Talking about Race in 2020...

As I am a firm believer that street protests aren´t for me, I think that the discussion about race, on both sides - from minority to majority, no matter the color - is more than necessary. I am talking from the position of a priviledged white person. I cannot change my skin colour and my family, and I cannot put myself into other people´s skin, including fellow white peers. 

My everyday personal, professional and academic experience offered me the opportunity to critically assess various concepts including those applied on my own cultural bias.

A discussion about race is so necessary nowadays, especially in the media and academic circles because this is where the representations and mentalities are actually built. Based on those representations systems of power are created that will eventually reproduce the categories projected.

Everything should start, in my opinion, with a historical approach. Understanding how a certain idea originated and how affected the everyday life of a specific category is the most important gateway to countering its eventual effects. 

In Why I´m Not Longing Talking to White People about Race, Reni Eddo-Lodge prefers to abandon the self-explanatory discourse for a white audience. Instead, she is sharing her experiences and the researches into the deep roots of racism within the British society. A historical account of race, including the slavery episodes put the problem into context. The journalistic research reveals the race-biased institutional pattern, the pro-Brexit politicians replicated at a great extent.

Reni Eddo-Lodge is going beyond the everyday discourse and complains about race in relation with institutions, but reveals the persistence of ´whiteness´ in areas assigned intellectually as space of free exchange of ideas, no matter the colour. In fact, she rejects with few clear examples, the ´whiteness´ of feminism, self-centered and irrelevant for many of the minorities living in Britain and elsewhere.

Only those few points and it is enough to give a full list of topics to research and discuss about...The current political turmoil in America is a good opportunity to continue the conversation, but at a level that encompasses race approaches in general. Europe does not do it better, from all the wrong points of view.

Time for academics to take more seriously the challenge of accepting the voice of minority intellectuals as part of the dialogue as it offers not only a historical perspective, but an everyday experience that should be the basis of any further theoretical evaluations, especially when it comes to intellectual constructions about race.

Rating: 4 stars

German Women on the Home Front

The title of this book is largely misleading as the women whose testimonies are featured are wives yet are part- or full-time employed. They are working in small shops, bakeries and employed in secretarial work that once the manpower is short, do adapt for working on production lines.

Besides the testimonies and some basic historic research the author is using no archives and other published works on the topic. Therefore, from an academic perspective, the testimonies do have a limited impact.

However, after a well-deserved filter of too much irrelevant information for the topic - including about the everyday marital interactions - the book can be used as part of a wider research about the role and social function of women during the 1939-1945 Nazi Germany. It starts from the membership into various girls´ organisations whose membership was based, among others, on the proof of ancestry, and the highly political/propaganda whose educational chore was to project an ideal of womanhood which was ´fit, healthy and beautiful´. The young women were supposed to help the ´survival of the nation´ through childbearing and intensive homecare activities. 

Interestingly, the testimonies are offering insights not only into the daily lives of women, but equally proves the rift between the generations and the slow wearing away of the social fabric during the last years of Nazi regime. 

It is an informative read but should be understood within the limits of the choice of testimonies themselves.

Rating: 3 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Germany vs. Germany Espionage Histories

At the relatively recently new German Spy Museum in Berlin people passionate about Cold War spy stories can extensively listen to testimonies on the intensive intelligence war between the two Germanies. Both sides used parcimonously the available resources of the Reich and built up two systems aimed at each other´s destruction. It is an interesting perspective that leave the imaginative historian to think about what happened in this domain after the reunification of Germany.

Agentinnen aus Liebe. Warum Frauen für den Osten spionierten (Agents from love. Why women spied for the East) by German journalist Marianne Quoirin documents the cases of women working for the Bonn administration in relatively modest positions - secretaries particularly - that were convinced to spy for the Stasi - and implicitly for the KGB which was the allmightly force behind the East German secret services - following simple love traps. Ideology and a clear system of belief was rarely relevant - according to the accounts collected by the author; what mattered was the Romeo that trapped them for a long or shorter relationship.

