Volume 15 - Number 4 June – July 2019 £8 (special issue)

Final Issue Volume 15 - Number 4 June – July 2019 £8 (special issue)

Final Issue

Monir Farmanfarmaian, Untitled (Octagon), 2016. Mirror and reverse glass painting on About the London Middle East Institute (LMEI) plexiglass, 32 cm in diameter. Courtesy of Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian family and The The London Middle East Institute (LMEI) draws upon the resources of London and SOAS to provide Third Line, Dubai teaching, training, research, publication, consultancy, outreach and other services related to the Middle East. It serves as a neutral forum for Middle East studies broadly defined and helps to create links between Volume 15 – Number 4 individuals and institutions with academic, commercial, diplomatic, media or other specialisations. June–July 2019 With its own professional staff of Middle East experts, the LMEI is further strengthened by its academic membership – the largest concentration of Middle East expertise in any institution in Europe. The LMEI also Editorial Board has access to the SOAS Library, which houses over 150,000 volumes dealing with all aspects of the Middle East. LMEI’s Advisory Council is the driving force behind the Institute’s fundraising programme, for which Dr Orkideh Behrouzan SOAS it takes primary responsibility. It seeks support for the LMEI generally and for specific components of its Dr Hadi Enayat programme of activities. AKU LMEI is a Registered Charity in the UK wholly owned by SOAS, University of London (Charity Ms Narguess Farzad SOAS Registration Number: 1103017). Mrs Nevsal Hughes Association of European Journalists Professor George Joffé Mission Statement: Cambridge University Dr Ceyda Karamursel SOAS The aim of the LMEI, through education and research, is to promote knowledge of all aspects of the Middle Mrs Margaret Obank East including its complexities, problems, achievements and assets, both among the general public and with Banipal Publishing those who have a special interest in the region. In this task it builds on two essential assets. First, it is based in Ms Janet Rady London, a city which has unrivalled contemporary and historical connections and communications with the Janet Rady Fine Art Middle East including political, social, cultural, commercial and educational aspects. Secondly, the LMEI is Mr Barnaby Rogerson at SOAS, the only tertiary educational institution in the world whose explicit purpose is to provide education Dr Sarah Stewart SOAS and scholarship on the whole Middle East from prehistory until today. Dr Shelagh Weir Independent Researcher Professor Sami Zubaida Birkbeck College LMEI Staff: Subscriptions: Editor Megan Wang Director Dr Hassan Hakimian To subscribe to The Middle East in London, please visit: Listings Executive Officer Louise Hosking www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/affiliation/ or contact the Vincenzo Paci Events and Magazine Coordinator Vincenzo Paci LMEI office. Designer Shahla Geramipour Letters to the Editor:

The Middle East in London is published five times a year by the London Middle Please send your letters to the editor at East Institute at SOAS Disclaimer: the LMEI address provided (see left panel) Publisher and or email [email protected] Editorial Office Opinions and views expressed in the Middle East in London are, unless otherwise stated, personal The London Middle East Institute SOAS views of authors and do not reflect the views of their University of London MBI Al Jaber Building, organisations nor those of the LMEI and the MEL's 21 Russell Square, London WC1B 5EA Editorial Board. Although all advertising in the United Kingdom magazine is carefully vetted prior to publication, the T: +44 (0)20 7898 4330 LMEI does not accept responsibility for the accuracy E: [email protected] www.soas.ac.uk/lmei/ of claims made by advertisers. ISSN 1743-7598 Contents

6 20 EDITORIAL Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates: New 7 regional alliances and the My time as editor Palestinian struggle Megan Wang Adam Hanieh 8 22 LMEI Board of Trustees INSIGHT Egypt is failing its people Baroness Valerie Amos (Chair) Economic sanctions debunked Robert Springborg Director, SOAS Hassan Hakimian Dr Orkideh Behrouzan, SOAS 24 Professor Stephen Hopgood, SOAS 10 From bystander to stakeholder? Dr Lina Khatib, Chatham House Dr Dina Matar, SOAS IN MEMORIAM China’s participation in Middle Dr Hanan Morsy Monir Shahroudy East security affairs African Development Bank Degang Sun Professor Scott Redford, SOAS Farmanfarmaian Mr James Watt, CBRL (1922-2019) 26 2019 Postcard from Iran 11 Thomas Helm Prose: the modern chronicle of LMEI Advisory Council the Arabs 2017 Hartmut Fähndrich 29 Lady Barbara Judge (Chair) Nascent Kurdish cinema Professor Muhammad A. S. Abdel Haleem 13 H E Khalid Al-Duwaisan GVCO Mizgin Mujde Arslan Ambassador, Embassy of the State of Kuwait Asghar Farhadi’s cinema: a Mrs Haifa Al Kaylani Arab International Women’s Forum family torn apart 30 Dr Khalid Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Asal Bagheri The main challenge to Yemen’s President, University College of Bahrain Professor Tony Allan future: war or water scarcity? King’s College and SOAS 15 Helen Lackner Dr Alanoud Alsharekh Senior Fellow for Regional Politics, IISS Eight days on the (Wild?) West Mr Farad Azima Bank 32 NetScientific Plc Dr Noel Brehony Mike Scott-Baumann Mena youth and the need for a MENAS Associates Ltd. political economy approach Professor Magdy Ishak Hanna British Egyptian Society 2018 Maria Cristina Paciello and HE Mr Rami Mortada 18 Daniela Pioppi Ambassador, Embassy of Lebanon Tunisia: seven years later George Joffé 34 Turkey’s journalists in a battle for survival Firdevs Robinson

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 3 Contents continued

36 54 The persistent challenge of Activism and ‘liberal’ ‘Islamic exceptionalism’ authoritarianism Hadi Enayat Karima Laachir 2016 56 39 Nimrud reduced to rubble My cultural connections John Curtis Barnaby Rogerson 58 41 Losing our language diversity Still singing: female singers in Mandana Seyfeddinipur contemporary Iran Parmis Mozafari 2014 61 43 The coup and Iran’s literary Air pollution and public health tradition in Iran Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak Hamid M. Pouran 63 45 Palestinian refugees and the Kicking away the migration politics of return ladder? Ruba Salih Hassan Hakimian 64 47 Islam in Turkey Gender, power and violence Andrew Mango Nadje Al-Ali 66 2015 Nostalgia and the oil city 50 Rasmus Christian Elling The visual language of dissent Megan Wang 68 The draw of certainty: Salafism 52 and young women in London Water resources in the Anabel Inge Middle East: scarce, emotional, politicised and 2013 misunderstood 71 Tony Allan Kirkuk: the symbolic power of a contested city Nelida Fuccaro

4 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 Contents continued

88 72 The role of art in protest Iranian journalism and ‘the Ionis Thompson in discussion with land of freedom’ Charles Tripp Hossein Shahidi 2011 74 91 In the shadow of revolutions Flowers of Persian song and Madawi Al-Rasheed music: digitising the Golha archive 76 Jane Lewisohn Religious minorities in the Middle East 93 Sami Zubaida Manhattan comes to Makkah Samar Al-Sayed 78 A loaf of bread, a jug of wine 94 and rhyme: images of food in Libya: tribal war or popular Persian poetry revolution? Narguess Farzad Igor Cherstich 2012 95 81 Unrest in the Levant Mapping Iraqi art in London Dina Matar talks to Gilbert Janet Rady Achcar 83 97 Norouz around the world The non-Arabic languages of Baqer Moin southern Arabia Janet Watson 85 Bringing Palestine and the world together; in poetry and prose Atef Alshaer 87 ‘Born of the wind’: the Arabian horse and equestrianism at the London Olympics Ionis Thompson

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 5 EDITORIAL

Volume 15 - Number 2 February – March 2019 Volume 15 - Number 1 £4 £4 December 2018 – January 2019

Volume 15 - Number 3

April – May 2019

£4

THIS ISSUE● The Arabic: IRANIAN novel CINEMA ● Indian camera, Iranian THISheart ● TheISSUE UNRWA : literary and dramatic roots of the Iranian New Wave ● Dystopic Tehran in ‘Film Farsi’ popular● The Joint List PALESTINE ● Eight days on the (Wild?) West Bank ● Prose:cinema the modern ● Parviz chronicle Sayyad: ofsocio-political● theThe commentator dressed as village fool ● The noir world ● ● The environmental ethics of● and failing infrastructure in EastOn the Jerusalem dignity of ●teachers Trump’s ‘Deal of the Century’ : The Novel in the Arab ofWorld Masud Kimiai ● The resurgence of Iranian ‘Sacred Defence’ Cinema ● Asghar Farhadi’s ● ● The prize-winningcinema ● New Arabic diasporic novel visions of Iran ● PLUS Reviews and events in LondonPLUS ● Keeping national consciousness alive THIS ISSUE ● Photo competition results Reviews and events in London ● My short return to Gaza ● Understanding ● The novel is the number one Arab literary genre ● The ‘next’ Palestinian writers are already here ● The Iraqi novel emerges from the womb of disaster ● Arabs ● Season of migration● Arabic to novels the novel in translation Housing, rubbish, walls the Libyan novel Arabic novel in the Digital Age Reviews and events in London PLUS Dear Reader

Hassan Hakimian, Director, London Middle East Institute

his is our magazine’s last editorial opportunity to assess the Institute’s future companions onboard – past and present. note and it comes to you with a and consider the option of bringing it The Editorial Board, who gave their combined sense of sadness and inhouse to mirror SOAS’s other regional wisdom and experience both widened Tpride. Sadness because – like all good institutes. After casting it with a new the span and scope of the magazine things – it is coming to an end, and pride remit and scope, a new head of LMEI will and made light of a foreboding task for because it comes with a strong sense take over. The future of the magazine can me as the Director of the Institute with of achievement for a small, specialist be hopefully revisited at that stage with limited resources dedicated to keeping magazine that has endured so long and the priorities and constraints facing the the magazine afloat; writers and issue fulfilled so much over its impressive new Institute in mind. editors whose labour of love produced lifetime. To commemorate the richness and the rich content; readers whose continued The current series of The Middle East diversity of the magazine, this issue is a encouragement kept us going; and last in London started with an overhaul and special, retrospective one: a selection of but not least, the brilliant staff – Louise redesign soon after I took over as the past contributions has been republished Hosking, Vincenzo Paci, Valentina Director of the LMEI. The February- in one hopefully memorable single Zanardi and Aki Elborzi – whose team March 2011 issue brought a new look, volume. Given the breadth of choice – spirit and perfectionism was second to form and structure to the magazine both in quantity and quality – making none. after it had already been established a selection was no easy task and one Each issue has owed its increasing as a unique outreach resource by my imbued with both pleasure and pain: attraction and appeal to Megan Wang predecessors (Robert Springborg and pleasure given the depth and breadth of (Editor) and Shahla Geramipour Sarah Stewart, the Director and Deputy available material, and pain in having to (Designer). Their dedication, creativity Director of the LMEI, respectively, and be harsh in limiting choice to one piece and professionalism are etched into every Sahar Taghdisi-Rad and Anabel Inge, per issue (while six or seven others were page of the magazine from cover to end. the magazine’s Coordinating Editors). equally good contenders). Each piece has I hope what you have in hand is an apt A signature publication of the Institute, been reprinted as in original without reminder of this story and one whose from the start it mirrored the breadth of any alterations. sweet memories will last for years to the Institute’s life and transformation. The magazine’s endurance and come. A good cause to celebrate with this I will be stepping down from the evolution over the years owes an rich – retrospective – issue. directorship of the LMEI in late summer enormous debt to so many supporters and after nearly ten years and will be retiring well-wishers. A satisfying project of this from SOAS after almost twenty years nature is, however, above all the story of of service in total. This gives SOAS an a common journey enriched by so many

6 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 EDITORIAL

Megan Wang divulges three takeaways from her six years of editing for the magazine

My time as editor

ooking back, I can still remember Maintaining the author’s unique lens where themes were solicited and authors – in vivid detail – the first full issue and voice was very important to me, but had to be identified; individuals were of The Middle East in London that I I also had to keep the reader in mind: enlisted to be Issue Editors; contributors, Lwas responsible for. After sending dozens will they know what this means or is artists and galleries were contacted; (too of emails, coordinating several rounds of the significance unclear without more many) emails were sent. The magazine’s edits with the Issue Editors and writers, exposition? Would cutting a sentence Editorial Board, Dr Hassan Hakimian and spending hours hunting for suitable here lessen its impact or make it more his team, Louise Hosking, Vincenzo Paci images (and pondering the legalese of forceful? Does changing this word affect and Aki Elborzi, the magazine’s designer copyright law), debating the uses of the whole tone of the article? It can be Shahla Geramipour, our volunteer Issue colons and semi-colons and pouring over tricky business and hearts can be bruised. Editors, our writers and the galleries and proofs until my eyes blurred, I finally Ultimately my suggestions were geared artists that worked with us all helped to held a hard copy in my hands and felt towards achieving one very simple goal: make the magazine a reality. a sense of accomplishment. All of the publishing an article worthy of pride. And To all of you, thank you. It has been an disparate pieces – the emails, the text files, from where I’m sitting we hit that goal, honour and a privilege to work alongside the tracked changes, the photos – had, over and over, issue after issue. you. I hope that when you hold a copy through some combination of collective of this issue in your hands you feel that will and luck, come together on time. I Lesson 3: our collective will gave the sense of accomplishment and wonder and held the issue with some small sense of magazine form think to yourself ‘I was part of this story wonder and thought ‘I helped make this’. I say ‘we’ but in many ways my role too’. Just please, please don’t tell me if you And then, of course, I noticed a typo. in all this was but a small one. A lot of spot a typo. collective effort went into planning issues: Lesson 1: typos happen Editorial Board meetings were called Six years later, the typos still haunt me. I adopted methods to theoretically keep them at bay – read the text out loud, read it from the end to the beginning, change the font, avoid staring at any one article for too long – and endeavoured to treat each one as a learning opportunity, to determine why it happened and how it went unnoticed. At some point it felt as though all this accomplished was to ensure that every new typo was just that, ‘new’ and thus unnoticed by my methods of detection.

Lesson 2: the writer and the editor are a team Megan Wang is Editor of The Middle East Of course, my job involved more than in London. She has a Master’s degree in just trying to spot and correct typos. Muslim Cultures from AKU-ISMC As an editor I had to be cognizant of the fact that sharing one’s writing is an act of courage, that writing can be a I hope that when you hold a copy of this issue in your deeply personal and intimate experience. hands you think to yourself ‘I was part of this story too’

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 7 INSIGHT

Hassan Hakimian outlines seven misconceptions behind the idea and practice of economic sanctions Economic sanctions debunked

President Donald J Trump signs an executive order entitled ‘Reimposing Certain Sanctions with Respect to Iran’ on 6 August 2018. Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead

he use of economic sanctions to population (2.3 billion in total) were rise. Since the 1960s – when arguably the achieve international political subject to the wrath of some form of US most successful sanctions played a key objectives has been on the rise in sanctions. role in dismantling the apartheid regimes Tthe past century. Since WWI, sanctions Currently, the US has nearly 8,000 in South Africa and Rhodesia – a total of have gained increasing pertinence in sanctions in place worldwide – with 30 UN sanctions have been levied against the complex world of conflict between Iran by far the harshest state target of states and non-state entities such as Al- nations, which has been traditionally these sanctions. Russia too has sanctions Qaeda, the Taliban and, more recently, the viewed in binary terms of war and peace. against Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine so-called Islamic State. The MENA region has been home to and China uses them against Japan and Despite their growing incidence, the many sanctions, often acting as the the Philippines over maritime disputes. ‘success’ rate of sanctions has been at testing ground for some of the ‘harshest The great majority of sanctions are best questionable. In one of the most sanctions in history’. indeed imposed by large countries against comprehensive studies examining In the 1990s, the world saw on average smaller nations. It is thus fanciful to some 170 sanctions in the 20th century, more than seven sanctions annually expect Luxembourg to impose sanctions Hufbauer et al in 2009 concluded that (totalling 67 between 1990 and 1999). against Germany or San Marino against only one-third of these succeeded in Two-thirds of these were US unilateral Italy! attaining their stated objectives. Another sanctions, and during the presidency Multilateral sanctions introduced study by Robert Pape in 1997 put the of Bill Clinton alone it is estimated under Article 41 by the United Nations same rate at less than 5 per cent. that around 40 per cent of the world’s Security Council too have been on the Effective or failed, popular or feared, a wide gap separates the perspectives of Sanctions are normally imposed by large countries: it’s the targets from those imposing these sanctions. In general, senders have to fanciful to expect Luxembourg to impose sanctions provide legitimacy for their actions in against Germany or San Marino against Italy! the court of international public opinion

8 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 Cuba and Myanmar. Even the blockade Trump’s withdrawal from the Nuclear Deal in 2018 imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the has given Iran’s hardliners a new lease of life, claiming UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt since June 2017, has led to a significant rallying of the their distrust of the USA was well placed and pushing population behind the Emir and boosted back against President Hassan Rouhani his popularity. Sixth, sanctions are said to weaken the targeted governments. But by in which their perspectives arguably lead the driver to blink first! No wonder worsening the business and investment dominate. why some commentators have likened climate, economic sanctions take In general, the imposition of economic economic sanctions to ‘weapons of mass their toll primarily on the private sanctions has been accompanied by seven destruction’, ‘murder’ and ‘carpet bombs’! sector. If anything, power becomes misconceptions or fallacies that have Fourth, sanctions are justified by more centralised and concentrated as arguably emanated from the hegemonic some as a way to uphold and promote governments increasingly control supplies perspective of the imposing nations. human rights. This too runs contrary to of strategic commodities. These have tainted our understanding the evidence, which suggests that civil Finally, sanctions are supposedly of the rationale and effectiveness of society entities and NGOs are generally effective in containing nuclear sanctions and need to be debunked. the primary losers in the post-sanctions proliferation. Their record here, too, First, sanctions are justified as gentler era. Authoritarian regimes seize on the is demonstrably poor. Since the Non- and more humane alternatives to war. opportunity afforded by sanctions (which Proliferation Treaty entered into force But this underrates the potential role they project as aggression and ‘economic in 1970, four countries have acquired of international diplomacy in conflict warfare’) to claim legitimacy in their nuclear weapons: Israel, India, Pakistan resolution as well as the indiscriminate defence of ‘national interest’. and North Korea. Three of them did so violence associated with sanctions against This is how Trump’s withdrawal from while under sanctions. the targets. In reality, many sanctions the Nuclear Deal in 2018 has given Ultimately, the success or failure of do not supplant wars; on the contrary, Iran’s hardliners a new lease of life, economic sanctions depends on whether they pave the way for wars as witnessed claiming their distrust of the USA was they bring about regime change or by the thirteen-year long Iraqi sanctions well placed and pushing back against change a government’s behaviour. Given (1990-2003), which culminated in the US the centrist administration of Hassan the prevailing misconceptions about invasion of the country in 2003. Under Rouhani. Similarly, the earlier sanctions their rationale, it is not surprising that present circumstances too, destabilising against Saddam Hussein’s Iraq led to the economic sanctions so often achieve Iran by sanctions or military threat is set wholesale destruction of civil society neither goal. to make the entire region more dangerous there, helping to stoke the identity politics than ever. and sectarianism that continue to bedevil An earlier version of this article was A second argument is that ‘if sanctions Iraq and the wider region. published by the Project Syndicate website are hurting, they are working’. But this Fifth, sanctions are deemed necessary (https://www.project-syndicate.org/) in overlooks both the choice of the metric and effective for regime change. This is May 2019 for ‘success’ and runs in the face of probably the weakest point in the litany evidence which suggests sanctions hurt of arguments in favour of sanctions. large swathes of the ordinary population Sanctions have a poor record in bringing even when essentials like food and about regime change, as attested to by the medicine are officially excluded. Sanctions longevity of sanctioned regimes in several stymie economic growth, stoke price countries such as Zimbabwe, DPRK, rises through import compressions and currency crises, and undermine production and output by fuelling capacity underutilisation, if not outright failure of enterprises leading to mass layoffs and unemployment. Third, sanctions are deemed to be smart and impact in a targeted fashion. But in reality, comprehensive economic sanctions act as collective punishments squeezing out the middle classes and imposing a disproportionate burden on the lowest, most vulnerable, income Hassan Hakimian is Director of the groups. These are arguably the victims London Middle East Institute and a Reader of the very evil regimes sanctions are in the Department of Economics at SOAS. designed to punish. This is effectively like He was President of the International taking aim at the passengers of a bus with Iranian Economic Association (IIEA) and a delinquent driver in control, hoping is Series Editor for the ‘Routledge Political that the threat to the passengers will Economy of the Middle East’

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 9 IN MEMORIAM Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian (1922-2019)

Roxane Farmanfarmaian

Tehran and kept one of her mirror balls on from the museum’s stored holdings, she his table. couldn’t resist. Returning to Iran in 1957 with her second It was a trip that led eventually to her full- husband, Abol Bashar Farmanfarmaian, time return to Iran – and her subsequent an international lawyer and descendant of heady rise to international prominence. the Qajar dynasty, she travelled the country One of her first big commissions was for the amassing an important collection of coffee- Victoria & Albert Museum, to inaugurate house painting and Turkoman jewellery. the Jameel Gallery of Islamic Art in 2006. Their home hosted many international The timing was propitious. To the newly artists, including Frank Stella and wealthy Gulf Emirates seeking to establish Robert Morris, and as she mischievously themselves on the cultural stage through told Bahman Kiarostami in his 2008 the platform of modern Islamic art, Monir documentary, Monir, she painted a scene must have seemed heaven-sent. Being an of huge nudes on the floor of the pool in Iranian woman with a significant artistic Monir Farmanfarmaian with a selection of her mirror balls, Tehran, 1975. Photo courtesy of the her garden, which visitors could see from reputation who produced abstract work, artist’s family and Haines Gallery the window of the plane as they landed in she soon became a featured artist of the The Tehran. Third Line Gallery in Dubai, her output In 1966, visiting the Shah Cheragh expanding – even as she moved into her Mosque in Shiraz, with its mirrored walls eighties – to include monumental sculptural and central dome reflecting in constellations pieces. ranian artist, Monir Shahroudy of light the pilgrims’ movement below, In 2015, the Fundacao de Serralves, in Farmanfarmaian, pioneer of abstract Monir had an epiphany; her work Porto, Portugal mounted a comprehensive mirror-work, dies at 96. thenceforth used thousands of cut pieces retrospective, ‘Monir Shahroudy IMonir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, of mirror, tessellated over minimalist Farmanfarmaian: Infinite Possibility’, which who burst upon the international art scene structures of wood and metal – triangles, travelled to New York’s Guggenheim, at the age of 83 with a one-woman show polygons, hexagons, circles – the dazzling, making her the first Iranian woman artist to at New York’s Guggenheim Museum, often interlaced shapes bridging the worlds be featured in a solo show at the museum. combined Persian mirror-mosaic (aineh of Islamic mysticism and modernism. ‘My Yet, when asked how difficult it had been kari) and reverse-glass painting to create inspiration has always been the public art’, to achieve recognition in her art, Monir’s sculptural avant-garde geometries of Monir told the curator and art historian answer spoke volumes: ‘It was less difficult dancing, fractured light. The New York Hans Ulbrich Obrist in Interview magazine, being a woman than being an Iranian in Times described her as a ‘key actor in the later published in his monograph, Monir: these political times.’ worldwide development of abstract art’, Cosmic Geometry (2011). Monir was an artist of many firsts, and the Barbican catalogue for a group The 1979 Revolution saw Monir return though perhaps most poignant was the show curated by Rose Issa in 2001, notes, to New York, where she set up a studio in dedication by the Islamic Republic of Iran ‘Farmanfarmaian is surprisingly the her apartment and, like M.C. Escher, drew of the Monir Museum in 2017. Housed in only artist who explored the potential of by hand what today is more commonly a Qajar building in the old palace gardens [Iran’s heritage] mirror and glass as her rendered by computer – complex of Negarestan in Tehran, its significant main media.’Monir (as she is commonly algorithmic variations of line, interlocking collection of her work is testament to her known) led a life that was itself a mosaic of and merging, creating the illusion of depth ability to soar above the constraints of migration and revolution. Born in Qazvin and movement. A prolific artist, she also gender, exile, politics, and prejudice – and in northwestern Iran, during WWII she produced collages, cabinet-of-curiosity bring the beauty of light to art. moved to New York for art school and memory boxes and delicate reverse-glass worked at the department store, Bonwit paintings. But when, in 2004, the Tehran Roxane Farmanfarmaian, teaches modern Teller. There she designed the signature Museum of Contemporary Art and the Middle East politics at the University of lavender violet that for decades graced its Niavaran Cultural Centre invited her to Cambridge. Her publications include Blood shopping bags and also met Andy Warhol, return for a retrospective – partnered with and Oil: Memoirs of a Persian Prince and who was designing shoes for the store. The Frank Stella – showing for the first time War and Peace in Qajar Persia. She is the two became close: he later visited her in since the 1979 Revolution the collections niece of the artist, Monir

10 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2019 – THE NOVEL IN THE ARAB WORLD

From prose determined to present reality ‘as it is’ to a diversification of genre, style and subject, Hartmut Fähndrich describes the rise and evolution of the novel in the Arab World Prose: the modern chronicle of the Arabs

Khalil al-Khoury (1837- 1907)

enturies ago, the Arab ‘Republic topic of Arabic literary criticism in the (1860) by the Syrian-Lebanese Khalil of Letters’ was convinced that same way as it has in the West. al-Khoury, making fun of certain social poetry was the ‘Diwan’ of the Thus, the novel is, at present, the groups who, in their attempts to be more CArabs, meaning the register of their literary genre between Morocco and Iraq, European than the Europeans themselves, deeds, the chronicle of their events. In between Oman and Syria. For a long fail miserably and even make themselves poetry, so the 9th-century littérateur Ibn time, maybe from the beginning of the look ridiculous. There followed a long Qutayba claimed, the Arabs laid down 20th century, it was the framework of the series of prose works built on folktales all the information worth transmitting to ideological battle of Arab nationalism or translations and/or adaptations of posterity. It is a vision of the social role versus nation-state nationalism and anti- Western novels and short stories. Their of poetry that takes a long time to die out colonialism. The rise of the novel, in the purpose was, in addition to keeping and still enjoys a certain popularity in the Arab world as elsewhere, is intimately up with the Europeans, didactic and Arab World and well beyond. tied to, or at least advanced, by the entertaining. This is so even though prose writing has development of nation states in the area An important step in the evolution of long carried the torch, first predominantly during the first half of the 20th century. modern fiction in the Arab world came as short stories, later – and by now mainly There was, to be sure, prose writing with the formation of nation states, a – as novels, and literary criticism has before that, first attempts to tie up Arabic development closely connected with anti- claimed, ever since the interwar period, fiction with modern international (i.e. colonialist struggles. In different varieties for prose literature (now mainly the novel) Western) literary developments – in terms and shades and with time differences due the role of this Diwan of the Arabs. It is of style and genre as well as in terms of to disparate stages of development, this narration, storytelling, so the argument content. One of the very first examples can be observed in many Arab countries, runs, that is needed to come to grips with is the story Alas, I am not European first and foremost in Egypt (where it has the riddles of our times, not the awe- inspiring verbal juggling of poetry. It is a red thread that is needed, not the free The novel is, at present, the literary genre between Morocco and associations of images. Iraq, between Oman and Syria…from the beginning of the 20th In brief, we no longer live in the age of poetry but in the age of the novel. The century, it was the framework of the ideological battle of Arab death of the novel has not been a favourite nationalism versus nation-state nationalism and anti-colonialism

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 11 From the 1960s the style and content of Arabic prose traditions. To speak about THE Arabic novel, implying similarities in substance writing multiplied. Reality was no longer considered and style beyond the Arabic language, to be a fixed state but became as variegated as would certainly not or no longer seem appropriate. Too different are the works of the narrative forms developed to reflect on it Arabic literature produced between Iraq and Morocco, between Oman and Syria. been particularly well studied) but also in unsurprisingly, to Arab circumstances There are novels on cities and others on Iraq, Lebanon and – first in French, later ever since, as has William Faulkner’s villages; novels that try to remain on earth in Arabic – in the North African countries polyphony following the translation of his and others that carry away into realms of under French domination. Literature The Sound and the Fury by the eminent fantasy and absurdity. Human ‘reality’, in took over the national task – formulated Palestinian novelist Jabra Ibrahim Jabra the Arab world as elsewhere, goes much by umpteen authors, critics and literary in 1961. beyond traditional and unifying ‘realism’. circles – to present ‘realistically’ what were Now style and content multiplied. considered the particularities of a people, Reality was no longer considered to be a Reprinted from vol. 15, no. 1 (2019) a nation and a region. Individuals were fixed state but became as variegated as the shown embedded in their society or in narrative forms developed to reflect on confrontation with it, including the fight it. Topics ranged from the particular and as individuals or groups for their daily the local to the general and the universal, bread and against the occupying force. from the detailed description of village Literature, thus, became an illustration life to the mythological treatment of and a means of propagating national human existence, touching upon social, identity as formulated at the same time political, cultural, ecological, religious by politicians, cultural activists and and other questions and not infrequently historians. drawing on stylistic and topical elements There was, to be sure, behind the from the rich tradition of centuries of attempts to articulate a national identity Arabic writing. strong social and political criticism in It was this trend that led to the still the works then produced, but the style ongoing debate about the position of almost exclusively followed the model contemporary Arabic prose between of European Realism and Naturalism European import and autochthonous insisting that the literary work was a narrative traditions, the latter consisting true mirror of lived reality and implying of a huge treasure of both scholarly that this reality could be appropriately writings and popular literature. There narrated ‘as it is’. are authors thoroughly imbued with Realism of this kind, of an art that this tradition, and others deliberately mirrors the so-called reality the way it neglecting it, and there are many in is, avoiding anything that is not ‘real’ or between. And they all do what novelists ‘possible’, was eventually complemented all over the world do: to sense, not unlike or, indeed, pushed somewhat aside in a seismograph, tremors in their world and order to make conventional ‘realist’ present them in one of the great variety of writing just one kind of several. This forms and styles internationally available happened during and following the time enriched by the local or regional narrative of the big upheavals in the Arab world during the 1950s, the 1960s and the 1970s when shock waves ran through the whole region, upsetting generally shared and propagated certainties – political, social, cultural. Hartmut Fähndrich has translated into Simultaneously with this ‘diversification’ German over 60 Arabic literary novels of Arabic prose writing mainly in the and collections of short stories, whose 1960s, a widening of the acquaintance authors are mainly from Palestine, by Arab authors with international Lebanon, Egypt and Libya. In 2016 he novel and short-story writing could be was awarded Switzerland’s special Grand observed including the debates about the Prix de Littérature for Translation, the nature and function of literature: Jean- first time awarded for translation from Paul Sartre and his idea about littérature Arabic. He studied Comparative Literature engagée became en vogue, as did Ernest and Islamic Studies in Germany and the Hemingway’s short and concise sentences. USA and taught Arabic language and Franz Kafka’s Kafkaesque atmosphere civilisation at the Swiss Federal Institute of became known and has been applied, not Technology in Zürich, 1978-2014

12 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2019 – IRANIAN CINEMA

Asal Bagheri provides a brief analysis of Everybody Knows Asghar Farhadi’s cinema: a family torn apart

Film poster advertising Everybody Knows, directed by Asghar Farhadi

verybody Knows (2018), in the young, middle class couples torn between from Tehran to Spain, stopping by Paris, same vein as world famous Iranian tradition and modernity, between the betrayal, lying and secrets are the leitmotivs director Asghar Farhadi’s seven past and the future. By using significant of the Farhadian style. He pushes these Eother movies, is a social family drama with indices – such as a lack of warm colours themes so far that the form embraces the an emphasis on concealment and what in clothes and set design and the selection substance, the first becoming a tool for the remains unsaid. On the occasion of her of desaturated colour palates to set the establishment of the second. Ellipsis is one sister’s wedding, Laura returns with her tone and atmosphere of his films – Farhadi of Farhadi’s favourite narrative techniques, children to her native village in the heart of reveals a cold relationship between the which puts the spectator in a situation of a Spanish vineyard. But unexpected events couples in his movies. The couples also uncertainty until he decides to reveal a disrupt her stay and resurrect a past long display few gestures of love or affection, truth. buried. and few comforting words are exchanged. In Everybody Knows the spectator In most of his films, Farhadi focusses on No matter which geography he chooses, discovers more information as the story progresses; a character reveals a secret to Ellipsis is one of Farhadi’s favourite narrative another character and at the same time to the spectator, or important information is techniques, which puts the spectator in a situation divulged through a secretive conversation of uncertainty until he decides to reveal a truth between two characters.

