Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Usman Butt
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Forgiveness Work: Mercy, Law and Victims’ Rights in Iran
Arzoo Osanloo’s Forgiveness Work: Mercy, Law and Victims’ Rights in Iran takes us through a little discussed feature of the Iranian legal system, which has implications beyond the country itself. The system looks peculiar to outsiders; human rights reports paint a harrowing picture of justice within the Islamic Republic...
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On All Fronts: The Education of a Journalist
“Under these circumstances, talking to a Western reporter could be a death sentence. And yet here in Douma, as soon as people saw that I was a journalist, they wanted to tell their story.” Thus begins the extraordinary autobiography of Clarissa Ward, On All Fronts: The Education of a...
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Rape, power and corruption: Is this Egypt’s MeToo moment?
MEMO's Usman Butt takes a closer look at Egypt's MeToo moment in the context of the social and political structures in the country as well as the way in which the state handles ongoing cases...
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MEMO in conversation with Sarah Hunaidi
Sarah Hunaidi, a Syrian feminist and human rights activist, spoke exclusively to MEMO about the Syrian uprising, revolution and civil war, as well as the politics of the Druze community....
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Arabic Shadow Theatre 1300-1900: A Handbook
Li Guo’s Arabic Shadow Theatre 1300-1900: A Handbook is a sweeping survey and interesting introduction to all things shadowy and theatrical. It is rare to say that an academic study is a joy to read, but this book certainly proved to be the case. Shadow theatre is rooted deeply...
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Understanding Libya Since Gaddafi
Ulf Laessing’s book Understanding Libya Since Gaddafi is published at a time when it has never been so important to know what is happening in Libya, but few outside the country and diaspora actually appreciate and comprehend events there. Libya post-2011 conjures up an image of chaos and disappointment...
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Remembering Bashar Al-Assad becoming President of Syria
Following the death of his father Hafez Al-Assad, Bashar Al-Assad official became president at only 34 years old...
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Authoritarian Apprehensions: Ideology, Judgment and Mourning in Syria
The nature of authoritarian rule in Syria remains little understood outside the country. As a notoriously closed society with limited access to the outside world before the 2000s, with few journalists and academic venturing into the Arab republic, a substantive knowledge gap has developed. However, the 2011 Arab Spring...
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Rediscovering the Islamic Classics: How Editors and Print Culture Transformed an Intellectual Tradition
Ahmed El Shamsy’s Rediscovering the Islamic Classics: How Editors and Print Culture Transformed An Intellectual Tradition takes us into the story of how seminal works of Islamic philosophy, theology, poetry, sciences and other disciplines from 700-1400 AD were revived, adapted and changed in the 19th and 20th centuries. The...
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The Caliphate of Man: Popular Sovereignty in Modern Islamic Thought
The Caliphate of Man: Popular Sovereignty in Modern Islamic Thought by Andrew F March comes to us at an interesting time. The 2011 Arab Spring led many across the MENA region to aspire to a new democratic and pluralistic political order, but the counter-revolutions led by the UAE, the...
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Political Quietism in Islam: Sunni and Shi’i Practice and Thought
Events in the Arab world and beyond over the past decade have ignited an intense debate about Islam, Muslims and political engagement. A common theme of western historical research situates Islam’s scholarly tradition to be on the side of obedience to the ruler, and encouragement to avoid political disagreements....
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Ilan Pappe: Netanyahu may start a civil war in Israel to save himself
Professor Ilan Pappé cautions against overly optimistic readings of the Netanyahu affair...
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Why the Assad regime will continue to destabilise Syria
Over the summer of 2019, observers of events in Syria were left bemused by the news that Rami Makhlouf had been placed under house arrest. It simply didn’t make any sense. Makhlouf is President Bashar Al-Assad’s cousin, a member of his regime’s inner sanctum who has been instrumental in...
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Democracy in Lebanon
For the past few weeks, Lebanon has been rocked by anti-government protests calling for a change in the ruling system and an end to corruption, economic decay and political stagnation. Analysts are trying to understand how the country has reached this position. They would do well to read the...
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Authoritarianism means instability, so Arab regimes need to be challenged
What is the difference between a democratic society and a dictatorship? In a nutshell, a death in a democracy is a personal tragedy, but in a dictatorship it is a political crisis. To grasp this core point is to understand the basic design flaw within autocratic governance; while democracy...
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The Sacking of Fallujah: A People’s History
The Sacking of Fallujah: A People’s History by Ross Caputi, Richard Hil and Donna Mulhearn makes for chilling reading as it takes us inside the three sieges that the Iraqi city of Fallujah was subjected to following the 2003 US-led invasion. Unlike other accounts of the torment inflicted upon...
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Assad or We Burn The Country: How One Family’s Lust for Power Destroyed Syria
It is not usual to begin a book review with a quote from elsewhere, but, “Bad men need nothing more to compress their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing,” as nineteenth century English liberal philosopher John Stuart Mill remarked, is the initial feeling that...
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The Road to Knesset: Blue and White Alliance #Israelex19
Could Benny Gantz be the new face of Israeli politics?...
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The Road to Knesset: Likud Party #Israelex19
Is Netanyahu's anti-Palestinian rhetoric enough to keep him in power despite corruption allegations?...
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Our Women on the Ground: A Review
“When ISIS soldiers arrest me and kill me, it will be okay, because while they will cut off my head, I’ll still have dignity, which is better than living in humiliation.” This was the last daring Facebook post of Ruqia Hasan, a citizen journalist based in the Syrian city...
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Remembering the 1979 Iranian Revolution
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini arrives back in Iran after 15 years of exile, signalling the start of the Iranian revolution ...
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Palestinian Cinema in the Days of Revolution
Professor Nadia Yaqub speaks to MEMO about her book "Palestinian Cinema in the Days of Revolution" which launched in London during the Palestine Film Festival...
