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
Tag: SWANA
Southwest Asia and North Africa
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
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
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
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,
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
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
In an earlier essay, I argued that the Islamic Republic governs through the geopolitical alibi: the habit of recasting domestic repression as a foreign-made crisis,
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
As American and Israeli bombs fall on Iran, a question long central to Iranian political life returns with new urgency: How did we reach this
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
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
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
Despite the Islamic Republic’s transformations since 1979, one governing reflex has remained: it rules through the language of external crisis—war and later supplemented by the
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
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
Recent discussions explain the visibility of pro-monarchy slogans through external forces such as Israel’s misinformation campaigns, satellite television, and foreign-funded media. By locating the explanation
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
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 From Jerusalem to Haifa, bus drivers and ticket inspectors are facing an unprecedented surge in attacks — be it from ultra-Orthodox youth
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
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
In this episode, Sally and Jess sit down with Standing Together co-directors Rula Daood and Alon-Lee Green. They dive into how it felt to see
For over two years, the world has watched Israel carry out daily atrocities in Gaza and wondered: how did Israeli society allow this to happen?
How do “stupidity” and “vulgarity” turn into political action? This isn’t abstract. I still remember a moment in 2004, during a friendly football match between
From Al-Jumhuriya Syrian social media was abuzz in June when Ahmad al-Sharaa, the country’s transitional president, chaired an Eid al-Adha event for prominent Syrian women.
From +972 Magazine By attaching a military goal to each act of killing, Israelis of all stripes could partake in the slaughter without questioning the
Everyone everywhere is talking about what they want the future in Israel-Palestine to look like, but what do we want it to look like? Sally
From New Lines Magazine The religious-nationalist right has targeted Israel’s most secular, liberal city The sound of male voices chanting the Sabbath liturgy was not
As we reach two years since October 7th and Israel’s assault on Gaza, Sally Abed and Jess Bricker reflect on the power and pitfalls of
From identity and belonging to responsibility and organizing, Sally Abed and Jess Bricker unpack why they’re here and why they’re part of a joint Jewish-Palestinian
Solidarity with Standing Together: A Response to Calls for a Boycott, by UK FoST – 17 September 2025
UK Friends of Standing Together responds to renewed calls from some in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement to boycott and no-platform Standing Together
How the Left Misread Syria The Syrian Revolution began in the context of the Arab Spring. While there were many reasons for protest, people took
About a decade ago, I was invited to a small private gathering of Jewish studies scholars to talk about the future of Zionism. One of
On 6 March, a unit of the Syrian state police conducted a ‘combing operation’ in a village near the coastal city of Jableh. They were
Through the paradigmatic case of post-revolutionary Iran, this article argues critiques of power-laden human rights politics epitomised by Makau Mutua’s 2001 ‘Savages, Victims, and Saviors
An interview with Saladdin Ahmed Bahozde from the forthcoming issue of Historical Expertise. Interviewer: Yurii Latysh. Historical Expertise [HE]: Your book Fascism in the Middle
From +972 Magazine In the aftermath of bombings, the Israeli army routinely fires on Palestinian rescue workers, paramedics, and other civilians to prevent them from
From Atar: Sudan in Perspective The Haftar-Hemedti nexus rests on a shared ideology that scorns centralised state authority in favour of personal loyalty networks and
This interview is based on Mohamed Salhi‘s article Reinventing the Right in Morocco: Right-Wing Populist Discourses and Sentiments in Moroccan Online Spaces. It was conducted
From New Lines Magazine Sweida, in southern Syria, a province once spared the worst of the country’s civil war, has become one of its most
From New Lines Magazine What began as intercommunal clashes in Sweida has mutated into a major security operation and Israeli intervention For months, Sweida in
From Himal Southasian Nearly a million Afghan refugees have been deported from Iran in 2025 – many after brutal detention and abuse – to face
From New Lines Magazine They serve in the army, pay their taxes and obey the laws of the land, but have never been granted equality
From +972 Magazine Abu Dhabi seeks to present itself to the West as a stable alternative to an increasingly rogue Israel, where defense cooperation and
1) When I set out to write this report, even the title gave me pause. „Fleeing“—it wasn’t a word I wanted to use. But it’s
On this page we document some dissident and alternative views on the conflict from social movements in Iran and its region.
From Prospect Often, my first reaction to news coming out of Israel and Palestine is a narcissistic one—making it all about me. When I hear
Reports from the past week on workers’ struggles and other protest movements. Produced and edited by: Hayat Almasi and Evin Rezaei, Workers Communist Party of
This is reposted from Libcom, published there as “Iranian feminists speak out”, and originally published in English by the Anarchist Communist Group. Editorial comments below
We are publishing this translation as part of a series documenting some dissident and alternative views on the conflict from social movements in Iran and
Nearly a year after the eruption of the Woman, Life, Freedom protests across Iran in September 2022, Sedigheh Vasmaghi, a renowned theologian, former politician and