yemen is becoming a testing ground of Hezbollah weaponry, he mentioned, and it possibly can act at Tehran´s orders in case of a conflict between Iran and Israel. As the attack against the Abu Dhabi airport showed at the beginning of this year, the Houthi targets can reach far beyond the Saudi Arabia. The instability induced by the Houthi is equally a threat to the international shipping system and do support the so-called ´axis of resistance´ movement, threatening US, Israel and Saudi Arabia, among others, through kidnappings and targeted terrorist attacks in the region and abroad. 

In the opinion of Schindler who was involved on behalf of Germany in the negotiations, JCPOA - the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or the so-called ´Iran deal´ - was at the time a diplomatic solution to a pressing solution with clear terms defining the difference between nuclear programs for domestic means and one aimed to develop military capabilities. At the same time, it allowed the further maintaining of sanctions therefore operational in containing the Iranian regime and implicitly its regional ambitions in Yemen and elsewhere.

According to Hon. Frank Müller-Rosentritt, member of the German Parliament and the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Houthi organisation should have been declared as a terrorist organisation in Germany ´long ago´. Meanwhile, he mentioned Germany´s permanent involvement in Yemen in terms of providing humanitarian assistance and civilian protection. Currently, Germany is the third largest humanitarian donor to Yemen. However, a stronger condemnation of the Houthis on behalf of the authorities in Berlin, including through a complex system of sanctions, similar with the one used for Russia, can prevent the further regional threats and further deterioration of the human rights situation. 

´Right now, there is only one war to discuss, the other wars go beyond the door´ outlined Tobias Pflüger, deputy leader of the Left Party - die LINKE. He said that although finding a solution to the current crisis is not so easy given the local and geopolitical aspects, negotiation is very important and so is a wider media coverage of the situation on the ground. In his opinion, the local media has a limited interest, if any, in featuring the continuous crisis created by the Houthis.

As a former political detainee with the Houthis, Jamal Al-Maamari echoed a similar opinion. Abducted for 1114 in Sana´a between 2015 and 2016, brutally tortured and paralyzed due to the inhuman conditions he was the victim thereof, Al-Maamari added that the crimes of the Houthis are rarely documented in the media. As a civil activist he is sharing his story and many others, hoping that the culprits will be prosecuted by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. During his kidnapping, he witnessed the killing of at least one American hostage stating that there are tens of thousands of academics, journalists and civil activists from Yemen and abroad in Houthis prisons, ´no one is looking for them´. 

The one-day event was organised by the ICD Academy for Cultural Diplomacy and The European Organization for Intercultural Dialogue. The conference ´Legal, Political and Economic Dimensions of Extremism&Terrorism in the Middle East and the implications on  regional and global peace&security. Confronting the Houthi militia - the interests and responsibilities of the international actors´ brought together experts and stakeholders in Germany and the Middle East. 

The aim of the conference was to shed light on the internal dynamics and the religious, political and territorial ambitions of the Houthi movement, as an insight into ways of dealing with the group and to stimulate the discussions on the interests and responsibilities of the international actors in approaching and confronting this group. The participants equally mentioned the importance of international efforts and cooperation to act against the ongoing international law and human rights violations, supporting the development in Yemen and restoring the stability and peace to the country. 

Since the start of Yemen´s civil war between the Hadi-led Yemeni government and the Houthi armed movement in 2014, a major humanitarian crisis is unfolding, considered one of the worst in the world, the result of widespread hunger and diseases and constant attacks on civilians. Tens of thousands of people were killed during the conflict. Additionally, according to international reports, the Houthis have reportedly conscripted more than 30,000 child soldiers. Those children are used as soldiers, as well as war-related activities, such as planting and clearing landmines or acting as guards. 

The list of participants included Mark Donfried, director of the ICD Academy for Cultural Diplomacy, Ibrahim Jalal, research fellow the Yemen Policy Center, dr. Hans-Jakob Schindler, the senior director of the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), Hon. Frank Müller-Rosentritt, MdB, member of the German Parliament and member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Tobias Pflüger, deputy leader of DIE LINKE, Dr. Didem Aydurmus, member of DIE LINKE and faculty member of the ICD Academy for Cultural Diplomacy, Mr. Jamal Al-Maamari, former political detainee with the Houthis, as well as members of the diplomatic corp, journalists and civil activists.

The European Organization for Intercultural Dialogue aims at offering a basis of dialogue between cultures and civilizations trying to find common diplomatic ways to tackle with regional and international issues such as terrorism, migration and the religious extremism.

Yemen Divided

The internal context and history of Yemen is rarely mentioned, which deprives the reader non-familiar with the topic to better understand the regional challenges and stakes of the conflict. Yemen Divided by Noel Brehony is focused on the internal dynamics between the two Yemen during the Cold War as well as the regional developments.