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 13 The soundscape communicates to the the emptiness of the small epiphanies in the family reunions: the outraged mind of audience the heavy atmosphere of the story a parent who tries to make a child laugh, and indicates the taboos that will soon blow up the exaggerated dance of a party-goer who amuses the gallery, and the embraces of a In the beginning of the film, a young to Paco that Irene is his daughter, she family that is gradually going to break apart girl, Irene, who is later the victim of a puts him in a moral dilemma. She asks over unresolved old conflicts. crime, discovers that her mother, Laura, him to sell his land to pay the kidnappers. and a family friend, Paco, were lovers in In Farhadi’s cinematographic structure, The invisible threads of social classes their youth. Later, Laura reveals to Paco women always find ways out of the defined The triggering event of the story, the that Irene is his daughter and informs ethical frames to save the situation and in kidnapping of a girl in the midst of a her family that her husband has been the end, men, by choosing the ethical ‘right bourgeois wedding celebration, shakes unemployed for more than two years. way’, settle the situation. the superficial harmony on screen. The Even more shocking is the discovery of euphoric snapshots of siblings celebrating a kidnapping plot, information that the The unbearable weight of the family the wedding are juxtaposed with the faces filmmaker withholds from the audience In Everybody Knows, the heavy weight of of onlookers contemplating, without joy. until the very end of the film. family relationships and the unsaid secrets Thus, Paco (Javier Bardem, the true hero over the years is depicted from the first of the film) initially suspects his emigrant Women despite men frame. But more than the images, it is the employees of being behind the abduction, In all of Farhadi’s movies, women try to soundscape of the film that is witness to not by purely racist reflex but by asking the do something to change the problematic the unfolding revelations: from the ticking perverse question ‘What if ...?’ before being situations the couple finds themselves in, of a clock (suspense), to the too early himself violently brought back to his social despite the refusal of the men. In Fireworks ding-dong of a bell (the announcement origin (he is the son of a servant) by the Wednesday (2006), Mojdeh follows her of a ceremony that will go wrong), to the patriarch of the family. husband to find out if he is unfaithful, roar of a drone flying over a wedding and in the process she gets hit by him; party (the overhanging gods that dictate The final word meanwhile, the mistress is the one who the fate of mortals), to the thunderclap Everybody Knows, in addition to the finally ends the relationship, despite her that precedes the vibration of a telephone usual themes of Farhadi’s cinema, such as lover’s pleas. Rouhi, the housekeeper feels (the devastation of a mother who reads differences in social classes, depicts the compelled to testify to the loyalty of his a message confirming her greatest fears), complete deterioration of the foundations employer, despite his doubts, in order to to the creaking of a poorly oiled door of the family. The grandfather of the family, save the couple’s relationship. In About that resonates in a deserted house (the an elderly man, is a lonely man who is Elly (2009), Sepideh repeatedly lies to save loneliness of a man who sacrificed his hated by the entire village. Over the years a situation, starting with the beginning existence). It is this soundscape that he has lost his fortune due to gambling. The of their journey where she lies to the communicates to the audience the heavy new groom of the family and his young owner of the villa about Elly and Ahmad’s atmosphere of the story and indicates the wife hate their family. Laura’s husband relationship. Finally, it is for one of her taboos that will soon blow up. is bankrupt and unemployed. Paco sells lies that Sepideh gets violently hit by her The sound obeys a well-defined his vineyard, his only possession, and husband. In A Separation (2011), it is rhythmic strategy, encapsulating thriller his wife may be leaving him. And finally, Simin who decides to leave her husband; moments while pointing out the emptiness the joyful Irene is turned into a beaten and later, Simin also tries to fix a tricky of the images that scroll on the screen. and traumatised girl. Three generations situation by attempting to pay the caretaker Because emptiness is perhaps precisely mistreated by the script reveal allegories of that her husband, Nader, shoved out the the subject of the film, Farhadi insists on an ailing past, present and future. Insisting door and onto the stairs. The caretaker, on symbols and objects (the clock, a door Razieh, who is responsible for looking after tossed by the wind), Farhadi depicts a Nader’s elderly father, and her husband tragic thriller which laboriously gives flesh also have a similar Farhadian relationship: to fate. Razieh works without the knowledge of her husband in order to pay his debts. She Reprinted from vol. 15, no. 2 (2019) is also ultimately the one who makes the decision not to accept money from the well-to-do Simin and Nader, because she is Asal Bagheri has a PhD in Semiology and no longer sure that the loss of her baby was Linguistics, with a specialization in Iranian due to Nader’s mistreatment of her. Cinema. She’s the author of the thesis In Everybody Knows Laura, played by Men & women relationships in post- Penelope Cruz, like all other women in revolutionary Iranian Cinema: Directors’ Farhadi’s movies, seems to be a passive strategies and semiotic analysis. Her woman. Nevertheless, she is the one, forthcoming book, which will be published despite her husband’s refusal, who decides in French, is entitled Feelings, Love and to reveal a very important secret to save Sexuality: the Cinema’s Dilemma in her daughter from kidnappers. Revealing Islamic Republic of Iran

14 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2019 – PALESTINE Arrests, interrogations, demolitions and harassment. A lack of water and access to education. Mike Scott-Baumann describes life under occupation Eight days on the (Wild?) West Bank

International volunteers building the walls of a community centre in Bardala in the Jordan Valley. Photograph by Rashed Khudairy of the Jordan Solidarity Campaign

aving completed an MA in The community centre is to serve as for the village of Bardala, which has Palestine Studies at SOAS in 2018 a meeting place for the inhabitants of rich, fertile agricultural land capable of and written a dissertation on the several villages. None of these villages has growing vegetables such as aubergine, HIsraeli occupation of the West Bank, I was a school. There was one once, but it was tomato and cucumber. But it requires a keen to visit the land. So, in October, I demolished by the Israeli Defence Forces reliable supply of water. The Jordan Valley spent eight days there under the auspices (IDF) on the grounds that it had not has plentiful supplies of water (from of the Israeli Committee Against House been granted a permit: in Area C, which the river and springs). However, control Demolitions (ICAHD), together with 20 includes most of the Jordan Valley, no of the water supply gives Israel control other international volunteers. wells can be dug and no new structures over the Palestinians, as the following We spent four days helping to build built (houses, schools or medical clinics) examples demonstrate. Israel has reduced a community centre in the village of without the permission of the Israeli the village’s water supply. Occasionally Bardala, in the north of the Jordan Valley. ‘Civilian Administration’ (in practice, they cut it off completely. In fact, on 17 We worked under the guidance of a the military). According to UN statistics, September, a month before we arrived, farmer, an activist in the Jordan Valley permission is very rarely granted. Israeli forces moved in with three military Solidarity Campaign. The centre of the Farming is the main source of income jeeps and two bulldozers to cut off the village is in Area B (under Palestinian municipal control but overall Israeli Israeli settlers in the Jordan Valley receive a 75 per cent military control) but the outskirts and neighbouring villages are in Area C reduction in the price they have to pay for their (under direct Israeli military rule). water... And their water supply is unlimited

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 15 water supply and destroy 500 metres of The Palestinian population in the Valley has fallen from pipes that irrigate local farms, thereby threatening the livelihood of 50 farmers. approximately 300,000 to 60,000 since 1967. Many of those In a very small village nearby, the community water supply was left reside in Jericho…perhaps only 20,000 continue farming permanently cut off; residents are forced the land or grazing their herds. Many have migrated to Jordan to pay for tankers to bring water in on a weekly basis. Sometimes those tankers and Syria; as refugees they are not allowed to return are impounded. A nearby stream had been polluted by sewage from the Israeli when alone, he had been handcuffed, in the village of Bureen, near Nablus. settlement above, rendering it unfit blindfolded and interrogated. Fortunately, During that time we stayed in the nearby for human or animal consumption. his goats – his livelihood – found their way village of Awarta in the house of Jamal, an Significantly, Israeli settlers in the Jordan home without him: otherwise, he might olive farmer, who had, in the past, been Valley, as well as in the rest of the West have lost his flock, either to dehydration attacked by settlers. On one occasion he Bank, receive a 75 per cent reduction or disorientation. The soldiers were fled with his son after their tractor was in the price they have to pay for their no doubt told (and believed) that they torched. We picked olives on land located water, most of which comes from Israeli- were protecting outpost settlers and just below a settlement that is owned by controlled aquifers. And their water that the shepherd, under the influence a family that is now too afraid to harvest supply is unlimited, even for swimming of activists/internationals, was a threat. their olives due to frequent harassment pools. More likely an explanation is that his by armed settlers. We took turns on One day we visited the farmer Abu arrest and interrogation was an example ‘guard duty’. Many Israeli settlements are Sakr in the village of Al-Hadidya, a of the harassment and humiliation classed as outposts, unofficial and not Bedouin community. The village, which designed to deter the shepherd from recognised by the Israeli government, but is surrounded by three military bases using his customary grazing grounds. The the settlers themselves are armed and, and three settlements, used to be home destruction of Palestinians’ livelihoods invariably, soldiers are posted nearby. to 54 families; after the demolitions now would appear to be a deliberate aim of Many such ‘outposts’ are connected to only 12 remain. Abu Sakr grazes sheep both settlers and military. Israel’s national electricity grid and water and goats. He is a local leader, significant Given the arrests, interrogations, supplies and they are retrospectively enough to have been invited to address a demolitions and lack of access to water authorised. committee of the European Parliament. and education prevalent in this one small Over the course of eight days we His house has been destroyed many times, area – and the fact that much of the most witnessed many different forms of likely in response to his activism: initially fertile land in the Jordan Valley was seized harassment perpetrated by both settlers razed to the ground, then partially rebuilt by the Israelis for commercial use in 1967 and the IDF. But we also witnessed a by the family the next morning only to be – it is not surprising that the Palestinian remarkable resilience, sumoud, in spite destroyed yet again, and so on. He spoke population in the Valley has fallen from of the ongoing trauma that is life under with power, passion and conviction, approximately 300,000 to 60,000 since occupation. Many remain determined to swearing that he would never leave his 1967. Many of those left reside in Jericho, stay on their land, to stay in their homes, land. the only major city in the Valley, so and not give up. It is both inspiring One day, five members of our group, perhaps only 20,000 continue farming the and humbling. However, increasing accompanied by a rabbi from Torat land or grazing their herds. Many have displacement, particularly from Area C, Tzedet, went out in the morning with migrated to Jordan and Syria; as refugees attests to the success of an Israeli policy a shepherd and his goats. At one point, they are not allowed to return. than can only be described as ethnic three members of the IDF (all young) We spent four days harvesting olives cleansing, even if most Israelis describe it appeared and accosted them. When asked as Judaisation. what the group was doing one member explained that they were protecting the Reprinted from vol. 15, no. 3 (2019) shepherd from harassment by the settlers from the hilltop. This explanation was met with sarcasm (‘poor shepherd’). The group was then informed that they were in a ‘military firing zone’. While 56 per cent of the Jordan Valley is categorised as closed military firing zone, little of it is used as such. Although the rabbi had a map to show that they were not in fact in the military firing zone, the IDF disagreed. Mike Scott-Baumann graduated in History No doubt they were under orders to stop from Cambridge in 1972. He has taught and interrogate the shepherd and his history in schools and colleges for 35 years ‘protectors’. The shepherd was detained and he has written about the Middle East for longer than the volunteers, and and modern Britain for students of both A not for the first time: two days earlier, level and the International Baccalaureate

16 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2018

Volume 14 - Number 1 £4 December 2017 – January 2018

Volume 14 - Number 2 February – March 2018

£4

Volume 14 - Number 3 April – May 2018 £4

THIS ISSUE struggle ● : PALESTINE ● Israel as aIs ‘Jewish Trump andthe Grinchdemocratic who stolestate’? Palestinian Christmas? Volume 14 - Number● Tunisia’s 4 ballooning● Authoritarian civil June – July 2018£4 musical experiments ● New regional alliances and the Palestinian ● Tunisia: seven years later Studies bookPLUS series ● ● Bringing Arab musicians to British stages ● Women’s rights in Tunisiain London since the ● Palestinian youth formations : TUNISIA The cultural environment in post-2011 Tunisia ● Palestine as an academic field of study ● Gaza in a wheelchair ● ● Al-Nahda ● Photo competition results Volume 14 - Number 5 THIS ISSUE October – November 2018 ● Literature unchained ● Palestinian society ● The SOAS Palestine ● PLUS revival and elite● reconfiguration Reforming Tunisia’s in Tunisia informal economy Reviews and events £4 2011 uprisings

Reviews and events in London

THIS ISSUE: EGYPT ● What to expect from El-Sisi’s second term? ● The January 25th Revolution as liminal crisis ● Setting the platform for Egypt’s next economic crisis ● Egypt is failing its people ● Workers and military entrepreneurs in neoliberal Egypt ● The Muslim Brotherhood in El-Sisi’s prisons ● Giulio Regeni’s murder ● Psychoanalysis, criminality and the law in post-WWII Egypt ● PLUS Reviews and events in London

THIS ISSUE China’s One Belt, One ● ● ● China’s participationIran’s environment● : IRANamidst economic uncertainty Citadel ● Sanctions are back China ‘East of Suez’● ● ● A new chapter‘For everything there is a season…’ : China and the Middle East ● The struggle for the rule of law in Iran ● PLUS Reviews and events in London● In cannabis veritas THIS ISSUE● From ‘economy● only’Following to ‘keeper in ●American Culturalof international footsteps?encounters order’ along the Silk Roads ● Postcard from Iran Road initiative Reviews and events in London ● Recreating the ● The Ferdowsi Library in Middle East security affairs ● PLUS China’s contradictory policy towards Israel ● Translating Arabic literature in China

● Tunisia (December 2017/January 2018) ● China and the Middle East ● Palestine (February/March 2018) (June/July 2018) ● Egypt (April/May 2018) ● Iran (October/November 2018)

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 17 2018 – TUNISIA Since 2011, Tunisia has been shaped by the instability in Libya, a weak economy, a toughening political environment and a growing strain of authoritarianism. But the vitality of the revolution is not completely lost. George Joffé explains Tunisia: seven years later

Carthage Hall in the Bardo National Museum in Tunis, Tunisia. Photograph

©Walid Mahfoudh, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Commons, CC BY-SA Wikimedia Mahfoudh, ©Walid by Walid Mahfoudh

t is now almost seven years since to tourists about the dangers of travel to The economic conundrum Tunisia led the way in the Arab Tunisia at the end of July. The most immediate yet chronic Awakening by forcing an end to the Terrorist violence now seems confined crisis, however, is over Tunisia’s ailing Iautocratic Ben Ali regime and introducing to the periphery of the state: there are economy. Most of the consequent unrest a democratic political system in its ongoing attacks in the Jebel Chaamba is centred on Tunisia’s impoverished place. It has not been an easy transition border region around Kassarine, and in southern region, at Gabes, the centre given the security crisis that Tunisia has March 2016 there was an attack by the of the phosphates industry, where faced in recent years – partly because of Islamic State (IS) on Ben Guerdane in the protests have caused losses of $2 billion the worsening chaos in neighbouring deep south, close to the Libyan border, in production since 2011, and in the Libya but also due to some apparently for example. Now IS and other extremist province of Tataouine, which contains intractable problems, both political and groups in Libya are more concerned oil and gas fields. Since May 2017, one economic, that the country must still with survival as the Libyan National thousand protesters have been living in a confront. Army – in reality an Eastern Libya militia makeshift camp at al-Kamour, close to a Surprisingly, given the attack on the coalition under Khalifa Haftar – moves pumping station on a major gas pipeline, Bardo Museum in Tunis in mid-March into Tripolitania. But the threat has not demanding more jobs. 2015, the subsequent attack on tourists in entirely gone away, even if IS has been The government has tried to respond a beach hotel in Sousse at the end of June expelled from Sabratha; an estimated and the Prime Minister, Youssef Chahed, in the same year, and a lethal attack on the 8,000 young Tunisians are believed to offered new infrastructure and 900 new presidential guard in Tunis the following have joined IS, mainly in Libya but also in jobs when he visited Tataouine, only November, the security situation now Syria and Iraq. to be shouted down with demands for seems to be under control. Tunisia’s 3,500 new jobs with oil companies and police and army have been re-equipped and retrained with American and British The most immediate yet chronic crisis help to such a degree that the British government removed its travel warning is over Tunisia’s ailing economy

18 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 Despite the growing authoritarianism in Tunisia’s formal public Islamist movement did not try to expand its ministerial presence and tolerated the life, the real vitality of the revolution remains inside civil society return to ministerial rank of two former Ben Ali personalities. $50 million in local investment. Foreign the protesters and, even worse, as a threat The President, however – who also companies operating in the south are to the army’s traditional neutrality in dislikes Tunisia’s mixed parliamentary- unsettled; although ENI professed political matters; rarely has the army been executive presidency system seeking unconcern, OMV removed 700 non- ordered to intervene in the domestic an executive presidency instead – essential staff, whilst Perenco halted scene – an arena normally left to the has not returned the compliment, production and Serinus Energy’s oil fields police. His initiative, however, highlighted describing al-Nahda in a speech in were closed down. the other great concern that Tunisians September as ‘a disappointment’ for The economic problems in northern now feel: what they see as a toughening not shedding its Islamist image entirely Tunisia are far less intractable; the Sahel political environment. to become a national conservative and the Tunis regions have always been party instead. He has repeatedly better developed, but the wealth they Politics – back to the future? challenged it; forcing through the generate has never seeped down to the Nidaa Tounes’s victory in Tunisia’s Administrative Reconciliation Law to south. The result has been that, since the legislative elections in late October 2014 rehabilitate thousands of former regime Revolution, the south has also become and its leader, Caid Essebsi’s accession administrators and businessmen, delaying the domain of the informal sector, relying to the presidency have raised a series municipal elections, yet again, from on the chaos in neighbouring Libya and of knotty questions over the country’s December to March 2018, removing the the smuggling of consumer goods and political future for the party has been ban on Tunisian women marrying non- vast amounts of refined fuels, which widely seen as a vehicle for the old Muslim men and threatening to change has created a new business elite there. political elites of the Ben Ali era. In family law as well to allow women equal These southern elites have no interest addition, the party has added to political inheritance rights to men. Although in challenging the traditional economic instability because, as President, Caid secularists and feminists have hailed elites of the north, despite the claims Essebsi had to stand down from his the latter two initiatives, not least the of some commentators. And while the position within the party, but he has tried Algerian writer, Kamel Daoud, in the New majority of the southern population to get his son to replace him instead. York Times, the aim has really been to remains excluded from the wealth this The parliamentary party has now split, unsettle al-Nahda. new informal sector generates, they with 16 of its members forming a new have learned that only protests and party, bringing Tunisia’s total number of Civil Society – the true alternative? demonstrations guarantee government political parties to 262! More importantly, Yet, despite the growing concern and response. it has lost its parliamentary majority with authoritarianism in Tunisia’s formal Shortly after the demonstrations broke al-Nahda replacing it as the largest party. public life, the real vitality of the out in May, Tunisia’s President, Beji Caid Al-Nahda, however, has not claimed revolution remains inside civil society. Essebsi, announced that he had instructed the premiership, preferring instead to That is an arena that the revival of the the army to intervene to protect Tunisia’s preserve Nidaa Tounes as political point ancien régime through Nidaa Tounes natural resources. His move was man and coalition partner. Even in cannot touch, even though it may try interpreted as an attempt to face down the cabinet reshuffle in September the to do so. Thus, although the Instance Verité et Dignité, Tunisia’s own Truth and Dignity Commission instituted to provide transitional justice to 62,000 victims of the former regime, has been attacked by the President who dislikes its head, Sihem Bensedrine, and sees it as a challenge to his own chosen formulation of the reconciliation law, it had, by the start of March 2017, settled 23,000 of the cases brought before it. It is, therefore, inside the realm of civil society that the real success of the Tunisian revolution lies.

Reprinted from vol. 14, no. 1 (2018)

George Joffé is a member of the magazine’s Editorial Board

Sihem Bensedrine, now head of Tunisia’s Truth and Dignity Commission. Photograph by fhimt.

© fhimt.com, Flickr: Sihem Ben Sedrine, CC BY 2.0 © fhimt.com, Flickr: Sihem Ben Sedrine, CC BY com

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 19 2018 – PALESTINE

Adam Hanieh lists signs of growing cooperation between Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE and the ramifications for Palestine Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates: New regional © Public Domain, Flickr.com alliances and the Palestinian struggle

President Donald Trump and King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia talk together during ceremonies, 20 May 2017, at the Royal Court Palace in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead

he 6 December announcement by strategy of a US-sponsored negotiations of the Arab uprisings that spread across US President Donald Trump to process. Reminiscent of the Second the Middle East from 2010 onwards. recognise Jerusalem as the capital Intifada of the early 2000s, Palestinian An unprecedented shift in the relations Tof Israel and move the US embassy to media has presented non-stop coverage of between these three states is evident over the city has thrown Middle East politics all of these protests and debate. There can the past few years, marked by a growing into renewed turmoil. Political and be little doubt that the ramifications of the convergence on the key political questions religious leaders around the world have US announcement will be felt for many facing the Middle East region. condemned the move, with hundreds of years to come. Most significant to this emerging protests organised in major cities across Yet a major issue that has received political alliance has been the question of the globe. Spiralling demonstrations little attention in commentary around Iran. Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE throughout Palestine itself have been these developments is the wider have waged an increasingly bellicose met with violent repression – at the time regional context: most particularly, campaign against Iran’s regional influence. of writing nine Palestinians have been the increasingly open political alliance In the wake of the Arab uprisings, Saudi killed in these clashes, with thousands between Israel and the two leading Gulf Arabia and the UAE have sought to more wounded or arrested. Palestinian Cooperation Council (GCC) states, Saudi project themselves as the key hegemonic political leaders have pledged to boycott Arabia and the United Arab Emirates powers throughout the rest of the region. relations with US officials in the wake (UAE). While not a new development – it The US has provided strong support for of the decision, and widespread calls has been a longstanding objective of US this effort, including the endorsement from across the political spectrum are Middle East policy for decades – it is one and arming of the Saudi-led war against demanding a break with the moribund that has received a major push in the wake Yemen that began in 2015, as well as conspicuous encouragement of the Gulf An unprecedented shift in the relations between these three states in their attempts to steer political transitions in other Arab states. All of this states is evident, marked by a growing convergence on the key has been fully aligned with the orientation political questions facing the Middle East region of the new US administration.

20 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 The single major obstacle to any attempt to force a deal existence of a new US ‘peace plan’ negotiated with the support of Saudi on the Palestinian leadership remains the aspirations Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman of the wider Palestinian population presents a major challenge to Palestinian politics. Such a plan is said to differ little from the current territorial status quo Reinforcing this political convergence Such military and diplomatic relations – formal recognition of a Palestinian between the two Gulf states and Israel, between Israel, Saudi Arabia and the UAE state on parts of the West Bank and numerous military, diplomatic and are further strengthened by commercial Gaza Strip currently controlled by the commercial ties have become evident over ties – most notably in the security, Palestinian Authority (PA), denial of the recent years. In late March 2017, Israeli surveillance and high-tech sectors. Israeli right of return of Palestinian refugees, newspapers reported that Israeli and UAE media and the international business and continued Israeli control over border pilots flew alongside one another during press have documented the sale of Israeli crossings and the Palestinian economy. the Iniochos exercise, a joint military security and military hardware to both In the current environment it would be training session held in Greece between Gulf states over recent years, including extremely difficult for the Palestinian 27 March and 6 April. This was not the the participation of Israeli firms in Abu leadership to give their consent to first time such joint exercises took place. Dhabi’s mass-surveillance system, Falcon any new deal. Nonetheless, given the In August 2016, Israel and the UAE also Eye, installed throughout the emirate in considerable political and financial met at the US Air Force’s Red Flag aerial 2016. Even Israel’s largest private military connections between the PA and the combat exercise in Nevada. The public company, Elbit Systems, is reported to Gulf states, we can expect that significant nature of these exercises points to the have sold missile defense systems to Saudi pressure will be brought to bear on increasingly brazen openness of military Arabia through its US-based subsidiary the Palestinian leadership to accept coordination between Israel and the UAE Kollsman Inc. any proposed deal. Indeed, Palestinian – something that would have not been Whether these new regional President Mahmoud Abbas has made possible a few short years ago. partnerships played a direct role in almost weekly visits to Saudi Arabia and Relationships between Israel and Saudi giving a green light to Trump’s Jerusalem other Gulf states through the latter part of Arabia are also increasingly public. Israeli announcement is not yet public 2017 – presumably linked to the behind- media reported in mid-2015 that the knowledge, but they were undoubtedly an the-scenes negotiations around such a two countries had held five clandestine important factor within the calculations plan. meetings since early 2014. In June 2015, of US policymakers and Trump himself. All of this points to how the emerging the then-director general of the Israeli The fact that Trump’s son-in-law and Saudi-UAE alliance with Israel will Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dore Gold, special advisor, Jared Kushner, had profoundly shape the future of the spoke together with retired Saudi general engaged in months of shuttle-diplomacy Palestinian national struggle. The single Anwar Eshki in a public event at the between Riyadh, Tel Aviv and Washington major obstacle to Trump’s Jerusalem US-based Council on Foreign Relations. in the lead up to the announcement announcement and any attempt to force a Eshki, who has served in the Saudi foreign makes Saudi advance knowledge deal on the Palestinian leadership remains ministry, also led a delegation of Saudi extremely likely. Despite a verbal the aspirations of the wider Palestinian academics and businesspeople to Israel in condemnation, the Kingdom has made no population – including the millions of 2016 where they met with leading Israeli attempt to utilise its considerable financial Palestinian refugees scattered across politicians and military figures. Similarly, and political influence to pressure the the Middle East. Whether Palestinian in May 2016, former Israeli National Trump administration to reverse the rights are ultimately subordinated to the Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror held a decision. interests of this new pan-regional alliance public discussion with the former Saudi In this context, the widely-reported remains an open question. intelligence chief Prince Turki al-Faisal at the Washington Institute for Near East Reprinted from vol. 14, no. 2 (2018) Policy. Such public appearances could not have happened without the approval of the Saudi ruling family. Moreover, regional negotiations between Israel and Saudi Arabia almost certainly took place as part a 2017 decision by Egypt to transfer two islands in the Red Sea to Saudi control. The proximity of these islands to Israel, and the fact that they could Adam Hanieh is a Reader in Development affect Israel’s shipping routes, means Studies at SOAS, University of London, that the agreement represents – at least and an advisory board member of the at a de facto level – Saudi consent to the Centre for Palestine Studies (SOAS). His 1979 Peace Agreement between Egypt most recent book is Lineages of Revolt: and Israel, which guaranteed Israel full Issues of Contemporary Capitalism in the maritime rights in the Red Sea. Middle East (Haymarket Books, 2013)

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 21 2018 – EGYPT The legacy of recent governments in Egypt is one beset with illiteracy, malnourishment and poverty. Robert Springborg explains how and why Egyptians are falling behind Egypt is failing its people © Michael Gwyther-Jones, Flickr.com, CC BY 2.0 CC BY Flickr.com, © Michael Gwyther-Jones,

A group of children playing near the Nile River. Photograph by Michael Gwyther-Jones

gypt is facing a population boom it Although the birth rate declined during overall Human Development Index, Egypt can ill afford. There are more than the first decade of the Mubarak era, it scores twenty places below its ranking on 100 million Egyptians globally, of began to grow again after that when GDP per capita, while on the narrower Ewhom 93 million reside in Egypt. The female members of the ‘youth bulge’ Education Index it is 35 places below the population growth rate of 2.4 per cent reached child-bearing age, and fertility level it should achieve according to its per annum is five times that of developed rates increased (unexpectedly) due to GDP per capita. Only about two thirds countries and double the average for rising poverty and decreasing female of adult Egyptians are literate, a ratio far developing countries. UN projections participation in the labour force. In 2013, behind that of Turkey (89 per cent) or estimate that the population will exceed 2.6 million babies were born, almost 50 Thailand (94 per cent). 150 million by 2050; by the end of the per cent more than a decade before. The educational system emphasises century it is expected to exceed 200 Egypt neither educates nor employs quantity over quality and largely fails to million. By 2040 Egypt will be more its youths adequately. On the United address the needs of the poor. Egyptian populous than either Russia or Japan. Nations Development Programme’s pupils’ performance on the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) tests are well below Egypt neither educates nor employs its youths adequately… middle-income country averages. The educational system emphasises quantity over quality Inequality offers one explanation for educational under-performance, and largely fails to address the needs of the poor inadequate government expenditure

22 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 Egypt has become a major supplier of organ transplants saying that Egypt ‘ranks first in illegal immigration rates worldwide’. As of 2015, as impoverished citizens opt to sell them Egypt is among 20 countries globally with the highest number of people living offers another. Relative to GDP per capita, 2016, campus protests included groups abroad, in part, The Economist of 6 August Egyptian teachers are the lowest paid in of graduates burning their PhD and MA 2016 notes, ‘because of a surging volume the MENA region. The World Economic diplomas in protest against the lack of of refugees’. Forum ranked Egypt’s higher education suitable jobs. Those lower down the social Successive military-dominated regimes, 126th out of 134 countries and 128th on ladder take more drastic measures; Egypt in sum, have paid insufficient attention the degree to which it satisfied the needs has become a major supplier of organ to the well-being of Egyptian citizens, of the country’s labour market. Only transplants as impoverished citizens opt especially young ones, as the 2016 Arab 10 per cent of graduates from tertiary to sell them. In 2010 the World Health Human Development Report attests. educational institutions are in science Organization named Egypt as one of the They have not bothered to educate and and engineering, about half the average top five countries for illegal organ trade. train youths properly, nor to ensure even share in Middle East and North African An organ trafficking ring of doctors, their basic nutrition. As a consequence, countries. nurses and professors was rounded up the labour force is steadily losing its Given that the overall recruitment pool by authorities in 2016 and proclaimed competitiveness to other middle and from which the labour force is drawn is by the government to be the world’s lower-middle-income countries, including comparatively poor, as well as poorly and largest, operating out of a range of public neighbouring ones such as Morocco and even mis-educated, it is not surprising and private health centres and hospitals Tunisia. Egyptians are rushing to the exits that the labour force is relatively non- as well as the faculties of medicine at in ever-greater numbers, facing uncertain competitive. The overall labour force Cairo and Ain Shams Universities. Egypt futures in an increasingly hostile Europe participation rate of 49 per cent compares ranks second among African countries and even less receptive Gulf countries. to Bangladesh’s 71 per cent and Thailand’s for the number of drug trials conducted The current regime’s policies signal that 72 per cent. Unemployment is a chronic by pharmaceutical companies; citizens it, like its predecessors, is failing its own problem. Official figures understate submit themselves to trials for payment people. the magnitude of the problem, partly and to receive treatments they otherwise because the definition of employment could not afford. This article draws on chapter five of the used is a minimum of one hour of work Faced with these dire circumstances, author’s Egypt, published in 2017 by Polity per week to qualify as employed. The an increasing number of Egyptians Press. Economist claimed in August 2016 that are voting with their feet. A growing the real unemployment rate for youths percentage of Mediterranean boat people Reprinted from vol. 14, no. 3 (2018) that year was at least 40 per cent; for and the human traffickers transporting university graduates it was 34 per cent. them are Egyptian nationals. In July The International Labour Organization 2015 the country was placed on the reported in 2014 that 91 per cent of US State Department’s ‘watch list’ for employed youths between 15 and 29 Global Trafficking in Persons. Egyptian worked in the informal sector, meaning Government data reported 90,000 youths without contracts, health insurance or departing Egypt illegally in 2015, as pensions. compared to 15,000 in 2009. In October Associated with rising unemployment 2016 the Minister of Immigration and is growing poverty. In 2000 the overall Egyptian Expatriate Affairs was quoted poverty rate was 17 per cent. By 2017, 28 by the newspaper Al Masry Al Youm per cent of Egyptians were living below the poverty line on an income less than $2 per day. Increasingly the impacts of poverty are being reflected in the physical well-being of Egyptians. Malnutrition is becoming common: according to a December 2016 UNICEF report, Egypt Robert Springborg is a non-resident is among the 20 countries in the world Research Fellow of the Italian Institute with the highest incidence of chronic of International Affairs (IAI), Rome. malnutrition. About one in every three Formerly he was Professor of National children under five is stunted – their Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate growth impeded by inadequate diet – School, Monterey; Program Manager for according to that report. Half of children the Middle East for the Center for Civil- under five are suffering from anaemia Military Relations; and the holder of the resulting from iron deficiencies. MBI Al Jaber Chair in Middle East Studies As a result of these parlous conditions, at SOAS, where he also served as the Egyptians – especially youths – are first Director of the London Middle East increasingly desperate. In September Institute

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 23 2018 – CHINA AND THE MIDDLE EAST Increasing economic interests in the Middle East are changing China’s approach to the region’s security affairs.Degang Sun on the transition from ‘free-rider’ to ‘third force’ From bystander to stakeholder? China’s participation in Middle East security affairs

Iran nuclear deal talks on 14 July 2015 in Vienna, Austria. From left to right: Foreign ministers/ secretaries of state Wang Yi (China), Laurent Fabius (France), Frank-Walter Steinmeier (Germany), Federica Mogherini (EU), Mohammad Javad Zarif (Iran), Philip Hammond (UK) and John Kerry (USA). Photograph by Bundesministerium

Bundesministerium für Europa, Integration und Äusseres, 'Iran Talks', © Bundesministerium für Europa, Integration und Äusseres, 'Iran 2.0 Commons, CC BY Wikimedia für Europa, Integration und Äusseres

n the first three decades since its and as such outside powers’ imperialistic Iran’s kidnapping of US hostages, China founding, the People’s Republic ambitions were doomed to fail. abstained to avoid offending both of China (PRC), demonised as a Since its reform and opening-up policy ‘revolutionary’ Iran and ‘hegemonic’ I‘troublemaker’, was excluded from the was initiated in late 1970s, China shifted America. Throughout the 1980s and international community; first it was a its diplomatic focus from exporting the 1990s seeking commercial benefits while target of sanctions and containment by ‘Communist revolution’ to enhancing its shelving political entanglement was a the West and then later by the Soviet economic development, but remained cornerstone of China’s Middle East policy. bloc. During this period China perceived somewhat neutral in Middle East By contrast, in the 21st century, the Middle East as a battlefield between conflicts. In 1979, the PRC established particularly since Xi Jinping became the capitalist hegemon (the US) and the diplomatic relations with the US – while President in 2013, China has established socialist hegemon (the Soviet Union). Iran broke off diplomatic relations with a prominent economic presence in areas Interference in the internal affairs of the latter. China sought a balanced ranging from infrastructure to energy weak countries was interpreted as a way policy between Iran and the US on the investments. As of 2017, China was the to control the fate of the developing one hand, and between Iran and Iraq largest trading partner of Iran and ten world. But for China the Middle East was on the other hand. In the UN Security Arab countries, the second largest trading regarded as a graveyard for hegemons, Council Resolution vote condemning partner of the League of Arab Nations as a whole, and the third largest trading partner of Israel and Turkey respectively. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s seeking commercial Over 50 per cent of China’s imported oil is from the Middle East. benefits while shelving political entanglement was Since President Xi put forward the a cornerstone of China’s Middle East policy ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, China has been

24 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 looking and marching westward, and the With the increase of China’s economic presence in the Middle Middle East is regarded as the converging point of the ‘Belt’ and the ‘Road’. At the East, China’s ability and willingness to participate in call of the ‘Initiative’, approximately regional security governance will continue to grow one million Chinese businessmen and students have flooded into the Middle East. Dubai hosts about 300,000 Chinese in the Middle East. In addition, China other Asian countries will be the major expatriates, and Chinese tourists have has pursued ad hoc security policies importers of Middle East oil, and arguably more than tripled recently. With the in the Middle East to pursue relatively the Middle East is even more important to increase of its commercial interests short-term and dynamic goals. These Asia than to the West from an economic and political pride, it’s impossible for include military-training programmes; point of view. Beijing to stick to its traditional ‘free- the deployment of security contractors So far, China has been cautious in case riding’ policy; nor can she shy away from for key Chinese investment projects; joint it might be perceived as a geopolitical participating in Middle East security military rehearsals with the US, the EU, challenger to the established powers. It affairs. Russia, Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia; therefore adheres to a ‘zero-enemy’, ‘soft To promote its industrial cooperation and the dispatch of military vessels for military presence’ and ‘nonalignment’ with Middle East countries, and to the evacuation of overseas Chinese from policy, maintaining a subtle balance protect its overseas investments and the war-torn countries of Libya, Egypt, between Russia and the West, between nationals, China has intensified its Syria and Yemen. The People’s Liberation Iran and Saudi Arabia, between Israel security cooperation with the UN, Army (PLA) Navy convoy fleets held and Palestine, and between moderate and the great powers, and partners in the two joint anti-piracy drills with the US radical Middle East blocs. Middle East through inter-agency in 2012 and 2013, and one with EU in As a newcomer to the Middle East, coordination. First, the Chinese Foreign 2014. Chinese warships participated in a China will inevitably encounter ‘growing Ministry has intensified its mediation joint military drill with Russian warships pains’ similar to those encountered by the diplomacy in recent years, involving in the Mediterranean Sea in 2015 as US after the end of WWII. It is unrealistic itself in discussions about Sudan, South well. In 2013, a PLA Navy missile frigate to reap economic benefits while turning Sudan, the Iranian nuclear issue, the joined Danish, Norwegian and Russian a deaf ear to Middle East conflicts. With Israeli-Palestinian peace process and frigates to escort chemical weapons from the increase of China’s economic presence Syria. China was the predominant peace the Syrian port of Latakia to Italy for in the Middle East, China’s ability and broker between Sudan and South Sudan, destruction, a UN mission. willingness to participate in regional and between the Sudanese government China’s participation in Middle East security governance will continue to grow, and the rebel groups, represented by security affairs aims to protect Beijing’s albeit in a prudent manner. China is so far the Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) economic practical interests on the one discreet in using military might for anti- and the Justice and Equality Movement hand, and to acquire her great power terror missions or engaging in agent wars (JEM). China was active within the ‘6+1’ status on the other hand. China and in the Middle East, but she will eventually framework on the Iranian nuclear issue, the Middle East are interdependent in become the ‘third force’ after Russia and and contributed to the conclusion of Joint their development strategies, such as the West in the volatile and multi-polar Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2015. China’s ‘Belt and Road Initiative’, Egypt’s Middle East. In late 2017, China launched a tripartite ‘Economic Revitalization Plan’, Saudi’s dialogue mechanism with Palestine and ‘Vision 2030’, Turkey’s ‘Vision 2023’, Iran’s Reprinted from vol. 14, no. 4 (2018) Israel based in Beijing to give impetus to ‘6th Five-Year Plan’, and Israel’s ‘Red-Med the peace process. In the face of the Syrian Railway’, etc. In the foreseeable future, crisis, China has refrained from military China, India, Japan, South Korea and involvement, but in March 2016 China nominated Ambassador Xie Xiaoyan as a special envoy who carried out shuttle diplomacy for the Syrian conflict and de-escalation through multilateral mechanisms like Geneva Talk and the Astana Conference. Second, China’s Ministry of Defence attempts to play an active role in Middle East security affairs as well. This can be classified into two categories: long-term and ad hoc military involvement. The former seeks relatively stable and long- term objectives, such as the counter- piracy patrols in Somali waters that began in 2008; the building of China’s first Degang Sun is a Professor at the overseas logistics base in Djibouti in 2017; Middle East Studies Institute, Shanghai and various UN peacekeeping operations International Studies University, China

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 25 2018 – IRAN A quiet campus, black market money exchanges, an ‘urban hellhole’ and an unfinished goodbye,Thomas Helm offers a snapshot of his time spent as a student in Iran Postcard from Iran © Thomas Helm

‘Old and new at Persepolis’, Iran (2018). Photograph by Thomas Helm

wo years ago, SOAS began sending the vast majority of foreign students are The fact that Mashhad is a centre of Persian language students to from Iraq and Afghanistan. modern Shia Islamic pilgrimage makes Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, My flight landed in Mashhad it different from the other great cities of Ta leading university in Iran and the airport, which gives the newcomer an Iran. When I visited other places, like country’s most international campus. I unambiguous welcome to the Islamic Isfahan and Shiraz, I was always struck by was part of this year’s cohort. Apart from Republic: huge banners with the portraits the mixture of the secular and religious. It the odd self-organised European student, of Ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamenei. made the lack of secular cultural heritage in Mashhad all the more stark. Moreover, My flight landed in Mashhad airport, which gives the newcomer it seemed that the government has plans to guard the religious purity of Mashhad. an unambiguous welcome to the Islamic Republic: huge banners I regularly passed a decommissioned with the portraits of Ayatollahs Khomeini and Khamenei Armenian church on my way to exchange

