Dystopian Defenses Reflect Europe’s Hypocrisy on Human Rights

in ,

This article originally appeared in Fanack.

Around two thousand Africans attempting to enter Spain in late June were deterred through brutal violence by Moroccan border guards. Official reports say at least 23 of the Africans were killed, though rights groups claim the figure is higher. Videos that circulated from the aftermath purported to show Moroccan security forces standing over bloodied and beaten young African men or throwing rocks at others trying to climb over a security fence.

Demands from the UN secretary general and human rights groups have led Moroccan and Spanish authorities to launch an investigation. Meanwhile, demonstrations were held in cities across Morocco and Spain by citizens shocked at the brutal tactics used at borders. Crossings inside the European zone are becoming more permeable. However, Fortress Europe’s exterior border is making movement for the world’s poorest people more difficult and perilous than ever.

Human rights organizations have asked Morocco, Spain and other EU states to implement safe pathways for regular migration, reduce human rights violations, and to respect human rights at borders. Instead, Europe has shrunk resettlement quotas and outsourced the crackdown on migrants to authoritarian states with horrendous human rights records like Morocco, Turkey and Libya who on occasion will use these people seeking dignity as leverage to enhance their own rule.

Read More

Book Review: Football in the Middle East: State, Society, and the Beautiful Game

in ,

This book review originally appeared in the Markaz Review.

It was in 2010 that the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) announced that Qatar would host the 2022 World Cup. Almost immediately, the selection of the gas-rich Gulf Arab state with a population of just over one million people ignited controversy. It led to a shakeup within FIFA itself that blighted the reputation of its president, Sepp Blatter, and ultimately led to the end of his tenure. Yet the controversy has continued. With the World Cup having just kicked off, there seems to be less attention paid to the teams and players as there is to the hosts.

Football in the Middle East is published by Hurst.

When discussing Qatar as a host for the World Cup, it can be difficult to know where to stand. There’s been a barrage of both good faith and bad faith criticism. Good faith arguments tend to center migrant workers and violations of their rights. Bad faith criticisms might include Orientalist or racist undertones. Sometimes, there are good faith criticisms of the bad faith criticisms. Yet often the bad faith criticisms are highlighted to dismiss any, and all, criticism.

Read More

LEBANON’S ROCKY ROAD TO ACCOUNTABILITY

This article originally appeared in Inkstick.

Will the Lebanese people get justice for the August 2020 blast after the upcoming elections?

In downtown Beirut, empty buildings are plastered with depictions of over 200 faces. These are the faces of the lives lost on Aug. 4, 2020, when a neglected stockpile of ammonium nitrate stored at Beirut’s port ripped through metal and flesh, taking over 200 lives, leaving over 6000 people wounded and more than 300,000 people without homes. The blast would have been even worse were it not for the massive grain silos towering over the blast point. More than a year and a half after the blast, the Lebanese political class’ interference has ensured no officials have been convicted.

Lebanon has been plagued by a series of problems since the start of its economic crisis in August 2019. Since then, the local currency, once pegged to the dollar, has lost 90% of its value. Lebanon once boasted a healthy middle class but now 75% of its population has slipped into poverty. Electricity cuts have been a constant since the civil war but have increased in frequency and length. A revolution that aimed to overthrow the political class kicked off in October 2019 but was largely derailed by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Then the blast came.

Read More

THE POWER OF LEBANON’S ASSASSINS

in

This piece originally appeared on Inkstick.

Political assassinations and a lack of justice are part of Lebanon’s post-civil war legacy.

On Oct. 13, 1990, Lebanon’s civil war officially ended. The leaders of the various fighting factions had reached something of a stalemate as Syria’s army occupied much of the country, so in 1989 the surviving members of Lebanon’s last parliament — elected in 1972 — adopted the Ta’if agreement, where the power balance would be redrawn between religious sects. Five months after the war’s official end date, all stakeholders agreed on amnesty, which decided that none of the war’s various forms of violence, including murders and massacres, would be prosecuted at any point in the future. That decision has shaped the post-war period, paving the way for morally corrupt warlords to become a class of kleptocrats that occupy official government posts. More significantly, this new political system meant that pursuing justice was inconceivable and potentially lethal.

Since the war ended, the country has seen dozens of journalists, thinkers, politicians, and security agents assassinated. After each one, Lebanon’s political class has united in maintaining an impunity climate. Sometimes, it’s widely known who is behind the murders. According to them, the pursuit of justice for political assassinations would unravel the fragile status quo and plunge the country into civil war. That nihilist logic has accelerated Lebanon’s demise by discouraging and blocking efforts to hold perpetrators accountable.

Read More

Analysis: Why the Beirut Port Deal with CMA CGM Is Business as Usual

in

This story originally appeared on TIMEP’s website.

In February 2022, the French-Lebanese company CMA CGM was awarded a 10-year contract to manage, operate, and maintain Beirut port’s container terminal in a deal the shipping giant says will see $33 million invested into the port. CMA CGM is the world’s third largest container-shipping firm and also controls the container terminal in Tripoli—Lebanon’s second largest city—and has a presence in Syria’s port city Latakia. While the company’s profile may make it the natural choice to operate the container terminal in the Beirut port, the bidding process’ lack of transparency raises concerns that the Lebanese government and political establishment have failed to learn any lessons from the conditions that led to the August 2020 disaster.

Familiarity with Lebanon’s shipping sector

CMA CGM was already familiar with Lebanon’s shipping sector. Before the August 4, 2020 blast, the company handled 29 percent of the total traffic at Beirut’s port and 83 percent at Tripoli’s. The container port did not sustain as much damage as the rest of the port, meaning it is largely still operable. However, little information has been made public on the bidding process that saw CMA CGM winning the 10-year contract at the Beirut port.

“There was no transparency at all whatsoever,” said Fady Abboud, a former minister of tourism from 2009-14 as part of now President Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement bloc. Abboud spoke to TIMEP from his office outside Beirut. “They probably would have won [the contract], but it has to be very transparent with open data. Maybe [CMA CGM] is the best choice but not in this way.”

Read More