Stories Archive | Page 82 of 84

Analyses

The history of the Islamic Republic of Iran—established in 1979 following the revolution that overthrew Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi—is marked by a dense sequence of developments that have progressively altered its political and institutional configuration. These changes, however, have only sporadically been recognized by Western analyses, which have instead tended to perpetuate a more functional and instrumental stereotype based on the image of a monolithic, highly verticalized religious autocracy. While such a characterization was broadly accurate during the first decade of the Islamic Republic, it has undergone a profound transformation since 1989.

Migrations
Cultural diversity? It is our best chance to have a future
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Elisa Pierandrei 21 April 2011
At the international conference entitled “Recreating Babel; teaching cosmopolitism” organized by the Intercultura Foundation in Milan from April 7th to the 9th, 36 experts (among them Fred Dallmayr, John Lupien, Giancarlo Bosetti, Marco Aime, and Ramin Jahanbegloo) explained how social, political and economic events in the 20th Century, including the very recent events in North Africa and Japan, are almost all of an international nature and allow us to understand well how it is impossible to live within the political and cultural borders of one’s own state or nation.
Media and Communication
The lies of power no longer work
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Steven Livingston talks to Mauro Buonocore 5 April 2011
“We are all Khaled Said”. There was a young 28-year-old man who kept united the protesters filling the Egyptian squares to oppose Mubarak. Tortured and killed by policemen who wanted to search him at an internet café in the suburbs of Alexandria last June, Khaled was at the heart of mobilization. His name united an entire people, who allowed him to speak out with one single voice to say “enough” to the regime’s abuse of power. The images of his tortured body circulated the country and were shared online by millions of Egyptians. Beaten up and killed, probably because he wanted to post online a video showing two policemen involved in drug trafficking, Khaled’s name has been used for the Facebook page around which protesters gathered to then physically take to the streets to oppose Mubarak and his system. Would all this have taken place even without Facebook, Twitter and other social networks? According to Steven Livingston, professor at George Washington University and an expert on the way in which the media influences mechanisms in democracies, the answer is linked to technology, more specifically to multiple technologies, such as mobile phones, computers, satellites and cables for the high-speed transmission of data. All this creates a new environment for news that allows citizens to be more aware of what is happening around them and demand power to be more transparent, open and efficient. This provides an immense opportunity for democracies in emerging countries, as the American professor stated in a recent study entitled Africa’s Evolving Infosystems: A Pathway to Stability and Development. He emphasizes the manner in which digital media increase the possibility of creating health systems, helping the agricultural produce market, setting up banking services as well as improving public security and the very quality of democracy itself.
Political Theory
The Outset of Post-Islamist Age
Harith Al-Qarawee 31 March 2011

Arab dictatorships have guaranteed their external legitimacy by exploiting the threat of Islamism, securing the backing of Western governments by proclaiming that Islamic fundamentalism would consolidate itself in the event of a free and transparent election. Therefore, the ‘Islamic exceptionality’ has been widely accepted and taken for granted by the Western governments, and gradually, this argument became so entrenched even in research centres. ‘Stability’, rather than democracy, became the main objective when the Middle East is concerned and it was interpreted as the necessity of maintaining the status quo, no matter how harmful and unfair it has been for the majority of population.
Migrations
«The whole of the E.U. must assume its responsibilities»
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Christopher Hein, director of the Italian Council for Refugees, talks to Ilaria Romano 21 March 2011
Events in the Arab world have destroyed the status quo and resulted in instability that is leading to new migratory waves. Are the figures really so alarming? Can these geopolitical events be seen only as a border control issue? Decidedly not, according to Christopher Hein, director of the CIR, the Italian Council for Refugees, who provides us with a broader overview of a still evolving phenomenon.
Migrations
A story of suffering and hypocrisy
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Amara Lakhous 21 March 2011
International constitutions and conventions must be respected without resorting to subterfuge. Every foreigner arriving in Italy must be permitted to present a request for asylum. This is a constitutional right. The commission appointed to examine the requests will then establish whether a person has the right or not to refugee status and protection. For as long as such a law exists, one has no choice but to apply it, if not applied the law should be changed or repealed.
Political Theory
A spontaneous revolt, but the regime holds on
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Massimo Campanini 1 February 2011
One of the brighter aspects is the popular participation in a largely spontaneous and uncoordinated movement, which cuts across Egyptian society and sees mainly women and young people demonstrating. However there is a lack of an executive body of the revolution, a party in particular that could act as a hegemonic drive and one that is able to interpret the revolt in institutional terms.
Migrations
Muslims of Europe: Perspectives on Gender and Religion
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13 January 2011
Bologna, 27-28 January 2011Islam is today the second religion in Europe. Despite the complexity implied by this fact, a widespread dichotomy presents a homogeneous Europe versus a likewise consistent Muslim “Other”. This conference aims at deconstructing such a dichotomy and to scrutinize how gender lies at the heart of the frictions occurring as a result of contemporary transnational challenges. It presents frontline research on how European states govern Muslims´ migration movements and everyday life along with research focused on power relations within the Muslim minorities.
Migrations
Open society and Islam: a debate held in Zurich
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Nicola Missaglia 1 December 2010
On November 17th 2010, ResetDoc and the Swiss University organisation UFSP Asia and Europe organised a conference on this subject in Zurich, on the theme “Islam in Europe”. Widely reported by the Swiss press, the event was held in the assembly hall at Zurich University, filled with students, professors and ordinary citizens, bearing witness to the fact that the need to address subjects such as pluralism, relations with Islam and European democracies, democratic dialectics between the majority and the minorities, tension between liberal principles and the traditional instruments of democratic deliberation, is a need that a rising number of people consider pressing.
Religion
Farewell to Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd, Master of critical thought
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Sadik Al-Azm 15 August 2010
Nasr is the very up to date descendant of the long line of courageous, bold, outspoken and critical Arab intellectuals, dating back to Qassim Amin from the end of the 19th century, who adopted and vehemently defended the most enlightened, progressive and advanced positions of their times on the major issues vexing Arab and Muslim societies to this very moment, such as progress, renewal, development, education, women’s emancipation, secularism, democracy, human rights, heritage, Islam, modernity, science, rationality and so on.
Political Theory
«Living with Diversity». Sign the Dissent Manifesto
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4 August 2010
In this Europe it makes no sense to close the borders, to play the game of good insiders and bad outsiders, to defend ethnic and cultural purity, to demonise everything alien. We, a group of concerned citizens, invoke the political responsibility of Europe’s opinion-makers and political leaders. We demand the cessation of the politics of fear and engagement in the politics of hope. It is this sense of urgency that prompts this Manifesto – an appeal to all those living in Europe, those concerned for its present and its future, to join us in imagining and implementing an inclusive politics befitting the 21st century. To add your name as a signatory, please email Pep Subirós: pepsubiros at gmail dot com.