We, the undersigned former Iranian political prisoners, activists, writers, artists, intellectuals, academic scholars, researchers, and members of civil society within Iran and in exile, stand
Tag: SWANA (en)
Southwest Asia and North Africa
On 20 August 2026 the Guardian published an open letter to political prisoners in Iran under the title “To Iran’s political prisoners, trapped ‘between two
The international left keeps asking Iranians which force is permitted to hurt them first. A solidarity that requires that answer is worth very little. I
This is a recording of a New Jewish Narrative webinar from August 26, 2026, the first part in our Israeli Election Webinar Series. Most of
Read on Mina’s Substack Mina Khanlarzadeh (Ph.D., Columbia University; B.Sc., Physics, Sharif University of Technology) is a historian whose interdisciplinary work engages global political thought,
In a typical course of action, Vijay Prashad has hit out at a letter by a number of prominent left intellectuals in The Guardian criticizing
From New Lines Magazine The former Iranian president’s relationship with Mohammad Ali Ramin sheds light on his personality and transformations, and the path that may
On June 24, 2025, the day after Israel bombed Evin Prison, the Iranian labor activist and former political prisoner Keyvan Mohtadi wrote about the people
The ‘Lines on a Map’ podcast focuses on current developments in the Middle East and every week speaks to a journalist writing for The Amargi.
The appointment of veteran IRGC commanders to senior military and security posts has fueled speculation about a broader reconfiguration of power amid an unfinished war.
From New Lines Magazine From the oil terminals of Yanbu to the luxury resorts rising along the Red Sea, a firsthand look at how the
When thousands of young Moroccans stormed Ceuta last week, it was not an invasion, but the latest in a five-year pattern of coercive migration diplomacy
The ‘Lines on a Map’ podcast focuses on current developments in the Middle East and every week speaks to a journalist writing for The Amargi.
1. The Struggle Over the Meaning of Anti-Imperialism War not only tears apart bodies, territories, homes, and the conditions of collective life; it also fragments
Behind Tunisia’s panicked headlines about falling birth rates is the darker demand that reproduction itself be policed in the name of racial purity. Over the
Read on Mina’s Substack Mina Khanlarzadeh (Ph.D., Columbia University; B.Sc., Physics, Sharif University of Technology) is a historian whose interdisciplinary work engages global political thought,
From New Lines Magazine In late February 2022, a fistfight broke out in Kibbutz Lotan, a small eco-community in southern Israel. Dima, an immigrant from
From The Debrief with Debra Shushan An official date of October 27 has been set for Israel’s crucial parliamentary election. While the current governing coalition
Read on Mina’s Substack Mina Khanlarzadeh (Ph.D., Columbia University; B.Sc., Physics, Sharif University of Technology) is a historian whose interdisciplinary work engages global political thought,
The war in Iran has reshaped the political landscape that emerged from the 2022 uprising: it has strengthened the Islamic Republic, given new momentum to
The memorandum of understanding signed between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States is a complex event with multiple dimensions. A close reading
On Sunday, June 14, 2026, pensioners from Shush, Karkheh and Haft-Tappeh, towns in Iran’s southwestern Khuzestan province, again gathered outside the local Social Security office,
Read on Mina’s Substack Mina Khanlarzadeh (Ph.D., Columbia University; B.Sc., Physics, Sharif University of Technology) is a historian whose interdisciplinary work engages global political thought,
A recognizable habit has metastasized across some segments of Western academic discourse and most of the terminally online Marxist-Leninist political culture: rather than examining conflicts
Greetings to all the workers and toilers throughout Iran. A few days ago, we received news that was both happy and sad. We learned that
From Equator Generations of organisers and dissidents have kept the Iranian struggle alive A few hours after I was born, my mother and I were
Freedom of Choice The oppression of women in Iran remains one of the clearest expressions of the theocratic order established in 1979. The nationwide “Woman,
In the months during which Iran’s economy has been worn down by inflation, job insecurity, and the consequences of war and regional conflict, working-class women
For generations, Jewish-Israeli children have been brought up in an education system where Palestinians rarely appear as Palestinians. Instead, they are “Arabs”, “enemies”, and a
00:00:00 Webinar series intro 00:03:59 Speaker introduction 00:06:55 Recap of the main points of Dahlia Scheindlin’s article (“Everybody Loses…”) 00:14:27 Propositions on the background of
Excerpt from an article published in Haaretz on 15 May 2026 The vast majority of responses to Nicholas Kristof’s column about sexual abuse of Palestinian
Few peoples in the Middle East have been portrayed as a threat as often as the Kurds. For some, they are separatists. For others, terrorists,
Toward the Divine State From the beginning, anarchists suspected that Iran’s revolution might end not in freedom, but in clerical rule. Today, with the benefit
A recent letter published in Counterpunch, signed by individuals ranging from Ajamu Baraka to Vijay Prashad, proves a remarkable episode in authoritarian apologia from the
From Tempest Somayeh Rostampour argues that opponents of U.S.and Israeli aggression in Iran must move beyond campism—or we will not succeed in rebuilding a genuinely emancipatory
