Cell Phones Behind Bars in Lebanon
Exploring a new era of prison communication.
Israel Is Waging War on Palestinian Prisoners
Behind the systematic torture and sexual violence in Israeli prisons.
Resisting Carceralism and Fighting for Freedom—A Roundtable
Four activists reflect on building a global anti-carceral movement.
Speculative Climate Futures in Arab Literature
There is a fixity to the boundaries of genre fiction in English, enforced within publishing as within scholarship, that is largely absent in Arabic. While Anglophone publishing is intensely concerned with comparative titles and where a novel fits into the landscape,...Energy Politics and Africanfuturism—A Conversation with Nnedi Okorafor
Nnedi Okorafor is an award-winning writer of science fiction and fantasy for adults and youth. Her latest work is Akata Woman (Penguin, 2023), an Africanfuturist novel that follows her previous work, Noor (Penguin, 2022). Noor features the protagonist AO, whose...Decolonial Ecologies and ‘Low-intensity War’ in Kurdistan
On my return to Diyarbakır in the Kurdish region of Turkey, also known as Amed (Northern Kurdistan) in the winter of 2024, I found a post-siege city, in which the conversion of the old Christian district of Sur into an open-air shopping mall was partially complete....Routes to Disruption—Supply Chain Sabotage and Israel’s War on Gaza
Since October 7, at least three shipments of military-grade jet fuel (JP-8) have reached Israel from the United States, powering the fighter jets and Apache helicopters that have, for more than nine months now, continued to decimate Gaza. Each shipment carried 30,000...Extractive Agribusinesses—Guaranteeing Food Security in the Gulf
The 2022 Food and Agriculture Organization report on food security and nutrition in the Arab region makes for bleak reading. Between 2014 and 2021, the total number of Arabs suffering from moderate to severe food insecurity increased from 120 million to 154...Off the Grid—Why Solar Won’t Solve Lebanon’s Electricity Crisis
Incorporating renewables into the country’s beleaguered energy sector.
Fossil Fueled Comfort—The History and Cost of Air Conditioning in Bahrain
How AC has reshaped the urban landscape and labor politics of the Gulf.
Desert Solar—A Spectacular Fiction, Not a Spectacular Future
On the visual power, and pitfalls, of solar mega projects.
Laundering Carbon—The Gulf’s ‘New Scramble for Africa’
Carbon offsets are changing the relationship between the Middle East and the African continent.
The Uneven Politics of Decarbonization in the Middle East and North Africa
According to Europe’s largest generator of renewable energy, Norway’s state-owned Statkraft, “A lesser known positive aspect of the green energy shift is that more renewable energy leads to more peace and democracy!” It is tempting to formulate such grandiose...Speculative Climate Futures in Arab Literature
From beautiful dystopias to experimental graphic novels, how authors in the region are tackling climate change.
An Interview with William Carter, Sudan Country Director for the Norwegian Refugee Council
The war in Sudan that began in April 2023 has led to a reckoning among humanitarian aid organizations. As international organizations have struggled to alleviate the diverse, complex crises facing people across the country, locally led initiatives and mutual aid...Dispatch from Nyala, Sudan’s Second City
The battle for Nyala—Sudan’s second largest city and the capital of South Darfur state—was a turning point in the current war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). When the SAF’s garrison in Nyala fell to the RSF on October 26,...Land, Livestock and Darfur’s ‘Culture Wars’
How austerity politics and the changing environment have fueled war in Sudan.
Beirut and the Birth of the Fortress Embassy
A deep dive into the local, regional and global politics behind the sprawling new US embassy complex in Beirut.
Land, Livestock and Darfur’s ‘Culture Wars’
How austerity politics and the changing environment have fueled war in Sudan.