The book consist of series of cases exposed in detail, revealing the details of the planning, the beginning of the relationships, and the further developments. Based mostly on information exposed during judicial proceedings of specific cases of espionage, it offers insights about the specific interests of the Soviet-manipulated intelligence services not only in the Federal Germany´s policies, but in the developments taking place within the Western Block in general. 

I personally find the title a bit misleading, as I am more than sure there were as well cases of men that fell for women agents - both from the East and the West. Love traps of any kind are part of the fishing system of any intelligence service, before, during and after the Cold War. 

I would have also expected to have, besides the details of the cases also some critical approaches and eventually a theoretical approach which includes political and historical background connecting the facts with the larger geopolitical picture of the time. Therefore, readers interested in the German episodes of the Cold War are recommended to include this book in their coverage of the topic but without having high expectations from the point of view of the theoretical and analytical depths. 

Rating: 3 stars

Book Review: Akbar Ganji The Road to Democracy in Iran

´Much of what needs to change in Iranian culture relates to the superstition, dogmatism, conformism, and prejudice that have permeatged our society, particularly in the Shia seminaries. Rejecting these aspects of the dominant religious culture in no way implies rejecting religion. Indeed, a considerable number of democratic reformist activities in Iran hold deep religious beliefs. But without reform of these aspects of religious culture in Iran, democratic change will fail´.

Akbar Ganji, the author of this quote, has an interesting intellectual story, but not unique for non-democratic regime stories. With a lower class background, he was member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and at times, bodyguard of the ayatollah Khomeini, followed by a career in diplomacy and as a journalist. After investigating the so-called Chain of Murders, targeting intellectuals killed the regime, among which Dariush and Parvaneh Farouhar, he spent six years in Evin prison. Following his release he turned into an active supporter of democratic change in Iran.

The Road to Democracy in Iran, a collection of essays published by Boston Review Book, with foreword by Joshua Cohen and Abbas Milani, outlines the main directions that will lead to democracy in Iran. The essays are based on general ideas - such as human rights and the open society as featured by Karl Popper, a familiar reference among Iranian intellectuals - and do not contain a detailed platform of step-by-step changes. However, it assigns to intellectuals the role of forerunners both in terms of spreading and explaining ideas and pushing forward the democratic change: ´Intellectuals must always strive to lessen other people´s pain, even though they suffer on this path. And they must live in a way that prepares them to tolerate and survive the pain of insult, exile, imprisonment, and even torture´. Indeed, they ´must live´ which also implies that in many situations the intellectuals can be as weak as those that do not enjoy this status. Resisting torture and blackmail is not unfortunately a matter of belief in your ideas and education, it has to do with a moral code that is not the priviledge of the very educated. Ganji related perhaps to his own experience in prison but realistically speaking, under the duress of lack of freedom and torture there is no guarantee of integrity.

A modern - post-ayatollah - Iran advocates for the separation between religion and politics, with the priviledges of the ruling class abolished - (...) it is our goal in Iran to revoke the privileges that rules have taken for tjhemselves and their relatives´; the usual outcome of populist dictatorships that start as a way to increase the access to power to the less privileges and ends up as an elite which separates from the same people it claimed to represent - and the ´gender apartheid´ eliminated. Talking about the peculiar situation of women rights in Iran, I often wonder why there is not a higher awareness and outrage in the Western media about that. The label of ´apartheid´ is so easily used when it comes to various political contexts, but for the case of a country where women are the victims of violence - with morality patrols openly attacking women whose dress code do not conform the rules set by the religious men - and their rights restricted - including of entering a stadium -  it seems that there is not enough to provoke the outrage. Among others, there is no international mechanism that can force Iran to respect women rights, as the Islamic Republic is not member of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. 

In a new, democratic Iran, religion is rather a source of solace for spiritual needs than the only solution for all problems, including political and economic. In any case, Akbar Ganji is supporting a ´modernist Islam´ that ´considers the rational mind a tool for finding the truth in the holy book and in hadith, but also for apprehending other sources of knowledge´. 