26 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 Trying to leave an Iranian’s home is a sensitive business. A the famous ‘torshi-tareh’, an herby risotto of sorts flavoured with Seville oranges combination of woolly phrases can nudge the idea along, and and garlic, and tried to buy black market although your host might also want you to leave, you still caviar straight off the boats that source it from the Caspian. And there was Qom, have to parry elaborate ploys to keep you there a buzzing city defined by its sprawling seminaries, shrine and mosque. currency. From what I learned, Armenian getting money would only involve a trip My final few weeks in Iran were Christians have had to relocate as the to an exchange, but as the price of the during Ramadan. I was hoping increased strict mayoralty views the presence of rial dropped the government capped the hardship and the intense heat would other religions in the city as a ‘distraction’. rate. With bureaux de change no longer make my departure easier, but this was Similarly, the Mashhadi Jews, a once a viable option we had to be taught how not to be. The aspect of ta’arof that I had influential minority, relocated to Tehran to navigate the black market – something always found most difficult to navigate or left the country entirely, despite Iran many Iranians have been relying on for was saying ‘goodbye’. Trying to leave an having the second largest Jewish minority years. Iranian’s home is a sensitive business. A in the Middle East. But it was not just We were introduced to the importance combination of woolly phrases can nudge the Islamic Republic that had a hand in of ta’arof, the custom of humbling oneself the idea along, and although your host erasing the city’s heritage; Mashhad’s with elaborate self-deprecation while might also want you to leave, you still old bazaar was razed and rebuilt during aggrandising your adversary (there is have to parry elaborate ploys to keep you the 1970s as part of the Shah’s efforts to often a competitive edge to this). All sorts there. A host might start with the banal weaken the conservative, religious and of comical situations arise because of it: ‘Thomas Jaan, I could just make you a anti-West bazaari community. traffic jams around doorways as multiple coffee if you’re tired,’ then advance to Ferdowsi University conformed to people try to usher others in front of the harder to rebut, ‘You should just stay this atmosphere, with its huge, elaborate them, or a taxi driver’s refusal to take a here, it’s late tonight and you have missed facilities and faculties. And yet, the fare and the consequences of actually the last metro, surely!’, to the impossibly outdoor spaces and paths linking taking his word for it. generous ‘My dear, why on earth are you buildings were often disorganised and My first trip to Tehran was for the eve spending 15 dollars on a hostel? We have unkempt. I had been told that much of of Nowruz. I had read about Tehran as a properties in Tehran that are far nicer the university’s building programme place of contradiction not often described than your shared room. Stay in them, for had to be halted after the introduction in positive terms but rather as an ‘urban free!’ of sanctions. Now what stands is a vast hellhole’. But I instantly warmed to the On my journey back to the UK through patch of land dotted with grand faculties city, and throughout my five months I the Caucasus and Turkey, I realised I still alongside a large number of incomplete would often get the train from Mashhad had not mastered the Iranian goodbye; metal structures, gradually rusting just for the weekend to be somewhere that my hosts had outclassed me in the duel away. The university has almost 30,000 is so defined by its young people. Cafes that is ta’arof. I think this is the Iranian students, yet the campus never seemed were fantastic for socialising with other way: make guests feel so welcome and crowded. There were almost no organised students and it was in Tehran that I made magnetised that the ‘goodbye’ is never gatherings or social occasions, apart some of my best friends. There were other really permanent or complete, one final from events held at the university’s many places that made a lasting impression victory to the masters of ta’arof. mosques on days of religious significance too: the rose bud picking festival of and the odd faculty celebration where Golab Giri in Qamsar where we walked Reprinted from vol. 14, no. 5 (2018) we were inevitably wheeled out as exotic through huge rose fields at 5:00am; Gilan Westerners for a promotional video. Near where we boated in the mangroves, ate silence on campus was commonplace. Exiting the main gates, past the religious guards of the university (often veterans of the Iran-Iraq War), you would step into the normality of daily city life: skater teens under the bridge of the metro station, families enjoying an early evening picnic on green spaces and the odd elderly man asleep on cardboard (we were told crystal meth or ‘shisha’ was endemic here). The people of Mashhad were friendly and willing to help foreigners in all issues that confronted us, like organising the immensely complicated custom taxes on foreign phones and, of course, changing money. Cash has to be taken into Iran, as international Thomas Helm is a fourth year student at bank transfers are impossible. At first, SOAS studying Arabic and Persian

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 27 2017

Volume 13 - Number 1 £4 December 2016 – January 2017

Volume 13 - Number 2 February – March 2017

£4

Volume 13 - Number 3 April – May 2017 £4

THIS ISSUE ● Ocean acidification: Environment Volume 13● - FilmNumber and 4 film festivalsto Yemen's in the future June – July 2017● Israel, Palestine and ● The political ecology of virtual water in Palestine £4 sector ● West Asia and the Global Environment Outlook ● Keeping Aleppo● Sustainable alive ● energy The challenges planning ofin integratingMENA off-grid electricity in Oman's domestic ● Arabic film festivals in London ● Khettara: a traditional yet viable irrigation option : Film Egyptian cinema after the Creative approaches● Wither in films Iranian on Palestine cinema?● ● ● The main challengeVolume 13 - Number 5 THIS ISSUE ● The evolution of the Nile regulatory regimeOctober–November 2017 Middle East and London ● Changing trends Reviewsin Iraqi cinema and events in London ● Trends in North African cinemaPLUS ● PLUS Zombies ● Events in London Nascent Kurdish cinema £4 ● ● Photo competition results

uprisings

THIS ISSUE: YOUTH PRECARITY IN MENA ● MENA youth and the need for a political economy approach ● (Arab) Youth, a versatile government category? ● Middle East youth as ‘the Precariat’? ● Youth in the southern and eastern Mediterranean ● Securitising youth migration to the EU and the Gulf ● Youth prospects in Lebanon ● The curious blend of youth participation and distrust in institutions ● The unfinished story of youth precarity and struggle in Greece ● PLUS Reviews and events in London

THIS ISSUE persistent challenge of ‘Islamic exceptionalism’ ● Turkey’s : SECULARISM secularism revisited Farron Affair and secularism in the UK ● ● A president in control of the executive, legislature ● Tunisia’s revolution: beyondSecularisation the Islamist-secularist and fundamentalism divide Reviews and events in London ● : TURKEY ● Turkey’s journalists in a battle for survival Secularism in the caliphate? ● Turkey’s new dynamics in global THIS ISSUE● Erdoğan’s victory and the unravelling of political Islam in Turkey ● Towards a better understanding of Muslims ● The Reviews and events in London ● Turkish and judiciary ● The future of Turkey’s Kurds?● PLUS institutional fragility ● The ● Istanbul Film Festival ● ● The Turkish economy struggling with political volatility PLUS energy and geopolitics

● Film (December 2016/January 2017) ● Turkey (June/July 2017) ● Environment (February/March 2017) ● Secularism (October/November 2017) ● Youth Precarity in MENA (April/May 2017)

28 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2017 – FILM

Mizgin Mujde Arslan on the inception and growth of the foundations of Kurdish cinema Nascent Kurdish cinema

fter the first ‘definable’ Kurdish as do black humour and fairy tales in such films at the end of the 1990s, films as those by Hiner Saleem. His well- Kurdish cinema officially launched known Vodka Lemon balances drama and Aat the beginning of 2000. Prior to that humour excellently and is easily described date, directors were hesitant to share their as bittersweet. Moreover, in Vodka Lemon Kurdish identity for fear of oppression. It the impossible love story – between a was only after 1999 – when Turkey sought Yazidi man forbidden to marry outside his to improve its record on democracy and community and an Armenian woman – is human rights in a bid to gain entry to the itself a fairy tale. Likewise, in Ghobadi’s EU – that some of these directors started Nivemang (‘Half Moon’, 2006) a man falls to identify themselves as Kurdish and the in love with a woman’s voice; in the same Kurdish language was used in film. film a fairy woman appears on a bus and Since then, several Kurdish films shown then disappears. Poster for the filmA Time for Drunken Horses, at international film festivals have been Since the beginning of 2000 and the directed by Bahman Ghobadi nominated for major awards, including steps taken towards Kurdish reconciliation Bahman Ghobadi’s Dema Hespên SerxweŞ in Turkey, many Kurdish films have cities lack cinemas. Generally Kurdish (‘A Time for Drunken Horses’, 2000), which received positive interest from festivals and films can only be seen at Kurdish film won the Caméra d’Or award at the Cannes film-lovers. In the last decade, after support festivals, which unfortunately do not run Film Festival; and Hiner Saleem’s Vodka from the Kurdish Regional Government regularly. In the past, some film festivals Lemon, which received the San Marco grew (mainly in response to discovering have been held irregularly in Duhok, Prize at the 60th Venice International the power film had on publicising the Sulaymaniyah and Amed (Diyarbakir). In Film Festival in 2003. Another work that situation of Kurds in the Middle East), the 2001 the London Kurdish Film Festival deserves mention is the short film Ax number of Kurdish films has risen, but made its debut, but it has been held only (‘Land’, 1999) created by the film-maker the quality and storytelling remain poor; nine times since then. Other such film Kazim Oz. Ax helped raise awareness of most directors have not attended cinema festivals have taken place in Berlin and the Kurdish quest for a homeland while schools and the Regional Government Paris and more recently an initiative was also revealing the denial and suppression of seems preoccupied with producing more, announced to hold the first Kurdish film Kurdish identity in Turkey, Iraq, Syria and not better, films. festival in New Mexico in May 2017. Iran, an element common to these films. Dengbej (storytelling) is an old tradition Although denial continues in those But it is A Time for Drunken Horses that among Kurdish people and stories are places with little to no demand from the captures the essence of Kurdish cinema given life via many different art forms, audience, a fledgling Kurdish cinema by telling a story of relatively obscure including through music and oral literature persists even while the land and its people people living within the borders of several and through Kurdish folk arts such as face renewed pressures from the Turkish countries, a prevalent theme in the milieu. carpet weaving, embroidery and metal government and death at the hands of the Other films – such as The Road (Yol, 1982) ornamentation. And though Kurdish films so-called Islamic State. by Yılmaz Güney and Hisham Zaman’s are essentially exercises in storytelling, it is Before Snowfall (2015) – deal also with difficult to say that there exists a Kurdish- Reprinted from vol. 13, no. 1 (2017) questions of invisibility as well as the long speaking audience that follows and or journey to recognition. Themes of war, even knows about Kurdish cinema. This Mizgin Mujde Arslan worked as a Reporter trauma, borders, death and agony abound, is mainly because many of the towns and for six years before transitioning to film- making. She has received various awards Kurdish films help raise awareness of the Kurdish for her short and documentary films and is the author of Rejisor Atıf Yılmaz, Kurdish quest for a homeland while also revealing the Cinema: Statelessness, Boundary and denial and suppression of Kurdish identity Death, and Yeşim Ustaoglu

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 29 2017 – ENVIRONMENT

Helen Lackner on the urgency of addressing Yemen’s environmental challenges, focussing on the vanishing water supply The main challenge to Yemen’s future: war or water scarcity?

Cyclone Megh approaching Yemen, November 2015. NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/ EOSDIS Rapid Response

s war intensifies and food becomes m3, significantly below 10 per cent of damages crops, washes away topsoil, scarce due to the financial the internationally recognised scarcity destroys wadi banks and reduces the crisis, readers might think that threshold (1,000 m3). A World Bank report replenishment of aquifers. Worsening Aenvironmental issues, water in particular, on ‘Assessing the Impacts of Climate water scarcity in the highlands is already are the last of Yemen’s problems, especially Change and Variability on the Water and leading to population movements: when after a season of good rainfall. However, Agricultural Sectors’ in 2010 estimated that wells dry up, people first purchase water regardless of the outcome of the current Yemen’s ground water reserves are likely to from tankers which travel increasingly long war, within a generation or so people be depleted in about three decades (report distances at higher and higher cost. When will no longer be able to live in Yemen no 54196 YE). this water runs out or people can no longer unless environmental issues are urgently The replenishment to rainfall ratio is afford it, they move to stay with relatives addressed. dropping just when demand is increasing where water is still available, returning The shortage of water in Yemen is due to the larger population’s domestic home after good rains when the wells have absolute: current annual use, at 3.5 billion needs and the use of pumps for irrigation. filled. Eventually they move permanently. m3 exceeds renewable resources by 1.4 More than 70 per cent of Yemen’s The year 2015 will be remembered in billion m3. Put simply, one-third of the population is rural and depends, at least Yemen not only for the start of the war water used is mined from non-renewable partly, on agriculture for their livelihoods. but also as a unique one climatically: fossil aquifers. With a population of 27 About 60 per cent of agriculture is rain- the country suffered not one, but two million people, per capita renewable water fed, so the unpredictability of rains has a unprecedented and extremely violent availability has dropped to less than 85 major impact: violent and sudden rainfall cyclones in November: Chapala brought hurricane force winds of over 120 km/h, Regardless of the outcome of the current war, within a with 610 mm of rain in 48 hours (seven times the annual average) and displaced generation or so people will no longer be able to live in some 45,000 people, causing massive Yemen unless environmental issues are urgently addressed destruction on the ecologically unique

30 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 Yemen’s diminishing water resources must be managed restricted. High-value, rain-fed and drought-resistant crops must be developed with extreme care. Coastal cities and other areas need for people to live off local resources. desalination programmes; coastal infrastructures must Some experts predict that Yemen needs a generation to solve its political be adapted to cope with rising sea levels. In the highlands problems. Unfortunately, Yemenis cannot water management must prioritise basic human needs wait that long. If nothing is done, much of the country will have run out of water Socotra island and in Hadramaut and because of the war, but its fundamental by then, thus dramatically reducing the Shabwa governorates. Barely a week later, causes include earlier inappropriate area suitable for human habitation. If Cyclone Megh even reached the highlands state and international funding agencies’ environmental issues are not addressed, in Ibb governorate. development policies as well as the what will happen to Yemen’s 45 million Three of Yemen’s major cities (Hodeida, country’s aridity and climate stresses. people in 2035? Will most of them force Aden and Mukalla) are on the coast and Addressing Yemen’s environmental their way into Saudi Arabia and Oman? their populations are increasing rapidly. challenges is an absolute priority. This Alongside fisheries communities, the demands effective measures by a strong This article draws from my recent work urban populations face the prospect of state committed to the welfare of all its ‘Climate Change and Security: Major rising sea levels, which threaten all coastal citizens and able to resist the pressures of Challenges for Yemen’s Future’ which structures from landing sites for fish to those who have exploited the resources appears in the forthcoming book Climate urban facilities. They must already cope for their personal, immediate benefit. Hazard Crises in Asian Societies and with saline intrusion into their hinterland Yemen’s diminishing water resources Environments (Routledge, 2017) edited by aquifers resulting from over-exploitation. must be managed with extreme care: Troy Sternberg. Rural-urban conflicts over access to water jobs requiring the minimum possible have already emerged, the most notorious water must be created, implying major Reprinted from vol. 13, no. 2 (2017) example being the city of Taiz where the improvements in the educational system crisis has been acute since the early 1990s. to qualify people. Coastal cities and other Helen Lackner studied Social Anthropology There, the 46 per cent of households areas need desalination programmes; at SOAS and has been working in rural connected to the urban network received coastal infrastructures must be adapted development for four decades, including 15 water only once every 60 days in 2013! to cope with rising sea levels. In the years in Yemen. She has published books Surprisingly, desalination has barely highlands water management must and academic articles and is finalising featured in Yemeni planning to date. prioritise basic human needs, followed by work on Yemen in Crisis: Autocracy, The only project remains on the drawing those of livestock; this is the only way to Neoliberalism and the Disintegration of a board: the construction of a pipeline from enable people to remain in these beautiful, State to be published later this year by Saqi a privately-owned desalination plant near scenic areas. About 90 per cent of Yemen’s Mokha to supply domestic water for Taiz. water is used in agriculture. This must Women and children waiting for water from Although water is the major be significantly reduced and therefore the karif in Utma, Yemen, 2009. Photograph by environmental challenge, Yemenis have to irrigated agriculture must be severely Helen Lackner face others: only 3 per cent of the country’s © Helen Lackner land is suitable for agricultural use, and 3-5 per cent of this is lost annually to wind and wadi bank erosion. Archaeological sites which today are deep in the deserts (Mareb, Shabwa, Baraqish) were irrigated agricultural areas a few centuries ago. Erosion is intensifying desertification on the edges of the Rub’ al Khali desert. The resulting lower crop yields and production exacerbate the need to import staples commercially or through food aid. Those most exposed and vulnerable to environmental hazards are the rural poor and the coastal populations as was demonstrated so vividly by cyclone Chapala. While Yemenis have proved their resilience for centuries, this is weakening for poor people who have no protective buffer either in the form of savings or in stronger bodies. It is always the poor who suffer first and most from disasters. The poverty rate was 54 per cent in the 2010s and is now vastly worsened

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 31 2017 – YOUTH PRECARITY IN MENA

Maria Cristina Paciello and Daniela Pioppi stress the need to study youth in context to avoid analyses that are reductive or romanticised MENA youth and the need for a political economy approach © Hema Ezzat

Egypt

he current socio-economic and A political economy of youth freedom of hiring and firing, restricting the political crisis in the MENA region Prevailing explanations of youth right of strike and allowing the use of fixed- affects the whole of society with a problems tend to emphasise the severity of term contracts – which have become the Tgreater burden on medium to lower social demographic pressures (youth bulge) and most common type of contract among young strata and other disadvantaged groups. a lack of adequate skills to meet market people. The integration of the region into the But it is the youth of today who are caught requirements (the so-called ‘education- international market, rather than creating in the eye of the storm; it is through the employment nexus’). In making youth quality job opportunities for educated generation now entering the labour market employment problems purely a matter of young people, has been based on low-cost that a number of ‘normative ideas about individual characteristics and/or deficiencies outsourcing in unskilled activities, often responsibilities and entitlements of the of the education system, such analyses tapping into a reserve pool of young female previous welfare and developmental state are completely hide the structural factors behind labour. being re-negotiated’ (Sukarieh and Tannock, the spread of precariousness and insecurity Moreover, neoliberal restructuring has Youth Rising?, 2015). The youth phase offers among the youth. Our understanding of also reinforced labour fragmentation due a privileged vantage point from which to youth-related problems needs instead to to its selective and uneven implementation observe broader processes of social change be set within the context of the structural across space and time. Thus, while living and continuity. It is during this time – when transformations induced by the local a precarious existence, youth are today young men and women begin to make implementation of neoliberal globalisation in increasingly divided and differentiated along their transitions into adult life – that we are the last three decades. national, racial and gender lines. Inequalities more likely to see change and continuity Neoliberal reforms have significantly between cities and rural areas have in working conditions, family forms and reconfigured state-labour-capital relations increased since governments have generally patterns of social inequalities. in the MENA region in ways that have prioritised urban centres to promote capital Important as it is today the focus on youth, dramatically transformed the landscape accumulation. prevailing approaches to youth and youth of work. With the adoption of structural The gradual dismantling of the welfare problems in the region are problematic in adjustment policies since the mid-1980s, state has also further fragmented the many respects, most of all because they fail incumbent regimes have abandoned experience of being young. Under the to place changing youth conditions, and the the policy of offering jobs to university influence of international agencies such as narratives associated with the youth category graduates leading to an increase in youth the World Bank, reform of the educational itself, into existing power relations and unemployment. Labour laws were revised system favoured the privatisation of political economy processes. to deregulate the labour market by ensuring universities which has augmented key structural inequalities. Public policies – such It is the youth of today who are caught in the eye of the storm as the plethora of job creation programmes

32 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 Any analysis of youth problems and of the forms and dynamics of waves of mobilisation in the region, to which young men and women are participating in youth political participation needs to be placed in a broader context various forms, we need to consider a much larger geography of protest, a geography established in the 1990s-2010s – have challenging – social divides, such as class. in which ‘the youth’ appears to be more of exacerbated precariousness and reinforced Also, the emphasis on youth has the effect of a ‘constructed’ category (too broad and to fragmentation by specifically targeting a downplaying the role of adults and adult-led narrow at the same time) than a political particular subset of youth. organisations and of interpreting current actor in itself. In addition, while pressure on youth social conflicts as intergenerational, glossing To sum up, any analysis of youth problems to migrate has deepened under the over more significant issues of political and of the forms and dynamics of youth drive of neoliberal reforms and war, the economy that concern the youth and the political participation needs to be placed securitisation of migration policies in the society at large. in a broader context, in contrast to narrow EU (particularly since 2000) has furthered The uncritical appraisal of the youth’s prevailing approaches that have so far employment precariousness and insecurity political role is also inextricably related stressed the ‘challenges of the youth bulge’ with the spread of temporary and seasonal to the liberal overemphasis of individual or, paradoxically, ‘the enormous potential labour migration programmes for low- agency, thereby systematically downplaying of youth collective mobilisation’, while skilled workers. Yet, by excluding certain the importance of well-structured mass underestimating, and sometimes hiding, nationalities and prioritising specific groups organisations and underestimating the existing power relations and political of migrants (highly skilled workers and strength of power structures which, economy processes. researchers), the securitisation of migration according to the narrative associated with policies in the EU and the Gulf also youth, could be easily disrupted by the Reprinted from vol. 13, no. 3 (2017) appears to have reinforced labour market sudden mobilisation of atomised masses of fragmentation among youth within MENA (young) individuals. Maria Cristina Paciello is Adjunct Professor countries. The category of youth, therefore, Furthermore, the use of the youth in political economy of Islamic countries hides a multiplicity of employment relations category conceals a marked preference at the University of Venice Ca' Foscari and that are likely to produce very different for certain forms of mobilisation more Senior Fellow at the Mediterranean and experiences of ‘being young’ and trajectories compatible with liberal civic values than Middle East Programme of the Istituto Affari to adulthood. other, more disruptive and less palatable Internazionali (IAI). She is the Scientific ones. So, for instance, ‘youth movements’ Co-coordinator of the EU FP7 project Youth as an actor of change? are generally identified with the so-called POWER2YOUTH (www.power2youth.eu) Any major reconfiguration of state-labour- ‘new social movements’: loose networks of capital relations has an impact on every techno-savvy individuals, urban and middle Daniela Pioppi is Associate Professor of aspect of socio-political life and on the forms class-based. Other forms of mobilisation, contemporary history of Arab countries at and dynamics of political mobilisation that such as the variety of Islamist movements the University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’ and are shaped today by increased inequalities, or labour-based mobilisations, are either Senior Fellow at the Mediterranean and social fragmentation and overwhelming not considered ‘youth movements’ or – in Middle East Programme of the Istituto Affari state repression. The 2010-2011 wave of agreement with the binary approach often Internazionali (IAI). She is the Scientific popular uprisings in the Arab region were associated with youth – are considered to Co-coordinator of the EU FP7 project largely interpreted as being ‘youth-led be an expression of the ‘bad’, ‘unsupervised’, POWER2YOUTH (www.power2youth.eu) revolts’. All of a sudden, the global political ‘ill-guided’ youth in need of control and discourse was full of references to ‘youth repression. In order to understand recent

revolutionary potential’, ‘youth agency’ and © Hema Ezzat ‘youth transformative power’. Such a positive enthusiasm and emphasis on the youth’s political role – both by global actors and, sometimes, by the protestors themselves – should not go unnoticed; in fact, it is in need of a critical analysis. The idea of ‘youth’ as a coherent ‘political actor’ could be misleading in many respects. First of all, if taken as a whole, the current generation is facing a more difficult transition to adulthood with respect to previous ones; but young people are of course as diverse as the entire society. The use of the youth category could thus have a depoliticising effect, hiding other – we would say more relevant and certainly more

Egypt

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 33 2017 – TURKEY

After the failed coup attempt in July 2016, the media crackdown in Turkey escalated rapidly. Firdevs Robinson explains the situation, cautioning that the silencing of dissent is a thing to fear Turkey’s journalists in a battle for survival © Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

Erdoğan's censorship of the media. Political cartoon by Carlos Latuff

ndependent journalism has never been restart monitoring procedures on Turkey. freedoms of expression and assembly an easy profession in Turkey. Today, with Expressing ‘serious concerns’ about were further curtailed. Media was one-third of all imprisoned journalists in rights violations, erosion of democracy dominated by pro-government voices. Ithe world being held in the country’s prisons, and the rule of law, the resolution called There was very little public discussion it has never been more dangerous to be a on Turkey to lift the state of emergency, of the proposed amendments. When media worker in Turkey. adhere to the principles of the rule of law the country’s top leaders began equating The crackdown on media to silence and human rights standards, release all the dissent with treason, self-censorship dissenting voices has been ongoing in parliamentarians and journalists detained reached unprecedented levels. The recent years, but the state of emergency, pending trial and take urgent measures Organization for Security and Co-operation declared in the wake of the failed 15 July to restore freedom of expression and the in Europe’s (OSCE) Observation Mission 2016 coup attempt, has resulted in an media. said that the referendum took place on alarming deterioration in media freedom While the world may well be looking at an unlevel playing field; as such, the two in the country. The post-coup measures Turkey closer and more critically than ever, sides of the campaign did not have equal and the emergency decree laws, leading the country’s government has become visibly opportunities. A significant portion of the to widespread arrests, investigations and bolder. Less than a year after the violent coup OSCE’s preliminary report was dedicated closures, have practically destroyed the attempt and under a state of emergency, to the media coverage of the campaign, few remaining spaces for any kind of the ruling Justice and Development Party highlighting practices that are contrary to independent, critical journalism. (AKP) held a referendum on 16 April the OSCE commitments, the Council of Two media rights groups, Freedom 2017 on a constitutional amendment that Europe standards and other international House and Reporters Without Borders would change the parliamentary system to obligations. (RSF), have listed Turkey as the country a presidential one, giving President Recep After a narrow and bitterly contested with the sharpest decline in press freedoms Tayyip Erdoğan extensive executive powers. victory, tainted by allegations of during the past year. RSF says Turkey has In the run up to the referendum, irregularities, the newly-empowered become ‘the world’s biggest prison for media personnel’. On 25 April 2017, the Parliamentary While the world may well be looking at Assembly of the Council of Europe, an international body of which Turkey is a Turkey closer and more critically than ever, founding member, passed a resolution to the country’s government has become visibly bolder

34 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 president extended the state of emergency ‘There is only one difference between now and then. and escalated the crackdown on his opponents, including those in the media: When the Gülenist judges prosecuted you, they fabricated nearly 4,000 more public officials and evidence. Now, they do not even bother to do that’ – Ahmet Şık academics were purged, two more media outlets were closed and some popular independent journalists already feel the Şık, who had spent 13 months in pre-trial television dating shows faced new chilling effects of the arbitrariness, insecurity detention in 2011 while investigating the restrictions on moral grounds. and repression all around them. Fearing that Gülen movement’s infiltration in the state Moreover, in a mind-boggling decision, they could be sacked, labelled as ‘traitors’ administration, was released when the and without prior court order, the Turkish or worse, prosecuted and arrested at any evidence was proven to be fabricated. He Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs moment, many reluctantly exercise self- was recently quoted as saying, ‘There is and Communications has blocked access censorship. The mainstream media, by and only one difference between now and then. to the free online encyclopaedia, Wikipedia large, chooses to become an enthusiastic When the Gülenist judges prosecuted you, in all languages. Turkish officials have accomplice of the all-powerful government they fabricated evidence. Now, they do not claimed that the site’s content was used in a and the state. As totally absurd and false as even bother to do that’. smear campaign against Turkey. Wikipedia it is, when the justice minister claims that The inability to seek redress from the founder, Jimmy Wales, responded with a journalists in jail are there because they are justice system, here and now, has serious tweet, saying ‘Access to information is a murderers, drug dealers or child abusers, consequences, not only for the individuals fundamental right. Turkish people, I will it gets reported and heartily endorsed by in question, but also for their families. On always stand with you and fight for this conventional pro-government outlets and 15 July 2016, Turkey faced a massive threat right.’ social media accounts. A strong chorus and the government had every right to It is not as if the travails of the Turkish of official and media voices targeting a take extraordinary measures to re-establish media are ignored. There is a strong journalist is rarely ignored by prosecutors. public order. The Turkish authorities argue international solidarity in support of Knowing that Turkey must comply with that the infiltration of state institutions is Turkey’s journalists. Campaigns, run by the European Convention on Human real and must be dealt with. Yet, the extent the Association of European Journalists Rights, even under a state of emergency, of the measures taken so far not only (AEJ), Reporters Without Borders (RSF), and that the European Court of Human raises questions of proportionality, but also the Index on Censorship, the International Rights remains competent enough to rule on transparency and accountability. Press Institute (IPI), International PEN, individual cases eventually, does not make As the Council of Europe Commissioner Amnesty International and numerous the abuses suffered (such as the denial of the for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks puts other organisations, highlight the plight most basic right to mount a legal defence or it, ‘deviations from the rule of law and of more than 160 journalists behind bars to avoid a prolonged pre-trial detention) any human rights principles may expedite and hundreds more unable to work. more bearable for a journalist. Many have the punishment of the guilty. But such an International organisations warn that been in detention for more than five months approach will leave indelible scars and be Turkey is on a very dangerous path. without any indictment. immensely detrimental in the long run’. ‘Without legitimate dissent and criticism The prominent investigative journalist The Council of Europe warns that the sense of government policy, there can be no Ahmet Şık’s case is symptomatic. He was of injustice and victimhood created by democratic public debate,’ they say. They arrested at the end of December 2016, disproportionate measures may amount to caution against hatred and violence taking for ‘support to the FETÖ’, the Gülenist a ‘civilian death’ and its effects on Turkish hold in an increasingly polarised society. network accused of plotting the coup, and society will be dramatic and long-lasting. Even without taking these gloomy ‘propaganda in favour of the PKK’, the It is a warning that Turkey’s international predictions into account, Turkey’s outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party. Ahmet partners, presently seeking to establish a new relationship based on their economic, security and migration interests, would do well to take heed.

Reprinted from vol. 13, no. 4 (2017)

Firdevs Robinson is a London-based journalist and blogger. A former BBC World Service editor, she has been covering international affairs for three decades, focussing on Turkey, Cyprus, the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus and Europe. Her blog can be found at http://www. firdevstalkturkey.com/

Press conference of six media watchdogs (including the Association of European Journalists) at the end of February in Istanbul.

© Otmar Lahodynsky Photograph by Otmar Lahodynsky

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 35 2017 – SECULARISM

Hadi Enayat explains the basis of Islamic exceptionalism and the ways in which it has been debated in light of recent events The persistent challenge of ‘Islamic exceptionalism’ © NuclearVacuum, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Muslim majority countries classified by constitutional role for religion. The constitutional role Islamic state of Islam in Muslim- majority countries. State religion Image created by Secular state NuclearVacuum Unclear / No declaration with Inkscape

he notion of national or civilisational as a harmful form of cultural imperialism associated with pre-Islamic Arabia) which ‘exceptionalism’ was first used imposed by the West. preceded it. Moreover, this vision assumes in connection with the USA to Broadly speaking, the notion of that this religion/culture is determinatively Texplain everything from its propensity ‘Islamic exceptionalism’ is based on scriptural and essentially self-referential. for democracy to its apparent resistance three overlapping premises. Firstly, in This ‘scriptural determinism’ meant that to secularisation. The concept of ‘Islamic civilisational terms it is argued that the philology was the main tool of analysis exceptionalism’ has a more recent emergence of Islam constituted a sharp of ‘Islam’ for almost two centuries. pedigree dating back to the 1990s with break from the past producing a culture Again, we should note the parallel with the publication of Samuel Huntington’s which was in religious and political terms contemporary ‘fundamentalists’ who are Clash of Civilizations. Yet the idea that unique compared to those which had also effectively scriptural determinists in something sets ‘Muslim societies’ and preceded it in late antiquity and thus their understanding of a pure Islam stripped politics apart has an intellectual genealogy lacking any commonality with other of foreign cultural accretions and based on which arguably goes back to 18th-century civilisations such as Byzantium, Persia the literal word of God. Orientalist scholarship identified by and/or medieval Europe. Of course, this A second dimension of exceptionalism Edward Said. While this exceptionalism is account compliments the traditionalist is asserted in the realm of imperialism often cited by critics of Islam as the main Muslim vision of the emergence of Islam and violence. In this sphere, it has been reason for its failure to adapt to secular that emphasises its sudden appearance as argued that the novelty of Islam resided in modernity, it is simultaneously celebrated in a miraculous event which owed nothing the synthesis of a universal empire with a Islamist discourse as a manifestation of an to the Jahiliyya (ignorance or barbarism universal religion. Whilst there had been ‘alternative modernity’. Indeed, proponents of Islamism have enthusiastically endorsed While this exceptionalism is often cited by critics of Islam as the notion that Islam is exceptional in being a total system in which religion and politics the main reason for its failure to adapt to secular modernity, are inseparable, thus reaching the same conclusions as Islam’s detractors. It is mainly it is simultaneously celebrated in Islamist discourse as a for this reason that they regard secularism manifestation of an ‘alternative modernity’

36 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 It remains debatable how cogent, empirically or diversity of Muslim-majority societies both historically and in the contemporary world. philosophically, an approach which emphasises the Indeed, recently published empirical studies of secularism in these societies – such as difference of Islam to the point of ‘exceptionalism’ is one edited by Akeel Bilgrami, Beyond the Secular West (2016) and another edited universal conquerors before (e.g. Alexander exceptionalism, at least in academia, though by Mirjam Künkler et al, A Secular Age the Great), they did not bring a religion; and it continued to persist elsewhere – especially Beyond the West (2017) – show that they whilst there had been universal religions in the world of US-based think tanks and in have exhibited a range of religion-state before (e.g. Christianity), they were not the discourse of the far right. arrangements and multiple secularities connected to the idea of a universal empire. The 9/11 attacks saw a revival of Islamic which defy essentialist notions of typically Thusjihad was a form of missionary exceptionalism and the notion of a ‘clash ‘Islamic’ religion-state relations, often warfare. In some of the more conservative of civilizations’, which was eagerly adopted inspired by the view that Islam knew no critiques of Islam, as well as in Salafi-Jihadi by the far right in Europe and the USA. separation between religion and state. ideology, Mohammad’s example of a This trend was boosted by the chaos after The revival of the notion Islamic warrior who engaged (according to some the Arab uprisings and the rise of the exceptionalism has, nevertheless, accounts) in over 80 military campaigns so-called Islamic State (IS), both of which underlined the challenge of forging during his lifetime is seen as a model for a seemed to confirm the ‘democracy-gap’ and approaches to understanding the politics warrior-religion which glorifies violence ‘violence’ theses outlined above. ‘Maybe the of the ‘Muslim World’ without sliding and imperialism. Orientalists were right in the first place!’ a into cultural essentialism on the one hand The third sphere of exceptionalism is friend morosely quipped to me a few years or reductive ‘difference blind’ materialist located in the realm of politics and law. after the uprisings began, by which time analysis on the other. Here it is argued that Islam is unique in the several countries had either reverted to ways that it relates to politics because of the authoritarianism or descended into brutal Reprinted from vol. 13, no. 5 (2017) status of Mohammad as both Prophet and civil wars. Indeed, this period saw a number statesman. Moreover, it is asserted that the of publications which have, implicitly or Hadi Enayat is a Visiting Lecturer at sharia is not simply a religious law, but one explicitly, revived the notion of Islamic the Institute for the Study of Muslim which represented a set of social, economic, exceptionalism. These include: Noah Civilisations, Aga Khan University, London cultural and political practices which Feldman, The Fall and Rise of the Islamic and a member of the Editorial Board of The governed every aspect of life. These features State (2008); Patricia Crone, God’s Rule Middle East in London magazine prevented an autonomous space for politics (2004); Michael Cook, Ancient Religions, and law to operate and have often been cited Modern Politics (2014); Wael Hallaq, The to account for the failure of secularism as Impossible State (2012); and Shadi Hamid, well as the ‘democracy gap’ in the ‘Muslim Islamic Exceptionalism (2016). These studies Wo r l d ’. have restated – in a more sophisticated Since the 1980s, the assumptions outlined and updated form – some of the premises above have been critiqued by scholars who of Islamic exceptionalism summarised © George Rex, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 have tried to promote a more nuanced above, often with great intellectual force understanding of Muslim-majority societies and analytical clarity. Moreover, they from a broadly materialist perspective. cannot simply be written off as illegitimate Fred Halliday, Sami Zubaida, Roger Owen, forms of Orientalism having often been Aziz al-Azmeh and others have argued, in produced by scholars who see themselves different ways, for an approach which sees as working outside (and sometimes against) the ‘Muslim World’ first and foremost as that tradition. These works are important part of the Third (or non-European) World in that they have emphasised some of the and subject to the same world historical distinctive features of ‘Muslim politics’. processes from colonialism to the era of But it remains debatable how cogent, socialist planning to the much more eclectic empirically or philosophically, an approach contemporary combination of crony which emphasises the difference of Islam capitalism and rentierism, both of which to the point of ‘exceptionalism’ is. Such an are seen, from these perspectives, as the approach discounts the complexity and main factors accounting for the persistence of authoritarianism. Other critiques have exposed serious flaws in the scriptural/ philological based approach – especially its reliance on the scholastic traditions of the Sticker on sign for British Street in London. In its ulama as a privileged, at times exclusive, complete form it proclaims ‘You are entering a source of knowledge about Islam to the Sharia controlled zone. Islamic Rules enforced. detriment of less scriptural expressions of No alcohol. No gambling. No music or concerts. No porn or prostitution. No drugs or smoking. the faith and culture. These critiques led to Sharia a better society.' Photograph by George the partial demise of the notion of Islamic Rex from London, England

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 37 2016

Volume 12 - Number 1 £4 December 2015 – January 2016

Volume 12 - Number 2 February – March 2016

£4

Volume 12 - Number 3 April – May 2016 £4

THIS ISSUE Volume 12 - Number 4 discursive● Thestudy of music: PERSIAN in Iran during MUSIC the 1960s June – July 2016£4 introduction of piano practice in Iran ● My cultural connections●move A global in the palate Middle East ● Sounding the city ● PhotoReviews competition and events in London ● ● Shaping the Persian repertoire ● Swaying to Persian Music, and Islam Middle and Eastern Persian Sufismtunes in ●London Still singing Volume 12 - Number 5 : Cultural Connections October● – November 2016 ● Imperfect Chronology at the Whitechapel Gallery A ● Muslims, trust and cultural dialogue ● The THIS ISSUE ● Music on the £8 (special issue) Persian concert party ● Noble brutes, shockingExhibitions, scandals reviews and events in London ● PLUS ● PLUS

results

at SOAS

THIS ISSUE: Iran’s Environmental Challenges ● MENA, climate change and COP21 ● Complexities in addressing water security in Iran ● Tehran and its mountains ● Air pollution and public health in Tehran ● Learning to value greenish spaces ● Tourism and the environment ● Environmental policymaking in Turkey ● PLUS Reviews and events in London

● A challenge for● ● Endurance SOAS Centenary Migration museums : Migrant● Through and theRefugee looking glass ofCrisis a troubling ● rapprochement ● Kicking away the migration ladder? Special Issue THIS ISSUE ● Don’t close the doors! Europe ● Between the devil and the deep, blue sea Migration control is not a security policy and hope in the ‘hot spot’ Reviews and events in London 100 ● PLUS

● Cultural Connections ● Migrant and Refugee Crisis (December 2015/January 2016) (June/July 2016) ● Persian Music (February/March 2016) ● SOAS Centenary Special Issue ● Iran's Environmental Challenges (April/May 2016) (October/November 2016)

38 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2016 – CULTURAL CONNECTIONS

No one can doubt the powerful financial and political bonds that connect London and the Middle East. But how can one quantify the cultural connections? Barnaby Rogerson takes a personal look at some of these connections in the capital My cultural connections

Concert with British Muslim artists. Part of ‘Journey into Europe’. Muslims, Trust and Cultural Dialogue (MTCD) has partnered with Professor Akbar Ahmed on his research project and documentary ‘Journey into Europe’, which investigates questions around European Muslim identity. As part of the project, MTCD organised a concert with British Muslim artists to shed light on how European Muslim identity is expressed through the arts. This concert took place on 18 May 2015 in London. Photograph

© William Barylo William © by William Barylo

o assess cultural connections one genuinely free-flowing cultural exchange? Britain and Pakistan. He is part of the could start by making a count of Or is it part of a teaching course or British literary and political landscape, the annual flock of art exhibitions, something tarnished by a grant? with historical roots that link him to the Tconcerts, books, lectures and articles. Instead lets look at some individuals, who once tolerant Muslim city of Lahore. Some relevant journals are Banipal and in terms of column inches would certainly The same would have to be said for the CM – Critical Muslim. Venues to keep a top any list of cultural connectors. Is Zaha opera-producer Wasfi Kani, who is at the close eye on include Janet Rady Fine Art, Hadid evidence of a cultural connection epicentre of a world defined by Garsington- Park Gallery and Moroccan Fine Art, Edge between the culture of Iraq and Britain? Grange-Glyndebourne, but is completely, of Arabia, the Mosaic Rooms, the Brunei Of course not; she defines herself, creates if not laughably, untouched by the cultural Gallery at SOAS, Leighton House, P21 a futuristic modernism exuberantly free of agenda of Islamabad. The scholar and Gallery and the Nour and Shubbak festivals. national identity tags and belongs to that controversialist, Ziauddin Sardar, might This data could be checked against the Time metropolitan world of the Western Levant be thought to be a more likely exemplar Out weekly summaries, the listing at the which connects Beirut, Bagdad, London, of a living Cultural Connection. But you back of The Middle East in London and the Paris, New York and the Ivy League but only have to listen to him debate at Hay international Aramco magazine. has no provincial hinterland. Nor could on Wye (or any of the other 365 literary These events could be assessed by visitor you argue that Tariq Ali is evidence of festivals of the British Isles) to realise that number, but as anyone who manages an ongoing cultural connection between you are in the company of Britain’s leading any type of Academic Assessment survey will realise, this sort of fact-filled exercise When looking for cultural connections are we always looking can also be nebulous. Most especially if one starts to try to sort out the degree of at a bridge, or a journey half delivered, someone caught halfway purity of a cultural manifestation. Is this a between assimilation and the indigenous homeland?

