Nuanced reading is possible without having to label every enjoyable work decolonial, argues Arzu. Fatima Manji’s Hidden Heritage: Rediscovering Britain’s relationship with the Orient (2021) is exquisitely written. It is beautifully vivid in its descriptions not just of the objets d’art, historical artefacts and buildings she finds on her travels around British
As talk of the UK government’s desire to ‘define’ extremism resurfaces, Arzu looks at how this may or may not impact the coming year. I have decided to review certain of my older articles and comments for the coming year. How much of what I thought or found still holds? Have there
Notes from 2023: I had the great privilege of interviewing Houria Bouteldja once more, this time abut her book, Whites, Jews and Us: Towards a Politics of Revolutionary Love in March 2018. The interview took place for IHRC, who stock the title in their fundraising bookshop here. I really, really love this
If we really want to get beyond the ‘War on Terror’, argues Arzu Merali, we need to stop thinking and acting within its narratives.* The history books need to be rewritten. In the meantime, a combination of the internet, knowledge production outside of Westernised settings, social movement networks and memory (false and
Arzu interviewed signer, songwriter, activist and filmmaker Pravini about her film The Uprising. The Uprising tells the story of resistance against racism in Europe and includes commentary and experiences from academics and activists. The Dutch-Indian singer/songwriter Pravini Baboeram offers a decolonial perspective on the anti-racism movement in the Netherlands, UK and France. She not
[June 2019] Professor Santiago Slabodsky joins Arzu Merali to discuss this phrase often used in activism. Slabodsky argues that shared histories of co-racialisation mean that the ways of seeing both Muslims and Jews in the modern Western psyche should worry us all. Keywords: Muslims, Jews, Islamophobia, anti-semitism, decoloniality, genocide, Holocaust, genocide prevention
[June 2019] Professor Roberto D. Hernandez discusses the role of the concept of ‘newness’ and ‘modernity’ in eradicating cultures and peoples. Listen to the Genocide Memorial Day 2019 podcast below. In this discussion on historiography and the 1968 revolution, Professor Hernandez looks to the need to understand modernity alongside coloniality. In this
Professor Ramón Grosfoguel is a widely respected decolonial scholar. He joins Arzu Merali to analyse the four key genocides of modernity and how they impact us today*. Keywords: Genocide, ecocide, epistemicide, racism, gendercide, Islamophobia, colonialism, decoloniality, Holocaust, Nakba. Listen to the third podcast of 2019. These podcasts are produced for the Genocide
Sandew Hira is a writer, researcher, publisher and decolonial thinker and scholar. His seminal works on reparations inform this crucial discussion on how exactly reparations – in particular monetary reparations for enslavement can be calculated, and why they are so important. He joins Arzu Merali about his work and activism, with a
Arzu Merali is interviewed by SISUMMA. Keywords: Deocoloniality, Islamophobia, counter-narratives, Palestine, media, social media, demonisation Arzu Merali, activist and co-founder of the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) based in the UK came to Granada to participate in the International Conference ISLAMOPHOBIA: ROOTS, DISCOURSES AND COUNTER-NARRATIVES FROM A DECOLONIAL PERSPECTIVE that