The Road to Democracy in Iran has the merit of setting the basis of the possible political and intellectual change in the country. It is though rather an intellectual manifesto than a clear program that settle the details of the change. Obviously, from the perspective of the elites and the everyday operation of the political - and religious - establishment, there are many more details that need to be considered which are clearly not the object of this book. 

From many respects, it is good and hopeful to read such books as it promises a post scriptum to the dictatorship of the mullahs. The clear terms and content of this afterwards is yet to be written, hopefully by people that believe in democratic change, hopefully among them many women. 

Rating: 4 stars

Book Review: The Great Successor. The Secret Rise and Rule of Kim Jong Un

At what extent personal/private information about a political leader - like, for instance, his eating and health habits in general, the number of his illegitimate children and sport hobbies, to mention only a couple of details - that might pertain to the domain of the gossip are relevant for building up reliable political projections and analysis?

In the case of transparent political systems, probably not too much, but when, for instance, when the population of a specific country is coping with famine and eating rats or locusts while their leaders are enjoying lavish dinners prepared by chefs brought from outside, then there is an important element to consider in evaluating the political system. The specific country I am referring to is the secretive North Korea.

The Great Successor. The Secret Rise and Rule of Kim Jong Un by Anna Fifield is a lecture that seems appropriate especially those days when rumors are spreading in the international media regarding the health status of the current leader in Pyongyang.

Kim Jong Un, the third in a communist genealogy of North Korean leaders based on traditional elements assigning divine provenance, both common to the Korean and Christian mythology and religious practice, was assigned by his ailing father as the leader of the 25 million people when he was in his 20s. Educated in Switzerland and a friend of the American basketball player Denis Rodman, the third Kim was the surprise candidate. Everything about his was ´cloaked in mystery, be it his photo, birth date or job title´. He and his ´royal family´ are extensively using fake passports and identities when abroad, the media is state-controlled and everyone, including close relatives are at the mercy of the supreme leader. 

Promoted to power by his very ambitious mother, born in Japan and never married with Kim Jong Il, he was easily labelled as a millenial that can for ever challenge the most secretive and repressive dictatorship on Earth. What he did was to create his own system of trust, promote the usual protection system common to many communist countries, where a thick layer of money elites are allowed to operate according to capitalist rules as long as they fill the state accounts - symbolically, as the country is completely lacking a proper banking system. He allowed a market-driven, yet controlled, economy, which also covers the sale and distribution of meth for a variety of clients - police officers, security agents, party members, teachers or doctors. There are the ´masters of the money´ who are working hard in the country and abroad to pay for the expensive cars the leader loves to be driven in, among other luxury weaknesses. 

´There is nothing the Brilliant Comrade does not know, according to the universal fiction of North Korea. He dispenses advice on catfish farming and livestock building, at green houses and tree nurseries, at construction sites and shipyards. He inspects production lines for shoes, face cream and bean paste and has wise instructions to impart at every turn. He has thoughts on music, architecture and sport. He is a military genius who has guided the progress in the nuclear and missile programs as well as commanding conventional drills at sea and on land´. A typical dictator on the likes of Stalin and his Soviet followers, but with a millenial touch.

North Korea is a country where people live ´in a system where every aspect of their lives is monitored, where every infraction is recorded, where the smallest deviation from the system will result in punishment. It is ubiquitous, and it keeps many people from even raising an eyebrow at the regime´.  Typical description of the relationship between a totalitarian state and its rightless citizens.

In order to research the book, journalist Anna Fifield extensively travelled to North Korea, and the region, connected with family members, some of them very close, and North Korean that escaped the country, as well as teachers and former colleagues from Switzerland. A very complex reconstruction work, during which the identities and information often were not supposed to be revealed fully.

Being focused exclusively on the leader´s personality, it does not dedicate too much space to the geopolitical survival of North Korean elites, a mixture of Chinese and Russian conjectures, or Pyongyang´s more or less discrete exchange of information on nuclear technology with Iran, among others. I would have been curious about an in-depth analysis regarding the dynamics of the North-South relations and why exactly Kim Jong Un would have a relevant stake in the process - does he has any dream that his dictatorship will ever survive in an unified context?

