Editors’ Picks—Reading and Watching the Prison in North Africa and the Middle East
The editors of MER issue 312, “Carceral Realities and Freedom Dreams,” assembled a list of literary works and films (available in English) that take up the prison across space and time. These works capture the themes of the issue: carceralism—that is, forms of...The Genocide Will Be Automated—Israel, AI and the Future of War
“We are here on the Gaza border,” said Shalev Hulio, posing with a gun slung over his shoulder. It was November 7, 2023, and he was recording a video to announce the launch of his new cybertechnology start-up, Dream Security. In 2022, Hulio had stepped...Cairo’s Incarcerated Geographies
In 2015, the Egyptian government announced a series of urban development plans, a schema that included having a city free of slums. As part of this plan, the state implemented a policy to relocate residents of so-called unsafe areas to new neighborhoods and redevelop...Europe’s Prison Guard—How the EU Is Integrating Tunisia into Its Violent Anti-Migrant Cordon
The carceral logic behind EU migration policies in North Africa.
Cell Phones Behind Bars in Lebanon
Exploring a new era of prison communication.
Morocco’s Kingdom of Police
The growing reach of Morocco’s carceral system.
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.
Issue 312 (Fall 2024) Masthead
Middle East Report, “Carceral Realities & Freedom Dreams,” Fall 2024, No. 312, Vol. 53 No. 3 Executive Director James Ryan jamesryan@merip.org Executive Editor Katie Natanel katienatanel@merip.org Managing Editor Marya Hannun maryahannun@merip.org...A Note on the Cover Image
The cover art for MER issue 312, “Carceral Realities and Freedom Dreams,” is titled “Suspended Souls,” by Egyptian artist Yassin Mohamed. It depicts a scene from the third and fourth floors of Ward B in Egypt’s maximum security Tora prison in 2017, where the artist...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.
