The Fire Next Time

An indictment of a soft violence that wears credentials, not uniforms. This essay maps how intellectual gatekeeping—what Bourdieu called the “racism of the intelligentsia”—polices who gets to speak and which suffering counts. It tracks a alliance with inverted Orientalism: the reflex to excuse non-Western authoritarianism as “authentic culture” or anti-imperialism, while disciplining dissidents as...

Between 2021-22, 3,826 workers in Iran were killed in so-called “workplace accidents.” These deaths are not isolated tragedies or unfortunate errors of management—they are the logical outcome of a social order in which the working class is systematically denied the right to organize, to supervise, and to intervene in the conditions of its own labor. This report, without providing any statistics, e...

Toomaj Salehi, the most famous protest rapper in Iran, is a mechanical engineer and a lathe worker who has spent his salary and even his motorbike on creating his songs in protest against the regime. He says he is not afraid and wants to spread his courage to others. In the past years, he was imprisoned twice, turned 34 in prison, and faced charges of “corruption on earth.” Now, Toomaj’s lawyer sa...

Reza Alijani’s book “The Future of Islam in Iran” explores the social evolution and religious criticism in Iran since the Qajar era, focusing on the post-1979 authoritarian turn and economic corruption of the Islamic Republic. Analyzing society’s move towards modernity and individual rights, Alijani underscores the widespread challenge to traditional religious dominance, the advent of an “Iranian...

Valentine Moghadam’s article, “Socialism or Anti-Imperialism? The Left and Revolution in Iran,” analyzes the ideological complexity of the Iranian Left during the revolutionary period. It explores the Left’s commitment to anti-imperialism and its critique of dependent capitalism, while also addressing its failures and challenges. The article delves into the impact of historical events, such as the...

“The Fate of Third Worldism in the Middle East: Palestine, Iran and Beyond” explores the region’s shift from Third Worldism—a evolutionary, anti-imperialist ideology of the 1960s, aimed at universal emancipation—to authoritarian religious governments in the 1980s. Rasmus Christian Elling and Sune Haugbolle’s book discusses how the promising liberation movements in Iran and Palestine succumbed to o...

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis boasted about excelling in migration management at a recent conference, but crucial issues were conveniently omitted. Violations of international laws and human rights, pushbacks of thousands of refugees, and a tragic shipwreck involving over 650 lives paint a different picture. European Commission’s silence and financial support contribute to these atrocit...

Where is the refugee camp? Everyone knows there are refugee camps in the world that are not good places. No one says much more about refugee camps. Those who live there try to deny it. Then, when they leave the camp, they prefer not to look back and not talk about those plague years. If you ask them where they live, they dodge the question. No one wants to know about refugee camps.

The current protests call the nations to a new social contract in the relations between them, which can potentially cause fundamental changes in the policies of the governments. This new contractualism requires governments to force Israel to accept international resolutions through the application of pressure (including the implementation of international laws, economic sanctions, cutting off poli...