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 39 Muslim polymath. Despite the years spent The British-Moroccan society, SPANA, the American School in Medina and Kuala Lumpur, he is not a cultural bridge between Clifton Beach in Tangier, the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music, Freedom and Bloomsbury but fast on the way to forAll and the Maghreb Review: they are all run for the love of it becoming a British national treasure. In just the same way it might be tempting to musically experimental like Kings Place. But conversations can be uniquely stimulating, construct some fabulous conspiracy theory using the power of a gilt invitation card and for no one is on record or fulfilling a out of the influence of Jewish scholars a Chelsea reception, bridges were thrown professional function. And as many of the such as Avi Shlaim, Nessim Dawood and across to connect otherwise discordant bankers, diplomats, academics and writers David Abulafia on the patterns of British worlds. As I focused on the faces in the are now retired, it also allows them to be thought. Though once again, not only crowd, I was reminded of all those odd, refreshingly frank. And focusing on the has England claimed them for her own, slightly quirky organisations that make faces gathered together, I was once again but they have become an integral part other connections, year in year out. There is able to create a mosaic of all the various of British intellectual identity, whatever the British-Moroccan society, SPANA, the Turkey cultural organisations that I flit in their grandfathers read in Essaouira and American School in Tangier, not to mention and out of: The British Institute at Ankara Baghdad. the Fez Festival of World Sacred Music, (archaeological), the Anglo-Turkish Society So when one is looking for cultural Freedom for All and the Maghreb Review. (which is social but runs a lecture series), connections does one have to cut out all They are all run for the love of it, rather than Cornucopia (an amazingly erudite glossy the real success stories? Are we always a professional salary. There was of course magazine), the Friends of Aphrodisias looking at a bridge, or a journey half a political narrative behind the event, for (which supports a statue restoration delivered, someone caught halfway between the Moroccans believe in music, not only programme) not to forget the prolifically assimilation and the indigenous homeland? as an aspect of their Islamic practice but as active Yunus Emre cultural foundation, or To make greater sense of this, I turned my the best way to make connections between the ex-graduates of Roberts College. It also back on statistics and theories and consulted different faiths. Having suffered more than made me smile at memories of the ‘Ottoman the last fortnight of my diary. my fair share of faith-encounter groups, I Picnic’ which in my student days sought to The Spirit of the Moors was a concert also passionately believe in the efficacy of muddle up art-historians with rug-dealers, given by the Embassy of Morocco at sharing tea and music, rather than theology. artists with academics and travel-writers Cadogan Hall in mid-October. This was not Last weekend, I was part of the Divan with archaeologists. I believe a troika of some PR exercise, transporting something Club, a rather bizarre revival of an 18th- mischievous professors – John Carswell, exotic, such as Gnaoua musicians, for a century club of Turkey merchants and Honor Frost and Godfrey Goodwin – were photo shoot in London. Instead it was a travellers. This is another bunch of the driving force behind this annual picnic. very serious attempt at cultural synthesis. amateurs, who meet just twice a year, once There was no membership, no subscription, Contemporary Moroccan compositions in London, once in Istanbul. It is content no AGM, just a near-magical plethora of were performed by the English Chamber to exist as a dining club, bringing together bowls of home-made Turkish food brought Orchestra, immaculate in their white ties people interested in Turkey around the by each of the guests along with a cascade and tailcoats. It was a challenging but same, hospitable table. On one level it of rugs. The gathering knew no barriers of fascinating evening, which would otherwise is a vacuous, almost Walter Mitty-like age, race, class, sex or language. It was off the only ever been aired in somewhere gathering, yet on the other hand, the assessment radar but a totally valid form of cultural connection.

Reprinted from vol. 12, no. 1 (2016)

Barnaby Rogerson has written North Africa – A History, The Prophet Muhammad – a biography, The Last Crusaders, The Heirs of the Prophet Muhammad and guidebooks to Tunisia and Morocco. He is a member of the Editorial Board and his day job is Publisher at Eland (www.travelbooks.co.uk)

Banner advertising for the Fes Festival of World Sacred Music

40 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2016 – PERSIAN MUSIC After the 1979 Revolution, female solo singing performances were banned in Iran. Parmis Mozafari looks at some of the ways this ban is being challenged Still singing: female singers in contemporary Iran

Parisa and Dastan ensemble, Vancouver, 2012 < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnQnIqjCxt8 >

emale presence on stage has been modernisation – female performers were instrumentalists, singers, and dancers a matter of controversy in many mostly bound to court and indoor, female- performing in different musical genres. The societies especially when this presence only performances. A decade after the presence of female musicians – especially Fis perceived to conflict with the ‘duties’ of Constitutional Revolution women began to the stars of Persian classical music since a woman as a ‘faithful wife’ or ‘sacrificing appear in semi-public theatres and concerts. the 1920s and then the super stars of pop mother’, or is likely to distort her image of A few years later in 1924 the first public music since the 1950s – transformed the propriety as a ‘decent lady’. Female singing concert with a female singer took place, music culture of the country and initiated in particular has encountered restrictions and in 1925 the first female singer travelled drastic changes in the public space. This, and bans in various parts of the world and outside Iran to record her voice. This was in turn, made the restrictions imposed by at different times. In Europe, until the end not an easy transition as nearly all of these the post-revolution Islamic government of the 17th century boys and castrati sang the performers faced social, familial or religious harder to tolerate for most people and music female vocals in choruses and operas. pressures and limitations despite Reza practitioners. The situation of female performers in Khan’s supportive policies for such activities After the 1979 Revolution and the the Middle East has also been a direct (1921-25), which later became the official imposition of new policies, which were consequence of the socio-political, Pahlavi policies during his (1925-1941) based on the officials’ interpretation of cultural and religious priorities of the and his son’s rein (Mohammad Reza Shah Shi’a Islamic law, many artists and musical governing systems. In Iran, prior to the 1941-1979). activities faced stark restrictions. Pop Constitutional Revolution (1906-9) – a In time, this support paved the way music, dance and female solo singing were major turning point in the history of Iranian for the appearance of many women as totally banned and other forms of music were limited. These restrictions have gone through a great number of changes during After the 1979 Revolution and the imposition of new policies, the last 37 years. Some forms of pop music pop music, dance and female solo singing were totally banned have been legalised, some dance forms have

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 41 Ham-khani (co-singing) was not created for its beauty, but during the late 1990s when the reformists managed to authorise different forms of simply as an act of resistance that generates a space for women performances, but failed to legalise female solo singing. The line of argument for this re-entered the public space under the name Another trend has involved holding is very straightforward. Firstly, as Shi’a of harakat-e mozun (rhythmic movements), concerts abroad. For some leading female jurisprudence has been the major source of but female solo singing is still banned. This singers this has become a regular practice, legitimacy for Iranian government, anything is due to the government’s reading of Shi’a particularly in places with large Iranian that goes against it is political. Secondly, jurisprudence which holds that the female diasporas such as parts of Europe and given the debates that are circulated in solo singing voice must not be heard by the US. The government seems to turn a the country, it seems there is no way to men. The more moderate members of the blind eye to such performances or allows legitimise female solo singing within Shi’a regime have so far been unable to find a way them to happen as a safety valve. However, jurisprudence – for the time being. Thus to justify it within these given limits. Since most female singers do not have such the state cannot authorise female solo the early 1990s, however, female singers opportunities, as these performances singing because such an act breaks the aura have found different ways to challenge this require formal invitations and external of religiosity that has been used to claim ban and continue their work. investments that only famous singers may legitimacy for Iran’s political system. Yet the The first attempts began when some have access to. demands of the Iranian middle class, who singers tried to create new kinds of spaces The last method of resistance, which is have been changing the patterns of bans for female solo singing. These included quite recent, is the recording of music and since the 1980s via their transgressions, increasing the size of their private indoor even music videos and posting them on is also a formidable force that cannot be (underground) performances with mixed the Internet. There have been instances suppressed. or female-only audiences. The latter led to of actions being taken by the government the creation of official female-only music against this method, but none of the Reprinted from vol. 12, no. 2 (2016) festivals since November 1994. Men are performers have faced serious problems and banned from attending such concerts, and many continue posting their songs. This is Parmis Mozafari is an Ethnomusicologist all the stage crew are women. Cameras a very simple and affordable way for any who has taught and published on music, and mobile phones must be handed to the singer to push the boundaries, and one can dance, and female performers in Iran. She is female security guards upon entrance and find online numerous simple or professional also a santour player and is currently a fellow women’s bags and bodies are searched for voice recordings and videos. The reader can at the University of St Andrews recording devices. The space allows women see examples of these by searching for ‘a to perform freely and enjoy direct contact Persian girl sings Hayedeh’s bahar song’ on with their audience, but it is limited in that YouTube, or ‘Solmaz Badri Rooze Azal’ on they cannot cooperate with male colleagues SoundCloud. Nevertheless, many singers and their concerts remain marginal. avoid this as no one can predict the state’s Another method is ham-khani (co- reactions. singing) singing with a second or third Since the 1979 Revolution, music, in voice. The advantage of this method is that general, has had a liminal position within female solo singers can perform in public Iranian political culture; so long as it with both male and female audiences. does not break its political bounds, its However, due to the nature of this method, transgressions may be tolerated and hushed. it would be impossible to perform avaz The case of female solo singing inside the khani (free rhythm singing) and bedaheh country, however, is more political than khani (improvisation), two important parts cultural or religious. This became clear of Iranian classical music solo singing. Moreover the beauty of the song and the voice of the main singer remain hidden and unappreciated. Thus, for many female singers the whole practice is akin to an unwanted situation that they have to tolerate in order to perform; this performing style was not created for its beauty, but simply as an act of resistance that generates a space for women.

Mahdieh Mohammad-khani and Mah ensemble, Iran, 2013. Home performance < https://www. youtube. com/watch?v=p65gvR4kG60 >

42 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2016 – IRAN’S ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES

Tehran has a serious air pollution problem. Hamid M. Pouran discusses the causes and effects Air pollution and public health in Iran

he Air Quality Index (AQI) often level. An AQI of 100 is the threshold. AQI measurements for each of the above- reaches alarming levels in Tehran. measurements of 100-150, indicated by the mentioned pollutants, which are recorded Nowadays the city’s residents pay colour orange, mean that the air quality is in different units. For example carbon Tclose attention to the AQI, though they unhealthy for sensitive groups (e.g. children, monoxide is reported as parts per may not quite understand the science pregnant women and those with cardiac million (ppm) and particulate matter in behind it. The AQI is a yardstick to measure and respiratory system problems). When micrograms per cubic meter. A sub-index air quality. It is inversely proportional to the AQI goes above 150 it is unhealthy for is calculated for each of the pollutants, and how clean the ambient air is: the higher all people. Thus, AQI measurements of then the highest sub-index of the five major the AQI, the more serious the associated 150-200 are displayed in red. Such levels of polluters is used as the air quality index. health effects are for people who breathe air pollution require that specific measures AQI is often reported for a specified average the (polluted) air. These effects include a be implemented. For instance, emergency period (often 24 hours). wide range of both short-term (coughing, services and hospitals are put on full alert Airborne particulate matter or PM is asthma-like symptoms) and long-term and paramedics are deployed to busy a complex mixture of extremely small (impacting breathing passages, causing areas of the city. People are advised to stay sized particles that may have different chronic disease) health problems. The AQI home, air polluting industries are ordered natures (e.g. solid, liquid, organic and is usually reported for five key air pollutants: to put their activities on hold and traffic inorganic chemicals). These particles can (1) carbon monoxide, (2) ground-level restrictions are imposed. When the AQI is be natural, manmade or a combination of ozone, (3) nitrogen dioxide, (4) sulphur red, visibility is significantly reduced and both. According to the US Environmental dioxide and (5) particulate matter (PM) a thick layer of smog covers the city. The Protection Agency (EPA), smaller particles measured at 2.5 and 10 micrometres. highest level of air pollution, 200-300 AQI, increase the potential risk of causing Among these pollutants, PM is one of the is defined as very unhealthy and indicated health issues. Industrial activities, such most hazardous. by the colour purple. as cement manufacturing or petrol and The AQI in Iran is comprised of five The AQI is a product of scientific diesel combustion engines, are examples different levels, which span from 0 to 300. They are also colour-coded. The air is considered clean when the AQI is below In the 12 months from 21 March 2014 the people of Tehran 50; for this range the index is highlighted green. An AQI of 50-100 is indicated by the experienced 16 clean days, 233 healthy days, 113 unhealthy colour yellow and is considered a healthy days for sensitive groups and 3 unhealthy days for everyone

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 43 of anthropogenic sources of air pollution. Mobile pollution sources – petrol and diesel Soil and dust particles are among natural causes of PM. Particles smaller than 10 cars and motorcycles – are thought to cause micrometres are often not trapped in the 80 per cent of Tehran air pollution nose and throat and can therefore enter the lungs. In terms of health impacts, the 113 unhealthy days for sensitive groups and about two years ago, due to nuclear-related associated risks with PM 2.5 are notably 3 unhealthy days for everyone. sanctions, it was virtually impossible for higher than PM 10. Well-documented Tehran’s air pollution is not a new Iran to import high standard fuel. Reverse research shows both short and long-term concern; it has been publicly discussed engineering combined with the use of exposure to PM has negative impacts on during the past four decades. Even among indigenous technology and existing systems human health, from asthma aggravation developed countries air pollution is a major for producing petrol led to the production to lung cancer. Hospital admissions problem. But the frequency and intensity of nonstandard, low quality fuel in Iran that notably increase when the AQI reaches the of the air pollution in Tehran makes it compounded the problem. These days high unhealthy level (above 150). As mentioned stand out among other cities. Thermal/ standard fuel is imported, which has helped earlier PM 2.5 imposes stronger risk factors temperature inversion is a phenomenon that produce a notable reduction of nonstandard than PM 10. It is now well established often occurs in winters. It happens when the carcinogenic products emissions. that exposure to PM 2.5 negatively affects temperature close to the ground is colder The incomplete combustion of fuels by children’s lung development and generally than the temperature above it. In such cars and motorcycles, regardless of the causes irreversible damage to the lungs. atmospheric conditions we have limited fuel standard, leads to the formation and At the moment the data available is not natural air movement, so atmospheric emission of air pollutants including PM 2.5. sufficient to establish a safe level of exposure pollutants are not completely dispersed and Many of the vehicles in Tehran do not pass with no adverse health impacts. removed and instead remain in their place. minimum standards; some do not even Tehran, with a population of more than This leads to sharp increases in AQI levels. have a catalytic converter. Regrettably these 8 million as of 2011, has one of the worst The geographical location of Tehran and nonstandard vehicles also form a big part of air quality records in the world. Though the presence of the Alborz mountain range Tehran’s public transport systems; taxis and Tehran does not have the highest level of in the north only exacerbates this problem. buses contribute disproportionately to the air pollution in Iran – particularly when Rapid urban development, including the problem. compared to Ahwaz and Sanandaj, which construction of a number of high-rise Solving Tehran’s air pollution problem are often among the top 10 most polluted buildings that limit natural air movement is not easy, but it is achievable. London cities due to the high concentration of PM, corridors in Tehran, also contributes to this and Mexico City have succeeded before. as Iran’s capital it dominates the news and problem. Investing in public transport, especially receives substantially more attention. In Mobile pollution sources – petrol and by replacing old vehicles with new ones, 2012 an advisor to Iran’s Health Minister diesel cars and motorcycles – are thought adopting green technologies like electric announced that, in a period of one year to cause 80 per cent of Tehran air pollution. and hybrid cars, raising people’s awareness from March 2011, 4,460 people had died The number of cars in Tehran is estimated and increasing their understanding of from air pollution in Tehran. According to be about four million. Motorcycles are the role they play in air pollution, and to the AQI records, in the 12 months said to number about one million, though implementing efficient regulations are some from 21 March 2014 the people of Tehran some observations suggest that the real of the essential steps that must be taken in experienced 16 clean days, 233 healthy days, number is closer to three million. Until order to address this challenge.

Reprinted from vol. 12, no. 3 (2016)

Hamid M. Pouran has a PhD in Environmental Engineering. Before joining the LMEI as an IHF Visiting Fellow in Iran’s Environmental Sustainability, he was a Senior Research Associate at Lancaster University and a member of the Transatlantic Initiative for Nanotechnology and the Environment

Smog over Tehran seen from Mount Tochal.

© Klára Nováková, Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia © Klára Nováková, Photograph by Klára Nováková

44 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2016 – MIGRANT AND REFUGEE CRISIS The recent European refugee crisis has led to a denigration of economic migrants and cast a negative light on the notion of ‘economic’ migration in general. Hassan Hakimian takes a critical look Kicking away the migration ladder?

'Throwing Down the Ladder by Which They Rose', cartoon by Thomas Nast, 23 July, 1870. A European immigrant kicks away the ladder of opportunity. The group behind the wall declares that America is now closed to the Chinese

ecent concerns about the European in recent times has tended to obfuscate On the other hand, for those sympathetic migration crisis have masked a rather than enlighten current debates. to migrants the challenge of presenting remarkable – but little noticed – Unfortunately, this seems to have been true migration as a general force for good has Rdegree of unanimity over the supposed for both those who have been unreceptive been side-lined by the need to articulate ‘undesirability’ of migration as an economic to refugees’ urgent need for protection as the case for national and global protection phenomenon. Amidst outcries against well as – albeit with very different and noble systems to address the plight of desperate ‘economic migrants at European doorsteps’, intentions – those who have rightly sought refugees fleeing war, human rights abuses and their allegedly questionable intentions, to highlight their plight. and persecution in recent years. the term itself has come to assume negative The populist backlash has drawn its But widespread negative depictions of connotations on a scale hitherto unknown. potency from exaggerated fears and economic migrants misrepresent the role Statements like ‘we need to distinguish demagogic vilification of migrants as a migration – forced or voluntary – has between real refugees and economic ‘threat’ to the social cohesion and economic played in the course of social and economic migrants’ are used with apparent ease prosperity of host countries. Unsurprisingly development of many areas and regions, fuelled by the urgent need to address the perhaps, this perspective has favoured Europe included. human tragedy that has been unfolding in harsh treatment of migrants and erecting To be sure, the root causes of this our backyard. physical barriers to their entry in various conception predate the recent crisis. In his Whilst a distinction between ‘voluntary’ countries (most notably Hungary, Serbia in-depth study of migration (Exodus – How and ‘forced’ migration can be helpful both and Macedonia). In some, strong nationalist Migration is Changing Our World, 2013), conceptually and in aiding us to understand sentiments have even justified de facto Paul Collier has carefully examined how the historical significance of migratory breach of the Refugee Convention of 1951 the movement, on a global scale, of the flows in particular contexts, its uncritical and undermined the Schengen Area visa poor eager to live and work in rich nations and dismissive – if not diminutive – usage agreement. is giving rise to one of the ‘most pressing and controversial questions of our time’. Negative depictions of economic migrants misrepresent the He premises his study on the observation that ‘The control of immigration is a role migration has played in the course of social and human right. The group instinct to defend economic development of many areas and regions territory is common throughout the animal

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 45 kingdom; it is likely to be even more More recent adulations with globalisation are based fundamental than the individual right to property.’ It is instructive perhaps that on the central idea of the freedom of movement, across Collier views the control of immigration – borders, for all factors of production, including labour not immigration itself – a matter of ‘human r i g h t ’. individuals just as in the producer context that a third of EU migrants coming to work A sensible discussion and ultimately it entails profit-maximisation. The same in the UK in the same period returned the need for a measured migration policy approach subscribes strongly to free trade home within a year. Similarly, a new study is undeniable, whether for home or host among nations as a win-win strategy. has estimated that immigrants have started countries. What this perspective confuses, More recent adulations with globalisation more than half of the start-up companies however, is a supposedly discretionary too are based on the central idea of the in the US, which are together valued at one policy (immigration control) with an freedom of movement, across borders, for billion dollars or more (creating an average immutable principle (universal human all factors of production. Yet the asymmetry of approximately 760 jobs per company). As rights). Imagine a policy of immigration between freedom of movement of labour for home countries too, evidence suggests control being advocated as a new and other factors is puzzling: international migrant remittances help reduce poverty amendment to a country’s constitution! roaming for capital in search of the highest and promote consumption and investment Statements of this type also often rates of return is applauded, but a similar (including household members’ education juxtapose immigration control to no enthusiasm for international freedom of and human capital). immigration control – a false and unhelpful movement of labour is conspicuous by its Last but not least, we may take a leaf dichotomy. More generally, the anti- absence. from history, which offers a rich array of immigration narrative focuses on the short Second, there is ample evidence in migration experiences across different term picture by exaggerating its costs to support of the two-way economic benefits countries and over time. There is little receiving communities and underrating its of migration for both receiving and sending doubt that the wealth and prosperity of long-term benefits both for home and host countries. Migrants are more likely to countries like the USA, Canada, Australia nations. This is questionable on at least three be of working age (active in the labour and New Zealand have much to do with levels: philosophical, historical and economic. force), more educated and less likely than incoming European immigrants. In turn, First, from a philosophical point of view, the local population to use public sector such movements afforded the Europeans the case against a desire to improve one's services. Contrary to popular projections, significant opportunities to improve their well-being through relocation is directly at migrants from the 28 countries of the own lives or to escape from hardship and odds with the basic tenets of mainstream European Economic Area in the UK are poverty at home. This is also true of the economics and the underpinnings of a estimated to have made a net positive GCC states where the largest concentration capitalist system. Neoclassical economics contribution exceeding £2.5 billion during of migrants at both ends – high-paid, is premised on the notion of rational 2010-14 (income tax and national insurance skilled expats and low-wage Asian workers choice and maximising behaviour of contributions paid net of benefits and with paltry social rights – has been oiling homo economicus. In consumer theory welfare support received). Recent analyses ambitious growth trajectories of these states. this translates itself to utility maximising of National Insurance figures also confirm In his seminal book Kicking Away the Ladder, Cambridge economist, Ha-Joon Chang, shows that despite benefiting from protectionist policies in the heyday of their own industrialisation in the 19th century, the developed countries today effectively deny emerging nations the same opportunities by advocating free trade. It is hard to resist the temptation offered today by this analogy in the context of the current debates on economic forces behind international migration.

Reprinted from vol. 12, no. 4 (2016)

Hassan Hakimian is Director of the London Middle East Institute and a Reader in the Department of Economics at SOAS

Anti-immigration rally in Prague, Czech Republic, in front of the National Museum. Photograph by

© Novis-M, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Commons, CC BY-SA Wikimedia © Novis-M, Novis-M

46 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2016 – SOAS CENTENARY SPECIAL ISSUE

Nadje Al-Ali explains how a gender lens can deepen our understanding of war and conflict in the Middle East Gender, power and violence

Man uses his belt to attack soldiers after the failed coup in Turkey on 15-16 July 2016. Photograph by Burak Kara/Getty Images. Courtesy of the

© Burak Kara/Getty Images photographer

ne of the many shocking images of masculinities, promoted and embodied and challenges to heteronormativity, as the failed military coup in Turkey by the militarised Turkish state, articulate campaigned for by feminists and LGBTQ was that of a young, bearded strength and authority through force activists inside Turkey, as a foreign Oman in civilian clothes, draped in the rather than democratic legal means. conspiracy. red Turkish flag, using his belt to beat a Throughout his rule as the former Prime Political scientists, international group of young soldiers who are lying Minister and now President, Recep Tayyip relations scholars and historians often on the ground huddled up against each Erdoğan has heavily played on his image focus on what we think of as ‘the big other. Heavily armed policemen appear as the über-patriarch, tasked to protect picture’ when analysing war and conflict to be watching the spectacle without the honour and unity of the nation. This in the Middle East and elsewhere. The intervening. Several sources have reported ‘protection’ has frequently translated into majority of discussions in the media brutal attacks on military conscripts, oppressing religious and ethnic minorities and policy circles revolve around many barely 18 years old, even after they as well as political dissidents. At the same national security concerns, changes in had already surrendered. Some video clips time, Erdoğan has left no doubt that, in political economies and state-society suggest that policemen have threatened to his world view, women are not equal to relations. What a gendered lens adds to rape the daughters and wives of captured men. On numerous occasions, he has the picture is not only the recognition soldiers. referred to the idea of gender equality that women and men might be affected These incidents are a stark reminder of the complex ways violence plays out in Attention to gender as a structural feature of inequality conflict situations. But they also tell us a lot about underlying gendered norms opens up our research enquiries into exploring the ways and power relations. Prevailing notions of that gender might intersect with other power hierarchies

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 47 Women and men are mobilising jointly, particularly the will’ of those advocating change while simultaneously consolidating their amongst the youth, to resist violence against women as an authority. integral part of their demands for democracy and dignity Gender studies has long moved away from essentialised ideas about men as perpetrators and women as victims by and implicated in war and conflict mechanisms or even physical violence of violence and has been engaging in differently, but also that there exists a with the aim of imposing dress codes, studies that look at agency, resistance, continuum of violence in terms of what controlling sexual behaviour and complexities and complicities. Current is happening at home, within the family, limiting access to the public sphere, research indicates that despite what the workplace, the streets and situations all in the name of ‘restoring authentic generally is a gloomy picture, there of acute armed conflicts, including battle values’. In reality these actions demarcate have been significant developments fronts. Moreover, attention to gender as a boundaries of ‘us vs them’ and consolidate on the societal level. Women survivors structural feature of inequality that cuts the authority of specific political actors or of violence are speaking out publicly through world politics, state institutions, attempts to ‘break’ the opposition. This and breaking the taboo surrounding economic contexts, social and legal arenas trend was particularly obvious in the Iraqi the discussion of sexual abuse and and daily lives, also opens up our research case: sectarian struggles were very much harassment. Moreover, women and enquiries into exploring the ways that fought over the bodies, dress codes and men are mobilising jointly, particularly gender might intersect with other power mobility of women. amongst the youth, to resist violence hierarchies. The impact of recent political against women as an integral part of For example, in Iraq I explored the transformations in the Middle East on their demands for democracy and ways in which being an Iraqi woman women and men, on women’s rights dignity. Men, especially young men, or man might intersect with being of and gender norms has been varied are increasingly making the connection a particular social class and a specific according to national contexts, respective between state authoritarianism and religious sect or ethnic group at any given histories of state feminism and gender prevailing patriarchal gender regimes. historical moment: during the Ba’ath activism, as well as differences among And those men opposed to political regime, the economic sanctions period, and between women and men based authoritarianism in Turkey, Iran, Iraq, the invasion, the occupation, or more on class, citizenship status and place Egypt and elsewhere in the region have recent sectarian tensions and political of residence, amongst other social also started to realise that the struggle struggles. In relation to my work on differences. In general, mass protests for gender-based equality lies at the heart the Turkish-Kurdish conflict, I found and uprisings created new openings for of struggles for more egalitarian and that power differences linked to being a women’s involvement in public, however, democratic societies. man or a woman need to be explored in these were rapidly threatened by armed conjunction with ethnicity (Turk/Kurd) as conflict, counter-revolutionary backlashes Reprinted from vol. 12, no. 5 (2016) well as religious differences, particularly as well as the empowerment of Islamist in relation to the Alevi minority. Different political forces seeking to promote their forms of violence intersect; many Kurdish conservative gender agendas as part of feminist activists stress that their struggle signalling a break from former regimes. against state violence goes side by side In the struggle for political power, with their struggle against gender-based women’s bodies, but also increasingly violence, including that at the hands of men’s bodies and their sexuality, have fellow Kurdish men. become the targets of violence and control Cutting across any specific empirical by a range of actors seeking to ‘break context is the fact that women and children are disproportionately impacted by war, conflict and forced displacement. An increase in sexual and wider gender- based violence, restrictions on mobility, limited access to healthcare and the feminisation of poverty are common, gendered aspects of war. Since the start of the Syrian conflict early marriage, forced marriages, forced prostitution, sexual violence, and the demand for maternal and wider reproductive healthcare have increased greatly. Meanwhile, women’s behaviour and appearance are both considered to be Nadje Al-Ali is Professor of Gender Studies symbolic of the national, religious and at the Centre for Gender Studies at SOAS ethnic community. Women, then, are and a member of the magazine's Editorial often the target of legal or informal Board

48 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2015

Volume 11 - Number 1 £4 December 2014 – January 2015

Volume 11 - Number 2 February – March 2015

£4

Volume 11 - Number 3 April – May 2015 £4

THIS ISSUE Volume 11 - Number 4 June – July 2015£4 Wars, depleted uranium: ENVIRONMENT and soil pollution and the environment ● The visual languageBasin● Arab andof animated dissent hydrosolidarity ● Can desalination provide a ●sustainable Water resources source ofin water?the Middle East ● Ways of seeing ● Iran’s looming water crisis Volume 11 - Number 5 Reviews and events in London ● Nanotechnology October – November 2015 : CONTEMPORARY ART● PLUS ● ● Cultural heritage● PLUS Reviews and events in London THIS ISSUE ● Photo competition results ● The Nile £4 ● Un-representable narratives and contemporary amnesia

cartoons, then and now

THIS ISSUE: NORTH AFRICA ● Four tumultuous years ● Activism and ‘liberal’ authoritarianism ● The media post-Arab uprisings ● Imazighen away from home ● An Algerian flag in Exmouth Market● Sufis, Salafis and militiamen in post-Qaddafi Libya● North Africa’s failing energy promise ● Oil squeeze on Algeria ● The Libyan economy ● PLUS Reviews and events in London

THIS ISSUE ● ● The rise Losing and fall our of language: Endangered diversity ● Languages South Arabian languages ● Korandje from the 12 The artifice of the●The destructionInterview language with of of the ‘Middle Eastern Gypsies’ ● What if, 100 years on, school is not enough? ● Reviews The death of Zoroastrian Dari in Kerman ● The Modern ● ●PLUS PLUS : IRAQ – ●People The Yezidis and of NimrudSinjar Heritage reduced to rubble Reviews and events in London ● th to the 21 st THIS ISSUE● The Kurds and ISIS century ● The case of Siwi ● the nation ● Obliterating Iraq’s Christian heritage art in Iraq ● Supporting humanities and culture for a sustainable Iraq Saad al-Jadir and events in London

● Contemporary Art ● Iraq - People and Heritage (December 2014/January 2015) (June/July 2015) ● Environment (February/March 2015) ● Endangered Languages ● North Africa (April/May 2015) (October/November 2015)

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 49 2015 – CONTEMPORARY ART

Megan Wang talks about the aesthetics of protest, drawing on the creative works of social movements from the Middle East to the US

The visual language of dissent

Yemeni woman in traditional dress in Change Square with the Yemeni flag drawn on her hand and ‘no immunity for traitors’ written on her palm. Photograph by Z. Alkulaibi. The photo appears in The Political Aesthetics of Global Protest: the Arab Spring and Beyond (Edinburgh University Press, 2014)

ow to make a gas mask? You will Everyday objects, when employed mundane, non-violent and everyday nature need: a marker, a large plastic bottle, creatively, can become powerful weapons of of these repurposed, ‘disobedient objects’ a box cutter, a length of foam or subversion – practically and symbolically. is empowering: every individual has access Hsome soft fabric, a surgical mask and some According to Crispin Sartwell ‘all politics is to them and in them lies the means for glue. Hold the bottle up to your face and, aesthetic; at their heart political ideologies, opposition. Moreover, these objects have using the marker, draw a U-shape. Cut off systems and constitutions are aesthetic symbolic weight; they serve to make the the bottom of the bottle using your box systems, multimedia artistic environments’ violence and repression they were created cutter and then cut out the U-shape. Glue (Political Aesthetics, 2010). The political to guard against appear ridiculous in scale. the foam around the cut edges to protect aesthetics of grassroots social movements If all an individual has to protect himself is your face. Stuff a surgical mask in the top work to further their aims via a visual a plastic bottle and some vinegar, deploying of the bottle and use the elastics to secure language that targets the problem and tear gas and using riot shields seems like the mask to your face. Remember to carry inspires people to act. Aside from Gezi textbook overkill. vinegar to soak the surgical mask prior Park’s makeshift gas masks, demonstrators A key component of the strength of to donning your homemade gas mask in Syria modified the bottoms of paper bags, these political aesthetics lies in their (Disobedient Objects, V&A Museum). allowing them to serve as graffiti stencils. ability to subvert established definitions Demonstrators created these makeshift gas The repurposing of these objects acts as a and discourses and to disrupt the status masks during the 2013 Gezi Park protests in compelling visual statement: paper bags and quo. Generally, protest artwork and other Istanbul. Since then they have been spotted plastic bottles are not items that one would paraphernalia, by their very nature, are acts as far away as Caracas, Venezuela, and traditionally use to oppose a government of subversion and mockery – they are not several instructional graphics detailing their with a police force and army that have a (necessarily) pieces of fine art produced construction can be found with a quick host of weapons at their disposal – tear by trained artists with access to quality Google search. gas, pepper spray, riot shields, guns. The materials and high-tech studios, and they are unlikely to be products designed and mass produced in factories. Instead they Everyday objects, when employed creatively, can become tend to be created under conditions of powerful weapons of subversion – practically and symbolically constraint and duress; access to resources

50 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 is limited and, in some contexts, exposure In the context of grassroots movements, aesthetic objects or could very well mean imprisonment. Thus, their manufacturing is not an endeavour creations aid in renegotiating and reimagining the status quo, of privileged elites; it is a product of ‘the subverting traditional hierarchies by empowering ‘the people’ people’ for ‘the people’. Yet even with such constraints these pieces are not haphazardly Thus, in Libya we see examples of Qaddafi’s individuals depicted less powerful and more chosen; they are thoughtful, aesthetic face being blacked out on the Libyan dinar human. They are transformed from sources responses to changing circumstances that and graffiti which effeminises him. In of authority into sources of amusement. aim to embody the spirit and ethos of the Yemen and Tunisia protestors painted their While blacking out Qaddafi’s face on the movements they represent. flag’s colours on their bodies, sometimes Libyan dinar may seem petty, the symbolic Subversion can take on other, more alongside powerful statements explicitly resonance cannot be denied: with one action direct forms as well. In 2003 when the expressing their grievances and demands. he has been rendered not only blind, but US invaded Iraq, the US military created Social movements and activism are faceless. a set of Personality Identification playing dynamic processes that have the power to While varied in form and function, cards which contained the names, faces, transform individuals, processes in which objects created and employed by protest addresses and, sometimes, job titles of the idea of ‘the people’ is constantly being movements around the globe embody a the most-wanted individuals in Iraq. In renegotiated and redefined via a visual political aesthetic, often taking the form response, Noel Douglas designed the language – be it the site of the protest, of a visual language of dissent. They Regime Change Begins at Home playing graffiti, theatre, leaflet, prop or tool (The draw inspiration from the opposition cards during the height of the Anti-War Political Aesthetics of Global Protest: the and an existing repertoire of protest, of Movement, depicting the ‘most unwanted’ Arab Spring and Beyond, AKU-ISMC). iconic imagery and symbolism, which members of the US government described Thus, donning a makeshift gas mask alters is then adapted to the local vernacular. as warmongers and profiteers. The cards the demonstrator’s appearance, signifying Visuals have always provided a means are humorous: they contain unflattering his or her commitment to action. The for getting one’s message across, but images of the individuals, one of their more gas mask has improved his/her ability technological innovation has allowed for colourful quotes and, for George W. Bush, a to withstand tear gas, altering the power their cheap, effortless and near immediate nickname whose spelling seems to mock his dynamic between the demonstrator and dissemination to massive audiences, Texas accent – ‘Dubya’. the authorities. Those authorities can multiplying their value. In the context of Defacing currency, images of political no longer use tear gas as effectively as a grassroots movements, these aesthetic leaders or appropriating national flags are crowd-control tactic. The hidden stencils objects or creations aid in renegotiating other examples of this visual language of allow individuals to move freely and ‘tag’ and reimagining the status quo, subverting dissent. These objects are often thought of strategic locations with the mark of the traditional hierarchies by empowering as national symbols: they are created, owned resistance, disseminating their message ‘the people’. More importantly, though, or generally mobilised by the government. widely and mocking the power’s inability they demonstrate that all that is required Painting over the national flag or drawing to catch them. The Regime Change Begins to activate the latent aesthetic power of on a country’s currency is a direct aesthetic at Home playing cards use humour to poke the seemingly mundane is a mixture of assault on government power and authority. fun at established officials, rendering the ingenuity and necessity.