As for the current media interest regarding the health situation of Kim Jong Un the author already stated that health is his biggest risk: ´The young leader looks like a heart attacj waiting to happen and has clearly had health problems´.

What the future can bring to North Korea is hard to estimate, because the flow of information remain problematic and not always unreliable. But as long as the young Kim Jong Un - in his mid 30s - stays in power he will play his own game.

Rating: 4 stars

Researching the Roots of Intolerance in America

´Through greater insight into the variety of religion, the dynamics of prejudice, and gthe complexities of national life, Americans can better avoid the biases, stereotypes and provications that betray their own ideals yet have too frequently appeared on the country´s political and social landscape´.

This is the main conclusion of a book which explores the roots of intolerance into the American public culture. Religious intolerance, to be more specific. 

We are familiar nowadays with the Muslim ban and the alt-right aggressive - and sometimes deadly - public appearances, but before, in the 17th-18th and onwards, there were the Catholics and the Jews and the Native Americans. In American Heretics, Peter Gottschalk traces patterns and trends, public statements and perceptions based on fear, anger, indignation or religious panic.

It does not creates and build models per se though, but offers enough information to further explore patterns and further investigate public statements and positions. 

At what extent the religious allegiances can endanger the universal ideas the American Constitution relies upon? What are the public ´dangers´ of organised religions, other than the Protestant, in the opinion of political pundits and public opinion makers? What are the cultural basis and are those universal or rather applies on a case by case basis?

I personally expected the research to be more specific and more comprehensive for the variety of cases analysed. Obviously, it offers interesting lines of research but it obliterates relevant nuances which are by far more important in understandining the phenomenon in all its acceptions.

Academic Book Review: Saudi Arabia, Iran and the 40-Year Rivalry...

Kim Ghattas insider´s account of Hilary Clinton´s projects within the State Department, published under the title of The Secretary were a valuable investigation that goes beyond the usual mandate of a politically designated person. It revealed institutional mechanisms and behaviors that are there to maintain the continuity of an institution, the diplomacy, aimed to serve the national interests of a country no matter who is heading the country or the institution. 

Black Wave. Saudi Arabia, Iran and the Forty-Year Rivalry that Unraveled Culture, Religion and Collective Memory in the Middle East is an elaborated cultural and journalistic investigation that goes far beyong what we usually consume in the media nowadays. The book is based on a variety of sources, from history books to interviews with main players in the region or media in seven countries with the aim to give voice to the ´silent majority´ of people who are unable to have their say, caught in the terrible fight for geopolitical survival of their countries.

For someone like me, relatively familiar with the area and its players, but far from being an expert, Black Wave reads almost like a thriller where the roles between criminal and victims are free to switch. 

The starting point is the year 1979, where three important events took place in the region, whose reverberations continue to complicate the mental and geographical map of the region: the Iranian revolution, the siege of the Holy Mosque in Mecca by Saudi zealots and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (´the first battleground for jihad in modern times´). 40 years is 10 years over a generation and caught between religious fervors and cynical realpolitik games, those born after this year in the region are asking ´What Happened to Us?´. I would rather ask: ´What they did to us?´

The book evolves in waves, waves of an earthquake with movable epicenter, shaken by the permanent rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran. A rivalry with many collateral victims and which viciously self-reproduces with no chance of end in sight. The identities those two countries created for themselves and the ways in which influenced the neighbouring countries are a fact. How many generations will be needed to challenge those structures, that in the case of Lebanon, for instance, are rotting the state from within, it´s a very sad and complex question.

Black Wave is a heavy read and definitely will need more than once to browse a couple of times more my notes before heading to other resources, particularly about religious differences within Islam and intellectual elites. The book creates a solid basis to build on further knowledge about specificities not necessarily within the research range of this terrible - and sometimes horrible - rivalry. 

As for the question of what the future has in store for the people living - and refusing the option of leaving - here, it is largely unknown. A new alignment of events like in 1979 might change everything, but predictions are neither the work of the historian nor the journalist. For sure, the Middle East will remain a valuable source for creating historical encounters, we are far from writing a final/conclusion chapter.