Falling Apart!

No, I have not abandoned blogging in favor of politics, just as I had done with my literary ventures. No, I am not going to allow politics to take this part of my life as well. It has already taken too much.

Indeed, its latest victim seems to be my health. This is, at least, what the doctors seem to implying. Judge for yourself:

“Well, let see here, all your blood tests came back negative, and so did your urine tests. Your x-rays show nothing wrong with any of your vital organs, and you seem to have a pretty healthy heart. Still, you have a temperature of 105 and the blood pressure of a comatosed lizard (i.e., ridiculously low blood pressure, well-nigh zombiesque), so, are you under some kind of pressure????” Continue reading “Falling Apart!” →

Dissent and Reform in the Arab World

An American Enterprise Institute event

Rather than impose democracy on the Arab world, the United States seeks to support the building blocks for political and economic reform that already exist throughout the region. But as the first installment in AEI’s Dissent and Reform in the Arab World conference series has shown, the brave and bright reformers at the heart of democratic change have little political space with which to work and grow. Continue reading “Dissent and Reform in the Arab World” →

Full Frontal!

The comments on my previous post might be few, but they do, nonetheless, encapsulate the main sentiment that were expressed to me in dozens of emails and phone calls: the Syrian people will simply not endorse a front formed by Khaddam and Bayanouni, as the twain come with too much Ancien Régime baggage on their backs.

Unfortunately though, in the realm of politics issues are not that simple. This is especially true in a country ruled by a corrupt dictatorial regime that plays a smart yet deadly game of communal politics, following the old rule of divide and conquer, and where the rate of illiteracy runs higher than 40% for men and 70% for women and where more than 40% of the people live under the line of poverty. Continue reading “Full Frontal!” →

بين الإسلام والعلمنة

هل الإلحاد أو الزندقة بحدّ ذاتهما نوع من التطرّف؟ أم هل يكمن التطرّف في الاصرار على التعبير عنهما بكل صراحة ووضوح وعلانية وبغض النظر عن ردود الأفعال؟

قد يبدو الجواب سهلاً للوهلة الأولى، لكنّا لا نعيش في عصر الإجابات السهلة، بل يبدو أن هذا العصر هو محض خيال. فالمشكلة الحقيقية تكمن في أن التغيير، خاصة التغيير الاجتماعي والقيمي، لم يطرأ عبر التاريخ إلا كنتاج عملي للعبة الصدمات المريرة وردود الأفعال عليها. فالتغييرات الاجتماعية الجذرية لا يمكنها أن تحدث إلا نتيجة تحدّيات جوهرية وعلنية للقيم السائدة ونتيجة الاستقطابات والصدامات الخطيرة التي ولّدتها هذه التحديات على أرض الواقع. Continue reading “بين الإسلام والعلمنة” →