This article was informed by the following exhibitions: Disobedient Objects at the V&A Museum in the Porter Gallery until 1 February 2015; The Aesthetics of Global Protest: the Arab Spring and Beyond at the Aga Khan University Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations (AKU-ISMC) and Goldsmiths College, University of London ended 6 and 23 November 2014 respectively.

Reprinted from vol. 11, no. 1 (2015)

Megan Wang is the Coordinating Editor for The Middle East in London. She has a Master’s degree in Muslim Cultures from AKU-ISMC

Effeminising Qaddafi, Tripoli, Libya (February 2012). Photograph by Igor Cherstich, Anthropology Department, University College London

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 51 2015 – ENVIRONMENT

Tony Allan sheds light on water (in)security in the Middle East Water resources in the Middle East: scarce, emotional, politicised and misunderstood

© Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain Wikimedia © Circles of irrigated vegetation, Saudi Arabia. NASA image

e need water ecosystems; water of water not because of climate change We need about 5.0 cubic metres per day ecosystems do not need us. We or reductions in levels of rainfall. Water if we eat a lot of beef. We only need 2.5 have become too many. scarcity was the result of the doubling of cubic metres if we are vegetarian. Food W population every 25 years across the region. consumers and their politicians are not yet Scarce water – food-water is very scarce Some economies are having to provide aware enough of these metrics. Perversely, but non-food water need not be scarce water and food for populations that have urbanised consumers in the Middle East – even in 2050 increased almost tenfold between 1950 and like those in rich OECD economies – also Water is certainly scarce in the Middle 2010. throw away and waste about 30 per cent of East. It doesn’t rain much: very rarely it rains The Middle East has lost the battle to the food they purchase. in the summer, and the winter rains are be food-water secure. Food-water is the The region’s current food-water deficits useful but not reliable. Its water ecosystems water needed to raise crops and livestock. It have been silently and very effectively are not water rich. Between 1950 and 1970 accounts for about 90 per cent of the water mitigated by international trade. The trade all the economies of the region ran out needed by an individual or an economy. is not in water but in food. Each tonne of imported wheat needs about 1,000 tonnes (cubic metres) of water from the The Middle East has lost the battle to be food-water secure environment of another economy. Each

52 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 tonne of beef requires 16,000 tonnes. This To be self-sufficient in food and water the economies ‘trade’ in virtual water since the 1950s and increasingly since the 1970s has proved of the Middle East currently need water ecosystems to be very rational. The economies of the that could provide about 30 per cent more water region have been able to protect their own water ecosystems. They have used the water Secondly, recently developed water recycling emotional temperature of any discourse environments of the US, Australia, Brazil, technologies are beginning to enable the on the topic. Food is even more emotional Argentina and Europe and recently those of affordable re-use of urban and industrial than water and volatile food prices are a Russia and the Ukraine. Virtual water ‘trade’ water. 50 per cent recovery rates will be nightmare for any politician who has to was environmentally rational. It was also feasible and higher levels seem possible. ensure that cheap food is available for poor an economic no-brainer. The US and the Thirdly, most of the population of the region urban communities. Food price spikes make European Union have been driving down live near the sea or a major river. Since 2000 for very frightening politics. the price of traded food staples since the the costs of desalinated water have been 1950s. Traded staple food commodity prices driven down to about $US 60 cents per Misunderstood have been running at half production costs. cubic metre. If desalination could be based The main water resource delusion relates This half cost food has mitigated two major on clean energy – that is energy generated to the nature of the region’s water scarcity. strategic regional insecurities – water and by solar or wind power – non-food water The region is not non-food water insecure. food. would be doubly secure. Researching and It is very food-water insecure. To be self- Other numbers are important. Non-food developing these technologies is a high sufficient in food and water the economies water – that is the water we drink, use at priority in the region and very significant of the Middle East currently need water home and for our jobs – only accounts for environmentally. ecosystems that could provide about 30 per about 10 per cent of the water we consume. cent more water. They will need about three 150 litres per day is a widely used estimate. Emotional and easily politicised times the region’s water endowment when The region’s water ecosystems will always Water scarcity is not well understood the population doubles by about 2050. If the have enough water to meet non-food water by those who use water to raise crops and water environments of the region are to be needs. There are three reasons. First, by livestock, by those who drink water and protected the region’s political economies 2050 when the region’s population will be especially by those who have to make water will have to continue with three policies about 600 million it will need about 600 related environmental policies. Water itself that have served them well for the past cubic kilometres of food-water annually. is also very emotional. It has an iconic place half-century. First, they will have to ‘import’ It will only have about 200. The rest will in all the religions of the region. It is, as a virtual water and the water ecosystems have to come from outside the region. The consequence, very easily politicised. This from other countries. Secondly they will food-water battle has been lost. But the is especially the case if people believe that have to accelerate the adoption of recycling non-food water needed will only be about their water and food security depend on non-food water and desalination, preferably 60 cubic kilometres annually. The region’s having sovereignty over sufficient water for with clean energy. Thirdly and most economies can provide this volume from its both their food and their non-food needs. importantly, they will have to accelerate the water endowments. Some economies will, That water insecurity and food insecurity diversification of their economies so that however, find it more difficult than others. are so very tightly linked increases the they can afford the importation of virtual food-water. They will also have to address the impacts of climate change which will reduce the availability of water. The region will remain non-food water secure. Finally, it will also have to address food- water insecurity with the policies that have successfully addressed the problem for 50 years – virtual water ‘imports’ and economic diversification.

Reprinted from vol. 11, no. 2 (2015)

Tony Allan is Emeritus Professor at KCL and SOAS

Water trucks, like the one pictured here in Jordan, are an important source of drinking

© High Contrast, Wikimedia Commons © High Contrast, water for areas of the Middle East

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 53 2015 – NORTH AFRICA

Karima Laachir looks at emerging forms of individual activism in Morocco Activism and ‘liberal’ authoritarianism © Said Sabbah, aka DAIS

Graffiti by artist Said Sabbah (aka DAIS) reflecting the impossibility of moving forward despite promises of ‘evolution’ during the Arab uprisings. Meknes, Morocco, February 2012

here has been much discussion on distinguish genuine activism from other civil society groups. The normative division the role of civil society in promoting forms used to promote a liberal image of that perceives religious-based activism as democracy in the Arabic speaking the state. In this case, the regime actively co- ‘undemocratic’ and secular activism as Tregion, especially with the growing maturity opts leaders of professional associations and democratic is problematic as it demonises of social groups in defending human rights organisations so that the state’s authority the Islamists and denies their active and and women’s rights, holding the government is not challenged. The authoritarian state complex participation in society as well as accountable, calling for economic also imposes restrictive legal procedures their large popular support base. transparency and raising environmental and infiltrates civil society groups to keep One can partly agree that the recent Arab concerns. Recent innovative research on abreast of their activities. However, this does uprisings were not the outcome of civil civil society activism in the region rejects not mean that there are no autonomous civil society activism but more a result of mass the normative Western understanding of society groups that can resist the state’s co- dissatisfaction and ‘mass revolutionary civil society as a parameter of democratic optation. Moreover, in the region there are fervour’ as well as ‘loose horizontal change; it also attempts to locate civil society various types of secular and religious-based networks’ (Cavatorta, Civil Society Activism activism under authoritarian constraints. ‘Liberal’ authoritarian states such as The Moroccan state uses divide-and-rule Morocco create state-sponsored forms of civil activism which make it difficult to policies to weaken civil society activism

54 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 Under Authoritarian Rule: A Comparative Individuals have invented new forms of activism Perspective, 2013). However, one has to consider decades of cultural and artistic by creating blogs and virtual discussion forums civil society activism – expressed through cinematic productions, literature, popular exploiting in particular women’s rights forums. Without formal association, music, arts, cartoons and graffiti – which and human rights, the two domains where dissenters connect over the Internet and have paved the way for recent revolutionary Islamist and secular-based civil society individual initiatives give way to widespread fervour. Individual artists and cultural groups are most ideologically divided. activism that is not traditionally confined to producers have creatively engaged in their This divide-and-rule policy is not new: it associative life. own contexts to promote social and political has been used to divide and weaken the The ‘Daniel Gate’ scandal in Morocco awareness of oppression and injustice, opposition for decades. This is because of in August 2013 is an example of this kind to change and offer alternative visions of the fear of Islamist movements which, in of activism. This refers to King Mohamed society and politics. Through their diverse recent decades, have been among the most VI’s pardon (on the occasion of the works, they have been at the forefront of active sources of opposition in the region Throne Day) of 1,000 prisoners, including social and political movements for change including Morocco. The Islamists’ electoral a Spanish paedophile serving 30 years by contesting hegemonic narratives on successes are feared not only by the regimes of imprisonment for sexually abusing socio-political and economic issues. but also by pro-democracy secular groups. several Moroccan children. The royal Moroccan civil society is divided along This fear is used by the Moroccan state pardon caused a massive outrage across ideological lines: there are Islamist-based to divide civil society activist groups and social media. Individual online activists associations and secularist-liberal ones. co-opt them to ensure the continuity of created a Facebook page to denounce There are also divisions within each the regime and its control of the political the King’s decision. This was followed by camp because of the various ideological and social spheres. However, new forms demonstrations across Moroccan cities, orientations and their perceived proximity of civil society activism that rely on some of which were violently suppressed to the regime. Some associations in each individual initiatives and the use of cyber by the police. Moroccans from across the camp are seen as being closely linked to space and social media may pave the way social and political spectrum were united the regime, while others are autonomous for overcoming this perceived ideological in their outrage, forcing the Royal Palace but suffer from the state’s continuous divide. to issue a statement reversing the pardon harassment and restrictions. The activism In recent years there has been a shift of the paedophile (who had already fled of diverse forms of associations has not from traditional to non-traditional forms abroad). In a country where criticism of really challenged the power of the state of activism in Morocco facilitated by new the King is prohibited, open criticism of his and the Makhzen, the ruling elite led by technologies such as social media and the decision in cyber space and street protests the monarch. In fact, they strengthened Internet (even though the latter is heavily were unprecedented. Individual activism the King’s grip on power: the strategy of watched). This is the result of decades of from below via social media outlets creates divide-and-rule was used to pit these groups repression under authoritarian regimes that new forms of opposition that are difficult against each other, allowing the King to controlled traditional forms of expression to control, giving people with ideological appear as arbiter and peacekeeper. and association. Individuals, however, differences the opportunity to rally together The Moroccan state uses divide-and-rule have invented new forms of activism to achieve common goals. policies to weaken civil society activism, by creating blogs and virtual discussion Reprinted from vol. 11, no. 3 (2015)

Karima Laachir is a Senior Lecturer in Literary and Cultural Studies in SOAS. She works on cultural studies and the intersection of aesthetics and politics of the MENA region with particular focus on the Maghreb

Young people turn out en masse to lobby for a

Magharebia, Wikimedia Commons Wikimedia © Magharebia, role in the nation's future, Morocco, 2011

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 55 2015 – IRAQ The best surviving example of an Assyrian palace has been destroyed by ISIS. John Curtis remembers what was lost Nimrud reduced to rubble © J. E. Curtis

The reconstructed North-West Palace at Nimrud seen from the ziggurat

he world was stunned on Saturday, mound are a ziggurat, temples dedicated and popular books, attracted enormous 11 April when ISIS released a video to the gods Nabu, Ninurta and Ishtar, and interest amongst a British public well-versed showing destruction at Nimrud. If various palaces, the chief of which was built in the Bible and hungry for information Tthe intention was to shock they certainly Ashurnasirpal (the North-West Palace) and about the Ancient Near East. For the achieved their objective. Nimrud, now in is known to have measured at least 200 by first time, people were introduced to the Northern Iraq, was one of the principal 130 metres. Nimrud may once have had a now-familiar carved stone panels showing cities – along with Nineveh, Khorsabad and population of more than 60,000 and, by any the Assyrian king in official ceremonies, Ashur – of the great Assyrian Empire that standards, is one of the most important sites hunting bulls and lions, or leading his flourished between the 9th and 7th centuries in the whole of the ancient world. It should army into war, as well as the massive stone BC. It was here that Ashurnasirpal II certainly have been recognised as a world gateway figures showing winged human- (883-859 BC) established his capital which heritage site long ago; the fact that it was headed bulls and lions. It is said that the remained an important centre until it was not is a reflection of the relations between Assyrian images of bearded figures inspired destroyed by the Medes and Babylonians Iraq and the international community in the the fashion for beards in Victorian England, in 612 BC. The walls of Nimrud – now time of Saddam Hussein. but this may be apocryphal. The main focus represented by earthen banks – enclose The first excavations at Nimrud were of Layard’s excavations was the North- an area of 360 hectares, within which are undertaken by the great Victorian traveller, West Palace of Ashurnasirpal, where he a great citadel mound and the site of Fort archaeologist and politician Austen Henry worked mostly in the state apartments to Shalmaneser, a palace arsenal constructed Layard between 1845 and 1851. His the south of the main entrance. Many of by Ashurnasirpal’s son Shalmaneser III descriptions of Assyrian art and civilisation, the stone reliefs that he found, and some (858-824 BC). Crowded on to the citadel published through a series of well-written of the colossal gateway figures, together with miscellaneous smaller objects and cuneiform tablets were sent to the British Nimrud was one of the principal cities of the great Assyrian Museum in London where they now occupy Empire that flourished between the 9th and 7th centuries BC pride of place in the Assyrian galleries. After

56 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 The contents of the tombs not only demonstrated the great once have looked. Also, some of the reliefs were of the highest quality and, in contrast wealth of the Assyrian empire, but also revolutionised our to the exported reliefs, still retained understanding of Assyrian technology and arts and crafts extensive traces of their original paint. On 2 April the entire North-West Palace was Layard’s time many other Nimrud reliefs or crown. Cuneiform inscriptions showed blown up by ISIS in a massive explosion, parts of reliefs were removed from Nimrud that the consorts of several Assyrian kings leaving only a pile of rubble. The world will and sent to museums around the world. were buried in these tombs. The contents be the poorer for the loss of this unique Other 19th-century excavators at Nimrud of the tombs not only demonstrated the cultural treasure. included Hormuzd Rassam, Willliam great wealth of the Assyrian empire, but Kennett Loftus and George Smith, but then also revolutionised our understanding of Reprinted from vol. 11, no. 4 (2015) there was a hiatus. Large scale excavations at Assyrian technology and arts and crafts. the site were resumed by the British School Fortunately this mass of goldwork (together John Curtis is currently the President of of Archaeology (now the British Institute with some of the ivories) was moved to a the British Institute for the Study of Iraq, for the Study of Iraq) between 1949 and bank vault in Baghdad before the second the Hon Secretary of the Friends of Basrah 1963, led first by (Sir) Max Mallowan and Gulf War in 2003 and is still in safe keeping Museum, and the CEO of the Iran Heritage then by David Oates. During this time the there. Foundation. He was Keeper of the Middle School made many important discoveries. Iraqi archaeologists also cleared East Department at the British Museum Of three wells excavated in the North-West previously unexcavated parts of the 1989-2011 Palace, one (NN) produced some of the North-West Palace and undertook a finest Phoenician ivory plaques yet to be lot of restoration work, rebuilding mud discovered including two showing female brick walls. Although many reliefs had heads – one very beautiful (nicknamed ‘the been removed to museums around the Mona Lisa’) and the other rather less comely world, there were about 50 panels still in (‘the ugly sister’) – and a pair of plaques position, together with a large number of each showing a lion killing an African. fragments. Consequently, apart from being These ivories were carved in a centre or the only substantial building still standing centres in Phoenicia or Syria and brought to at Nimrud, the North-West Palace was Nimrud in antiquity as booty or tribute. the best surviving example of an Assyrian During his time at Nimrud, Mallowan palace and probably represented the only was always accompanied by his wife, the location where it was possible to get an Drawing of the winged lion of Nimrud by Austen celebrated crime writer Agatha Christie, impression of how such buildings would Henry Layard (1817-1894)

who not only wrote some of her thrillers at © Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons Nimrud but also helped on the excavation. In her autobiography Agatha describes how she had to sacrifice her precious face cream to help clean and preserve the ivories. The excavations of the British School will probably be chiefly remembered, however, for the vast numbers of ivories discovered in Fort Shalmaneser, particularly in the storerooms SW 7 and SW 37. Thereafter, a Polish team excavated in the central part of the citadel mound between 1974 and 1976, and in the late 1980s British Museum and Italian teams worked in Fort Shalmaneser and, in the latter case, in the outer town. In recent years, however, the most important work at Nimrud has undoubtedly been done by the Iraq Department of Antiquities. Clearance of a well in Room AJ in the North-West Palace yielded another spectacular collection of ivories, but the most dramatic discoveries were made in four vaulted, subterranean tombs in the domestic wing of the North-West Palace. The tombs were discovered and excavated by Muzahim Mahmud between spring 1988 and November 1990 and were found to contain astonishing quantities of goldwork including bowls, jewellery and even a

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 57 2015 – ENDAGERED LANGUAGES

Mandana Seyfeddinipur discusses the dramatic, global decline in linguistic diversity and outlines the preservation efforts of SOAS and the Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Losing our language diversity

Taleshi speaker Rustaa Capazaad in Iran.

© Gerardo de Caro Photograph by Gerardo de Caro

oday there are about 7,000 languages children speak the ‘more prestigious’, The Middle East is experiencing dramatic spoken worldwide, and we estimate dominant language that will allow them to political changes, and the onslaught on its that half of these will have fallen succeed. cultural heritage is affecting its communities Tsilent by the end of this century. Our Speakers adapt their languages all the dramatically. And when people are linguistic diversity is vanishing in front of time, and language change is the beauty displaced, take refuge or escape they will our eyes. Globalisation, climate change, of this living medium, but what we are most likely adapt to the majority language, political pressure and displacement affect observing today is language shift at an which will allow them to have social and people all over the world. In many areas of unprecedented speed. The speed at which economic mobility or just simply make the world, speakers leave their traditional we are losing the world’s languages has a living to survive. These people are the ways of life behind, moving to new locations increased dramatically over the past few carriers of a unique cultural history encoded with dreams of building a better life. Once decades. Some compare it to the 5th mass in the languages they speak, in the languages they have arrived they make sure their extinction, when the dinosaurs died out. that will fall silent because their children do not learn them anymore. Now, wouldn’t it be better if we all had People are carriers of a unique cultural history encoded one language and wouldn’t that make our lives easier? We would no longer be lost in in the languages they speak, in the languages that will fall translation, but how would we choose? We silent because their children do not learn them anymore could all speak Chinese. Isn’t the Tower of

58 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 SOAS is creating a lasting record of our linguistic which is often lacking in academic discourse. diversity and is building capacity by training scholars We were able to support the and students worldwide in language documentation documentation of a few languages in the Middle East like the project on Taleshi, a Babel metaphor telling us that it is a curse the world focussed on preserving vanishing language spoken in the North of Iran. The to have these many languages? So let’s make languages. Archives, funding initiatives and project started in Iran but was jeopardised a choice. How about a Turkic language, language centres were set up and began when the researcher could not go back which expresses whether you have directly their work. Most of these initiatives have for political reasons. He found a speaker witnessed/experienced an event or only now ended, and we are left with the ongoing here in London who could become a heard about it second-hand? Or what loss. major contributor in documenting his about Rotokas, which is made up of only SOAS, University of London set up the disappearing language while living in exile. 12 sounds? Or Chinese, of course, where Endangered Languages Documentation But we only have scratched the surface. the meaning of a word can change if it is Programme, the Endangered Languages Many minority languages in the Middle East spoken in a higher tone? Choosing is not Archive and an academic programme with are under threat: some have only a handful easy: when faced with giving up our own a generous donation from the Arcadia of elderly speakers left. We are racing against languages we come to realise how at home Fund. These programmes support people time to record the invaluable knowledge we are in the unique languages we are able around the world who document these these speakers hold and to preserve these to speak. disappearing languages and bring the audio treasures of our cultural heritage. Ask a multilingual about words they and video recordings and the translations cannot translate and you will get a lot of and analysis back to preserve them in For more info visit www.eldp.net beautiful examples like the Japanese word the Endangered Languages Archive. The Komorebi: the sort of scattered light effect school is creating a lasting record of our Reprinted from vol. 11, no. 5 (2015) that happens when light shines through linguistic diversity and is building capacity trees. Why would we want to give this up? by training scholars and students worldwide Mandana Seyfeddinipur is a linguist and Here is another question to think about: in language documentation. We also bring the Director of the Endangered Languages why does it have to be one or the other? this knowledge and expertise into the places Documentation Programme at SOAS, Aren’t multilingual speakers the key to where the languages are disappearing and University of London being ready for the challenges to come in a the areas where disappearing languages globalised, highly mobile and at the same are still being spoken: Ghana, Ethiopia and time fragmented world? Being multilingual, Cameroon or in Siberia and Yunnan. being able to express oneself and think Our digital archive – ELAR – at the SOAS in different ways makes us highly agile in library not only preserves these collections responding to the challenges we are facing. of language recordings, but also gives It is diversity that makes a system robust, the speakers of these languages a voice. and in many places around the globe we can It allows them and their communities to observe multilingual agility being a response relay their past and their present to the to challenges in the environment. world. The archive makes the collections What makes this language loss even more publicly accessible, allowing scholars around dramatic is that many of these disappearing the world to draw on these materials and languages have never been described or helping them to add a locally informed recorded. The richness of human linguistic perspective to their work – a perspective diversity is disappearing without a trace. This is happening while millions of tourists al-Bataineh © Anke are visiting the British Museum to admire and learn about the treasures of our cultural heritage that are preserved there. How can we make sure we are not losing what we have today so that in the future our children and their children can learn about our linguistic heritage? A full-time teacher at For a start and given the urgency, an Armenian school we should document these languages. offers Armenian- medium literacy Archaeologists now try to take at least 3-D lessons on Saturdays pictures of monumental ruins, which are to students who the remains of cultural centres of the ancient attend non-Armenian schools. In Lebanon, world. In the same way, we can record these these students languages, preserve the recordings and usually read best in English or French and make them available to the world. About 20 sometimes speak years ago, the outcry from linguists led to those languages the establishment of many initiatives around exclusively at home

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 59 2014

Volume 10 - Number 1 £4 December 2013 – January 2014

Volume 10 - Number 2 February – March 2014

£4

Volume 10 - Number 3 April – May 2014 £4

THIS ISSUE Volume 10 - Number 4 ● Raves, prison cells: PALESTINE and Foucault June – July 2014£4 Remembering Palestine ● ● Finding a voice Kerry’s billions – SIXTY YEARS AFTER THE ● ● Mossadeq and the International● PLUSBank ● Palestinian youthPalestinian challenge refugees the Prawer● An and interview Plan the politics with Walidof return Khalidi : IRAN ● Politics, broadcastingin London and régime ● Two poems ● Oil and the coup ● Iran's environment ● Photo competition results Volume 10 - Number 5 Iran's literary tradition October – November 2014 SPECIAL● Academic ISSUE sanctions● COUP ● Iran and Shakespeare ● ● A cultural mission● Street art PLUS ● The fall of Mossadeq● revisited Reviews and events £4 ● Iranian art change

Reviews and events in London

THIS ISSUE: TURKEY ● Threats to Turkey’s stability ● The economy: hitting the wall ● Islam in Turkey ● God, bread, liberty ● Turkey’s embattled media ● An interview with Ece Clarke ● Studying Turkey and its distant past ● Eglar’s Smyrna ● Retracing Turkey’s past on horseback ● Turkish cuisine ● PLUS Reviews and events in London

THIS ISSUE ● Europe,The the GCC Middle employment : Youth policy dilemmas ● Beyond the saga of the ‘Trojan horse’ ● Salafism and young women in London ● Bombed● The Arab into (temporary)uprisings, the silence economy ● Singing and the playgrounds labour market of ● the Middle East ●

: Oil – Past, Present, Future PLUS Reviews and events in London OPEC after the Arab uprisings ● A curse or a blessing? ● Life after THIS ISSUE Reviews and events in London East and North Africa ● PLUS sanctions? ● Nostalgia and the oil city ● The cinema of Iraqi oil ● Libya’s nascent oil industry ● The dawn of the Saudi petro-age ●

● Iran - Sixty Years After the Coup ● Turkey (April/May 2014) (December 2013/January 2014) ● Oil - Past, Present, Future (June/July 2014) ● Palestine (February/March 2014) ● Youth (October/November 2014)

60 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2014 – IRAN

Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak examines how the coup influenced Iran’s literature The coup and Iran’s literary tradition

Akhavan-Saless, whose pen name was M. Omid, was a prominent Iranian poet

t is often hazardous to posit a direct about shifts in the works of social groups seen as the most significant watershed not connection between political changes that tend to reflect or record them. just in the country’s political history but and shifts in literary expression. While Still, we would be pressed to point to in its cultural history as well, including Ithe winds of political change may blow events in the political history of modern the production and dissemination of overnight, changes in literature almost Iran that are believed widely to have rattled literary works and the ideas and emotions always manifest themselves in slow, gradual the nation as much as those of the years governing such texts. For many Iranians, progressions. It would, therefore, be difficult 1951-53, particularly those volatile summer this was not only the Pahlavi monarchy’s to see a cause and effect connection between days that culminated in quick succession trial by fire, and the beginning of the end the two spheres of politics and culture. Still, in the humiliating departure of Shah of the country’s supposed 2,500-year-long one can find events of social and political Mohammad-Reza Pahlavi, the spectacular monarchical system, but the beginning of a significance that have had consequences for fall of Mohammad Mosaddeq, and the sense of frigidity and gloom in the literature artistic and literary production. Changes shah’s triumphal return. To this day, the of Iran. that may lead to perceptible modifications political upheavals surrounding what is Chroniclers of contemporary Persian in prevailing moods may in turn bring often referred to simply as ‘the coup’ are literature have seen the coup as apocalyptic to devastating, its impact on literary Chroniclers of contemporary Persian literature have expression as nothing short of catastrophic. And the poet who best illustrates the mood seen the coup as apocalyptic to devastating, its impact and most extensively exemplifies this feeling on literary expression as nothing short of catastrophic is Mehdi Akhavan Saless (1930-1990), a

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 61 It was not until 1970 when a guerrilla movement religious groups on the right, and seriously challenge the state’s legitimacy. emerged that we see a more positive, if still idealistic, The plethora of poems, stories and other mood appearing on the left of the political spectrum forms of literature written since the early 1950s manifests the desire to see a coming poet of tremendous promise whose career Poetry. In one particularly prophetic poem together of all these oppositional forces and was defined by the coup. Reading Zemestan titled Terrestrial Verses the opening lines when all this happened a new revolutionary (Winter, 1956), his first major collection of herald the end of the world thus: ‘Then/ movement began to take shape, eventually poetry 60 years after the coup, it is hard to the sun cooled/ and fertility left the earth’. culminating in the Iranian Revolution of believe that the man was only 23 when the The poem goes on to depict the horrifying 1978-83. coup took place and 27 when that book was impact on the intellectual community in published. It seems as though he had aged at these words: Reprinted from vol. 10, no. 1 (2014) least 40 years in the four years that separated the two events. There is an inevitable sense ‘Swamps of alcohol Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak is Professor and in reading the title poem, for instance, that exuding dry deadly gases Founding Director of the Centre for Persian the man must have gone through bitter attracted inert masses of intellectuals Studies at the University of Maryland. He experiences that have made their mark on to their depths is a leading expert on Persian language and his mind and soul. while in antique cabinets literature and Iranian culture and civilisation As the poem opens, the speaker, an old, pernicious rats gnawed and author of nineteen books and over 100 utterly defeated man, stands shivering at the golden leaves of books.’ major scholarly articles behind a closed tavern door begging to be let in to drown himself in the liquid that The prose literature of the 1940s and appears to be his only solace. And as it ends, early 50s was even more explicit in its we see an assertion of the kind of cosmic condemnation of the ruling classes and deep freeze that, to him, as to the many direr in foregrounding doom and gloom, at poets who picked up on his mood, as never- times combining it with a desire to return ending: to an imaginary bygone era marked by individual innocence and social purity. ‘Air stifling, doors closed, heads bent Jalal Al-e Ahmad’s famous novel Nefrin-e down, hands hidden in pockets Zamin (Cursing of the Land, 1967) hearts weary, pressed connects the dislocations that the Shah’s trees crystalline skeletons Land Reform programme gave rise to with earth rotten to its core, dome of the sky certain Third Worldist notions of a return low to village life and farming as a pathway to Simin Daneshvar’s (pictured) novel Savushun sun and moon dust-covered: salvation, while his wife Simin Daneshvar’s (1969) linked attempts at revolt with ideas of it’s winter.’ renowned novel Savushun (1969) linked heroic martyrdom attempts at revolt for the betterment of her A similar emotion, though perhaps society with mythical and religious ideas of not as intense, prevails in Hava-ye Tazeh heroic martyrdom. Appeals to historical or (Fresh Air, 1956), a collection of poems by legendary uprisings also became a feature Ahmad Shamlu. Here, poems bearing titles of this literary tradition, as illustrated by like Bitter Patience, Cold Arsen and Dark the multi-volume novel Kelidar (1980s), Symphony depict doleful idleness on one the narrative of a 1940s revolt in north-east side, callous indifference on the other. More Iran. directly related to what the poet perceives to It was not until 1970 when a real guerrilla be the governing emotion, if not the spirit, movement registered itself on Iran’s of the times, in several poems here and in socio-political scene that the prevailing subsequent collections of poetry, we see a mood began to take a more positive, if speaker lamenting the years that have been still idealistic, turn, which appeared in the spent in a futile struggle for a less oppressive wake of a series of newly formed radical ruling class which would allow poets to political movements on the left of the express themselves and their society, rather political spectrum. In response, the Iranian than take on a political system which they government unleashed its security forces think has little legitimacy in the eyes of to crush that movement, thus further the people. A decade or so later, as Forugh widening and deepening the already Farrokhzad was beginning to write her alarming chasm between state and society mature poems, the prevailing mood turns over the preceding two decades. For its part, angrier and more explicitly expressive of a the opposition forces, now comprising an dark vision bordering on the apocalyptic; energised younger and more radical left it also turns into an abiding feature of began to come together with the traditional the emerging canon of the so-called New democratic forces in the middle and sundry