Far from being exclusively a conflict of resources, it is worth to mention nevertheless that Yemen´s most productive oil fields are situated in the South, which once used to be part of a Marxist-oriented republic. The South particularly has a strategic location in the Middle East, hence the fact that alhtough the communist South Yemen used to have around 1,000 Soviet, East European and Cuban economic advisers, it also has as main trade partners developed capitalist countries like UK or Japan. The resources did not help the citizens of the country to enjoy a higher standard of life; at the end of the 1980s, PDRY was considered one of the least developed countries in the world.

Religious and tribal elements still at work, as the Houthi conflict as well as local cultural habits - such as the qat/khat consumption - may complicate at different extent a long term political settlement. From the religious point of view, the approaches in the South were not dramatically anti-religious. For instance, Islam continued to be the official religion and taught in school, but overall it was considered a private matter, without a direct involvement of the religious establishment into the everyday state problems.

Saudi´s interests in Yemen originate far beyond the current conflict. For instance, King Faisal was against the British retreat from Aden and during the division, supported and hosted Radio Free South Yemen, a radio station which was openly against the communist regime in Aden. Many Yemeni used to work and live in Saudi, and only the stance of Yemen on behalf of Saddam Hussein during the invasion of Kuwait put a dramatic halt on it. Following the support for the dictator in Baghdad, as many as 1.42 million Yemenis from Saudi returned.

Yemen get reunited in 1990, the same year Germany was reunited. However, although an important regional player, Yemen got very limited coverage and unfortunately this is happening until now, despite the terrible crimes committed there and the unfolding humanitarian crisis.

Yemen Divided is a comprehensive analyisis

´In the Skin of a Jihadist´

By using a fake Facebook account, journalist Anna Erelle (for security and safety reasons, a pseudonym) tried the traps of the digital Jihadist propaganda. In the Skin of a Jihadist is her encounter as a pretender Islam convert based in France, a girl called Melodie, as she was flirting online with Bilel, the right hand of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the Daesh leader.

The initial aim was trying to understand the roots of digital Jihad, how young, often Western, girls and boys from the West are falling into the traps of the propaganda. How they cannot be horrified by the violent videos shared generously all over the social media channels? The distorted religious interpretations they are fed with do appeal a certain need of respect and balance for a loneliness and lack of belonging. 

´Melodie´ was easily caught into the net of macho pride and religious self-rightneousness. The fighter, who happen to have at least another wife, was at ease sharing information about the latest fights, as well as about the smuggling networks operating at the border between Turkey and Syria. 

What in my opinion, although the book has interesting testimonies about the psychology of the people involved in designing the Islamic state, it lacks details regarding the operations of the Jihad 2.0. Although it is hilarious to be shared details about how such a high profile Daesh fighter was longing for the fine lingerie distributed in the corrupt West, and the naive hurry of getting married online with a woman he hardly knew - despite the complex counter-spionage like teams Daesh used to have - I had the feeling that the author went way too much involved in the so-called romance. She haven´t fell in love, Gd forbid, but there is way too much space dedicated to the story instead of exploring a bit more the modus operandi, the agents and tools.

From the journalistic point of view, the book may also raise questions regarding the use of such methods in order to obtain information. We may be happy to read about such relevant details, but is this the real way to get it? Was it not possible to obtain them any other way?

In the Skin of a Jihadist by Anna Erelle - against whom there is a fatwa decision issued online - despite its shortcomings, is an important source of information about the mix between extreme movements and sophisticated online strategies, compromised by the very human feelings, such as longing for love, belonging and maybe some fine capitalist lingerie.

Book Review: Nazi Billionaires by David de Jong

 

German wealthy elites are discrete, rarely featured in the pages of the glossy local magazines for their outrageous parties and lavish lifestyle. One knows practically nothing about their girlfriends and boyfriends and love affairs. May it be the famous ´protestant ethic´ requiring a humble spirit, a lot of work and humility while trying to pay in this life for the original sin(s)? 

Such a naive view on German elites is shattered into little pieces by the excellent unique research by investigative journalist David de Jong: Nazi billionaires. The Dark History of Germany´s Wealthiest Dynasties. Those billionaires may be actually too ´brown´ to accept being too long under the limelights. 

A couple of ´Made in Germany´ brands, if not the most important, do have in fact, deep and trustworthy connections with the Nazi regime. By the way of family connections - De Quandt family, for instance, Porsche, Dr. Oetker - those rich and very private families hid for decades the truth about their past. A past that not only concerned them as individuals involved in the reproduction and operation of the Nazi regime - through production of weapons and direct financial support - but also by directly using forced labour and taking advantage of the ´Aryanization´ policies - looting properties from Jewish businesses. 

