Hamid Dabashi: The Arab Spring: The End of Postcolonialism (2012)
Filed under book | Tags: · arab spring, egypt, geopolitics, iran, islam, libya, marxism, middle east, politics, postcolonialism, revolution, theory
This pioneering explanation of the Arab Spring will define a new era of thinking about the Middle East.
In this landmark book, Hamid Dabashi argues that the revolutionary uprisings that have engulfed multiple countries and political climes from Morocco to Iran and from Syria to Yemen, were driven by a ‘Delayed Defiance’ – a point of rebellion against domestic tyranny and globalized disempowerment alike – that signifies no less than the end of postcolonialism. Sketching a new geography of liberation, Dabashi shows how the Arab Spring has altered the geopolitics of the region so radically that we must begin re-imagining the ‘the Middle East’.
Ultimately, the ‘permanent revolutionary mood’ Dabashi brilliantly explains has the potential to liberate not only those societies already ignited, but many others through a universal geopolitics of hope.
Publisher Zed Books, 2012
ISBN 1780322232, 9781780322230
150 pages
review (Jack Farmer, Socialist Review)
interview with the author (JP O’Malley, OpenDemocracy)
Vice Magazine: The Syria Issue (November 2012)
Filed under magazine | Tags: · activism, arab spring, hip hop, journalism, music, photography, revolution, syria, war
Special issue on Syrian civil war, featuring work of Robert King.
“VICE commissioned renowned war photographer and videographer Robert King to embed with the ragtag troops of the Free Syrian Army in Aleppo, smack dab in the heart of a conflict that is ripping Syria apart. He returned with footage that has made us very scared and very sad for the future of the country. We’ve compiled Robert’s footage into a series of raw, largely unedited vignettes that present a snapshot of the ancient city as it crumbles and burns while its citizens are killed indiscriminately.” (Editors)
Vice Magazine, Volume 19, Number 11
Publisher John Martin, November 2012
148 pages
Alain Badiou: The Rebirth of History: Times of Riots and Uprisings (2011–)
Filed under book | Tags: · arab spring, cultural revolution, egypt, france, islam, marxism, power, protest, revolution, riot
“Testing the winds of history blowing from the Arab revolts.
In the uprisings of the Arab world, Alain Badiou discerns echoes of the European revolutions of 1848. In both cases, the object was to overthrow despotic regimes maintained by the great powers—regimes designed to impose the will of financial oligarchies. Both events occurred after what was commonly thought to be the end of a revolutionary epoch: in 1815, the final defeat of Napoleon; and in 1989, the fall of the Soviet Union. But the revolutions of 1848 proclaimed for a century and a half the return of revolutionary thought and action. Likewise, the uprisings underway today herald a worldwide resurgence in the liberating force of the masses—despite the attempts of the ‘international community’ to neutralize its power.
Badiou’s book salutes this reawakening of history, weaving examples from the Arab Spring and elsewhere into a global analysis of the return of emancipatory universalism.”
Originally published as Le Reveil de l’histoire, Nouvelles Editions Lignes, 2011
Translated by Gregory Elliott
Publisher Verso Books, 2012
ISBN 1844678792, 9781844678792
126 pages
Reviews: Jasper Bernes and Joshua Clover (Los Angeles Review of Books), Daniel Tutt (Platypus), Anindya Bhattacharyya (Socialist Review).
PDF (updated on 2020-7-5)
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