62 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2014 – PALESTINE

Ruba Salih looks at how refugees have become pawns in the Israeli-Palestinian struggle Palestinian refugees and the politics of return © Ruba Salih he 1993 Oslo agreements signalled ‘right to return’ (haqq al-awda), and the the beginning of a progressive ‘right to have rights.’ marginalisation of the Palestinian In the host states, the narrative of Trefugee question that was dramatised ‘avoiding tawteen’ as the pre-condition for with the release of the ‘Palestine Papers’ in the Palestinian return has, over the decades, 2011. By disclosing the secret negotiations legitimated and prolonged a problematic between the Palestinian Authority and Israel amnesia about issues of democracy, social on the return of a mere 1,000 refugees over justice and pluralism in a region where a period of ten years, the Palestine Papers refugees’ exclusion or suspension from confirmed the absence of any plan to deliver rights or entitlements fits into an agenda of justice to four generations of displaced reinforcing confessional, tribal, national and and stateless people. They underscored a gender hierarchies. perception of Palestinian refugees as pawns Refugees perceive return as a trope for whose rights could be tacitly and arbitrarily multiple aspirations: return to origin and exchanged for minor concessions at the roots, to land and properties, to dignity as negotiating table with Israel. well as to individual and collective rights The official dismissal of the Palestinian and freedom. This new ‘politics of return’ refugee question by its supposed national speaks to a wider spectrum of claims and leadership has prompted, among many entitlements that exist prior to and beyond refugees, narratives and criticism that the nationalist project and throws light were previously considered taboo. In this on the flawed nature of contemporary gloomy context, Palestinian refugees are manifestations of nationalism or the nation- The entrance to a refugee camp in the West urged to make new sense of over sixty years state in the region and beyond. Palestinian Bank: the key is a powerful symbol of the of dispossession and exile, starting with refugees today can be seen as subaltern dream of return bitter disillusion with the official narrative subjects whose claims and aspirations voice that their lack of rights and the temporary a project of democracy everywhere they of nationalism and modernisation, from nature of their condition (avoiding tawteen, are. By operating through the framework of which they are excluded or in which they or naturalisation) were pre-conditions democracy and self-determination rather are only partially included. While their for return. The third, and even fourth, than nationalism or modernity, Palestinian idioms are still nationalist, these movements generations of Palestinians in exile still refugees contribute to the emergence of may encompass and express different don’t enjoy basic rights, and yet their return what the scholar Partha Chatterjee has types of allegiances, aspirations, claims and has never been as distant as it is today. In defined as a ‘political society.’ Chatterjee solidarities beyond the nation-state, which addition, the assumption that Palestinian coined the term to denote those new come to be scrutinised, contested and even refugees are eager to live temporary or aspirations and claims that in many post- challenged. suspended lives merely awaiting return colonial contexts emerged outside, and in to their national territory, where they will opposition to, the earlier liberal consensus Reprinted from vol. 10, no. 2 (2014) finally achieve rights and citizenship, does of state-civil society relations. not do justice to the complexity of their Political societies are interested in a Ruba Salih works on refugee issues at SOAS, aspirations and claims. These comprise project of democracy rather than in one where she is Reader in Gender Studies the ‘right to have rights,’ alongside the right to return and to compensation for Palestinian refugees today can be seen as their lost land and properties. Refugees are articulating a new culture which reconciles subaltern subjects, whose claims and aspirations two political projects and discourses – the voice a project of democracy everywhere they are

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 63 2014 – TURKEY

Andrew Mango discusses the political ‘uses and abuses’ of Islam by Turkey’s past and present rulers Islam in Turkey © Abdul Hamid II Collection, Library of Congress

The Selamlık, Sultan's procession to the mosque, at the Hamidiye Camii on Friday

slam is part of Turkish national identity. banned but remain influential, while an sometimes promised ‘to respect the sharia This was as true of Ottoman times as estimated one-fifth of the population to an even greater extent.’ Even 19th-century it is today. The Ottoman Constitution defines itself as Alevi – a relaxed form of Ottoman liberals – the ‘Young Ottomans’ Iof 1876 granted Islam the status of official Islam, which differs from the strict Shi’ism – appealed to Islam as they denounced the religion. In the Turkish Republic, founded practised in Iran and elsewhere, with which Sultan’s governments. and shaped by Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), it shares a veneration of Caliph Ali. Turkish The status of Islam as the official religion after the abolition of the Caliphate in 1924 Alevis worship in meeting houses, known was illustrated every Friday when, health Islam was disestablished in 1928. However, as cemevi, not in mosques and do not fast permitting, the Sultan led officials in the link between Islam and the state was not in daylight hours during Ramadan; women worship in a ceremony known as selamlık, broken. In the Ottoman Empire, the state Alevis are not veiled and join men in ritual which expressed allegiance to the sovereign. controlled Islam through the office of the dances. But no reigning Sultan ever performed the Shaykhülislam, who was appointed by the In politics, Islam has been widely pilgrimage to Mecca. Sultans used Islam Sultan. Today, this function is discharged by used and abused. The Sultans and their to enhance their position – none more so the Presidency of Religious Affairs, attached governments used it to legitimise their than the last autocratic Sultan Abdülhamid to the Prime Minister’s office. It appoints rule; opposition often rallied round the II – but took their religion with a grain all religious officials, controls (and often slogan that the sharia should be respected. of salt. Wine-drinking was widespread, prescribes) sermons and is in charge of R.E. To conciliate the opposition, governments mainly in Christian-owned taverns; Islamic lessons and faculties of theology. There is also, as there was in Ottoman Having used Islam to establish a Turkish national times, an unofficial Islam of Sufi orders and brotherhoods, which are theoretically state, Mustafa Kemal dispensed with it as a prop

64 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 Since 2002, Turkey has become more of religious schools who believe their duty is ‘to raise a pious generation’. This puritanical, more obviously a Muslim country intensifies the cleavage of Turkish society along religious lines and explains the punishments (amputation for theft, stoning However, at the behest of the army, which acrimony of the political debate. But there for adultery, etc.) were not imposed. saw itself as guardian of Atatürk’s legacy, are nuances: while Erdoğan is influenced Although Sultans and their governments the constitution banned the use of religion by the strictly orthodox Naqshbandiyya claimed to respect sharia law, this was for political purposes. The Constitutional tradition, followers of the preacher Said-i supplemented by civil law (kanun) and its Court closed down a succession of Islamist Nursi, author of the Epistle of Light (and application was eventually limited to family parties – the National Order Party (1971), the source of inspiration of the currently law. Islamic rules, such as the prohibition the Prosperity Party (1998) and the Felicity influential preacher Fethullah Gülen), are of paying or receiving payment of interest, Party (2001). The Justice and Development modernists who believe Islam is compatible were circumvented by a procedure known Party (AKP), which has ruled Turkey for with modern civilisation. as hile-yi sheriyye, meaning literally ‘cheating the last decade, escaped the same fate Erdoğan’s religious orientation has led the sharia’. The Ottoman Empire was not by declaring that it was democratic and him to support the Muslim Brotherhood puritanical. conservative, not based on religion. In throughout the Muslim world, to the The assumption by the Sultans of the fact it was an expression of political Islam, detriment of an effective foreign policy. title of Caliph meant that they claimed to and used Islam in its electoral strategy. One exception is the Kurdish Regional be the leaders of the worldwide Muslim Nevertheless, protests last year showed that Government (KRG) in northern Iraq where community. This was not disputed by something like half the electorate – the Turkey’s economic interests determine foreign Muslims, who, however, usually educated half – differed little from their policy. Economic progress is what went their own way. It was the failure of contemporaries in the West. Their practice ultimately counts most with the electorate. the proclamation of the Holy War (jihad) of religion is often minimal: boys are The AKP has delivered this since 2002, but when the Ottoman Empire joined Christian circumcised, and all burials take place at the economy appears to be heading for Germany and Austria-Hungary in World mosques (indeed Atatürk himself received trouble, and with it the fortunes of political War I that encouraged Turkish secularists. a Muslim funeral). Abstaining from alcohol Islam in Turkey. The sight of Indian Muslims and Algerian, during Ramadan is widespread. However, Senegalese and other Muslims in the ranks the Islamic revival since 2002 has seen Reprinted from vol. 10, no. 3 (2014) of Allied occupation forces at the end of an increase in mosque attendance and World War I impressed Turkish nationalists construction. Alcohol sales have been Dr Andrew Mango is the author of a highly much more than the theories of Western limited. Minor Muslim holidays are now acclaimed biography of Atatürk and of its materialists. Nevertheless, Mustafa Kemal celebrated to a greater extent. Turkey has sequel The Turks Today. He goes back in posed as defender of Islam to rally the become more puritanical, more obviously time in his latest book, From the Sultan to Muslims of Anatolia and to mobilise such a Muslim country. This causes discomfort Atatürk (2009) support as he could from foreign Muslims to the secularised, whose residential (such as the Khilafat movement among neighbourhoods have been least affected by Indian Muslims). the Islamic tendency. Having used Islam to establish a Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan national state, Mustafa Kemal dispensed and his closest companions are products Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (November 1930) with it as a prop. As a materialist, he saw Islam as an obstacle to the realisation of his ideal – Turkey rising to the level of universal modern civilisation through education in positive sciences. He did not ban Islam, in the knowledge that many of his closest companions were believers. He considered religion a matter of individual choice and discouraged its external manifestations, banning the Ottoman fez and Muslim turban, but not the veil for women, insisting that all citizens should wear ‘civilised’ dress. He closed down seminaries and faculties of theology (for ‘want of demand’). The call to prayer was to be recited in Turkish and not in Arabic. This was much resented, and the ban on Arabic was the first to go when governments started responding to popular demands after World War II. Gradually, other concessions followed: the reopening of seminaries and faculties of theology but strictly for vocational training.

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 65 2014 – OIL – PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE

Rasmus Christian Elling explores oil as the stuff of imagination in Abadan, south-western Iran Nostalgia and the oil city Fine Arts Library, Harvard University © Charles Schroeder Image, Courtesy of Special Collections,

Abadan was Iran's leading entry point for Western products and consumerism. Here two expat children pose with a Pepsi Cola truck near the newly opened Pepsi bottling plant in Khorramshahr, neighbouring city to Abadan (1958)

ostalgia is a thriving business imaginaries. In order to understand this, flocked from all over the country to Abadan in the bazaars of Abadan. In its we must appreciate Abadan’s dramatic in search of work. As they settled, they heyday, the city was home to the trajectory from a sleepy village of a couple forged a new culture, distinctly global in its Nworld’s biggest oil refinery and one of the of hundred Arab date farmers when oil was orientation. Middle East’s most modern, cosmopolitan struck in 1909 to a complex cultural and As a key entrepôt of new technology, societies. Today, Abadan is a mere shadow political city of over 220,000 inhabitants in fashion and consumerism, Abadan’s image of its former self, and Abadanis yearn the 1950s. as a liberal, even hedonistic haven and for bygone times. Pride in the past and During the Anglo–Persian (later Anglo– leftist hotspot was cemented in the years embarrassment over the present becomes Iranian) Oil Company’s four decades of after World War II. In July 1946, the oil palpable when locals present their city to presence in Iran, Abadan developed into labour movement staged a strike at Abadan the now only occasional foreign visitor. a multi-cultural if segregated city with a refinery, which foreshadowed the ousting The popular nostalgia is expressed in progressive if unequal society. It had middle of British imperialism during the 1951 memoirs and fiction, in urban myths and class suburban houses with all mod-cons oil nationalisation movement. The latter local historiography, in online and exile alongside impoverished shantytowns. It saw movement was headed by the popular communities. both ruthless suppression of labour activists Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddeq, This culture of nostalgia is a product of as well as gradually increasing social who in turn was overthrown by a CIA- oil’s transformative, creative and destructive mobility and welfare. Abadan was then engineered coup in 1953. powers, and it illustrates how oil modernity populated by Europeans, Jews, Armenians, As American ideals replaced British can shape societies but also animate their Arabs, Indians and Iranians who had influence, Abadan entered a golden age of cultural production and consumption This culture of nostalgia is a product of oil’s that spawned some of Iran’s most famous artists, novelists, cinematographers and powers and it illustrates how oil modernity can musicians. Political dissent remained strong, shape societies but also animate their imaginaries and one of the key events that took the

66 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 Abadanis routinely re-invoke the image of a city that was the epitome of industrial progress, aspiring for a place in the world and symbolising the once the epitome of industrial progress, aspiring for a place possibilities of the future. Abadanis are not in the world and symbolising the possibilities of the future in denial that the promises of modernity remain largely unfulfilled, and they are conscious of the tormented chapters of their anti-Shah movement into its revolutionary onlookers gather around me. Nostalgia even city’s history. They are aware – and proud phase was a disastrous fire, set by unknown thrives amongst those too young to possibly – of Abadan’s role in Iran’s bloody national perpetrators, in one of Abadan’s cinemas in remember. struggles, with holes in the walls and streets, August 1978. The Islamic Revolution was In the album, we see pictures of picnics erratic power cuts and horrendous water followed by Iraq’s bloody 1980 invasion of in parks, parties in backyards and poolside quality reminding them daily of the price Iran, during which Abadan was evacuated. recreation; we see smiling nurses, football their city has paid. Yet while oil brought Although it is today repopulated, it has teams, shiny cars on orderly streets, boat social injustice, political oppression, ethnic never regained its pre-revolutionary status races, fire brigades and nightclubs. We do tensions and environmental degradation, and glory. It is on this background that see poor neighbourhoods, but the idyllic it also broadened horizons and enlivened nostalgia flourishes. white fenced suburbs are overrepresented. imaginaries. Abadani nostalgia, then, is During my most recent trip to Abadan, There is a series of depressing sceneries the embodiment of the contradictory my host took me on a tour of the places of Abadan as a ghost town during the experience of oil modernity as perceived by that to him symbolised the past. To each war, but most pictures are from before a city that refuses to forget. location, he attached a personal memory or the revolution. Women are dressed like popular anecdote. There was, for example, the American and Italian movie starlets Reprinted from vol. 10, no. 4 (2014) the roundabout on which Iran’s best stocked of the day, fancy hair styles, chic skirts, shopping store, Alfie, used to be, and short pants; men sport jeans, Clark’s shoes, Rasmus Christian Elling is PhD in Iranian where newspapers would arrive the same smart shirts and Ray-Ban sunglasses. In the Studies and Assistant Professor at the morning they were published in London; colour photos, trumpet pants, batik t-shirts, Institute for Cross-Cultural and Regional the place where the Greek photographer longer hair and bigger mustachios enter the Studies, Copenhagen University. He has had his fancy atelier; and the area that was picture. One photo catches my attention: published on identity politics in post- once inhabited by Indians, the only traces it shows Dizzy Gillespie, standing next to revolutionary Iran (Minorities in Iran: of whom can be found in Hindi loanwords Mohammad-Reza Shah’s sister, Princess Nationalism and Ethnicity after Khomeini) and a fondness for curries and pakora. Shams. It turns out the picture was taken and is currently writing a book on the history Some of the material frames of these during Gillespie’s US government-funded of Abadan spaces are still standing but seem eerily 1956 tour of the Middle East as a goodwill abandoned, rusting or in the process of ambassador. being reclaimed by nature: the former Today, only some Abadanis know that holiday residence of the Shah; the university, their city was once graced by visits from the National music competition organised by the which used to be one of the world’s finest likes of Dizzy Gillespie, Dave Brubeck and Khane Javanan (‘House of Youth’) in 1977. Abadani bands often won first place in these academies for petroleum engineering; Duke Ellington. They do however routinely competitions. Photo courtesy of Shahriar or the airport, which – locals are keen re-invoke the image of a city that was once Tashnizi to stress – used to have direct flights to London but now appears dilapidated and © Shahriar Tashnizi provincial. Other buildings still stand in all their might, reminding Abadanis that their city was once the recipient of the finest in architecture and engineering: the Cinema Taj, a colossus of imported red bricks, which used to showcase the best from Hollywood, Bollywood and Egypt; and even the refinery itself, insisting on its presence right in the city centre, but seemingly archaic. The tour ends with a surprise gift. In a little shop in the bazaar that develops film and sells sunglasses, the vendor has prepared his signature speciality: a thick, faux leather-bound photo album stuffed with pictures from old Abadan. The vendor, a young man with a knack for the nostalgia business, has meticulously gathered hundreds of pictures from the internet and local sources. He tells me the photo album is a best-selling product, and as I flip through the pages, a crowd of young

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 67 2014 – YOUTH

Anabel Inge examines the appeal of this highly conservative version of Islam to women from non-Salafi and non-Muslim backgrounds The draw of certainty: Salafism and young women

© Walid Siti Walid © in London

Walid Siti, 'Seven Sisters'

alafis (or ‘Wahhabis’ as they are often I spoke to many such women during came to believe, represented ‘pure’ Islam known) are commonly associated with my doctoral fieldwork in London between as enshrined in the Qur’an and sunna. The a Saudi-inspired ‘hardline’ ideology. 2010 and 2012, including 23 women aged women’s trajectories into Salafism were STheir scripturalist and literalist version of 19-29 whom I interviewed in depth. They varied and complex, but the following Islam has aroused much controversy due had stumbled upon Salafism as teenagers were the most significant factors in their to its conservative tenets and practices. or twenty-somethings, they said, at a time thinking. These include strict female dress codes (the when they were seeking certainty in religion First, there was the fundamental issue all-concealing veil, niqab, and gown, jilbab), and a group that would help them practise of sacred authority. Ordinary believers and heavy restrictions on women’s travel, Islam ‘correctly’. learn about Salafism primarily through education and employment opportunities. The women in my interview sample Salafi friends, local teachers (for example, Salafis maintain that the rules they observe comprised 11 Somalis and five converts imams) and the writings and lectures of derive directly from the Qur’an and sunna of (four Africans, one Afro-Caribbean), a mix Salafi scholars abroad (many of which the Prophet Muhammad, which they strive of other Africans and one South Asian. are accessible online). To the women, the to follow precisely. All had been exposed to various Islamic credibility of these sources was enhanced Although its precepts and practices are interpretations, including the culturally by their distinctive diligence in supporting strict and demanding, Salafism has attracted infused Islam of their parents and versions their teachings with the Qur’an and sunna increasing numbers of young British women propagated by various religious groups – whose authority most Muslims would not since the early 1990s when it started to and sheikhs that were followed by Muslim dispute – while minimising any references have a significant presence, particularly friends and boyfriends. Many of the women to personal opinion, sentiment, politics or in London and Birmingham. These new had been involved with other Islamic groups culture. adherents have a variety of ethnicities, and – ranging from Sufism to the now banned For example, soon after her conversion the vast majority have non-Salafi or even Al-Muhajiroun – before becoming Salafis. to Islam, Humayrah was approached by non-Muslim backgrounds. All had eventually decided that Salafism both a Shi’a and a Salafi at college. She In London, Salafism particularly attracts offered the most convincing and practical rejected the Shi’a girl’s arguments in favour Afro-Caribbean converts from Christianity, answer to the question: ‘What is the “true” of the Salafi’s because the latter had seemed and young Somalis whose (usually more Islam?’ The niqab and other practices, they knowledgeable, gave proofs from the Qur’an liberal) parents sought refuge here after the 1991 outbreak of the Somali Civil War. These young women have adopted Although its precepts and practices are strict and an identity based on neither their parents’ demanding, Salafism has attracted increasing numbers religious orientation nor that of the liberal, secular society in which they grew up. of young British women since the early 1990s

68 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 and sunna, and never said ‘I think’ when Salafi teachings address everything from major explaining Islam. Maryam, of Nigerian background, had doctrinal issues to the mundane and everyday – from previously been involved with a West the meaning of tawhid to lavatory etiquette African ‘cultural’ mosque, as she put it. But she switched to a Salafi one when she met a teacher who constantly referenced the Also appealing was that the lower-ranking The women were therefore relieved to twin ‘pure’ sources. As Maryam explained: teachers at local Salafi centres in London find somewhere they could learn about ‘When you hear the Qur’an and sunna, created a serious, studious atmosphere Islam comprehensively, with supporting you don’t wanna reject it because this is the at their lessons. These tended to focus on evidence from scripture in English. Fowsiya, command of Allah.’ painstakingly coaching Muslims through a Somali who had previously followed a For Somali Shukri, it took one lesson the basics of their religion, such as the five politically oriented Islamic group, said: on the staple Salafi text, The Prophet’s pillars and tawhid (Islamic monotheism). ‘When I went [to a Salafi lesson], I felt like… Prayer Described, by Sheikh Muhammad The teachers also encouraged regular I was actually learning with a book and a Nasiruddin Al-Albani (1914-1999), to attendance, note-taking, independent pen, and I was learning the fundamentals of convince her. Why? Because, she said, all of reading, memorisation and homework. the din [religion] and proofs.’ the points on how to pray were backed up This back-to-basics approach contrasted Such instruction is part of the practical with evidence from the practice of no less favourably with the women’s previous aspect of Salafism’s appeal. Salafi teachings than the Messenger of God. experiences of learning about Islam. Even address everything from major doctrinal Most of the major Salafi scholars, such as women with Muslim backgrounds had issues to the mundane and everyday – from Al-Albani, have the added advantage – in never been taught in detail the meaning the meaning of tawhid to lavatory etiquette the women’s eyes – of being associated with of the shahada, Islam’s first and most and the permissibility of mortgages. Saudi Arabia. For many, the Kingdom had important pillar, or of the prayers that they Seven women spoke of the comfort of an aura of ‘authentic Islam’ as the land of had been encouraged to utter daily. Nearly having clear-cut guidelines on just about the two holy cities in which the Prophet had all had attended madrasas as children, but everything, in contrast to the hazy rules of dwelled. They were also aware that Salafi had only learned to recite the Qur’an in conduct they had learned either at church, scholars often study for many years at the Arabic, without translation. at madrasa or while trying out other Islamic feet of established and famous scholars in Other Islamic groups some women groups. Saudi Arabia. had tried had emphasised such matters Many mentioned their ‘inner peace’ or The women all felt that they could trust as politics and learning Arabic. Hannah, ‘tranquillity’ at having finally identified an these scholars’ interpretations because a convert of North African origin, said: approach that generated ‘correct’ answers of their distinguished reputations and ‘If you compare them to other Muslims, to every question. Saidah, for instance, said their interconnectedness in a ‘chain of [Salafis] constantly seek knowledge… Other she had found a ‘manual’, a complete set authenticity’. As Afro-Caribbean convert [mosques]… they’ll go there on a Friday, of instructions to life that, if meticulously Hayah said: ‘[Salafi teachings] all go back but they just like literally pray and they learn followed, would guarantee the optimal to very well-known scholars, seekers of Arabic so they can read the Qur’an – but result – God’s pleasure and, ultimately, knowledge, you know, those people. So you they don’t actually study, they don’t study Paradise. And Maryam said: ‘I feel more can follow, follow, follow the chain back.’ Islam in depth.’ tranquil [now], in the sense that I am trying my utmost… to implement the religion, because I have evidence to support me.’ Having such a clear sense of purpose in life strongly appealed to the women, even if they often struggled to practise Salafism’s strict teachings in a secular, liberal society.

Reprinted from vol. 10, no. 5 (2014)

Dr Anabel Inge recently completed her AHRC-funded PhD – focusing on the conversion and commitment of Salafi women in London – at the Department of Theology & Religious Studies, King’s College London. She was Coordinating Editor of The Middle East in London (2008-11)

A veiled girl rides a scooter in Kensington

© Mateusz Łapsa-Malawski, Flickr.com Gardens, London (2014)

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 69 2013

Volume 9 - Number 1 | US$6.5 December 2012 –£4 January | €5 2013

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THIS ISSUE petrodollars and the press Volume 9 - Number 4 : THE MEDIA June – July 2013 to’ | US$6.5● Kirkuk: the● Iraniansymbolic journalism and ‘the land of freedom’ £4 | €5 camp to running a London● newspaper Syria: The media● asSeismic battleground shifts in the Middle East ● The London’s base for Arab culture ● Syria's Kurds: ●a Playingtaste of freedomwith fire: Kurds, Arabs and Iraqi ● Leaves of learning● ‘People don’t want● to be lied Volume 9 - Number 5 : KURDS ● Defying the odds: How one bookshop became Politics,October – November 2013 Rediscovering the city● Kurdish voices of Turkish literature ● A vibrant diaspora ● ● From Gaza refugee THIS ISSUE £4 | €5 Reviews and events in London ● PLUS | US$6.5 power of a contested● Singing city stories, ● building PLUS history Reviews and events in London oil ● Gulan safety and solidarity network

THIS ISSUE: SAUDI ARABIA ● The giant with the feet of clay ● In the shadow of revolutions ● A powerful cultural statement: Dress in Saudi Arabia ● Women appointed to the Majlis Ash-Shura for the first time ● Explorer St. John Philby and his collection of ‘many treasures’ ● Contemporary Saudi Arabian art in London ● Riyadh’s new underground railway ● The international prize for Arabic fiction ● PLUS Reviews and events in London

THIS ISSUE● globalised ● Who is Hussain? : CULINARY CONNECTIONS epicures ● An interview with Claudia Roden The Assyrian diaspora ● ● Beekeeping in Britain and Arabia PLUS Reviews and events in London ● The Bahá’í community in the ● Coffee then and now : RELIGIOUS MINORITIES ● ● Food in Persian poetry Kebab and mezze ● ConstitutionalZoroastrians reform in Egypt in London and Turkey THIS ISSUE ● Reviews and events in London ● Water: A drink for ● PLUS ● Sultans of Rome Minorities in● NorthArmenians Africa and the arts in London ● UK ● Middle Eastern Jews in London

● Kurds (December 2012/January 2013) ● Religious Minorities (June/July 2013) ● The Media (February/March 2013) ● Culinary Connections ● Saudi Arabia (April/May 2013) (October/November 2013)

70 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2013 – KURDS

Nelida Fuccaro writes on the city with a short yet eventful history Kirkuk: the symbolic power of a contested city

he city of Kirkuk is today central to the historical memory of the Iraqi Kurds as a modern nation. TSince the creation of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq in 1991 and the consolidation of the Kurdish Regional Government after 2003 this memory has been increasingly intertwined with the political realities of Kurdish self-determination. Often referred to as the ‘Jerusalem’ of the Kurds and the ‘heart’ of Kurdistan, the city has the power to evoke strong feelings of dispossession and nationhood. The mythical status Cartoon depicting the power assumed by Kirkuk in the minds of Kurdish struggle over Kirkuk, 2008 politicians and ordinary people is largely the result of its undefined political status population started to change in the early a century Kirkuk has been portrayed as in post-Saddam Iraq. Bitterly disputed 1930s with the urbanisation of Kurdish the symbol of Turkish distinctiveness in between Baghdad and the Kurdish Regional villagers and the arrival of oil workers from Iraq. In contrast, Fadhil al-Azzawi’s novel Government, the city has increasingly other parts of Iraq. The transformation of The Last of the Angels stands as the best become the focus of Kurdish national the city’s demography gained momentum testimony of the multicultural soul of solidarity as the only urban centre with a after the takeover of the Ba‘th party in modern Kirkuk. Written in the late 1980s large Kurdish population that has never 1963 and materialised with a program of and set in one of the popular quarters of the been under Kurdish administrative control. forced Arabisation that continued in the city in the 1940s and 1950s, this novel uses Kirkuk’s very recent past tells us only part following decades. The Arabisation of magic realism to depict a host of colorful of the story of this disputed city. Since the the city and of its hinterland still carries a characters. Although al-‘Azzawi stereotypes creation of the modern Iraqi state after the profound emotional appeal for the Iraqi Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens, he portrays First World War, Kirkuk has been Baghdad’s Kurds. It is still remembered as one the this crowd with tenderness and affection. alter ego of sorts, the object of contestation atrocities committed by the Baghdad regime Instead of revealing a divided city, the novel between Iraq’s successive central alongside the Anfal operation and the provides a corrosive satire of government, governments and local political elites. Not gassing of the town of Halabja in 1988. politics and religion as both disruptive and only did Kirkuk develop as the centre of As it is often the case with contested cities, life-enhancing forces of social life. Iraq’s oil industry (large petroleum deposits the representation of Kirkuk in novels and While Kirkuk today features prominently were discovered in 1927) but it was also poetry helps us to understand the claims in the agenda of politicians in Iraq and Iraq’s most multicultural city with a majority of its communities as well as its history beyond, snapshots of urban life as those of non-Arab residents, also including large as a multicultural place. While Kirkuk presented by ‘Azzawi reveal a rich cultural numbers of Turkmens. The battle that has has recently become the ‘Jerusalem’ of and political tradition at the grassroots. inflamed Kirkuk in the modern era has the Kurds – a place of return – it has also Contestation over place and its meaning has focused on the city’s ‘true’ ethnic identity featured prominently as a central theme in been a constant feature of the city yet also an and engaged almost relentlessly its Kurdish, the poetic tradition of the Iraqi Turkmens, integral part of communal interaction and Turkmen and Arab communities. Given a a very influential group as a result of their coexistence. very controversial history of demographic connection to the Ottoman government change, this has been primarily a battle before the First World War. Represented Reprinted from vol. 9, no. 1 (2013) of ‘numbers’. The makeup of the urban as a homeland and a holy site, for almost Nelida Fuccaro is Reader in the Modern History of the Middle East, SOAS. She is Often referred to as the ‘Jerusalem’ of the Kurds and currently researching the history of urban the ‘heart’ of Kurdistan, Kirkuk has the power to evoke violence in modern Kirkuk and Iraq strong feelings of dispossession and nationhood

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 71 2013 – MEDIA

Hossein Shahidi profiles Mirza Saleh, a pioneering Iranian journalist

Iranian journalism and ‘the land of freedom’

hree key events over the past Nasereddin Shah’s Ambassador to Britain, Mirza Saleh Shirazi, one of the first Iranians two centuries have tied Persian- Mirza Malkam Khan, after he lost his post to study in Britain. Mirza Saleh and four language journalism with Britain, and titles because of his involvement in other students were sent to Britain by the Tmore specifically with London. The a scheme to introduce a lottery into Iran. Iranian Crown Prince, Abbas Mirza, in most prominent was the establishment After Nasereddin Shah’s assassination in 1815, following Iran’s defeat in its first war in December 1940 of the BBC’s Persian 1896, Malkam dropped the call for reform with Russia (1804-1813), to learn modern Service, which played an important role and asked the new king, Mozafareddin sciences and technology as a means of through its coverage of major events from Shah, for a post. Two years later, he was addressing Iran’s weakness, especially the abdication of Reza Shah Pahlavi in 1941 appointed as Iran’s ambassador to Italy in its military capability. During “three to the Khomeini revolution of 1979. and stopped publishing Qanun altogether. years and nine months and twenty days” An earlier milestone had been laid Nonetheless, the paper’s content and its in England, two of the students received with the launch in February 1890 of the simple prose style inspired other opposition a military education; one learned about newspaper Qanun which was the first writers as the country moved towards the sword-and gun-making and another publication to directly attack the Qajar Constitutional Revolution of 1906. studied medicine. Mirza Saleh, meanwhile, monarchy, declaring that lawlessness The earliest London connection with studied English, French and Latin, as well as was at the root of Iran’s problems. Qanun Iranian journalism came in 1837, with the natural philosophy and printing; he bought was published by a former courtier and publication of Iran’s first newspaper by a printing press to take home and joined the Freemasonry, becoming a Master. After returning to Iran in 1819, Mirza ‘If the mullahs enter any government and get up to their tricks, Saleh was involved in a number of that government and that country will never progress’ diplomatic missions. He visited Britain

72 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 He calls England Velayat-e Azadi (the land of freedom), the beggar on the street’ is ‘committed to the nizam (state)’, and ‘would not deviate where everyone ‘from the King down to the beggar from it.’ ‘This land,’ he says, ‘like Arabia on the street’ is ‘committed to the nizam (state)’ and other lands, did have evil, corrupt and blood-thirsty people, but they have changed their ways over the past four hundred years in 1822 – when he succeeded in having of subverting the faith of Islam’. With such ... [No] other country in the world is either the British envoy to Iran, Captain content, although historically important, so organized, or so orderly. This they have Henry Willock replaced. In 1827, he led Kaghaz-e Akhbar is unlikely to have had achieved through years of toil, giving blood unsuccessful negotiations with Russia much social or political influence, and it was and shedding blood.’ to end the second Russo-Persian war certainly not an instrument of reform. Mirza Saleh’s writing reveals little about (1826-28) and in 1829, he was a member Of far more significance are Mirza Saleh’s his personal views on Iran, although from of a delegation that presented the Iranian diaries of his group’s travel to Britain, via time to time his praise for aspects of British government’s apologies to Russia’s Tsar Russia, and their return to Iran via the life implies the wish that his homeland Nicolas I for the killing of the Russian Mediterranean and Ottoman Turkey. The could have the same features. The closest Minister, Aleksander Griboyedov, and his diaries survived in manuscript form for 150 he comes to criticizing Iran’s governance staff in a riot in Tehran. Mirza Saleh later years before they were printed in Tehran in is when he describes how the mullahs had became mayor of Tehran and published 1969. They include long segments on the prevented the Ottoman Sultan Selim from a monthly journal that became known as history, geography and economy of Russia, ‘bringing European sciences to Istanbul, out Kaghaz-e Akhbar (literally, newspaper). Britain, and the Ottoman Empire, translated of jealousy, and did not allow people to leave Several hundred copies of the paper were from other languages. These sections the road of ignorance and stupidity. In fact, probably printed each month, of which few include inaccuracies in facts and figures, if the mullahs enter any government and have survived. Publication stopped after including dates, perhaps caused by the get up to their tricks, that government and Mirza Saleh was removed from the post of perennial problem of converting the lunar that country will never progress.’ He shows mayor three years later. Islamic calendar to the solar Western one. similar disdain for the Catholic Church, Although Mirza Saleh was impressed The best-written parts of the diaries were with ‘priests who are not allowed to marry, with British newspapers and their ability to Mirza Saleh’s observations on daily life, so they would commit heinous acts and make money by selling advertising, his own especially in England, where he travelled abuse women. In fact, sheep have been left paper was a much more modest enterprise. extensively and interacted with people in the hands of wolves.’ The surviving copies of the paper, in two from a variety of backgrounds. He speaks lithographed one-sided sheets, only contain with admiration of Britain’s system of Reprinted from vol. 9, no. 2 (2013) laudatory reports about the king and his governance, taxation, elections, justice and movements, and reports about a variety of prisons, transport, medical care, education, Hossein Shahidi is an Iranian journalist events or novelties from around the world, agriculture and industry. He calls England who has worked for the BBC and the United under the titles of ‘News from the Western Velayat-e Azadi (the land of freedom), Nations countries’ and ‘News from the Eastern where everyone ‘from the king down to countries’. One issue, for April-May 1837, reproduced in 1839 in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, includes reports about a fire at the Royal Library in Naples; the launch of a new steamship in New York which had cut down the journey time to Britain from one month to twelve days; the arrival in Bombay of the new British naval steamship, Atlanta, with 68 guns after a voyage of sixty-eight days rather than the usual six months [a footnote by the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society explains that the ship had only two guns, using 68-pound shots] and the beheading in Istanbul of a ‘petulant, matt-haired, foul-mouthed, impudent, impious’ dervish who had spoken to the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud ‘with the highest disrespect’, accusing ‘him

The Albert Memorial in Hyde Park was built in 1872. Some Iranian writers have said that the man in the sheepskin hat was modelled on Mirza Saleh

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 73 2013 – SAUDI ARABIA

Madawi Al-Rasheed charts how religious scholars in Saudi Arabia reacted and adapted to the Arab uprisings

In the shadow © Omar Chatriwala of revolutions

Pilgrims leave Mina on the last day of Hajj. Salman Al-Awda asks why Muslims should accept autocracy and reject democracy if the latter proves to be the best available option simply because it is a western import

here is nothing that prompts us to for peaceful collective action. Instead, they Tunisian, Egyptian, Libyan, Yemeni and encourage revolution as it is enshrined applauded the bravery and determination Syrian activists whom they dubbed Sahwa in danger... . It just comes when of Arab protestors abroad and shifted their Islamiyya, (Islamic awakening). Many Saudi Tprofound reform has stumbled. focus to local battles with the Saudi regime Islamists saw the Syrian uprising through Salman Al-Awda, Islamist against detention of prisoners of conscience, the lens of sectarian politics and considered the legitimacy of peaceful collective action the Syrian rebels defenders of Sunni revival Like all of us watching the Arab world and the right of the people to be represented against the hegemony of a minority Alawite in the last two years, Saudi Islamists (I in an elected assembly. regime. On the Bahraini uprising, Saudi refer throughout to the Salafi Islamists) On the eve of the Arab uprisings, Saudi Islamists concurred with the Saudi regime were taken by surprise when the Arab Islamists had already reinvented themselves that described the Bahraini revolution as a masses marched en masse calling for the as peaceful activists seeking reform of the Shia-Iranian conspiracy to undermine the downfall of their regimes. Official Saudi regime from within. During the uprisings security of the Gulf. They also condemned religious scholars immediately warned they reclaimed their position on the map the Saudi Shia uprising in the oil-rich against the chaos of revolutions, banned of Saudi Arabia. They developed their Eastern Province. They accused the Shia demonstrations, and called for respect own strategies in order to remain relevant of opportunism and blamed them for and obedience to rulers. Despite this, and central to any debate about the provoking the regime to increase oppression they supported the uprisings, perhaps future of the country. The Arab uprisings and arrest among their own activists. in anticipation of Islamist parties and reinvigorated them as two Islamist parties Unlike the majority of official Saudi movements replacing the old regimes in came to power - al-Nahda in Tunisia and religious scholars, veteran Islamist Salman Egypt, Tunisia and beyond. They were, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. At the Al-Awda (born 1956) anchored peaceful however, cautious when revolutionary same time they supported the struggle of collective revolutionary action in an Islamic effervescence started creeping into the heart of Arabia. Amid Saudi calls for demonstrations, civil disobedience and On the eve of the Arab uprisings, Saudi Islamists change via the internet, they held back from endorsing such calls, as if to assert that had already reinvented themselves as peaceful neither they nor their followers were ready activists seeking reform of the regime from within

74 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 framework and reached out for humanist The eruption of unforeseen and unexpected revolutions needed interpretations that assimilate Western intellectual positions with his own Salafi an Islamic endorsement, interpretation and justification orientation. He surprised his audiences when he published As’ilat al-Thawra ripen, dry prematurely or be belatedly sharia is to establish justice, protect property (Questions of Revolution) in 2012. Al- harvested.’ and guard lives. Awda rehabilitated revolution after decades Al-Awda proposes to go beyond the Al-Awda asserts that in Islam there is no of Sunni religious scholars associating it duality of total obedience to rulers or scope for a theocracy, the rule of Islamic with instability, chaos and danger. This military revolt. His ‘third way’ centres on jurists. The Islamic state is a contractual book put him in a position different from ‘organised collective action that regulates project between people on the basis of a both traditional official Saudi ulama and political opposition and accountability.’ civil contract. In his opinion, democracy Jihadi ideologues, who had adopted violent The social contract, exemplified by the proves to be better than autocracy. He calls strategies locally and globally. Needless English Magna Carta, represents in for representation of the people, freedom to say the book was immediately banned Al-Awda’s thinking an early example of and civil society. Why should Muslims in Saudi Arabia, prompting the author limiting monarchical powers and asserting accept autocracy and reject democracy if to circulate it on the internet. In this individual rights. The strategy that the latter proves to be the best available book, Al-Awda’s engagement with the collective action requires is not necessarily option simply because it is a western question of revolution brought him back violent. Revolutionary attire, slogans and import, he asks. Democracy promises to as a relevant figure at a critical moment hunger strikes prove to be efficient and be inclusive. Pluralism is a precondition in the Saudi and Arab public sphere. The justified steps in a peaceful revolution. He for just government. He warns against eruption of unforeseen and unexpected acknowledges the diversity of al-jamahir, alienating sectarian and ethnic minorities, a revolutions needed an Islamic endorsement, the critical Arab publics behind the potentially dangerous strategy that triggers interpretation and justification. Al- revolutions. foreign intervention and civil war. He calls Awda swiftly seized the opportunity and On the sharia in a post-revolutionary for respecting minority rights within a improvised a text that moved away from the phase, Al-Awda calls for gradual application democratic framework. duality of the permissible and prohibited in in an attempt not to burden societies While hesitating to call for revolution in Islamic political theology. after revolutionary upheaval, a burden Saudi Arabia, many Saudi Islamists have Al-Awda fuses western political thinking that may precipitate total rejection. Post- learnt hard lessons from a decade of terror on revolutions by Marx, Popper and revolutionary justice requires accepting that was displaced by peaceful collective Fanon with his own Islamic Salafi heritage, the diversity of Arab publics opinion. This action across the Arab world. It remains to producing a hybrid discourse that aims to justice requires reconciliation with all be seen whether these new Saudi intellectual reach beyond religious study circles. He sectors in society including supporters of mutations will lay the foundation for a new defines revolution as building on the past, deposed regimes: as the Prophet said, ‘go, era in an age of hybridity and pluralism. reform and reconstruction rather than you are free’. From the heartland of Salafism, Islamists destruction. It always starts peacefully He warns against raising slogans such are beginning to engage with this hybridity but may later become militarised when as demanding the immediate application thanks to those Arab masses who have confronted with oppression. Simply of sharia, thus capitalising on people’s opened a new chapter in their struggle for phrased, revolution is a fruit that ‘may emotional dispositions. The purpose of freedom, dignity and social justice.

