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Tagged: revolution

Colorful graffiti showing a blue flower in the center.

“Revolution has become more conceivable today”

By Nahid Siamdoust. For four decades, the Islamic Republic has systematically repressed internal opposition: targeting civil, labour and women’s rights activists through imprisonment, exile and violence, leaving Iran without a structured political alternative. Nevertheless, Iranians have risen up several times in nationwide protests to demand more rights and freedom. Is Iran’s regime at a breaking point? The economic crisis is central to the recent protests, argues EUME-Fellow Nahid Siamdoust. She assesses the significance of the recent uprising, examines its potential leaders and outlines five possible scenarios for what comes next.

Whose Imaginary? Coptic Intellectuals and the Question of Subjectivity

By Ismail Fayed. The collapse of the Assad regime and HTS’s rise in Syria have revived debates in Egypt and the region, over the fragile status of religious minorities, particularly Copts, long caught between authoritarianism and Islamist extremism. But when freed from such choices, what kind of worlds do they imagine? In this paper, Ismail Fayed explores this question through the life histories and reflections of two prominent Coptic intellectuals, Salama Musa and Louis Awad.

‘Isn’t Everything an Afterlife?’

Yasmine Kherfi and Sigrid Corry in Conversation with Dr Atef Said on Ethnographic Methods, Temporality and History. What does it mean to write, witness, and take part in history in the making? Yasmine Kherfi and Sigrid Corry speak to Dr Atef Said, Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of Illinois, to explore questions of methodology, as well as its personal, scholarly and political implications. His book, Revolution Squared: Tahrir, Political Possibilities, and Counterrevolution in Egypt (Duke University Press, 2024), traces the story of the Egyptian revolution of 2011, documenting the spaces and histories through which it unfolded. Through ethnographic fieldwork in Tahrir Square, its surrounding streets and digital platforms, Said examines the dynamic character of revolution—one that is both indeterminate and shaped by historical contingencies.

Towards Syrian-led Transitional Justice

By Anne-Marie McManus. Images of joyful men and women waving Syria’s three-starred flag last weekend confirmed that many Syrians view the rapid overthrow of the Assad regime on December 8 as a revolution. Today, Syria’s political future is unclear, as the crowds celebrating on the streets of Damascus, Homs, and Hama know well. It is a mistake for European observers to attribute their optimism to naiveté. At this moment of opening and uncertainty – when Syrians, against all expectations and odds, have freed themselves from a decades-old dictatorship – their choice to publicly embrace national unity is a political stance.

State–Society Relations and Sustainable Growth in Tunisia Post-2011  

By Mohamed Ismail Sabry. In the post-2011 Revolution years, ideological polarisation and political instability weakened the Tunisian state, freeing much space for business tycoons to largely dominate the political realm. Such “state capture” had a deep impact on the enactment and/or implementation of various policies that would significantly affect inclusive and sustainable growth. After 2011, tycoons benefitted from the lax and discretionary implementation of policies.

‘Woman, Life, Freedom:’ Decoding the Political Poetics of a Woman-led Revolutionary Movement

By Fatemeh Shams. If people in Iran are finding a voice, what words are they choosing to say? All revolutions have slogans – the collective fight reduced to a handful of memorable, chantable, printable words. But what are the origins of these slogans? And how have they changed over time?

Before the Invasion: Conversation with Vasyl Cherepanyn

Interview with Vasyl Cherepanyn by Inga Lāce. I sat with Ukrainian curator Vasyl Cherepanyn on the afternoon of Thursday, February 18 for a conversation via Zoom. The situation in Ukraine was already tense because the Russian army had strengthened its forces on the Ukrainian border and there was constant, alarming media focus on the threat of invasion.

« S’alarmer face aux mécanismes de la vérité » : une conversation avec Montassir Sakhi

Montassir Sakhi, né en 1988 à Rabat, est membre fondateur du Mouvement 20 février. Il s’est engagé depuis longtemps dans les dynamiques militantes et la vie politique du Maroc. En Europe, sa recherche porte sur les mouvements sociaux, l’émergence des idéologies, l’Islam politique en particulier, ou encore sur la problématique de la radicalisation.

Doing Research “Out of Vengeance” – An Interview with Aymen Amayed

Aymen Amayed is an independent Tunisian researcher based in Tunis. He is currently contributing to a research project about margins and marginality at the Department of Conflict and Development Studies at Ghent University. The interview was conducted during André Weißenfels’ MECAM fellowship on a research tour through different oases in Southern Tunisia.

Egypt’s Football Revolution: Emotion, Masculinity, and Uneasy Politics

By Carl Rommel. One does not have to spend a long time in Egypt to apprehend that football is a serious matter that stirs powerful emotions across the male population. Match shirts of Cairo’s two giant clubs, al-Ahly and al-Zamalek, are omnipresent in streets and squares throughout the country; club rivalries are a source of passionate controversies and banter in cafés, workplaces, and social media.