De Jong, who spent four years in Berlin documenting the book, authored the first extensive investigation in the English language. German media who may benefit of some support from one or more from those companies - including through media prizes awarded through foundations bearing the name of documented Nazis - rather prefers to put on hold any questions related to the ´brown heritage´. They knew it already and, as I´ve often heard on topics related to acknowledging the past, ´we rather move on´. 

German industrialists and the German industry as such, became prosperous, among others, following the Korean War and the further involvement in production of landmines used in the conflicts in Africa, among others. Thus, when I watch those days the pathetic discourses defending the German non-involvement in the war in Ukraine I can only feel nauseated by the falsity of this all.

Those ´charming industrialists´ and their second wives and many children, who were eventually cleaned from their crimes for reasons pertaining to the Cold War interests rarely assumed their past or even tried to fashion themselves as victims or resistants. And those deluding themselves into believing that the past should not become the obsession of the present, may want to hear that not few of those companies happen to offer substantial support to far right, neo-Nazi parties and causes.

Beyond the decryption of the current German economic elites, the book also raises serious questions about the possibilities of a transition from dictatorship to democracy depending upon the former elites. Can it be otherwise? Is there any chance of starting anew, without necessarily using the connections and influence of the compromised elites? Probably not at a great scale, but assuming the past can make a difference. Also, having criteria when it comes to accepting back into the ranks of the elites compromised individuals, especially those who in a way or another supported crimes and political corruption.

Nazi Billionaires is a revelation and important contribution to the study of contemporary elites, particularly in post-totalitarian context with a specific focus on Nazi Germany. 

Dr. Kylie Moore-Gilbert: The Uncaged Sky My 804 days in an Iranian Prison

For two years and 3 months, Australian academic Dr. Kylie Moore-Gilbert was held prisoner in Evin and Gharchak, after being arrested by Iran´s Revolutionary Guards. Convincted by a Kangaroo court for being a spy of the ´Zionist regime´ she was freed through a prisoner swap, in exchange for Guards´ people imprisoned in Thailand for plotting against Israeli interests.

Uncaged Sky, her account of 804 days spent in an Iranian prison is her story of what she went through those years, but also encounters with more or less famous political prisoners in Iran, such as Nasrin Sotoudeh - whom she taught English -, the French-Iranian academic Fariba Adelkhah, or the so-called group of the ´environmentalists´: young people aiming to save the badly affected Iranian fauna and flora, sent to prison and accused of being spies. She spotted Ruhollah Zam, the French-based journalist owner of a popular Telegram group, member of a religious family who was lured and kidnapped in Iraq and further executed.

Dr. Kylie Moore-Gilbert was initially condemned to ten years of prison. Her memoir is first and foremost a testimony of carceral literature. Although the veridicity of a memoir based purely on memories who were not written down with pen and paper may be highly problematic, the coping mechanisms with the limitations of life in prison as well as the interactions with her abusers. How one can survive in isolation, in a foreign country, with a limited language knowledge? She improved her Persian, a language that will remain, for the time being a language associated with her time in prison, used to convene her experience about those months. 

There is also another line of thought which results from the memoir: the unhappy meeting between academic research and political oppression. Academics may be suspected and doubted, some of them may play an extra-academic card, some of them may be just naive thinking that the police of mind will accept their arguments of pure academic research. Nothing is free of politics in such countries and academics may be careful to avoid getting involved in such skirmishes because their academic freedom is more important sometimes than the academic curiosity. Moore-Gilbert was lured without results more than once into becoming a spy for the Revolutionary Guards, with guaranteed participation to academic conferences, among others. She repeatedly refused.

On the other hand, I strongly believe that academics, especially those with an invested interest in contemporary politics, need to be aware of the risks involved by their research. Taking freedom abiding risks does not serve the accuracy of the research and puts the academic at risks that may pay off with the freedom of their academic critical thinking as well. 

The Wikipedia Story

 

Pavel Richter, the first CEO of Wikimedia Germany, systematically explans how Wikipedia works and what are its aims. It is a whole episode of human knowledge that was written with the creation of this online collaborative project. As in the case of other Encyclopedic endeavours, Wikipedia aims to offer a big slice of sharing knowledge to a larger amount of people. This happened before since the 18th century, but right now, it took over control of the information and Internet allowed it happened. 

In the old times, those who were written the various articles were well known and their credentials were well known among the elites sharing knowledge, Nowadays, the writers are mostly anonymous, they may have or may have not an academic degree and some of their private experience and opinions can be easily shared. There are students, and even authors, using Wikipedia sources as academic references but I know at least one teacher from a prestigious American university that abhorrs such a practice.

The knowledge disorder created by Wikipedia - useful still unreliable, extended knowledge as the result of global collaboration yet contested sources and information - is characteristic for the times we are living. Using Wikipedia as a source of information can be detrimental to knowledge, but learning how to use critically the sources shared online is part of the healthy use of the Internet in general. 