Reprinted from vol. 9, no. 3 (2013)

Madawi Al-Rasheed is Professor of Anthropology of Religion at King’s College, London. Her most recent publications include A Most Masculine State: Gender, Politics and Religion in Saudi Arabia (CUP 2013), Contesting the Saudi State: Islamic Voices from a New Generation (CUP 2007), and A History of Saudi Arabia (CUP 2010)

Unlike the majority of official Saudi religious scholars, veteran Islamist Salman Al-Awda (pictured third from left) anchored peaceful collective revolutionary action in an Islamic Twitter/Salman Al-Awda Twitter/Salman

© framework

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 75 2013 – RELIGIOUS MINORITIES © Stéphane Pradines Sami Zubaida gives an overview of the situation facing religious minorities in the region

Religious minorities in the Middle East

Saint Antoine Monastery, Red Sea

istorically, non-Muslims in the professions and the arts in the emerging administrative practice, as well as in popular Middle East had the legal and modern states, economies and public attitudes and actions. One component of social status of dhimmis, granted spheres. The (theoretical) legal equality of popular ideology and imagination is what Hprotection by the Muslim sovereign in non-Muslims, and the advantages enjoyed may be called ‘Umma nationalism’: the return for special taxes and impositions, by their elites under modern conditions, idea that the world is divided into religious and assigned an inferior status with many as well as their association with ascendant solidarities, and that the Christianity of disqualifications. In reality, their conditions European interests, led to a sharpening of Europe and the Judaism of Israel encompass varied from time to time and in relation resentments and antagonisms within the the local/national Christians and Jews. to class and power, ranging from violence Muslim population, sometimes resulting Anti-imperialism, then, would include and extortion to prosperity and high office in riots and attacks. These punctuated hostility to all non-Muslims, reinforcing for some. Political modernity, the colonial the history of communal relations in the historical antipathies. The antidotes to these episodes and the nation-state were, in 19th and 20th centuries, starting with the sentiments were present in both traditional, the earlier decades of the 20th century, attacks on Christians in Egypt following the conservative ideas of neighbourliness and favourable to most non-Muslims. The 19th Napoleonic invasion at the turn of the 19th coexistence, and the modern universalist century Ottoman reforms and the later century, followed by similar events in many ideologies of liberalism, socialism and even constitutional revolutions of the early 20th countries including Syria and Lebanon. The fascism, which sidelined religious identity century within the Empire and in Iran, First World War and its aftermath witnessed in favour of national solidarity. Christians included large measures to secularise the the massacres and forced movements of and, at an earlier stage, Jews, were part of state and institute laws granting equality population in Turkey. these imaginings. Christian intellectuals of citizenship. Missionary and Jewish In reality, the theoretical stipulations played an important part in Arab nationalist schools from the mid-19th century equipped of legal equality and common citizenship politics from the 19th century, and one of some members of these communities were/are often subverted in political and the founders of Ba`th ideology and the with a modern European education and familiarity with European languages (mostly French), as well as Turkish and Arabic. This qualified beneficiaries The stipulations of legal equality are subverted in political and for careers in business, bureaucracies, administrative practice, as well as in attitudes and actions

76 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 Sunni-Shi'a sectarianism and Arab/Kurdish divisions victim to the violence from one or other, or both sides. In Iran, sectarian divisions are centre stage in Iraq’s politics, merging into are superimposed on ethnic identities with respect to Sunni Kurds, as well as the regional, geopolitical sectarian patterns the continuing persecution of Baha’is, and the pressures on Christians and the party was Michel Aflaq, a Syrian Christian. threats to the citizenship status of non- few remaining Jews. Sectarianism in the In Egypt, Coptic personalities were at the Muslims. The more recent uprisings in the region is also reinforcing the entrenched forefront of political life and prominent in Arab world, the so-called Arab Spring, were communalism in Lebanon in confessional the nationalist struggles. In Egypt, Iraq and animated by universalist demand for liberty, identifications and solidarities, with all sides the Maghreb many Jews were active in the dignity and social justice, and included opposing any measures towards common leftist national movements. an assertion of citizenship and fraternity. citizenship in electoral arrangements Countries in the region have different Copts were prominent participants in or in allowing civil (and possibility of profiles of communal and cultural Tahrir Square. The reactions and violence mixed) marriage. The reformers’ and composition. In Turkey, for instance, that followed, however, targeted the Copts. revolutionaries’ aspirations to national Christian groups were for the most part In October 2011, a predominantly Coptic fraternity and common citizenship ethnically distinct Greeks, Armenians and crowd demonstrated in central Cairo, appear utopian. Assyrians, and most Jews were Sephardic against the demolition of a church in Upper Ladino speakers. Waves of ethnic cleansing Egypt. They were attacked by the army and Reprinted from vol. 9, no. 4 (2013) through the twentieth century resulted in a security forces, as well as civilian thugs, predominantly Muslim population, mostly resulting in the notorious massacre with Sami Zubaida is Emeritus Professor of Sunni but with a sizable Alevi minority, an 23 deaths and 212 injuries. The attacks on Politics and Sociology at Birkbeck, and offshoot of Shi'a Islam, itself the subject Coptic churches, businesses and individuals Research Associate at LMEI, SOAS. His of prejudice and discrimination. Egypt, by occurred frequently under the previous latest book is Beyond Islam: A New contrast, has a Coptic population estimated regime and seem to be continuing. The Understanding of the Middle East at 10 percent, which is native Egyptian authorities, including the recently elected and shares language, culture and custom Muslim Brotherhood President Morsi with its Muslim neighbours. Iraq famously continue to proclaim equality, as did their features many religious and ethnic divisions. predecessors, but their police and security At present, Sunni-Shi'a sectarianism and services continue to be bystanders, or even Arab/Kurdish divisions are centre stage sometimes complicit, in the attacks against in the country’s politics, merging into the Coptic targets. regional, geopolitical sectarian patterns. The sharpening sectarian, Sunni-Shi'a, There are also considerable Christian tension in the region has the effect in populations, in both the Arab and Kurdish divided countries of subverting national regions, mostly Chaldeo-Assyrian who identification in favour of the sub-national, speak Aramaic dialects, which continue the sect, and the supra-national sectarian to be their liturgical language, though they solidarities in regional alignments. This are now predominantly Arabophone and is clearly the case in Iraq, Bahrain, Saudi culturally integrated. Their numbers in Arabia and the Gulf, and now fiercely in A group of Christians (and some Muslims) 2003 were estimated at 1.4 million. In the Syria. Christians, Baha’is and esoteric sects, take part in a protest in October 2011 in turbulent years following the 2003 invasion such as Yezidis and Mandeans in Iraq, fall Maspero, Egypt and up to the present, the sectarian militias of both sides, often with the acquiescence of the authorities, have targeted Christian and heterodox populations with killings, kidnapping and extortion, bombing of churches and kidnapping of priests. Large numbers have taken refuge in neighbouring countries, mainly Jordan and Syria, as well as having been internally displaced to the Kurdish autonomous region.

Recent transformations The rise of Islamic politics in the later decades of the 20th century placed greater pressure on non-Muslim communities in many countries. The ‘nation’ became increasingly identified as the Muslim nation, part of a worldwide Islamic Umma, a resurrected ‘Umma nationalism’. The call for the application of the Shari`a poses

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 77 2013 – CULINARY CONNECTIONS

Food and drink have always held a prized place in Middle Eastern literature, explains Narguess Farzad A loaf of bread, a jug of wine and rhyme: Images of food in Persian poetry © The Fitzwilliam Museum

Lohrasp enthroned (c.1540) from Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh

ood imagery has been an integral part as Manuchehri, Anvari and Nezami, many a cook, as translated by Arthur George and of the literatures of the Middle East, of whose works are illustrated by sumptuous Edmond Warner: with the earliest examples appearing in miniature paintings. ‘Foods then were few, men did not kill Fa Sumerian poem of the second millennium A well-known account of the potency of to eat BC. In Persian literature the most vivid food appears in the Shahname, when the But lived on vegetals of all earth's and colourful examples begin to appear almost vegan King Zahhak is gradually produce; from the tenth century onwards. The poets seduced and corrupted by Satan, who So evil-doing Áhriman designed at the courts in the greater Khorasan paid introduces him to dishes of eggs, veal, richly To slaughter animals for food, and particular attention to the variety of food cooked game and other elaborate recipes. served and the culinary expertise that was then In this passage, Satan, alternatively referred Both bird and beast. He fed the king on available. Their descriptions highlight the to by his Arabic name Iblis or the Persian blood sophistication of the court and the health Ahriman, appears to Zahakk in the guise of To make him lion-fierce, and like a of its treasury. The best examples of such poetry can be found in the works of Rudaki, Jami describes the tables laid with rare fruits, or the Shahname of Ferdowsi as well as in the feasting scenes described by the other platters of quince blossom pastilles, delicate Samanid, Ghaznavid and Saljuq poets such sugared almonds and jugs of cordial and sherbets

78 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 Rumi, Sa’di and Hafez beguile us with descriptions the drainers of dregs; On the Day of the Covenant this was of wine with such expertise that the most the only gift conferred loquacious of sommeliers would fail to match We have imbibed what He poured into our cup slave however, is when each lady is presented Were it the nectar of Paradise or the Obeyed him. First he fed his lord on with a fruit-knife and invited to peel an wine of intoxication’ yolk orange: Rumi, while a master user of the wine To make him strong; he liked the ‘One hand the knife held, sharp its imagery, is equally discerning about flavour much work to do, soups and sweetmeats and shows a sound And praised Iblís.’ Orange the other, gladness to renew.’ knowledge of what goes on in the kitchen. The conversation between a cook and The following day Satan serves the king At this precise moment Joseph is enticed the chick-pea boiling in a pot of broth in a meal of partridges and silver pheasants, to look in on the gathering and as he steps book three of the Masnavi is ostensibly a followed by lamb a day later, then roast veal into the room, the women who catch metaphor for the hardship and pain entailed with saffron, and finally beef with rosewater, a glimpse of him begin to swoon and a in the meaningful journey from naivety musk and vintage wine on the last day. As shocking scene of self-inflicted injuries to maturity but the attention to detail his reward he asks to kiss and lay his eyes ensues: shows that Rumi knew a lot about food and face on the king’s shoulders: ‘With that one sight their senses them preparation too. He also betrays a weakness ‘Iblís received permission, kissed and forsook, for the variations of halvas that appear in vanished. And from their hands the reins of his poems. Prepared from figs, dates or a A marvel followed—from the power shook. variety of raisins and syrups, Rumi assures monarch's shoulders, From her own hand her orange no one us that their finest can elevate the mystic to Grew two black snakes.’ knew, the heavens. And thus across her hand the knife she If only Rumi could visit London today And with this line begins the horror of a drew. where he would be spoilt for choice and millennium of Zahakk’s rule of terror who A pen made one her fingers with her could indulge his sweet tooth with the could only satiate the snakes by feeding sword, wide range of halvas available in shops and them the brains of two young men every Upon her heat devotion to record; Middle Eastern patisseries all over the city. day. Ferdowsi wonders if this was a plan to From every line there flowed a stream rid Iran of its young heroes and indeed the of blood, Reprinted from vol. 9, no. 5 (2013) world of humankind. They cried aloud: “No mortal man is On a more cheery note the fifteenth he, Narguess Farzad is a Senior Fellow in Persian century Jami takes us to the lavish lunch “Not formed, like Adam, of water and at SOAS and a member of the editorial board party of the ladies of Egypt organised by clay: Zulaikha, Potiphar’s wife. Her ulterior “An angel pure below has found his motive is to silence their gossiping tongues w ay.”’ Zal shoots a water-fowl (c.1570) and justify her love for the beautiful Joseph: ‘What a feast in a royal banquet hall! In the twelfth to fifteenth centuries, © The Fitzwilliam Museum What sweetmeats pure of each colour the predominant and recurring image in and hue, Persian poetry is that of wine and the poets Like a light reflected the darkness take great pain to describe its preparation, through! consumption and powers. However, the And in crystal cups whose lip overflows inebriating earthly wine of the earlier heroic Is mingled rose-water with attar of rose. and romantic epics, as well as the self- Its ground was decked as with the sun's indulgent pleasure of drinking associated golden bars: with the quatrains of Omar Khayyam, is The silver cups a galaxy of stars. transubstantiated into the wine of divine Flavour and perfume from table and intoxication. Only two centuries later the bowl, poetic persona has all but abandoned the Food for the body and strength for the splendid royal banqueting halls of Iran soul. and appears to be content to inhabit the Things there for eating whatever you old tavern. In this era it falls to Rumi, Sa’di wish, and Hafez to beguile us with descriptions Of bird they had brought together and of wine with such expertise that the most fi s h.’ loquacious of sommeliers would fail to match. Jami describes in detail the tables that The wine of this period is often a are laid with rare fruits, all ripe and juicy, metaphor for spiritual resilience. In his platters of quince blossom pastilles, delicate solitude, Hafez of Shiraz dismisses the sugared almonds and jugs of cordial and forbidders of wrong: sherbets. The climax of the lunch party, ‘Go away, ascetic, and stop picking on

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 79 2012

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THIS ISSUE: PALESTINE ● Palestine Studies at SOAS ● Consequences of decline ● Reinforcing the structures of occupation ● Gradations of pacification ● Urgently seeking a solution ● Right to rights, and right to return ● A pioneering anthropologist in Palestine ● Palestine on film ● Edward Said and Mahmoud Darwish ● PLUS Reviews and events in London

● ● The world’s stage ● MusicTHIS as the ISSUEfood in protest : ● Born of the wind:● PROTEST Britain in Palestine The Arab Israeli Book Review : THE CULTURAL● Uniting the artistOLYMPIAD and the athlete ● The London Aquatics ● Discontent in Algeria and Morocco ● PLUS ● THIS ISSUE Reviews and events in London Reviews and eventsBeyond in London Tahrir Shakespeare and the Middle East ● Le Corbusier’s● PLUS Gymnasium ● Inspired by the● Shahnameh The role of art of harmony: Daniel Barenboim and the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra the Arabian horse and equestrianism ● ● The burden of history: Algeria 50 years on Centre

● Iraq (December 2011/January 2012) ● The Cultural Olympiad (June/July 2012) ● Iran (February/March 2012) ● Protest (October/November 2012) ● Palestine (April/May 2012)

80 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2012 – IRAQ © Meem Gallery/ Dia Azzawi Janet Rady meets Iraqi artists based in London

Mapping Iraqi art in London Dia Azzawi, Relationship, 2007-08, Al-Noor Collection, United Arab Emirates

ention Iraq to anyone today and manipulated by the ruling parties as a tool inaugural exhibition last year at the Mathaf one’s thoughts immediately turn for self-glorification and artists were losing Gallery in Doha turned for guidance and to a country in turmoil, a people their freedom to create truly independent support. Min mourning and a future that remains, at works. It was at this time that several Working in a variety of media, his most least for the time being, uncertain. prominent artists left Iraq with some, like distinctive images are undoubtedly those In stark contrast, however and far Dia Azzawi, heading for London, where encapsulated in his powerfully evocative removed from the Middle East, is London. he became art consultant at former Iraqi paintings. Executed in neo-Cubist style, Albeit in the grips of economic recession, Cultural Centre in Tottenham Court Road. his blocks of brightly coloured pigments it is nevertheless a place which thrives on It is perhaps to Dia Azzawi that Iraqi combine seamlessly to reflect often semi- opportunity, diversity and cultural plurality. artists in London owe most gratitude. abstract subject matter ranging from Given that so many Iraqis have chosen to With a career spanning over 49 years memories of Iraq’s rich heritage to more settle in London, I set out to find out how (he graduated from Baghdad University political imagery, highlighting the pain these two polarities can be reconciled both with a degree in Archaeology in 1962 and of loss and struggle throughout the Arab on a personal and national level. the Institute of Fine Art in Baghdad in world. No story about contemporary Iraqi 1964), he has participated in more than Acknowledging Dia’s influence, the art in London can begin without 65 shows and has been editor of major American born, Iraqi artist, Maysaloun acknowledging the immense role that the international magazines including UR: The Faraj has, through her work as an artist, artistic movements of the 20th century International Magazine of Arab Culture, curator and gallerist, achieved acclaim for played within Iraq itself. It was in the early London; Funoon Arabia, London and on promoting Iraqi art in London. Conscious 1950s when a group of artists including the the Editorial Board of Mawakif, London. of the hardships suffered by Iraqis in exile, sculptor Jawad Salim, instructor at newly Through his publications and exhibitions, Maysaloun wanted to bring together the established School of Fine Arts, together he has contributed widely to the intellectual country’s scattered ‘talents in the wind’ with the eminent theorist, Shakir Hassan development of the arts of the Middle East. and to communicate their positive and al-Said, formed the Baghdad Group for Tellingly, out of the 77 artists shown at the creative energies. Thus in 1995 her project Modern Art. Working with other artists British Museum’s Word in Art Exhibition entitled ‘Strokes of Genius: Contemporary such as Faiq Hassan, the group began to in 2006, nearly 25 per cent were from Iraq Iraqi Art’ was born. At first its focus was germinate the seed of a modern artistic and it was to Dia that the curators of the a comprehensive database of Iraqi artists identity. Their aim was to articulate through an aesthetic synthesising of their knowledge of their birthplace with their studies abroad It is perhaps to Dia Azzawi that Iraqi artists in London the political rhetoric of a nascent Arab state. By the 1970s however, this solidarity of owe most gratitude. With a career spanning over 49 years identity had been diffused. Art was being he has participated in more than sixty five shows

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 81 exhibition entitled Wounded Water, made The growing success of Iraqi art and artists London based Iraqi Kurdish artist Walid globally can undoubtedly be measured in the Siti, not unsurprisingly, very happy. From a voyage out of Iraq via Yugoslavia, in 1984, participation of Iraq in this year’s Venice Biennale Walid has come a long way to the point where he now goes back regularly to assist www.incia.co.uk. With the help of others of his compatriots. Although influenced young artists in Iraq. He arrived in London including curator Ulrike al-Khamis and by Islamic culture, which he began to speaking virtually no English and knowing artists Rashad Selim and the then Baghdad appreciate while living in London, he sees no-one and it was through a meeting with based Hanaa Malallah, by 2000 the project his art as having universality not specific Rose Issa in 1987, who at the time was had grown into a touring exhibition and the to Iraq. For Rashad, being in London has running the Kufa Gallery, that he started subsequent publication of the eponymous broadened his creative side. Most indicative his career in the art world. Known for his book, the only comprehensive reference in of this is his current re-piano project, in distinctive monochromatic and highly English, on the subject. which he strips out and transforms old symbolic work, he pares down his subject by Maysaloun’s work continued when in pianos into living works of art, Rashad using simple shapes or symbols and reflects 2002 she opened the Aya Gallery in west aims symbolically to re-engage with and war and violence and mankind’s ultimate London with her husband. Here Maysaloun transform the universality of broken culture. helplessness. curated a series of important Iraqi shows Hanaa Malallah by contrast, who came Such are the narratives depicted by Iraqi until her last exhibition in 2009, a solo show out of Iraq in 2006 (and now cannot return), artists. Others such as Yousif Nasser, who of her own paintings and ceramics entitled at first found living in London difficult. left in Iraq in 1979 or Suad Attar who ‘Boats and Burdens: Kites and Shattered Here though now she is able to concentrate moved to London in 1976 and whose solo Dreams’. Through the joie de vivre imagery on her art and has exhibited widely. A exhibition at Leighton House has recently of her ceramics, to a more poignant expose deeply thoughtful and philosophical finished, have equally chilling memories of the tragic destruction of life symbolised person, Hanaa’s work addresses the subject and historical roots, that they feel compelled in withering date palms, her work attempts of ancient Mesopotamia, contemporary to explore. to capture a beauty and innocence lost destruction and exile. Like many artists of forever. her generation, she found traditional media Reprinted from vol. 8, no. 2 (2012) Not all Iraqi artists in London share inadequate to express her ideas. Instead she the same feeling about their homeland. uses burnt paper and cloths, barbed wire Janet Rady is a specialist in contemporary art Rashad Selim, who was born in Sudan, of and bullets, with splintered wood and found from the Middle East a German mother and Iraqi father, resides objects. Often shown in Dubai, Hanaa in a more liminal mental space, neither is now preparing for an exhibition at the outside or inside Iraq or London. While Qattan Foundation in April 2012. he acknowledges his Iraqi identity (he The growing success of Iraqi art and is Jawad Salim’s nephew), his peripatetic artists globally can undoubtedly be childhood and time in London, where measured in the participation of Iraq in he has lived since 1982, have given him a this year’s Venice Biennale. Being one duality of perspective not prevalent in many of the six artists chosen to exhibit in the

Walid Siti, 5, 2010, White Cube Gallery

82 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2012 – IRAN

Baqer Moin discusses how Norouz is celebrated, sometimes secretly, by many outside Iran Norouz around the world

A Norouz celebration in Montreal,

© Zavosh Canada, 2010

ome 300 million people, from western For Iranians, Norouz has always been the appeals to their sense of nationalism, in China, Central and West Asia to main Eid (festival), far more important than particular towards the end of the Iran-Iraq the Balkans and other communities religious Eids. When the monarchy ruled war, melli was rehabilitated in the media. Sworldwide, celebrate Norouz 'new day' – the Iran, Norouz was the only occasion when The ambiguities remained, and attempts spring equinox – an event that has achieved schools and universities were closed for two by political hardliners and religious greater significance in political and cultural weeks and the country came to a standstill. conservatives to denigrate Norouz as a diplomacy since the 1980s. This trend has so far continued. Recent ‘pagan practice’ never ceased. The collapse of the Soviet Union led attempts to curtail these holidays and to give However, hardliners' campaigns against to a search for cultural and historical more prominence to the religious occasions national cultural symbols had the opposite identity by its Islamic republics, which were have not been a great success. effect. Helped by social networking sites, emerging for the first time as independent The Islamic Republic has an uneasy the Iranian youth, eager for meaning and nation states. Peoples of these republics relationship with Iranian nationalism. joy in their lives, are presently waging an had celebrated Norouz secretly, despite the The word melli (national) was banned for intensified campaign to revive national official ban. In the post-independent era, several years, and replaced by an Islamic symbols. They began to celebrate Yalda, the Norouz gradually became a national holiday, term. The National Consultative Assembly eve of the Winter Solstice, and Mehrgan, the to the extent that most of these republics was renamed the Islamic Consultative autumnal equinox. now celebrate both January 1 and March Assembly. The National Iranian Airline If celebrating Norouz divides the 21 (spring equinox) as their new years. For was renamed Islamic Republic Airline and ruling establishment, taking advantage some, such as in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and there are many other examples. However, of the popularity of national symbols Azerbaijan, Norouz is more important than when the authorities discovered that people and sentiments for political and electoral the western New Year. respond better to the government if it gains has also divided them. While the more conservative elements play For some, such as in Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan, down nationalism, populist politicians surrounding the president, such as Norouz is more important than the western New Year Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, have sparked

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 83 Since 2009, President Obama has used the event to demonstrate General Assembly, calling on member states that celebrate the festival to study its history a better understanding of the Iranian people and their culture and traditions with a view to disseminating knowledge about it among the international controversy by talking about the Maktab-e demonstrating its importance to western community and organising annual Irani or the Iranian school of Islam, politicians. Many western leaders and commemorative events. thus distancing themselves from the lawmakers are increasingly acknowledging Coincidentally, most nations who conservatives and their attitude towards the Norouz, whether for social or electoral celebrate Norouz are members of the ECO Iranian national heritage. In 2011, as a vote- reasons. Since 2009, President Obama has (Economic Co-operation Organisation), winning exercise, the president and his allies used the event to demonstrate a better an intergovernmental body of the central planned a major celebration for Norouz at understanding of Iranian people and their and west Asian states. The ECO was set up Persepolis, where the former Shah once held culture. In his first message, addressed to to promote cultural and economic co- a celebration commemorating 2,500 years Iranians, he said: ‘this holiday is both an operation, though it has had little success of the monarchy. The conservative media ancient ritual and a moment of renewal. in the field of culture. A regional and waged a major anti-Norouz campaign to Within these celebrations lies the promise international interest in Norouz has given discredit the presidential advisers, such as of a new day, the promise of opportunity the ECO inspiration to focus on a shared, Mr Rahim Mashaie. They were forced to for our children, security for our families, secular cultural heritage. The ECO member cancel this celebration publicly although it progress for our communities, and peace states have agreed to be the official host of did occur in private. between nations.’ Norouz on rotation. Last year was Iran's In Afghanistan, the Taliban and some On March 19 2009, the US House of turn. The heads of states that visited Tehran Mujahedin parties played down Norouz. Representatives recognised the cultural last year witnessed a sombre occasion as Following the fall of the Taliban, the picture and historical significance of Norouz in they were not allowed to celebrate the changed. The good fortune of Norouz and, a resolution stating: ‘Norouz originated occasion at Persepolis or Takht-e Jamshid, to a lesser extent, that of Mehrgan has been in ancient Persia, harkens the departure the throne of Jamshid, the mythical founder revived. Hundreds of thousands of people from the trials and tribulations of the of Norouz. are now travelling from all over the country previous year and brings hope for the This year’s festivals will be hosted in to celebrate the new year in Mazar-e-Sharif. New Year; embodies the tradition that Dushanbe, Tajikistan’s capital. A fusion The Kurds have always celebrated Norouz. each individual's thinking, speaking, and of Tajik arts: dance, music and mounting Since the fall of Saddam Hussein, Kurdish conduct should always be virtuous, and the spectacles, should offer a more joyous authorities in northern Iraq have held ideal of compassion for our fellow human and colourful festival befitting the happy major festivals and official processions. beings regardless of ethnicity or religion, occasion of Norouz. Across the border, the Kurds in Turkey and symbolises a time of renewal and have also traditionally celebrated the event. community.’ Canada has also recognised Reprinted from vol. 8, no. 3 (2012) Turkish administrations have often opposed Norouz as a special day, as has Sweden. the celebrations, considering them signs This new international awareness is Baqer Moin is director of Jadidonline.com of Kurdish nationalism. The PKK, the coupled with UNESCO putting Norouz in and former head of BBC Persian and Pashto cessationist Kurdish group, used Norouz to the list of intangible cultural heritages of further its cause. humanity, a move proposed by the Republic Faced with this ever-increasing Kurdish of Azerbaijan. It was later recognised as campaign, and the celebrations by the the International Day of Norouz by the UN newly independent Turkic nations in the Caucasus and central Asia, the Turkish © Ehsan Khakbaz government changed its position. Not only did it proclaim Norouz as an ancient heritage of the Turkic people but many of its leaders also joined the festivities, including jumping over the symbolically purifying fire. In 2009, the Turkish government began special television services during Norouz for all Turkic-speaking countries as a sign of solidarity and to share the celebrations. The migration of millions of Persians, Afghans, Kurds and other ethnic groups in the past few decades to the West has brought the festivities associated with Norouz to the heart of western societies. It is celebrated in educational institutions

A modern take on a Norouz table

84 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2012 – PALESTINE

Atef Alshaer examines the legacy of Edward Said and Mahmoud Darwish

Bringing Palestine and the world together; in poetry and prose

ll peoples of the world have icons, interactions and tensions, and involved this sense, Palestine is not an isolated case who are often associated with the diverse interests, discourses, dialogues, of occupation, but interlinked with colonial making and refining of perceptions. local identities and priorities. Any genuine exploitations and misrepresentations, and as AThe philosopher Edward Said (1935-2003) intellectual would be equally moved and such deserving of a humane solution. and the poet Mahmoud Darwish (1941- perplexed by these issues; themes that Unlike the stubborn ideologue, both Said 2008) are such icons for the Palestinians. resonate in the battleground for and over and Darwish believed in a tomorrow, a They not only contributed decisively to Palestine. future, in which justice would be available putting Palestine on the world’s map, but Edward Said was born in the Talibiyeh for all, and in a yesterday, a past, which also brought the world to Palestine. Their district of Jerusalem, and grew up in Cairo could serve as a wellspring from which all secret, if they ever had one, was the power and Lebanon before settling in the United could learn – rather than one which would of language – painstakingly crafted, with States. He worked in the literary, political stultify with its claims to authenticity and visions of justice, freedom and humanity at and musical fields with the overriding exclusivity. To this end, their views on its heart. ideal of human reconciliation and co- Israel and Palestine evolved, though their Said and Darwish’s contributions are existence, while exposing the injustices of premises remained constant. too plentiful to enumerate fully here. Said colonialism, its political, economic and At the centre of their shared view was the brought the plight of the oppressed to world cultural exploitation, and its demeaning understanding that Palestinians have been attention, and to where it matters –the very intellectual representation. As his colleague victims of Zionism’s colonial mindset and centres of power that for so long acted as Joseph Massad wrote, Said’s intellectual practices. These entailed both land theft and disinterested sources of knowledge and life ‘was guided by his radical opposition displacement of the native population, and governance. He did this with scrupulous to ignorance and by his unwavering attempts to eradicate Palestinian culture – and passionate scholarship, examining the commitment to fighting injustice. all aimed at undermining the viability of the makeup of the colonial ventures in the east Everything he wrote revolved around Palestinians’ continued existence in their and the often dubious representations that these two axes.’ In his book, Orientalism, homeland. buttressed and objectified them. Darwish for which Said is best known, he poses Nevertheless, alongside their rejection wrote what amounts to the Song of Songs a question which sums up the spirit that of all forms of orthodoxy and extremism, for Palestinians, illuminating the sites of guided his writings: ‘Can one divide human Said and Darwish retained a belief in their wounds and the vistas of their human reality, as indeed human reality seems to the possibility of coexistence between condition in the context of the Israeli be genuinely divided, into clearly different Palestinians and Israelis on the basis occupation. cultures, histories, traditions, societies, of equality. They also opposed unjust Said and Darwish’s beginnings were even races and survive the consequences of agreements such as the 1993 Oslo accords rooted in the traumatic experience of the humanity?’ and other lopsided negotiations and bogus 1948 Nakba, when Israel founded a state for Said’s entire work attests to a search for deals, however dressed up they were as itself at the expense of the native population the genuine commonalities and connections promoting national aspirations. These could of Palestine, their own families included. underpinning humanity, transcending the not restore even a modicum of the rights Both drew their visions, in prose and poetry mediocrity of provincial scholarship. In the Palestinians had struggled and longed respectively, from and for the Palestinian question. Both struggled with painful questions of identity and exile in an age Both drew their visions, in prose and poetry respectively, when conflicts acquired global dimensions. These conflicts were born of longstanding from and for the Palestinian question

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 85 for. The relevance of the past for Darwish At the centre of their shared view was the and Said lay in the way the consequences of the Nakba were continuing to unfold in the understanding that Palestinians have been victims form of ever-increasing Israeli aggression and extremism. of Zionism’s colonial mindset and practices In Darwish’s elegiac poem to Said Tibāq, Counterpoint, he highlights their shared I became a metaphor of a swallow scholarly fields. We hear and feel it in the approach: Floating over my debris poetry of Darwish, acclaimed all over the In the spring, in the autumn Arab world and beyond. Darwish seemed And we each said: if your past is experience Baptizing my feathers with the clouds of to have spoken of himself, when he wrote Make your tomorrow meaning and vision. the lake of Said: Prolonging my greeting Darwish was born in the village of Unto the Nasserite who never dies He loves a land then departs from it. el-Birweh in Galilee, he left Palestine to Because in him is the spirit of God (Is the impossible far?) Moscow in 1970 and a year later, moved And God is the prophets’ luck He loves departure to anything. between several places, including Cairo, In free travel between cultures, the Beirut, Tunisia and Paris before finally Along the revolutionary journey, researchers returning to Ramallah in 1996 and stayed which Darwish and Said both chronicled, of human essence might find enough there until his passing on August 2008. He Darwish’s poetry acquired new dimensions. seats launched his poetic vocation with poems In one interview, he approvingly quoted the for everyone. Here is a periphery that reclaim identity and – sharing the same Mexican poet Octavio Paz as stating that advancing. path as fighters, martyrs and peasants – ‘words in prose are to inform, but in poetry, Or a centre receding. The East is not assert steadfastness and solidarity. to be’. The Palestinian condition is one of completely East It is fair to describe him as the swallow a struggle for viable existence and survival and the West is not completely West. of Palestine, a bird he loved evoking in his and another of informing and educating Because identity is open to plurality, poems. Its longings and spirited flights the world on its predicament, as Darwish It isn’t a citadel or a trench. served the purpose of transcendence, did in vivid poetry and Said in luminous freedom and beauty: prose. Increasingly, Darwish’s expanded In such words resides worldly hope vision resorted to the ordinary, mystic, epic for which Darwish and Said planted ripe I could have not been a swallow and musical, giving a worldly voice to the seeds. The Arab revolutions, with all their Had the wind wished it so voiceless, while at the same time celebrating complexities, seem to testify to this in a way The wind is the traveller’s luck the world for its small gifts and hopes. that can only mean their hope for justice I went north, east, west Darwish and Said gave the Palestinians, and humanity lives on. Said was fond of But the south was too hard for me and indeed the world, their genuine gift of quoting the Martinique-French Poet Aimé Too far from me vision and humanity. We touch the grace Césaire, whose words best illuminate Because the south is my country of this gift in the words of Said, in several Darwish’s sentiments above: ‘No race has a monopoly on beauty, on intelligence, on strength, and there is a place for all at the rendezvous of victory.’

