Balam his donkey curses and blessings
Explore Balam his donkey curses and blessings: a curated reading list on political science, history, and biography. Featuring Denis MacShane's *Globalising Hatred* and Nonie Darwish's *Now They Call Me Infidel*, this collection delves into themes of conflict, ideology, and historical narratives.
Book
Now They Call Me Infidel
by Nonie Darwish
A Cairo-raised daughter of an Egyptian military officer describes how she was raised to hate Americans and Jewish people and submit to dictatorship, her decision to relocate to America, and her efforts to promote peace and tolerance at the risk of her own safety.
Book
Globalising Hatred
by Denis MacShane
This book argues that what the 21st century now faces is an ideological assault based on hatred of Jews which is as serious as any major threat to universal values as the world has faced. Anti-semitism is the visible language and action of a deeper threat to world peace, to the achievements of the human spirit we call the Enlightenment, and undermines vital work to address problems like poverty and the challenges of the environment. Denis MacShane's survey of 21st century anti-semitism is based on the All-Party Commission of Enquiry which was chaired by the author in the UK. His book considers examples in Europe and how anti-semitism is now a linking mechanism between different extremisms, usually but not exclusively of the Right. It lists in detail the anti-semitism in national party politics, including the European Parliament, and it examines how Holocaust denial is not a question of liberal free-expression issues but an organised ideological position. The new anti-semitism arises from three main sources: state-sanctioned anti-semitism; that of terrorist movements like Al Qaeda; and that of political movements like the Muslim Brotherhood and its off-shoots and spokesmen. The book is both a cri de coeur for a new tolerance and a resolution to throw light on 21st century anti-semitism, which has left Europe to become a new form of mobilising politics across many continents.
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The Dream Palace of the Arabs
by Fouad Ajami
From Fouad Ajami, an acclaimed author and chronicler of Arab politics, comes a compelling account of how a generation of Arab intellectuals tried to introduce cultural renewals in their homelands through the forces of modernity and secularism. Ultimately, they came to face disappointment, exile, and, on occasion, death. Brilliantly weaving together the strands of a tumultuous century in Arab political thought, history, and poetry, Ajami takes us from the ruins of Beirut's once glittering metropolis to the land of Egypt, where struggle rages between a modernist impulse and an Islamist insurgency, from Nasser's pan-Arab nationalist ambitions to the emergence of an uneasy Pax Americana in Arab lands, from the triumphalism of the Gulf War to the continuing anguished debate over the Israeli-Palestinian peace accords. For anyone who seeks to understand the Middle East, here is an insider's unflinching analysis of the collision between intellectual life and political realities in the Arab world today.
