Creating new perspectives since 2009
Items by Soumaya Ghannoushi
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The West needs humility in the Middle East
Are Russia, Ukraine and Georgia part of the “East” or the “West”? What of Turkey, whose largest city, Istanbul, home to 13 million people, is the third most populous European urban area? And what of the Balkans, bearing as they do the “stain” of their prolonged encounter with the Ottomans…
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Why riots raged in democratic Tunisia
Over the last few days, Tunisia has been in the grip of a wave of unrest that erupted from Kasserine in the centre of the country and spread to other towns and cities in the inner and southern regions, reaching the densely populated suburbs of the capital Tunis itself. Once…
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Muslim Women and the Militant Atheists
It seems it is not only the far right that seizes the opportunity of every calamity that befalls us and every terrorist attack to unleash their exclusionary and hateful rhetoric towards Islam and Muslims. Self-proclaimed enlightened liberals do too. When it comes to Islam and Muslims in general, and Muslim…
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Tunisia’s relative success story five years on since the Arab Spring
As the flames ignited from the dusty town of Sidi Bouzid in central Tunisia spread from one Arab country to another, it seemed as if Arabs had finally emerged out of the long dark tunnel where they had been forced to dwell for decades. But instead of the bright dawn…
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Islam, Republicans and the Far Right
We are trapped. Once again, we find ourselves wedged between the hammer of terrorism and the anvil of the European far right and of Republican neocons across the Atlantic. Every war has its mongers who profit from its sorrows, rubble and spilt blood. So too does terrorism. Along with its…
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Erdogan, Sisi and Western Hypocrisy
A funereal atmosphere descended over western capitals with the announcement of Turkey’s parliamentary elections’ results, widely described in European and American media as a “shock” and a “black day for Turkey.” The picture painted appeared very bleak, as a stream of reports, editorials and op-eds by opposition figures warned of…
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Religion is not to blame
If I got a penny for every time I was told that religion is the cause of all trouble, I’d be a rich woman by now. If only we had John Lennon’s religionless world, there would be no war, or conflict and everyone would love their neighbour. If only the…
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Egyptians Say No to Sisi’s Propaganda
Egypt’s January Revolution collapsed for many reasons. Some are to do with the structure of power and role of the military in political life. Others with mistakes committed by the new forces in the management of crises in the post revolution phase, failing to rise above ideological differences and forge…
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Terrorism and the Crisis of Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is in turmoil. Over the last two decades, it has been in the grip of ferment and fragmentation unprecedented in its long history. After the wave of radicalisation that had swept across Shiism following the Iranian revolution of 1979, it was the turn of Sunni Islam, which represents…
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The Battle for Islam
With over 1.6 billion followers, one third of them living as minorities, Islam is a major force in the world today. An active factor in international relations, its influence is far from local or confined to countries and communities classified as “Muslim.” With the presence of Muslims in Western capitals…
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Misconceptions of Political Islam
As soon as the Tunisian elections results were announced with Nidaa Tounes overtaking Ennahdha party, celebrations of the “Islamists'” defeat at the hands of the “secularists” got underway across the media in France and many other western capitals. The historical context of a country in the aftermath of a revolution,…
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Democratic Islam is the best antidote to ISIS
The spoils of the falling Arab Spring have been divided among many. If the most obvious beneficiaries have been the old guard, Arab autocrats and their foreign allies, who have an equal interest in keeping the region firmly under the thumb, they have not been the only ones. Al Qaeda’s…
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What gives legitimacy to ISIL’s rhetoric?
Since the map of the Middle East was drawn by the Sykes-Picot Agreement in the aftermath of World War I and the retreat of the Ottoman Turks in favour of the British and French, the lines demarcating the boundaries between states in the Arab region have never been successfully challenged,…
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Dennis Ross’s Recipe for Disaster in the Middle East
A collective sigh of relief was almost audible across Washington and other western capitals when Sisi accomplished the mission and successfully staged his blood-drenched military coup. They could all go back to business as usual with the Arabs. No need for the newly devised strategy of containment. No need to…
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After unscripted Arab drama, the west sneaks back on set
Arab dictators were not the only ones to have been taken aback by the scale and speed of events in the region. Their allies were also caught off guard. The changes were simply “too much, too fast”, as a stunned US official put it. From being the sole actors and…
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Tunisians must dismantle the monster Ben Ali built
By Soumaya Ghannoushi The people have toppled a dictator. Now they have to forge a coalition of socialists, Islamists and liberals for real change Few Tunisians could have imagined that a president who had repressed and stifled them for more than 23 years could be so fragile, so vulnerable. As…