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...Kurdish Decolonial Ecologies
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...Issue 311 (Summer 2024) Masthead
Middle East Report, “Post-Fossil Politics,” Summer 2024, No. 311, Vol. 53 No. 2 Executive Director James Ryan jamesryan@merip.org Executive Editor Katie Natanel katienatanel@merip.org Managing Editor Marya Hannun maryahannun@merip.org Photo Editor...A Note on the Cover Image
The cover image for MER issue 311, “Post-Fossil Politics,” is an inkjet on canvas print entitled “After Oil (Das Island/Das Crude).” The image is part of the “After Oil” series, first exhibited in 2016, by DESIGN EARTH: a research project founded by...Recommended Reading—Atar
The contributors for MER Issue 310 have relied on their own experiences in Sudan, their personal networks and a few important news sources to inform their grounded analyses. One of these sources that drew the editors’ attention is Atar: a Sudanese publication...‘The Scent of Human Barbecue!’—A Poem by Al-Saddiq Al-Raddi
Born and raised in Omdurman Khartoum, Al Saddiq Al-Raddi is one of the leading African poets writing in Arabic today. Al-Raddi served as the cultural editor of Al-Sudani newspaper from 2006 until 2012, when he was stripped of his position during an uprising against...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...Leveraging Humanitarian Aid in Wartime Sudan
The war has imposed gut-wrenching choices on the Sudanese people. Since the fighting broke out, millions have fled the capital city to different states within Sudan. Over 1.5 million have escaped the country altogether. Their patterns of movement reflect...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.
