The use of anti-Semitism as the main narrative for “Toulouse” led to an internationalising step in the depiction of these events, as commentators increasingly linked the attacks to the Israel/Palestine conflict. Comments then focused on the alleged responsibility of “Israel” or “Muslims” in Merah’
Iran and the 5 +1 group (the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany) began talks on 15 April in Istanbul with a plenary session of all parties. The White House has welcomed Iran-5+1 group talks as a ‘positive first step’.
One breach of the law cancels out another.
Debates on the Iranian nuclear programme tend to adopt a Manichean view depicting it as a major security threat. If we want to properly address the issue of nuclear proliferation, it is time to switch to a different framework for negotiations.
Derry/Londonderry is the UK City of Culture in 2013. In a place where names can be rigid markers of enmity, what tools can we use to dismantle the unseeing ways ‘the enemy’ is passed between generations?
Ayatollah Khamenei's recent declarations concerning the future of the Iranian nuclear dispute may sound belligerent, but they indeed reveal levers to be used for diplomacy. Acknowledging Iran’s role as a regional leader is a first step.
Current tensions between Iran and the US /Israel alliance may lead to military intervention from either side. The outcome of such initiative is very uncertain as both sides are caught up in security dilemmas.
Populist movements can bear a strong, but misleading, resemblance to more respectable cousins: movements for democratic accountability. It has now become fashionable even to argue that ‘some populism is good’ - because populism is seen as ‘speaking truth to power’. It’s important therefore for dem
Anders Behring Breivik’s attacks are part of a worrying trend in Europe of the far right’s rise within mainstream politics. From the Netherlands and Germany to Britain and France, immigrant communities are on the defensive.
In ganging up on housing estates, in racist attacks or inter-state brinkmanship, how does the enemy become the Other? This peculiar purification process requires a narrative and a chance to 'perform a boundary'. For local and national communities, leaders and politicians alike, it is one way to re
There were some good reasons to suspect the French extreme right of theToulouse killings. In this first article, Nicolas Lebourg shows how, once the identity of the killer was known, Marine Le Pen could switch her discourse to Islamophobia, a terrain on which she feels most comfortable.
Why do some Muslims join radical groups? Theories abound but their analytic capacity remains low as they tend to focus on only a single aspect of this complex issue. Something they miss is why new recruits consider joining these groups a positive thing: they find good friends there.