As women’s presence in state-sponsored nighttime rallies in Iran has increased during the war and even after the ceasefire, this presence has become not only
In the past week, the Islamic Republic executed at least 11 prisoners whose cases had been reported by human rights organizations and state media: Peyman
From +972 Magazine A garbage truck’s tailgate opens slowly. Inside, around 70 Palestinian men are packed tightly together, their eyes struggling to adjust to the
Walaa Alqaisiyas paper in Middle East Critique, “Moving Beyond Imperialist Frameworks: The False Equivalence Between Palestine and Xinjiang”, proves a masterclass in a failure of
Eight weeks into Trump’s war with Iran, the origins of the Islamic Republic are worth revisiting. The regime now confronting Washington was born in the
Kurdistan is often reduced to a militarized myth, erasing society, class, and everyday life. This essay argues for restoring social reality at the center, showing
A Response to CounterPunch’s Declaration “Six Non-Negotiable Terms from International Scholars…to End the U.S. War on Iran,” and to the Political Framework That Made It
The Middle East will not be stabilized by threading one crisis at a time. It will only be stabilized by a framework comprehensive enough to
The near-exclusive focus of international opinion and the media on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict conceals a far broader and more systemic reality: a forest of internal
Read on Mina’s Substack Mina Khanlarzadeh (Ph.D., Columbia University; B.Sc., Physics, Sharif University of Technology) is a historian whose interdisciplinary work engages global political thought,
One of the laziest clichés about Iran is the idea that a single, unified “people” are standing against a single, unified “regime.” This formula works
Read on Mina’s Substack Mina Khanlarzadeh (Ph.D., Columbia University; B.Sc., Physics, Sharif University of Technology) is a historian whose interdisciplinary work engages global political thought,
On Wednesday, 11th March, 2026, along with 135 other nations, India co-sponsored a resolution of the United Nations Security Council which condemned Iran for attacking
The progressive foreign response has often privileged geopolitics and anti-American imperialism at the cost of the struggle for democracy in Iran. The 13th century Persian
In the following analysis, Somayeh Rostampour shows how the repression that the Iranian government has carried out to crush protests, the monarchist attempt to co-opt
From New Lines Magazine Iran helped the Assad regime crush unarmed protests with staggering violence starting 2011. Now, it has turned those same tactics on
I. What has happened since the United States and Israel launched the latest war on Iran? The United States and Israel started a new round
The US attacked Kharg, but it did not hit Iran’s oil export terminal there. That apparent contradiction may explain the nature of this war better
Iran forces a question many Western-left debates avoid: are political rights truly universal? When repression abroad is endlessly contextualized rather than opposed, solidarity dissolves into
After violating the ‘ceasefire’ 10,000 times, Israel is once again pounding Lebanon as its enduring thirst for war drives ever expanding ambitions. I woke up
From Equator Watching Turkish TV this past week has been a strange experience. Since 28 February, pro- and anti-Erdoğan channels have largely suspended their political
A Left politics that instructs the Iranian feminist to defer her liberation to the requirements of the anti-Western imperial struggle is not offering her solidarity.
From Equator Before the bombs fell, I had started an archive of debates taking place inside Iran in the aftermath of the January protests and
With the escalation of confrontation between Israel, the United States, and Iran, Iraq has entered an extremely tense phase at all security, political, and economic
From Boston Review Alex Shams: You have written extensively on sociopolitical transformations in the Middle East in recent decades, including the Arab Spring revolutions that
Let’s be blunt. Kidnapping, arresting, or killing a political figure of one country by another state is defined as illegal in international law, not because
The killing of Ali Khamenei, alongside a number of senior figures from the IRGC and the ruling apparatus, is an exceptional development in Iran’s current
The company in question still operates in Estonia and Jordan The internet shutdown during Iran’s protests of December 2025 into January 2026, the longest in
February 21, 2026, saw Iranian universities once again turn into arenas of protest, chanting, and confrontation. The first day of in-person classes after weeks of
Deconstructing the Myth of the Man Who Cannot Be Raped We were wrong when we confined the discourse of victimhood to women and children, and
Read on Mina’s Substack Mina Khanlarzadeh (Ph.D., Columbia University; B.Sc., Physics, Sharif University of Technology) is a historian whose interdisciplinary work engages global political thought,
From +972 Magazine Saudi accusations that Abu Dhabi acts as Israel’s proxy have ignited a media firestorm. But similar anti-Israel sentiments circulate within the UAE
In the following interview, Palestine solidarity activists from the Chinese diaspora speak with Iranian activists in exile about the uprising that took place in Iran
Sudan’s war is far from a binary struggle; it is a conflict where a web of local, regional, and global interests and tensions has converged
The Marxist historian Mohammed Harbi spent a lifetime dismantling the myths of Algeria’s national movement and warning that anticolonial victories could harden into bureaucratic rule.
