Don’t miss our latest issue: Return to Revolution
Return to Revolution
The 2019 uprisings in Sudan, Algeria, Lebanon and Iraq, in addition to resurgent protests in Morocco and Jordan—all countries that did not experience revolutionary uprisings in 2011—extend the previous wave of revolt to the rest of the region. Protestors are no longer content with merely toppling their unelected dictators as we saw in 2011: They are demanding a fundamental change of the entire political and economic system. In Iraq and Lebanon they are also rejecting the entire political class and their use of sectarianism to maintain their wealth and rule, chanting “All of them means all of them!” MERIP devotes this double issue Return to Revolution to assessing the nature of the challenges confronting this new wave of uprisings through the interrelated themes of continuity, entanglement and counterrevolution.CURRENT ANALYSIS
The Making of a “Resistance Parliament” in Iran and the Challenges Ahead
Iran’s parliamentary elections in February handed the conservative supporters of the Supreme Leader a major victory. Abedini and Armin explain how and lay out why the regime is poorly positioned to deal with popular discontent, crushing US sanctions and the spreading coronavirus.
UCSC International Students Increasingly Vulnerable Amid Wildcat Strike
UCSC graduate student workers are striking for a cost of living adjustment (COLA) to their salaries. International students are particularly vulnerable both to the high cost of housing and to punitive measures by the university.
Iraqi Protesters Thwarted by Trump’s Iran Policy
The recent US assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Soleimani has had dire consequences for the Iraqi protest movement and its calls for substantive changes in the Iraqi political system.
Middle East Report
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FEATURED PRIMER
One of MERIP’s signature issues over the years has been the question of Palestine and the Arab-Israeli conflict—partly because of its intrinsic interest but largely because so much myth and cant clouds the mainstream media coverage of this subject that independent analysis is particularly necessary. This primer by Joel Beinin and Lisa Hajjar is a good place to start in understanding what is at stake as events unfold.
(Photo of Israeli separation barrier by Alfonso Moral.)
REVIEWS & RECOMMENDED
Speculating on Climate Change in the UAE
Why did Abu Dhabi build an ambitious eco-utopian planned city called Masdar City and what does it all mean?
FROM THE ARCHIVES
Background to Ongoing Protests in Sudan
Anti-government protests have rocked Sudan since the beginning of 2019, with police crackdowns leaving dozens of dead and many wounded. Large crowds have taken to the streets across the country to denounce a government decision in December to triple the price of bread and to demand the end of President Omar al-Bashir’s regime.The following articles and interviews offer accounts of earlier protests and regime repression as well as an overview of US policy toward Sudan leading up to the secession of South Sudan in 2011.
(Photo of protesters in Khartoum, April 8, 2019 by Lana Haroun.)
