CULF 3331: "Middle Eastern Revolutions"

Both the current Egyptian authorities and the Muslim Brotherhood have failed to attract the support of the youth, while women participated in the recent referendum to support stability. The youth see the remnants of Mubarak's administration through the government structure. The revolution wouldn't be important without changes to the government. Many political groups are trying to coax the youth to being on "their side," and meanwhile, the Egyptian youth are struggling to find any positives. Gaining the vote of the youth generally means a win or loss for the politicians.

Both the current Egyptian authorities and the Muslim Brotherhood have failed to attract the support of the youth, while women participated in the recent referendum to support stability. The youth see the remnants of Mubarak's administration through the government structure. The revolution wouldn't be important without changes to the government. Many political groups are trying to coax the youth to being on "their side," and meanwhile, the Egyptian youth are struggling to find any positives. Gaining the vote of the youth generally means a win or loss for the politicians.

You guys know I love maps, right?

I want to cleanse Libya of Muslim Brotherhood: Haftar Renegade general launches 'operation dignity' against Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups in Libya Ahram Online, Tuesday 20 May 2014 A retired Libyan general has said he wants to cleanse Libya of the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist radicals.

(CNN) -- Airstrikes against ISIS militants are a "psychological operation," not a military one, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an interview that aired Friday. "It is a common threat for all of us," he said. "And this requires a unison effort from all of us."

Filmmakers are filming a film that talks about the sexual harassment issue that occurring in Egypt. Ninety-nine percent of women in Egypt have faced sexual harassment. It also shares the common misbeliefs that people believe due to American news. 

This article is from the point of view of an anthropologist who was brought in as a cultural consultant to mediate an issue of "watsa" for a corporation in the Middle East. The company prides itself on its lack of internal corruption, and in turn hired a man named Girgis who grew up in the Middle East but lived and received an education in the US. In Girgis's first year he hired one of his cousins, which the supervisors saw as corrupt hiring practice. The author, and hired consultant, explained to the company supervisors that watsa was an "investment and return" framework in Arab culture, and that there are economic parallels between Arab families and businesses, families existing as economic units. Girgis conveyed that anywhere else in the world he would run the office by the book, but in the Arab world he must also adhere to social norms. The result of watsa through Arab eyes leads to greater loyalty, and less likelihood for deception and theft. The article basically introduces the idea that while in the Western world this may be seen as corruption, it is an embedded part of culture in the Middle East. 

ISIS had entered the town of Kobani, near the Syrian and Turkish border. This came a day after Turkish lawmakers had stated that they gave the government full power to deal with ISIS.

Now it seems ISIS has taken control of Kobani.

The article discusses the removal of Said Youssef a judge who held a postion on the Minya Criminal Court of Egypt. The court was regarded as the court dealt with cases surrounding terrorism. Youssef was responsible for deciding the fate of many Muslim Brotherhood supports/members. Youssef's removal is said to be a "signal of change in the policy of Egyptian judiciary...for the lack of judicial due process and sentencing of civilians based on their political affiliation. 

Compiled by faculty members at the German University in Cairo, this working paper series addresses the effect that watsa has on competence and morality in Middle Eastern economics and society. The authors define watsa as, "the intervention of a patron in favor of a client to obtain benefits and/or resources from a third party." In simpler terms it is a system of social networking in Arab culture in which family and social ties play a significant role in the attainment of economic advantages and resources, largely in the hiring process in businesses and organizations. A person applying for a job seeks out watsa to increase their chances of getting hired. Comparable to nepotism and cronyism, but is not restricted to friends and associates, watsa can also involve strangers linked through some social web of people. Watsa runs somewhat parallel to a Chinese concept of guanxi, based on Confucian ethics and focusing on strong collective ties. While guanxi is a part of Chinese ethics it actually defies Muslim ethical values, which advocates hiring the person most capable. In a Jordanian survey, 87% of respondents want watsa eradicated. While we know that unemployment in the Arab region is widespread, we can assume that this motivates people to do anything they can to improve their chances of obtaining a job. However, the practice of watsa as a whole is actually degrading the economic systems in the Arab sates even further. The article explains the linkage between watsa and poor job performance, economic decline, and the festering of injustice and frustration among the masses in Arab countries.

This looks super interesting, but I can't get the link to open. Thanks for writing a thorough summary of it!

This article discusses Qatar's reasons for asking the Muslim Brotherhood to leave the country. According to this article, many leaders of the Brotherhood have agreed to leave the Gulf state for the time being.

That is a huge surprise, as Qatar become something like a foreign sponsor for Morsi's presidency and floated a lot of loan offers to Egypt to ensure the success of his administration. (It didn't work, but that's another story.)

This article discusses the growing suspicions that have risen from the Muslim Brotherhood. According to many, the Muslim Brotherhood has an active influence on the Obama Administration.

Ironically, the Muslim Brotherhood has come to be seen by some in the State Department as a force of moderation in contemporary Islamist politics. You should look at the recent New York Times op-ed criticizing Sisi for cracking down on the Brotherhood.

This is an article for Hurriyet Daily News, an online newspaper based in Istanbul.On October 5, many neighborhoods on Turkey's border with Syria were evacuated. I thought this news article was interesting because it quotes a speech by Turkey's president in which he addresses his viewpoint on the PKK. The organization has been banned in Turkey and is considered a terrorist organization. He says that ISIS/ISIL and the PKK are equivalent groups, and that the PKK is using the current conflict with ISIS to manipulate public opinion.

This is an article for Hurriyet Daily News, an online newspaper based in Istanbul.On October 5, many neighborhoods on Turkey's border with Syria were evacuated. I thought this news article was interesting because it quotes a speech by Turkey's president in which he addresses his viewpoint on the PKK. The organization has been banned in Turkey and is considered a terrorist organization. He says that ISIS/ISIL and the PKK are equivalent groups, and that the PKK is using the current conflict with ISIS to manipulate public opinion.

The news today says that ISIS has all but taken a Syrian Kurdish border city with Turkey, called Kobane. Not surprised that Erdogan would conflate the two groups, while the US is trying to activate Kurdish militants to resist ISIS. I was chatting with another student in my office today and we were wondering if the duty and suffering that have devolved onto the Kurds in this crisis might reinvigorate their push for a nation-state of their own.

This is such a controversial topic. I saw a reference to it recently (was it possibly something that was brought up in the Bill Maher/Ben Affleck dust-up?) that pointed out that the practice is almost unheard of outside of central and northeastern Africa, with a few small pockets in Iraq and the Gulf.

I'm looking forward to reading this article. What do you think about the convenience of ignoring rights abuses? Which positions on globalization would take that approach, and which do you think would reject it?

This artifact is a reading of Ahmed Fouad Negm's poem, "Who Are They and Who Are We?" This poem was written in light of the Egyptian revolution and is used to compare and contrast the lives of the ruling class with the working class citizens in order to inspire a sense of hope that the working class can over throw the ruling class.

I'm proud to say I got to spend an evening with Negm and a group of mutual friends in Cairo before he passed away. He told legendary jokes in spontaneous verse.

In this article Andy Young discusses the multiple ways poetry has shaped and formed itself in Egypt because of revolutions. Young brings up multiple poems that became the voice of the people in the 1952 revolutions and again in the 2011 revolutions.