French political scientist Gilles Kepel is a world-leading academic expert on political Islam (or Islamism). In his 2010 lecture at the London School of Economics he explains how from the midpoint of the 1970s political Islam became a prominent actor in the world system, and the consequences of this. My blog post summarises his analysis. […]
My deliberation on the question of the ritual circumcision of male minors on this blog (Scandinavia’s ritual circumcision debate: a socialist response and Ritual circumcision of male minors, and the political befuddlement of Eric Lee) started with a comment that I’d read by Frank Furedi, in which he tosses into a wave of European anti-immigration, anti-gay, and anti-abortion reactionarism: […]
The independent Marxist and Orientalist scholar Maxime Rodinson is praised by Edward Said in Orientalism (1978) for his “extraordinary achievements” and his “methodological self-consciousness”. For Said, Rodinson was one of an exceptional few who proved “perfectly capable of freeing themselves from the old ideological straitjacket” of the Orientalist disciplines. Rodinson wrote the following books: Mohammed […]
“the construction and reproduction of the idea of ‘race’ is something that requires explanation.” (Miles, 1989: 73) I. The idea of ‘race’ Primarily to offer an explanation of European history and national formation, the idea of ‘race’ entered the English language in the early sixteenth century. The idea of ‘race’ came under scientific investigation from […]
I am grateful for Eric Lee’s response piece to my article here and in the socialist newspaper Solidarity. On his website there are a number of end comments that I recommend people read. Here I expose what I consider to be Eric’s confused notion of politics, or rather, the lack of politics that Eric considers […]
“the contradictory state of consciousness does not permit any action, any decision or any choice, and produces a condition of moral and political passivity. Critical understanding of the self takes place therefore through a struggle of political ‘hegemonies’ and opposing directions” (Antonio Gramsci) Independent working class culture It was on reading Frank Furedi’s article “Culture […]
I. These are the rules A storm should leave in its wake stillness and clarity. Marxism to me works as a method of thinking and application; a body of ideas and a school of experience; a theory to apply to any given reality with an analytical rigour and honesty; and, a process of testing, modifying […]
Anaemic On A Bike 