Mark A. LeVine
Mr. LeVine is professor of modern Middle Eastern history, culture, and Islamic studies at the University of California, Irvine, and author of the forthcoming books: Heavy Metal Islam: Rock Religion and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam (Random House/Three Rivers Press, July 8, 2008), and An Impossible Peace: Oslo and the Burdens of History (Zed Books, in press). He is also author of Why They Don't Hate Us: Lifting the Veil on the Axis of Evil (Oneworld Publications, 2005), and Overthrowing Geography: Jaffa, Tel Aviv and the Struggle for Palestine, 1880-1948 (California, 2005), and co-editor of Reapproaching Borders: New Perspectives on the Study of Israel-Palestine (Rowman Littlefield, 2007), Religion, Social Practices and Contested Hegemonies: Reconstructing the Public Sphere in Muslim Majority Societies (Palgrave, 2005) and with Viggo Mortensen and Pilar Perez, of Twilight of Empire: Responses to Occupation. Click here to access his homepage.Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Iran in 2009--Redux of 1968, 1979, or 1989?
PLEASE NOTE, I HAVE ESTABLISHED A BLOG FEATURING THE VOICES OF MANY OF MY MUSICIAN FRIENDS IN IRAN WHO ARE SENDING ME REPORTS. YOU CAN SEE IT HERE .
In fifteen years of writing about the Middle East I have never encountered a situation that changed so fast that one could write an article that became outdated before you've even finished writing it. It seems that the Iranian elite has been caught similarly off-guard as well, and is still trying to read its own society to understand how broad is the societal discontent reflected in the mass protests.
This calculus is crucial; in some way more so than whether the results are legitimate or the result of fraud. It will determine whether the Iranian power elite—that is, the political-religious-military-security leadership who control the levers of state violence—moves towards negotiation and reconciliation between the increasingly distant sides, or moves to crush the mounting opposition with large-scale violence.
Friday, June 5, 2009
Obama, the "Student of History," Needs to Go to Summer School
Near the start of his much-anticipated speech to the Muslim world, President Obama described himself as “a student of history;” by the end it was clear that he needs to get back to the classroom.
For all its well-intentioned rhetoric, President Obama's speech was, sadly, conceptually flawed, empirically challenged, and politically blind to the daily realities that drive hundreds of millions of Muslims to increasing despair.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Will it Remain Business as Usual in the Middle East?
One of the most glaring ironies of the Middle East conflict is the righteous indignation displayed by the region's leaders towards each other's policies. In a region where violent and oppressive rule is the norm, leaders have no trouble pointing out each other's flaws, often menacingly. And so Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government shows no signs of ending one of the world's longest and most brutal occupations, rails against the threat posed by a nuclear-armed Iran; while President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calls Israel “the most cruel and oppressive, racist regime,” even as his government continues to persecute members of the Bahai faith, jail journalists, torture students and sentence women to death by stoning.
On the other hand, friendly governments are quite prepared to ignore each other's less savory policies, with far reaching costs to the agenda of peace, justice and freedom most governments rhetorically support.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
100 Years of Solitude: Tel Aviv's Anniversary
“Hyper-modern,” “cybaritic,” “secular,” “normal.” In the 100 years since its creation on April 11, 1909, Tel Aviv has been described in many ways. But rarely if ever has Arab been among them.
The city's identity has been profoundly Jewish and Zionist since its creation in 1909. The name Tel Aviv was taken from the Hebrew title of Theodor Herzl's 1902 novel, Altneuland (“Old-New Land,” or “Hill of Spring” in English). Designed initially as a garden suburb of the rapidly developing town of Jaffa, Tel Aviv was from its establishment the preeminent symbol of the rebirth of a modern, secular Jewish nation in Palestine.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Can Obama Bring the Audacity of Hope to the Middle East?
On August 1, 2007, at the start of his campaign for President, Barack Obama made a speech to the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC where he laid out his plans for transforming American foreign policy to the Muslim world. “We are not at war with Islam... [and] we will stand with those who are willing to stand up for their future,” he declared to a crowd of foreign policy luminaries.
As President, the question before Barack Obama is whether he is prepared to act on those farsighted words.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Who Will Save Palestinians From Themselves
It was a hot September day in Gaza and I was sitting in the office of a Hamas-affiliated newspaper talking with a senior Hamas intellectual. As the French news crew that had given me a ride from Jerusalem packed up their camera equipment, I took the opportunity to change the subject from the latest happenings in Gaza to a more fundamental question that had long bothered me.
