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September 28, 2016 |The First U.S. Presidential Debate: Divided We Shall Remain!
The first U.S. presidential debate is already behind us and the day after, the American people are still as split as they were for the past 16 years. We find the country is divided on almost every issue: race and racism, gender and equal pay, immigration, war on terror, military expenditures, NATO, healthcare, economy, taxes,…
Politics Race/Racism -
September 21, 2016 |Checkpoints on Palestine in Academia
The “suspension” followed by the “reinstatement” of Ethnic Studies 198, Palestine, a settler colonial analysis course by University of California, Berkeley Administration is paradigmatic of Palestine’s treatment in academia. Narrating Palestine in academia is subject to a maze of official and not so official control levers which regulate how the subject is approached. To a…
Palestine Politics -
September 7, 2016 |Muslim Intellectuals and America’s Imperial Project!
The role of the intellectual in these difficult times is paramount as debates on every issue abound in contemporary society. Nothing from the economy to the environment, race relations to healthcare, and migration to outer space exploration escape the debates and are all in contestation and in flux. At the outset, let’s not posit that…
De-Colonial Islam Islamic Politics Islamic Thought Muslims in America Politics Race/Racism -
September 4, 2016 |Does Europe Have an Inquisition Problem?
Switzerland banned the construction of minarets; Spain and Italy have placed heavy restrictions on permits for building new mosques; Austria adopted a law to redefine the status of Islam and Muslims in the country; France has layered bans on the Hijab, Niqab and now Burkini; and the continent-wide massive surveillance of Muslims raises an important question: Will Europe forever have…
Colonialism Muslim History Politics Race/Racism -
August 17, 2016 |
The Age of the Perplexed!
A statement by Prophet Muhammad spoke of a future time that would cause the wise, sagacious and learned to be totally perplexed by unfolding events to an extent that they couldn’t make any sense of it. From the earliest post-prophetic period, the notion of the age of the perplexed has existed in Islamic literature with…
Muslim History Politics -
August 17, 2016 |
“I am Exhausted.”
As terrorist carnage occurs daily across the world, the common response from people is, “I am exhausted.” The statement sums up the feelings of so many people across the globe as terrorism, the war on terrorism, the invasion of Iraq, Syria’s civil war, multiple and trans-generational wars in Afghanistan, Palestine, Sudan and Somalia have managed…
Politics -
July 28, 2016 |The Refugee: the Commodified Human
During a summer immersion course on immigration and refugees, we had the honor to be visited by Yousif, a Sudanese refugee “living” in Paris after a nearly four-month torturous journey. He shared his story, which started from the moment he left his home up until arriving in Paris. Yousif’s story began with him and his…
Colonialism Islamic Politics Politics Race/Racism -
July 21, 2016 |On Military Coups and Post-Colonialism
The failed military coup attempt in Turkey will possibly bring an end to a pernicious feature that has been around throughout the postcolonial period. Military coups and interventions are a permanent feature of the postcolonial state. While the Turkish experience with direct colonialism is non-existent, the effects of Eurocentric discourses and the shift toward Europe…
Colonialism De-Colonial Islamic Politics Politics Race/Racism -
July 13, 2016 |Confronting Race in America!
It was an increasingly a normal week in America’s violence-riddled streets and cities. The response and solidarity expressed after the murder of the officers by Micah Johnson, a 25-year-old African-American former Army reservist, was appropriate but also incomplete. We are experiencing a profound entrenchment of racial attitudes and a collapse of the civil rights pact…
Politics Race/Racism -
June 20, 2016 |El-Sissi: Israel’s Man in Cairo
“El-Sissi leading a Churchillian fight against Hamas,” was The Times of Israel front-page headlines of March 1, 2015, which is an accurate and on point assessment of the declaration of war against the Gaza enclave and its current leadership, and illustrative of the changes under way in Egypt since the 2013 coup. In the article,…
Colonialism Muslim History Palestine Politics
الدكتور حاتم بازيان