In the summer of 2019, a new polemic emerged around the seemingly inexhaustible topic of Islam in France. During a meeting of the summer school
From New Lines Magazine In 2018, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman described the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood and jihadist organizations (such
How do we move from mobilization to actually winning this fight for our future? In the season finale, Sally and Jess reflect on the moment
The agreement between the Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) on January 30 brings about the integration of the SDF and the
This essay is not about Iran; it is about the method through which Iran is explained. It examines a mode of thinking that recognizes repression,
From OffBeat Research Much of the world’s attention on the Middle East has been focused on the man-made famine in Gaza, the collapse of the
A New Age of Protest in Iran. Interview with Chowra Makaremi and Amir Ahmadi Arian – 28 January 2026
The protests that began in Iran last month have been suppressed with a level of state violence not seen since the 1980s, when the Islamic
Read on Mina’s Substack Mina Khanlarzadeh (Ph.D., Columbia University; B.Sc., Physics, Sharif University of Technology) is a historian whose interdisciplinary work engages global political thought,
In 1970, the French third-worldist magazine Partisans – launched by the famous anticolonialist François Maspero (1932-2015) – released a special edition titled “The Palestinian people
Let us look at the claim of “foreign interference” by Mossad and the CIA in Iran’s protests not through simple denial, but through political and
I have been reading left analyses of Iran recently and there is this pattern that keeps appearing in many. Religion disappears. The theocratic structure of
With the protests that have broken out in Iran, one has seen all-too-typical reactions from those often referred to as tankies or campists. With the
After troops of Syria’s transitional government had captured the Kurdish neighborhoods of Aleppo, events in northeastern Syria escalated rapidly. On Saturday, the leadership of the
From +972 Magazine From Jerusalem to Haifa, bus drivers and ticket inspectors are facing an unprecedented surge in attacks — be it from ultra-Orthodox youth
Since 28 December 2025, millions of Iranians have been fighting the Islamic dictatorship across the country. Protest actions have unfolded in hundreds of locations, spanning
From +972 Magazine By projecting power into the Horn of Africa, Israel aims to increase pressure on rivals, undermine regional stability, and narrow the space
The unrest is growing and now includes a Kurdish general strike and participation by the Baluch and Azeri ethnic minorities The latest wave of protests
From New Lines Magazine Long forced to suppress its culture and history, the minority group is embracing its traumatic past while maintaining its allegiance to
From +972 Magazine Over 150,000 citizens have left the country in the past two years alone — many of them with a one-way ticket and
Host Adam Lucente interviews a number of Al-Monitor journalists on the US removal of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, as they dive into how the action
Interview by Gabriel Fonten with members of Anarchist Front, a collective spreading information about events in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan The uprising in Iran has been ongoing for
A laboratory for a Left of resistance and solidarity against status-quo pacifism. The collective Sinistra per l’Ucraina (“Left for Ukraine”) was formed in Italy in
Welcome to our Israel/Palestine Podcast – a project by graduating high school students from Berlin-Neukölln. Home to Germany’s largest Palestinian diaspora and a second home to
From +972 Magazine The Jewish-Arab movement is celebrating its 10th anniversary after a period of rapid expansion. But as it grows, so do questions about
At the UN’s annual Western Sahara debate, everyone gets heard except the Sahrawis themselves. From Africa is a Country Every year in October, sweater weather
What does it mean to be a Palestinian citizen of Israel in 2025? As Israel gears up for elections in the coming year, Sally and
Investigative journalist Yuval Abraham takes us inside his reporting on the systems driving Israel’s mass killing in Gaza over the past two years. He discusses
From Literatur.Review The 14th of November this year marked the 50th anniversary of the illegal Madrid Accords, by which Spain transferred administrative control of its
A little over a month into the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the humanitarian response is in a state of chaotic flux amid intense international