After Chakrabarti: We Need to Talk About Zionism

by Hilary Aked The left should “stop talking about Zionism”, Labour’s Jon Lansman argued recently in the wake of a row that engulfed the party over anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism and led to the Shami Chakrabarti Inquiry. The inquiry, which was released yesterday, suggests a better way forward. Chakrabarti, who disclosed that she had joined the… Read More

Persecuted at home, Syrian women seek new beginnings in Istanbul’s “little Syria”

by Felipe Araujo In an old basement deep in the heart of the Fatih district in Istanbul, Syrian women gather around a table making jewellery. When I visited the place on a rainy Friday afternoon, the hustle and bustle of this city of 14 million suddenly disappeared, giving way to memories of Aleppo and Damascus.… Read More

How the West lies to itself in order to destroy the Other

The West is facing a growing crisis – one that is swarming its borders, bankrupting its economies, exploiting its welfare systems, undermining its values and terrorizing its streets. That crisis is the other: the refugee, the migrant, the Syrian, the Mexican, the Muslim. Or so goes the great drama of our day, played out on… Read More

For the record, BDS is an anti-racist issue

by Hil Aked    Following a wave of accusations made against some members of the Labour party for claims of anti-Semitism, the saga reached absurd new lows last week, when long-standing anti-racist activist Jackie Walker was suspended. Among Walker’s alleged crimes was her refusal to condemn the boycott of Israel. While some of the accusations… Read More

Remembering Eqbal Ahmad: A Conversation with Stuart Schaar

This week marks the anniversary of the passing of a heavyweight radical intellectual few now remember by S U Ahmad  ‘In addition to being an oral person – a sort of peregrine Muslim sage, and all of us his chelas, or disciples – he shouldn’t leave his words scattered to the winds or even recorded on… Read More

Film Review: Speed Sisters

by Hamja Ahsan    “Their superheroes were given names like Superman. We call ours – Palestinians”, a meme from a Muslim activist organisation reads. A new documentary, Speed Sisters, introduces a new gang of five Palestinian women, or quasi-superhero “sistahs”, who are the Middle East’s first drifting racing team. In a way, Palestinian women have… Read More

From Cairo to London: White aspirations packaged in global property

by Rabia Barkatulla  Earlier this month, a flashy marketing video from Telford Homes popped up and caught the attention of social media. Set to upbeat music, the video follows a young, white woman as she plunges into London’s trendy Dalston area. Spoilt by the choice of vintage clothing shops, hairdressers and hipster cafes, the woman and… Read More

Defying Baghdad’s violence, volunteers are re-opening the city’s historic theatre

by Nazli Tarzi  This article first appeared in Niqash and has been republished here with their permission. In Baghdad’s Salihiya neighbourhood, a group of volunteers are staging a different kind of protest. They have cleaned up a deserted theatre and started performances there again. Rows of empty seats coated in dust are the first thing… Read More

There’s More to Saudi Arabia than the Ban on Women Driving

A View From The Kingdom by Amena Ziard I am constantly asked about my life in Saudi Arabia. There is no way to fully express the bitterness I have for some aspects of this society or the profound affinity I have for the land that is my birthplace but not my home. In this piece,… Read More

Why is child military recruitment still practiced in the UK?

by Yasmin Begum   In December 2015, the UK Parliament was engulfed in a long-winded debate at the House of Commons on whether to carry out airstrikes in Syria, before MPs eventually voted with 397 against 223 votes to authorise the bombing campaign. The following morning, the Ministry of Defence confirmed that initial bombs had… Read More