The End of Empire

Thanks again to Critical Reading

When hundreds of protesters battled riot police over plans for a gold mine in northern Greece recently, a newspaper compared their action with neo-Nazi squads who have been attacking foreign workers and stabbing immigrants.

This line of argument is reminiscent of the so called “horseshoe theory” according to which the far left and the far right, rather than being at opposite ends of the political spectrum, resemble one another like the ends of a horseshoe. This idea, which was at its peak during the cold war, appears in Greece disguised as the voice of “logic” against the “violence of the extremes”. What the media seem to forget is that the country was brought to its knees by the “extremism of the political centre” – a neoliberal project that ruptured the fabric of the society and paved the way for Golden Dawn. 

Wall Street Journal takes a step into the deeper problems behind South African miner massacre:

Lonmin, union leaders and Mr. Zuma’s government have all come under intense criticism for allowing the situation to slide out of control. Critics said the government is arriving too late to address the root causes of the problems—the deep poverty that has left a huge black underclass, even after the African National Congress came to power in 1994.

The resulting frustration opened an avenue for a new union, called the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, to recruit at the country’s mines, eroding membership of the ANC-aligned National Union of Mineworkers. The battle between the two unions at Lonmin and other platinum mines fed the violence.

“Yes, there is a company problem but there are also things government must supply,” said Mr. Maharaj, who said the president wants to spend more time at mining operations to fully understand worker complaints. Mr. Maharaj said the president is concerned that the striking workers live on less than $2 a day.

Where you can get the latest decrees from the High Judiciary Council of Saudi Arabia!

For more information, check out this slightly benign introduction from the UN Development Program：

Saudi Arabia stands distinct from the rest of the Arab world in that the shari‘a courts have never lost their status as courts of general jurisdiction, and the Islamic shari‘a remains the fundamental basis of the legal system. This is not to say that other Arab states have no role for the Islamic shari‘a—far from it. The Islamic shari‘a is often accorded special constitutional status in the Arab world, it is taught in law schools, it informs vast areas of law (most notably personal status), and many countries strive to insure that their legal order does not violate any clear provision of the shari‘a. The result in these other countries is an amalgamated legal system (generally combining a civil law orientation with the Islamic shari‘a). Traces of a similar amalgamation or hybrid system can be found in parts of the Saudi legal order, but the foundation of the Saudi order is wholly shari‘a-based. 

For a more fun and vivid snapshot of the Saudi Arabian legal system, check out one of my earlier posts entitled Stupid Laws in Saudi Arabia. Now that I think about it, “stupid” doesn’t even begin to describe this oppressive, reactionary system.

More from Mona El-Ghobashy:

“Egypt’s uprising happened when three distinct currents of protest—labor, professional, and popular—finally converged. That convergence transformed a routine political demonstration calling for reforms into a nationwide cry for regime change. Together, the protesters defeated a formidable police force and brought down a tenacious president. Now they are shaping the politics of post-revolutionary Egypt, resisting the military rulers’ efforts to take them off the streets.”

I want to hear more from her:

Her interests include social movements and (de)democratization in the Middle East and North Africa.