Reprinted from vol. 8, no. 4 (2012)

Atef Alshaer is a post-doctoral and teaching fellow in the Near and Middle Eastern Department as well as the Media and Film Studies Centre at SOAS

© mahmouddarwish.com Mahmoud Darwish (R) and Edward Said

86 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2012 – THE CULTURAL OLYMPIAD

Ionis Thompson discusses how Saudi Arabia has a strong equestrian tradition but that the country may not be allowed to compete in the 2012 games ‘Born of the wind’: the Arabian horse and equestrianism at the London Olympics © f there is one sport associated in the Saudi Arabia from the Games as they once The Trustees of the British Museum public’s eye with Arabs from the Arabian banned Afghanistan under the Taliban for Peninsula it must be horsemanship. its attitude to women. IThe finest type of horse, the Arabian, In fact, the Saudi statement reflects the developed in the desert. It seems, therefore, reality of the situation in a country with appropriate that a Saudi team of four show very few sports facilities for women: women jumpers has qualified to take part in this are simply unable to reach the qualifying summer’s Olympics, one of just 15 teams. standards required by the Olympics and, The last time the Saudis won an Olympic even if allowed to participate, could not medal was for show-jumping in Sydney in qualify to join the male riders in the official 2000. They competed with great success team. There is, however, one glimmer of in the Rolex Kentucky three-day Event at hope for Saudi women athletes. At the Gold model chariot from the Oxus Treasure. Lexington last summer, winning silver for Singapore Youth Olympics in 2010 Dalma Region of Takht-i Kawud, Tadjikistan, show-jumping. Last year they spent millions Rushdi Malhas, a young Saudi horse-rider, Achaemenid Persian, 5th-4th century BC on buying 12 high-performing horses from won a bronze medal for show-jumping, but European stables. Their hopes are high for a she competed as an independent. She might medal this summer. be invited to participate in the same way in the Oxus treasure of ancient Persian gold If, that is, they are allowed to compete. London this summer, but she would not be and the Assyrian limestone relief. There will Along with Qatar and Brunei, Saudi Arabia part of the country’s team. be loans of objects from other museums has never sent a woman athlete to an Saudi Equestrian, the body responsible and from archaeological sites in Saudi Olympic Games. Jacques Rogge, chairman for taking the Saudi team to the Olympics is Arabia and elsewhere. The exhibition has of the International Olympics Committee also one of the supporters of an exhibition been planned to complement the Olympic (IOC) has been in discussion with all entitled The Horse: from Arabia to Royal Games, with which it will run concurrently. three countries about their plans to send Ascot which will run throughout the female athletes to the London Olympics summer at the British Museum*. The Reprinted from vol. 8, no. 5 (2012) and Qatar is now planning to send women Arabian horse was said to have been created athletes, who have been offered ‘wild by angels or born out of the wind: in Arabia Ionis Thompson is a member of the MEL cards’ by the IOC. Rogge wanted full they were prized more highly than gold. Editorial Board gender representation at this Olympics, The Arabian Thoroughbred descends from in compliance with the Olympic Charter just three Arabian stallions introduced into * The exhibition, in Room 35 of the which supports equality for all who want to 17th century Britain, and the exhibition will British Museum, will run from May 24 to compete, regardless of gender. On April 4, illustrate the remarkable success of these September 30 and will be free. however, Prince Nawaf bin Faisal, President horses. The exhibits will include objects of the Saudi Olympic Committee, said from the Museum's own collection, such as Saudi Arabia was ‘not endorsing female the miniature gold chariot drawn by four participation in the London Olympics’ horses made around 2500 years ago, part of although he did not rule out women entering independently. This statement The Arabian horse was said to have been created was taken as an official ban on female participation and provoked widespread by angels or born out of the wind: in Arabia outrage, with calls for the IOC to ban they were prized more highly than gold

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 87 2012 – PROTEST

Charles Tripp discusses the relationship between art and protest with Ionis Thompson The role of art in protest Ali Farzat

© Ali Ferzat, Power as One, 2011

uch has been written recently the state’s authority, but these edifices were power presents itself was humiliating to about the flowering of street art in effectively hollow. Artists were sapping their the authorities and had an important effect the wake of the popular uprisings power. When the protests began the only in rallying people. It showed art is of the Mof 2011 in Cairo, Tunis and Tripoli. I wanted weapon governments had was force, their people, and that recapturing public space is to know more about this form of art and authority having already been undermined, easily achieved. what part it had played in the events of that and so they lost in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The third way of looking at the relevance momentous year and whether it still plays Art was the early warning system. of art to the movements is to see how a part in the continuing protests in the Official art, in particular statues and many different forms of art were able to Middle East. I went to an expert in the field, the pictures of dictators’ faces that used flower after the uprisings, giving people Charles Tripp, Professor of Politics of the to glower over cities, had long been used the freedom to express their political Middle East at SOAS, and asked him what to reinforce the power of the state. The aspirations, their solidarity with one role he thought art had played in the recent uprisings reversed this by defacing or another, their new respect for others and the uprisings. caricaturing these representations. This commemoration of martyrs. I asked what He said one could look at the relevance of was a key part of the struggle for public sort of art he meant. Graffiti is an obvious art to the protest movements in three ways: space and although a symbolic act rather one. Of course anyone can scribble on walls by considering its antecedents; by looking than a direct attack on authority, it had its and only some of it can be classified as art, at the public assault on official art and by effect in showing that the protestors could but it is difficult for governments to control observing the different artistic forms the get away with it. The attack on the way this form of expression and it is ubiquitous. movements gave rise to. Taking the first of these, art in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia before 2011 gave a strong Sometimes protest art has so displeased the authorities sense of something being afoot, in terms particularly of a gradual loss of authority by that they’ve removed it from the show. But this censorship the governments. Huge edifices represented is itself a tribute to the art, showing its power

88 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 In Cairo, street art continues and acts as a art in London, I asked. He said that for several years the British Museum has been running commentary on the politics of the country: collecting the works of modern Middle it attacks the military, Islamists, everything Eastern artists, some of it the work of protest artists, those who can’t be shown in their own countries. There have been Some graffiti is done using stencils: artists very powerful tool, always. Laughter deflates some exhibitions by protest artists in design pictures on the stencils and others power. It gives the artist self-affirmation. London: the new branch of ARTSPACE using spray cans transfer these designs And it’s infectious, it encourages solidarity Dubai which opened in London this year onto walls, as Banksy famously did on with others. The Egyptians have always featured the Egyptian artist Mohammed the Separation Wall in Israel/Palestine. In been known for their jokes, and these have Abla. The cartoon by Abla on the front Tahrir Square, people used anything to been prominent in the uprisings. Famous cover of the magazine, which he has called hand to carry their messages - plastic cups, cartoons have made their way round the ‘Hand in Hand’ satirises the claim, made old cardboard, their own bodies, their world and led to the arrest of some artists by the authorities, that 'The Army and the children, even their cats. This was a sort of – as you can see in the illustration shown People are One'. He says: ‘In London… performance art. Then there is also fine art: above. Ali Ferzat, a well-known cartoonist several paintings communicate the pressing there has been a flowering of art galleries in Syria captures what’s wrong in the social and political issues. Moreover, and exhibitions all over the Middle East state with this cartoon, juxtaposed with some canvases – depicting Salafis, Muslim recently, which has included some examples a photograph of himself in hospital after Brotherhood and the Egyptian army – of protest art. Sometimes protest art has the Syrian authorities had broken both his might not be accepted in Egypt right now. so displeased the authorities that they’ve hands for drawing a ‘subversive’ cartoon in In the London exhibition I manage to removed it from the show: this happened which an executioner is seen weeping over release this charge.’ in the Dubai Art Fair. But this censorship is a soap opera on television while his victim itself a tribute to the art, showing its power. hangs from the wall, his feet having been Professor Charles Tripp’s new book The In Egypt this street art was new – there cut off. Although crippled by the attack on Power and the People: Paths of Resistance in was very little before - and it represented his hands, Ali Ferzat was able to depict his the Middle East will be published by CUP in the multiple voices of Egyptians. There defiance in this cartoon which went round November 2012 was suddenly so much street art that it the world. became difficult to stop and the number of The internet has been important in Reprinted from vol. 8, no. 6 (2012) pictures appearing gave a sort of protection circulating protest art around the world. to the artists. In Cairo, street art continues This is significant, Charles pointed out, as Ionis Thompson is a member of the MEL and acts as a running commentary on many artists are unable to work in their Editorial Board the politics of the country: it attacks the own countries: Syria is particularly cruel military, Islamists, everything. in its repressive measures and many Syrian I wanted to know how Charles thought artists have moved to Paris and elsewhere. protest art had influenced events at the Is it possible to see Middle Eastern protest time of the uprisings and if he thought

it continued to have an impact today. It © Mohamed Abla definitely had an effect at the time of the uprisings, he said, by changing the nature of public space. Now it is common to see arguments taking place in public as graffiti and counter-graffiti express opposing views and arouse terrific passions. So, street art has moved from being directed against one power to being able to express different opinions. Now it offers a rallying space which reflects the plurality of the Arab Spring. Since 2011 there has been a big growth of international interest in art from the Arab world, particularly artists who have been censored or whose work is considered critical of ruling regimes, as these artworks depict the spirit and thought processes behind the politics. Art has a subliminal effect, a drip, drip effect. I wondered about the power of humour to influence people. Charles said humour is a

Mohamed Abla, On the square, 2012. Private collection

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 89 2011

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THIS ISSUE » Volume 7 - Number 10 THE GCC STATES» THE ISRAEL-EGYPT PEACE TREATY – DOOMED TO FAILURE? SUFFRAGE IN KUWAIT » August - September£4 | €5 | US$6.5 2011 » » THE GULF AND ITS INDIAN ENTANGLEMENTS » WOMEN’S OF SAUDIPLUS ARABIA IN TEXTILES » THE DRIVE TO DIVERSIFY GULF ECONOMIES » » WHITHER SANCTIONS?» IRANIAN ORGANISATIONS » FLOWERSSTUDIES OF IN PERSIAN LONDON IN BRITAIN » » IRAN Volume 8 - Number 1 WILL THERE BE WAR ON IRAN? » MANHATTAN COMES TO MAKKAH » October - November 2011 » MAKING NOISE QUIETLY PLUS » REVIEWS AND EVENTS IN LONDON THIS ISSUE £4 | €5 | US$6.5 SONG AND MUSIC A HISTORY » TASTING BLOOD: CALIGULA IN TEHRAN » ARABIAN

RESTAURANT, EXHIBITION & BOOK REVIEWS AND EVENTS IN LONDON

THIS ISSUE » NORTH AFRICA » PROTEST ON THE ROCKS BY HUGH ROBERTS » LIBYA: TRIBAL WAR OR POPULAR REVOLUTION? » TUNISIA, EGYPT… IS ALGERIA NEXT? » THE REVOLUTION WILL BE TELEVISED: THE ROLE OF MEDIA » LITTLE MOROCCO IN THE HEART OF NORTH KENSINGTON » BRITISH-MOROCCAN MUSICAL EXCHANGES » PLUS » POETRY, BOOKS AND EVENTS IN LONDON

THIS ISSUE » EFFECTS OF THE» HUTHIYEMEN CONFLICT AND IN OMANNORTH YEMEN SECESSIONIST MOVEMENT IN SOUTH YEMEN » THE PALESTINE LITERATURE PROTEST IN OMAN » » THE LEVANT: PALESTINE AND JORDAN » YEMEN'S WATER CRISIS THE PALESTINIAN» REVIEWS STATEHOOD AND STRATEGYEVENTS IN VEILING IN OMAN » » PLUS THIS ISSUE » SOUTH ARABIAN» THE LANGUAGES SOUTHERN ROGER HARDY: OBAMA AND THE ARAB SPRING PLUS » » UNREST IN THE LEVANT » » REVIEWS AND EVENTS IN LONDON FESTIVAL » » THE PARTICIPATION OF WOMEN IN JORDAN LONDON

● Iran (February/March 2011) ● The Levant (August/September 2011) ● The GCC States (April/May 2011) ● Yemen and Oman ● North Africa (June/July 2011) (October/November 2011)

90 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2011 – IRAN

Jane Lewisohn explains the cultural impact of the Golha radio programmes on Iranian life and why digitising the archive is crucial for lovers of Persian culture

Flowers of Persian song and music: digitising the Golha archive Puran

he Golha (‘flowers of Persian song pool of talent at his fingertips, Mr Pirnia had (Golha-ye javidan), ‘Multicoloured Flowers’ and music’) radio programmes the support of the director of the Iranian (Golha -ye rangarang), ‘A Green leaf’ (Barg-e were broadcast on Iranian National National Radio (1950-1960s), Nusrato’llah sabz), ‘A Single Flower’ (Yek shakh-e gol) and TRadio for 23 years from 1956 to 1979. Mu‘niyan, who transformed the radio ‘Desert Flowers’ (Golha-ye sahra’i), each They comprised approximately 850 from a commercial advertising platform featuring choice selections from the lyrics hours of programmes made up of literary for entertainers and a parking place for of the great classical and contemporary commentary with the declamation of relatives of political elites into a respected Persian poets, combining song, declamation poetry, which was sung with musical and influential vehicle for the preservation with musical accompaniment, learned accompaniment interspersed with solo and promotion of Persian culture. The commentary and Persian folk music. musical pieces. The Golha were the Golha programmes became exemplars of The Golha marked a watershed in Persian brainchild of Davoud Pirnia, a one-time excellence in the sphere of music literature, culture. Before this, due to the conservative assistant prime minister, enthusiastic patriot setting standards that are still looked up to socio-religious bias, music had been and scholar who harboured a deep love in Iran today, referred to by scholars and practised behind closed doors. Where they for Persian culture and its rich literary and musicians as an encyclopaedia of Persian performed in public spaces, performers musical traditions. He retired from political music and poetry. Most of the great ballads were branded as street minstrels. Due to life in 1956 and for the next 11 years he and songs in modern Persian literature the high literary and musical quality of devoted himself tirelessly to producing the were commissioned specifically for these these programmes, the public perception Golha programmes. programmes. of music and musicians in Iran shifted and The foremost literary, academic and Mr Pirnia produced five different its participants became referred to – for the musical talents of his day offered Mr categories of programme: ‘Eternal Flowers’ first time – as maestros, virtuosos, divas and Pirnia their collaboration and support. The th greatest Iranian vocalists of the 20 century th saw their careers launched on these radio The greatest Iranian vocalists of the 20 century saw programmes. Besides having such a rich their careers launched on these radio programmes

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 91 The most important effect of the Golha programmes on the British Library’s World Sound Archive. In 2008 the second phase of the Golha Iranian society was that they encouraged people to project was launched, supported by the Iran listen to good poetry and music on the radio Heritage Foundation, the British Academy, the Parsa Foundation and the Department of Music at SOAS. This aims to construct adepts of a fine art, no longer inhabiting the him. In 1972 Hushang Ibtihaj, a well-known a searchable, relational database for the lowest rung of the social ladder. modern Persian poet, took responsibility Golha programmes, which will include bio- The Golha programmes were so popular for the programmes, changing their bibliographical data on the performers and that people organised their schedules name, consolidating all the various types authors, photographs, musical notation of around listening to the broadcasts. They of ‘flowers’ into one programme called the songs and transcriptions of the poetry. also evoked a neo-classical revival in Persian ‘Fresh Flowers’ (Golha-yi tazeh). Ebtehaj The database will be searchable through song and verse of the late Qajar period, patronised the revival of interest in Persian a purpose-built website allowing one to which were re-interpreted and performed music of the Qajar period (1794-1925). As a search it by programme name, number, by modern musicians and vocalists, and partial result of Ebtehaj’s vision, despite the singer of the avaz and tarana, song-writer, likewise promoted Persian vernacular music general ban on music in Iran after the 1979 poet of the avaz, first line of the song or that was carefully researched, recorded and Islamic revolution, a movement to preserve poem sung, name of the song, instrument, broadcast. This helped to preserve both the and cultivate the traditions of Persian urban musician, composer, name of poet whose vernacular and classical traditions of Persian art music is still alive and flourishing in poetry is sung or declaimed, poetic genre, music and poetry, which were under threat present-day Iran. dastgah or avaz and gusha of the music from influences both outside and within The Golha Project began in early 2005 performed and so on. Iran that wished to modernise the society. with a pilot project supported by the Iran The searchable relational database for The most important effect of the Golha Heritage Foundation, the British Institute this important archive, which will be a programmes on Iranian society was of Persian Studies and the Department unique cultural resource for students and that they encouraged people to listen of Music at SOAS to see if was possible lovers of Persian culture and a teaching to good poetry and music on the radio, to collect, archive and digitise the tool for Persian music and literature, will be re-introducing over 560 Persian poets programmes. Following the success of the accessible at www.golha.co.uk in late 2011. from the ancients to the moderns, thus pilot project, over the next two years, with Since 2005 many other archives have re-invigorating interest in classical Persian the support of the Department of Music been collected by or donated to the Golha literature. Divans of poets never properly at SOAS and British Library Endangered project, including folk recordings, private edited or published before were suddenly Archives Programme, assisted by many recordings and additional archives of in high demand. This was crucial as the generous private and institutional collectors radio programmes, comprising thousands illiteracy rate was 85 per cent in some places in Iran, France, Germany, Canada and the of hours of 20th-century Persian music. in the period 1950-60. United States, the Golha programmes were Some of these resources have already When Pirnia retired in 1967, several other collected. In July 2007 a digital copy of the been digitised, but over 1,000 reel and musicians, scholars and poets succeeded complete Golha archive was deposited in cassette recordings still need to be digitised, archived, indexed and included in the Golha database. We hope that in its future phases, the Golha Project will find the support it needs to make this intangible heritage of Iran available to all.

Reprinted from vol. 7, no. 7 (2011)

Jane Lewisohn is a Research Associate for the Department of Music and an Associate Member for the Centre for Iranian Studies, SOAS

Left to right: Abu’l-Hasan Saba, ‘Ali Tajvidi and Murtaza Mahjubi of the Golha radio programmes

92 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2011 – THE GCC STATES

Samar Al-Sayed meets the founder of the Hajj Research Project and a distinguished SOAS alumnus who is critical of the construction boom that is transforming the skyline of the holy city Manhattan comes to Makkah

hree years after work began on hunt or even retaliate for the killing of one’s the latest expansion of the Grand own father. Trees are not to be uprooted. Mosque’s precincts, Makkah is in How is it, then, that we find bulldozers and Tthe midst of a property and construction dynamite in such a place?’ boom. The mosque itself is now almost The Old Mosque is the main indicator completely enclosed by skyscrapers and of scale in the city, and any development real-estate panels, and on entering the city ‘must be proportionate in that it must cranes and construction sites obscure the remain the focal point’, Angawi argues. view of the surrounding mountains. Some ‘Creating industrial urbanisation of the of these historically significant heights are type we see in Manhattan and London is themselves being dynamited to build luxury simply disrespectful to the sanctuary and accommodation for well-heeled pilgrims. the character of the city. The Prophet taught On Mount Omar, for instance, a gigantic us the beauty of balance – ‘al-meezan’ – in Clock Tower looms where an 18th-century Arabic, which is a prevalent theme in the Ottoman fort once stood, centerpiece of one Qur’an. What we see in Makkah today is of scores of new developments in a multi- every bit the contradiction of the principle billion riyal-building spree. of balance and proportionality; skyscrapers With over two million pilgrims are dwarfing the House of God and performing the obligatory Hajj pilgrimage robbing Makkah of its harsh, mountainous annually and many more making the character.’ optional ‘Umra pilgrimage at other times Angawi cites another feature of the city’s recent development that leads him to the of the year, Makkah has to accommodate The Makkah Clock visitors on a scale unmatched by any other shocking conclusion that ‘socially and holy site on earth. The need for a further culturally, Makkah is finished’. Historically, expansion of the precincts was undoubted. he explains, the area surrounding the Yet controversy has stirred about the mosque was a centre for social interaction no longer confined to the old souqs selling implementation of the project, which and trade between people of a huge array of cheap gold, carpets, prayer beads and other required the demolition of more than 1,000 nationalities. In recent times, however, the items, but has also extended to include adjacent properties, and the nature of the norm has been for pilgrims from different international fast-food and hotel chains, not accompanying development. countries to be assigned to their separate to mention designer boutiques. ‘The structure and fabric of Makkah is camps on the periphery, with the centre So what is to be done about this being altered to the point of no return,’ says now monopolised by the up-market real seemingly irreversible change that is Dr Sami Angawi, a Makkah-born architect estate sector and its clients. After worship, sweeping this historic goldmine? Angawi and founder of the Hajj Research Project, the humbler visitors are ushered back to says: ‘We are trying to leverage this which studies urban planning in relation to their own accommodation areas. ‘As such, movement in order to take our case to the the dynamics of the pilgrimage to Makkah. there is minimal interaction between highest authorities and stop the dramatic He stresses that the holy city is, essentially, Malays, Turks, Afghans, Iranians, Arabs, change to this skyline.’ a sanctuary. ‘In Islamic thought, sanctuaries Pakistanis and many other nationals who are a no-go, no matter what religion they come on a yearly basis. It is very sad.’ represent. They are a red line. Within the Makkah can no longer evade the tentacles Reprinted from vol. 7, no. 8 (2011) boundaries of a sanctuary, one cannot of globalised capitalism. Commercialism is Samar Al-Sayed, a Saudi-based writer, holds an MA in International & Comparative Law Skyscrapers are dwarfing the House of God and robbing from SOAS Makkah of its harsh, mountainous character

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 93 2011 – NORTH AFRICA Libyan society may be tribal, but the conflict is not, saysIgor Cherstich Libya: tribal war or popular revolution?

ibyan society is tribal. The Libyan © Nasser Nouri uprising, however, is not a tribal conflict. This equation might appear Lcontradictory, but it is not. Tribal dynamics have played and will play an important role in the Libyan conflict, but tribalism is not the only factor to take into account. The leadership of the Warfalla, together with some sections of the Magariah – two of the most influential tribes of Western Libya – have publicly defected from the government’s side, declaring that Qaddhafi Rebel fighters during heavy shelling by forces ‘is no longer a brother’. This declaration is loyal to Qaddhafi near Bin particularly important as the two groups Jawad, March 2011 had an established fidelity (though not continuous) to the regime, and today language that people use in everyday life for things, in precise symbols of anti-colonial the interim prime minister appointed by different purposes. This flexibility explains resistance. The protagonists of the struggle the anti-Qaddhafi forces is effectively a not only how a member of a historically against the Fascist colonisers, though Warfalla: Mahmud Jibril. Nonetheless, a minor tribe like Qaddhafi was able to stage members of specific tribes, are described view of the uprising as a conflict regulated a coup in 1969, but also how, in the minds as national heroes. Bearing this in mind, purely by tribal motivations is misleading of many Libyans, tribal affiliation does not the Libyan uprising cannot be reduced to a and, more importantly, is based on a necessarily contradict national identity. tribal affair. The two camps involved in the simplistic understanding of what tribes are Without doubt, ‘tribe’ and ‘nation’ are fighting are making use of tribal affiliations, about in Libya. concepts that have been combined in a but this does not necessarily imply that It is important to clarify that tribal links specific way by the Qaddhafi propaganda. Libyans are unable to think nationally. in Libya are significant, but they are also The Green Book explains how the As soon as the anti-Qaddhafi forces flexible. There are about 140 tribal groups jamahiriyya, (the ‘state of the masses’, managed to liberate the east of the country, in the country. However, some Libyan the current political system in Libya) is a they summoned a tribal council in the tribes are not geographically homogeneous national entity that is modelled on the idea city of Al Baydha that called immediately entities that can easily mobilise people of ‘tribe’ as form of natural organisation and for the creation of a transitional national when required. In other words, though not on the notion of ‘state’, which is seen as council. This should not be taken to mean they have zones of influence, they count an artificial construction. However, far from that those that sided against Qaddhafi are, members in different areas of the country. being mere rhetorical tools adopted by the in fact, tribes that pretend to be part of a The Fwatir tribe, for instance, though regime, ‘tribe’ and ‘nation’ are also concepts national organisation. On the contrary, it is historically attached to the area of Zliten, is that play an important role in the language simply that Libyans are able to discern when diffused in small groups all over Libya. This of self-determination of the Libyan people, the language of tribal affiliation is enough, is relevant particularly in light of the fact and this has to be considered when looking and when the national connotation that is that many Libyans, even those that value at the uprising. part of ‘being Libyan’ has to be re-affirmed. their tribal membership and rely on tribal Libyans might be aware of tribal divisions Libyans are not fighting a tribal war, but a connections in their everyday lives, do not and affiliations. However, they do not refer popular revolution through tribal means. know who their tribal leaders are. In this to Libya as a geographical space occupied by sense, tribalism is not a static and clear-cut tribes but as a recognisable entity, a country Reprinted from vol. 7, no. 9 (2011) network of fixed relationships, but rather a whose history is rooted, among other Igor Cherstich is a Doctoral Candidate Tribalism is not a static and clear-cut network of fixed in Social Anthropology at SOAS. He has relationships, but rather a language that people use in conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork everyday life in different ways and for different purposes in both Eastern and Western Libya

94 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2011 – THE LEVANT

Gilbert Achcar, Professor of Development Studies and International Relations at SOAS talks to Dina Matar about the Arab uprisings and their effect on the region

Unrest in the Levant Gilbert Achcar

ow can you describe the current the group of local co-ordination committees Are there any signs of other protests or situation in the Arab world? that you can find on Facebook. They strikes taking place in Syria? I use the concept of revolutionary demand freedom and democracy, and Economic elites are still on the side of the Hprocess because if we look at the level of the refuse to negotiate with the regime as long regime because it has created favourable Arab world, there’s hardly any country that as the savage repression goes on. conditions for them in recent years. has not been affected by this revolutionary We should make a basic distinction The protest movement remains mainly shockwave. The process is still going on between at least two kinds of states in the peripheral and the larger cities, Aleppo and and it will probably continue for a very long Arab world. In Egypt and Tunisia, we find Damascus, are still largely quiet. The elites time, so we are really still at the beginning state apparatuses pre-existing the toppled are supporting the regime for fear of post- of a process of transition, of revolutionary leaders. The situation is different in Syria regime chaos. They may shift their position transition. In some countries regimes are and Libya where the state apparatus has if the protests last and reach the urban trying to cope with this without reaching been radically re-shaped by the ruling centres. The fear of chaos is much higher the point when the people would demand family or the ruling elites. The two regimes in Syria than what you had in Egypt. And an overall regime change. In Libya, Syria were originally rooted in the military and, in therein lies the problem: if people manage to and Yemen, a civil war of various degrees of both cases, the new rulers have completely overthrow the regime in Syria or Libya, they violence is taking place, or threatening to, reshaped the armed forces. If the regime will face a certain degree of institutional and the outcome will influence the rhythm were to be overthrown in Syria, it could only vacuum because the existing institutions are of change elsewhere. be as a result of a split in the armed forces organically linked to the dictatorships. and a civil war. As for the workers’ movement, it played a Can we turn to Syria and talk more major role in Tunisia and Egypt and helped about the status of this process and the objectives of the opposition? I cannot see any regime overthrow in the short The most representative group speaking for the Syrian protest movement is probably term in Syria, unless there is a civil war

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 95 the uprisings there to turn into revolutions. In Syria, as was the case in Egypt, there is no We are witnessing the unfolding of a revolutionary independent organised labour movement process affecting all of the region and it will take years and we have not seen any similar grassroots movement to that which took place in Egypt. However, we cannot exclude this It is obvious that the Lebanese situation Arab world makes it more urgent than ever happening if the protest goes on. is extremely dependent on Syria. If ever for Washington to try to get some kind of the Syrian regime were to fall, or even to peaceful settlement of the Israel-Palestine Do you feel the momentum will be paralyzed, this would greatly affect the conflict in order to defuse this major continue despite the proposed reforms the situation in Lebanon and in the region. source of anti-US agitation. For its part, the Syrian president mentioned in the speech Hezbollah would be dramatically weakened. Obama administration certainly wishes that he gave on June 20? Israel has been planning a revenge attack new elections in Israel would change the The speech was disappointing and will against the group since 2006 and if they feel government to the benefit of Tzipi Livni’s not change anything. But the situation is that it lost the Syrian ally, they would be Kadima. difficult. In Libya, it is clear that without highly tempted to go ahead. NATO intervention, Gaddafi would have Do you see any possibility of a been able to crush the movement. The How do you see all these processes Palestinian mass movement? Libyan forces loyal to Gaddafi are well affecting the Palestinian situation? The Palestinian variant of the regional armed and trained whereas no one is The Palestinian situation is mostly shockwave that we have seen until now willing to arm the insurgents, including affected by the consequences of the process has been the demand to end Palestinian NATO, which in substituting itself for the in Egypt, more than by whatever happens in divisions. This mobilisation was not that insurrection tries to control the process Syria. The Egyptian events led Washington big, and the reconciliation (between Hamas and guarantee its future interests in this to reconsider its attitude towards the and the Palestinian Authority) was directly important oil state. The situation is different Muslim Brotherhood, and we are now related to the changes in Egypt and the shift in Syria. You would hardly find any entering a new phase of collaboration in Washington’s attitude. It will take some candidate for a military intervention there. between the MB and Washington with MB time for a Palestinian mass movement to The only country that might intervene is support for the Egyptian military council. emerge, rejecting both the very corrupt PA Turkey, but I would rather see this as a post- The reconciliation between Hamas and and Hamas, which showed inclinations overthrow intervention for a state-building the Palestinian Authority came mainly to despotism and also some corruption mission. I cannot see any regime overthrow as a result of this. What is now unfolding in Gaza. In this sense, the PA-Hamas in the short term: unless you have a serious is an electoral clash between Israel and reconciliation is a good thing because if the split in the armed forces and therefore a civil the Obama administration. Netanyahu’s two work together, it can only facilitate the war, the regime will remain in place. speech before Congress can be seen as a rise of a third force based on the grassroots declaration of war to Obama and as the movement. This will be influenced by the What about the situation in Lebanon? first attempt to prevent him from being rhythm of the regional process. To go back How do you see that developing? And re-elected for a second term. This happens where we started from, we are witnessing what are the major concerns? at a time when the mass upheaval in the the unfolding of a revolutionary process affecting all of the region and it will take years. No one knows when and how it will end, but it has the immense merit of setting into motion a region that has been marred by social and political lethargy for several decades.

Reprinted from vol. 7, no. 10 (2011)

Dina Matar is Senior Lecturer in Arab Media and Political Communication at SOAS.

Gilbert Achcar is the author of several books and has recently published The Arabs and the Holocaust: The Arab-Israeli War of Narratives. 2010, Saqi Books

This interview took place on June 22

A group of Syrian women demonstrate in the Damascus protests, May 2011

96 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 2011 – YEMEN AND OMAN © Janet Watson Janet Watson explores the six languages which survive alongside Arabic in the southern Arabian peninsula The non-Arabic languages of southern Arabia Mohammed Ngema Al-Mahri, Mehri Language Workshop, University of Salford, May 2011

ix unwritten Semitic languages, The MSAL were first discovered by laśxawwal bi-maskūt lā [literally: I know known as Modern South Arabian western writers in the 1830s, and the how long I stay in Muscat not] ‘I don’t Languages (MSAL), still survive in sixth MSAL, Hobyōt, was only discovered know how long I will stay in Muscat’, or Sthe southern Arabian peninsula: Mehri (by Lonnet and Simeone-Senelle) in the with an initial and final negator, as in: spoken in eastern Yemen, western Oman 1980s. The major stages in MSAL docu- la-ḥams tinkā lā [literally: not I want her and fringes of the Empty Quarter; Jib- mentation are the work of the Viennese come not] ‘I don’t want her to come’ . The bali (or Śhεri) spoken in western Oman; Expedition of the early twentieth cen- fact that Socotri, the most conservative of Hobyōt spoken in eastern Yemen and tury, the research of the renowned SOAS the MSAL, negates at the beginning of the western Oman; Ḥarsūsi and Baṭḥari spo- linguist, T M Johnstone, on the MSAL clause, as in other Semitic languages, sug- ken in western Oman; and Socotri spoken of Oman from the late 1960s to the early gests that some MSAL have gone from us- on the island of Socotra. The MSAL share 1980s, and the French mission studies ing an initial negator to an initial and final with other Semitic languages the con- of the MSAL of Yemen from 1983 to the negator and then to a final negator only. sonantal root-and-pattern structure of present day. Since 2000 field research on This development is seen in French, for verbs, nouns and adjectives. Thus words Mehri has also been conducted by Lieb- example, where ne, the original negator, involving k-t-b, for example, express the haber on poetry and songs, Sima on the was reinforced by pas ‘step’, and in some notion of writing. They also share much Mehri of eastern Yemen, and myself on dialects pas can express negation on its of the basic lexicon with one or another the Mehri of eastern Yemen and Oman. own, as in je veux pas ‘I don’t want’. This Semitic language. They are not, however, All this work has been conducted with discovery is of great interest to compara- mutually comprehensible with their close the acknowledged collaboration of native tive linguists. cousins Arabic, Hebrew or Ethio-Semitic. speakers. All MSAL are endangered languages, (This also applies to the language or The MSAL are of great typological and not all members of their ethnic dialect spoken on Jabal Rāzih in northYe- interest to Semitists and general linguists. groups still speak them. Threats to their men, and other similar survivals may yet They are the only Semitic languages still survival include education (dominantly be discovered). spoken to have three plain sibilants - /s/, in Arabic), the development of mass com- An estimated 100,000-180,000 people /š/ (English ‘sh’) and /ś/, a lateral sibilant munication, and the rapid loss of tradi- straddling three state borders still speak very similar to Welsh ‘ll’. They are also tional cultural knowledge and practices. Mehri, 60,000 Socotri, 10,000 Jibbali, the only ones which differentiate between They therefore urgently need document- under 1000 Ḥarsūsi, around 400 Hobyōt singular, plural and dual in pronouns and ing for future linguists to study, and for and only a few Baṭḥari. Given the geo- verbs. Thus ‘we went’ in Omani Mehri the sake of future generations of speakers. graphical separation of Ḥarsūsi in Jiddat can be realised as akay syarki ‘we (dual) al-Ḥarāsīs, Oman, and that early Islamic went’ or as nḥah syūran ‘we (plural) went’. Reprinted from vol. 8, no. 1 (2011) maps show Mahrah extending well be- The majority of MSAL are also unique yond the present extent of spoken Mehri, within both extant and extinct Semitic Janet Watson is Professor of Arabic these languages have clearly retreated languages in negating a clause with a final Linguistics at the University of Salford, significantly over the past 1500 years. negator, as in Omani Mehri wadak kam and author of several books and articles on southern Arabian dialects and languages, including The Phonology and Morphology The Modern South Arabian Languages are of great of Arabic (2002) and The Structure of Mehri typological interest to Semitists and general linguists (In preparation)

June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 97 Publisher: Gingko Library

98 The Middle East in London June – July 2019 Photograph © Iselin-Shaw

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For further details, please contact: Dr Adam Hanieh E: [email protected] www.soas.ac.uk June – July 2019 The Middle East in London 99 CENTRE FOR IRANIAN STUDIES – SCHOLARSHIPS

SOAS, University of London, is pleased to announce the availability of several scholarships in its Centre for Iranian Studies (CIS). The Centre, established in 2010, draws upon the range of academic research and teaching across the disciplines of SOAS, including Languages and Literature, the Study of Religions, History, Economics, Politics, International Relations, Music, Art and Media and Film Studies. It aims to

build close relations with likeminded p 25 . 2007, and African Studies, London, Oriental the School of of Treasures institutions and to showcase and foster the best of contemporary Iranian talent in art and culture. MA in Iranian Studies In 2012/13 CIS members successfully launched an interdisciplinary MA in Image: Anvār-i Suhaylī (Lights of the Canopus) Manuscript (Ref: MS10102) from: Anna Contadini (ed.) Objectsof Instruction: (ed.) Objectsof Anna Contadini the Canopus) Manuscript (Ref: MS10102) from: of Suhaylī (Lights Image: Anvār-i Iranian Studies, the first of its kind, which will be o ered again in 2014/15.2018/19. Thanks to the generosity of the Fereydoun Djam Charitable Trust, a number of Kamran Djam scholarships are available for BA, MA and MPhil/PhD studies. MA in Iranian Studies For further details, please contact: Dr Nima Mina (Department of the Languages and Culture of the Middle East) Scholarships O cer E: [email protected] E: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7898 4315 T: +44 (0)20 7074 5091/ 5094 W: www.soas.ac.uk/nme/programmes/ W: www.soas.ac.uk/scholarships ma-in-iranian-studies Centre for Iranian Studies Student Recruitment Dr Arshin Adib-Moghaddam (Chair) T: +44(0)20 7898 4034 E: [email protected] E: [email protected] T: +44 (0)20 7898 4747 W: www.soas.ac.uk/lmei-cis

100 The Middle East in London June – July 2019