ottoman empire - The Chronikler

Cultural adornments: How clothes fashion identity and mask bigotry

April 28, 2022April 28, 2022 Khaled Diab 0 Comments afghanistan, africa, arab world, beard, Belgium, burkini, clothes, culture, Egypt, europe, fashion, gender, hijab, history, horse, hymen, identity, indonesia, islam, men, middle east, military, misogyny, muhammad, oktoberfest, ottoman, ottoman empire, palestinian nationalism, palestinians, plo, prejudice, salafi, tradition, tunisia, veil, west, women

By Khaled Diab The clothes we wear speak volumes about our individual and collective identities. However, the history of fashion

A recipe for mashing civilisations

By Khaled Diab The migratory history of foodstuffs and cuisines reveals that our dinner tables, like our societies, are both

How not to make Europe great again

By Khaled Diab A new alliance of Italian, Polish and Hungarian far-right parties promises a renaissance that will make Europe

Bernard Lewis and the non-existent clash of civilisations

Bernard Lewis was the orientalist scholar of choice for American neo-conservatives. His dangerous ‘clash of civilisations’ theory was not only wrong but caused enormous damage in the Middle East.

Dreaming of a vanished Syria

“A lot of Syrians are indulging in a nostalgia that requires a lot of denial,” says Syrian-American author Alia Malek. “This is why I’m a student of history, not to live in a fantasy but to learn why and how we are where we are today.”

Millet in the Middle East: Disunity in diversity

The Middle Eastern practice of assigning a faith to every citizen and a separate court system for each religion promotes division and sectarianism.

Beyond the Arab winter

As the Middle East stumbles perilously close to its own “world war”, seeds of change are already sprouting hopes of a better century ahead.

The Middle Eastern century that wasn’t

As the post-Ottoman order crumbles around us, would the Middle East would have been better or worse off had Turkey remained neutral during World War I?

Taxing questions about democracy in the Middle East

In the Middle East, there appears to be a link between autocracy and low taxes. Would higher taxation lead to greater representation or repression?

The empire must not strike back

Nostalgia for empire in the Middle East misses two points: we’re not witnessing the “final end of imperialism” and imperialism did not bring order.

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Khaled Diab

@DiabolicalIdea

A theory is a rational form of abstract thinking. A 'conspiracy theory' is, by its nature, irrational, hence it cannot be a theory. We need a new term for the phenomenon, like 'conspiracy illusion' or 'conspiracy delusion'.

17:12 · January 29, 2023

Khaled Diab

@DiabolicalIdea

Beyond the preserving effects of Egypt's dry climate, the sheer concentration of archaeological sites and artifacts is largely down to the mindboggling longevity of Ancient Egyptian civilisation. I explored the reasons for this longevity here: chronikler.com/middle-east/eg…

16:01 · January 27, 2023

Khaled Diab

@DiabolicalIdea

It sometimes seems that you can't go far in Egypt without stumbling on major new archaeological finds. Although a Roman-era city would be considered ancient in most places, this 1,800-year-old town is closer to our times than to the age of the pyramids. newarab.com/news/egypt-arc…

08:01 · January 27, 2023

Khaled Diab

@DiabolicalIdea

'Mass consumerism' is not the correct term because it mistakes cause with effect. Instead, we should refer to it as 'mass productionism' because people overconsume mainly because the economy overproduces, and if people consumed radically less our current system would collapse.

08:46 · January 26, 2023

Khaled Diab

@DiabolicalIdea

Today an even more brutal tyrant lords it over a ruined country brought to its knees by a corrupt and incompetent regime. The dreams evoked by the revolution may be in a state of shocked paralysis and suspended animation but they will never die. #Jan25 #25january

17:17 · January 25, 2023

Khaled Diab

@DiabolicalIdea

In an exercise of supreme hope and ultimate despair, Egyptians rose up against a corrupt dictator and toppled the tyrant but not the military junta behind him. A dozen years and a tsunami of state violence and repression later, these hopes lie in tatters. #Jan25 #25january

17:16 · January 25, 2023

Khaled Diab

@DiabolicalIdea

You mean like the Belgian prime minister who famously thought the Marseillaise was the Belgian national anthem? Plenty of native-born citizens are ignorant of their country's history and reject the values taught in these courses. Why are they exempt from "integration"? twitter.com/gandrade80/sta…

20:20 · January 24, 2023

Khaled Diab

@DiabolicalIdea

The Flemish Christian Democrats CD&V want to slap a 'nationality test' on top of the 'integration' one that already exists. One was bad but having two is vindictive. Born citizens don't need to prove a thing, so why should immigrants? This is not about integration but exclusion.

07:56 · January 24, 2023

Khaled Diab

@DiabolicalIdea

Farha means Joy in Arabic, yet the main character in the Netflix film of the same name experiences little of it. By presenting the Nakba from the perspective of an ordinary girl caught up in extraordinary circumstances, the film succeeds in humanising this collective trauma.

22:17 · January 23, 2023

Khaled Diab

@DiabolicalIdea

The 17-th century Dutch experimenter who first viewed sperm under a microscope not only did not understand his discovery but was so grossed out that he wished his findings would be destroyed. Moral: This is what happens when a person comes too soon @Salon salon.com/2023/01/02/the…

20:12 · January 22, 2023

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