The Wikipedia story as shared by Richter is relatively general when it has to do with the story of the project in general - this is what Wikipedia is all about, anyway - but by far the most important part has to do with the particularities of the project in different languages - German, Chinese etc. It show how local legal and knowledge practices are reflected into the specific approach on certain topics - such as privacy issues etc. Wikipedia may feature the world global cultural knowledge, and it does, but in a way that brings in various differences and limitations.

Although I was maybe expected the book to be more informative, particularly in respect to various operational aspects of Wikipedia and its general structure, but nevertheless it has some relevant insights that are interesting to anyone looking to understand the current history of knowledge. 

´Le Naufrage des Civilisations´

 

Amin Maalouf is one of the most known - in translation - critical and lucid intellectuals from the Middle East. His lucidity, I think, is the result of his direct knowledge of historical facts of the contemporary Middle East. He was there, he saw it, he took part to the events. He is not observing from outside, watching the news from his couch. He is first there, living and breathing, and only after that he is sharing his views.

Le Naufrage des Civilisations is a collection of different essays about different historical life encounters, rooted in the Middle East. The events - the Six-Day War in 1967, the Iranian Revolution, the Cold War in South East Asia, the social and political changes underwent by Egypt, the war(s) in Lebanon - are placed into a larger historical and intellectual frame that may paint in the end a more disappointing and depressing landscape. The Middle East is suffering of a loser syndrome, at least some parts of it, particularly Lebanon. Maybe Iraq too. But there are part of it which are not included in the account and which are actually changing and do contradict the pessimistic narrative. There is modernity, at least in some part of it, and there are successful stories - partially, Jordan is an example as well. 

Although not a communist by principle, his perspectivea and information on the situation of the Communist movements in the Middle East during the Cold War are very useful for understanding at least part of this generational failure. The raise of the Talibans in Afghanistan and the hunting of Indonesian communists in the 1960s, a country with the thirds largest Communist Party in the world after the Soviet Union and China offers an extension of the outcome well outside the Middle Eastern realm. Thinking in terms of ´what if´ is a toxic intellectual habit, but nevertheless, without the turmoils created by the decades-long confronation between US and USSR, life would have been a better place. Maalouf does not dedicate at least the same amount of space to analyse the equally toxic influence of the Soviet Union in the Middle East and there is much more left to be said about the shortcomings of the local leadership, independently of the ´colonizer´ framework. However, it recognizes that both communism and anti-communist were equally a ´calamity´.

As I´ve read the book in the original French language, I can only add to the positive features of the book the beauty of the written words while maintaining the brevity and informative character. 

Le Naufrage des Civilisations is an important book for anyone looking for intellectual sources and resources about the Middle East. Although much more resources are needed about this topic in order to offer to the non-Arabic speaking reader a very comprehensive mindset about the historical and cultural complexities, it does offer a good ground for further building the necessary knowledge.

Vanguards of the Imam: Religion, Politics and Iran´s Revolutionary Guards

 

There is an important element of novelty in the Vanguard of the Imam by Afshon Ostovar, mainly an English-speaking account of the powerful - both economically and politically - Iran´s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC). 

In the author´s words, IRGC is ´a multifaceted organisation with reach into many different areas. It is a security service, an intelligence organisation, a social and cultural force, and a complex industrial and economic conglomerate. It is foremost a military organization´. 

The main question the book wants to answer is: ´What is the IRGC and what makes it such a domineering force in Iran and such an influential player in the Middle East? ´ 

The author uses historical details and contemporary aspects, trying to build a relatively clear landscape where the IRGC operates both internally and externally, particularly its journey towards becoming the strongest political actor in Iran, with its own naval and air forces, among others. All wrapped into a very unique religious interpretation which makes it an interesting - for the political science scholar, but deadly poisonous for those actually depending on it - case study for the mixture between politics and strict religious perspective.

The religious activism extends beyond the country´s border, influencing and creating conflict all around the region, but particularly in relation with Israel. 

Although it goes deep into the ideological and religious roots of this unique organisation, it does not explores further the movement in itself. For instance, a question that at least for me remains unanswered is what is the sociological basis of IRGC, what are the biographies of the members of this hybrid elite? Another important element which is missing, in my opinion, is the evaluation of the extent of the economic outreach which eventually may be an element to keep in mind in the case of a regime change. As it happened in many former communist countries, the control of economic resources by the representatives of the regime continued for a very long time after the political end of the regimes, which created, as in the case of the former Soviet Union, the well known phenomenon of ´moguls´. 

Clearly, the access to the information regarding both the structure of the assets and of the elites is very limited, and those aspects can be further explored. Those shortcoming do not affect the novelty and the rich documentary material used in this book. New angles and approaches will definitely help further research and analysis on topics that are very important for the study of the region as well as of Iran in general.