Off the record, let's put aside whether or not Palestinians have the moral or legal right to use violence against civilians to resist the occupation. The fact is, it doesn't work.” Suicide bombings and other direct attacks on Israeli civilians, I argued, helped to keep the subject off the occupation and in so doing allowed Israel to build even more settlements while the media focuses on the violence.
His response both surprised me with its honesty and troubled me with its implications. “We know the violence doesn't work, but we don't know how to stop it.”
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Who Will Save Israel from Itself?
One by one the justifications given by Israel for its latest war in Gaza are unraveling.
The argument that this is a purely defensive war, launched only after Hamas broke a five-month old ceasefire has been challenged, not just by observers in the know such as former President Jimmy Carter, who helped facilitate the truce, but by center-right Israeli intelligence think tanks, the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, whose December 31 report titled "Six Months of the Lull Arrangement Intelligence Report,” confirmed that the June 19 truce was only "sporadically violated, and then not by Hamas but instead by... "rogue terrorist organizations.” Instead, "The escalation and erosion of the lull arrangement” occurred after Israel killed half a dozen Hamas members on November 4 without provocation and then placed the entire Strip under even more intensive siege the next day.
According to a joint Tel Aviv University-European university study, this fits a larger pattern in which Israeli violence has been responsible for ending 79% of all lulls in violence since the outbreak of the second intifada, compared with only 8% for Hamas and other Palestinian factions.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Stop all Military Aid to Israel and to Palestinians
Below is the text of a petition I have written calling on the US government immediately to suspend all military aid, sales and deliveries of weapons to Israel and the PA, and to demand that other governments to the same with Israel, the PA and Hamas. The petition can be signed at: http://www.petitiononline.com/EndwarIP/petition.html.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
An Open Letter to My Fellow HNN Blogger, Daniel Pipes
January 6, 2009
Dear Dr. Pipes,
After several years blogging “next” to you, as it were, on the History News Network, it was a pleasure to finally “meet up,” at least via Satellite, during our joint appearance on al-Jazeera International last night to discuss the situation in Gaza and how academics can effectively contribute to educating the public about the conflict and to helping the two sides move towards peace.
Saturday, January 3, 2009
STATEMENT ON GAZA FROM CALIFORNIA SCHOLARS FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM
January 3, 2009
California Scholars for Academic Freedom
Condemn Bombing of Gaza Educational Institutions
Contacts:
Sondra Hale, 310-836-5121 (UCLA) [sonhale@ucla.edu]
Rabab Abdulhadi, 914-882-3180 (AMED-SFSU) [amed@sfsu.edu]
Sherna Berger Gluck, 310-455-1028 (CSULB) [sbgluck@csulb.edu]
Jess Ghannam, 415-726-3951 (UCSF) [jess.ghannam@ucsf.edu]
CALIFORNIA SCHOLARS FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM (CS4AF), a group of 100 scholars at 20 California institutions of higher learning, condemns in the strongest possible terms the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip that have targeted the Islamic University and other educational sites.
Monday, December 29, 2008
To Succeed Where Clinton Failed, Obama Needs a History Lesson
The renewed Israel-Hamas war in Gaza presents the incoming Obama Administration with its most difficult immediate foreign policy challenge. Yet it also offers Obama a well-timed opportunity to act on his promise to return to the aggressive Mideast diplomacy that characterized the final years of the Clinton Administration.
But with much of the Clinton-era Middle East team working for Obama, what hope is there that the new Democratic Administration will fare any better than its predecessor?
Saturday, November 8, 2008
The Middle East Presents Obama with a Host of Problems, and Few Palatable Solutions
“Congratulations! Congratulations! Congratulations!”
“Hope things will get better for U in z US....”
“I'm so happy!”
These are just a few of the comments I've received from friends and colleagues in the Muslim world, most of whom seemed to be more excited about Barack Obama winning the presidency than am I.
Who can blame them? The Bush Administration has so badly mismanaged relations with the Arab and larger Muslim world that any change in American leadership would be an improvement.
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Guilty of Befriending Muslims
With less than a week left before the most important Presidential election in at least a generation, the McCain campaign has decided that, having failed to convince most Americans that Barack Obama is actually a closet Muslim, its best hope for winning undecided voters is to accuse Obama of having Muslim friends.
Not just Muslim friends, Muslim Palestinian friends. Apparently there are few more fearful combinations in the American ethno-religious lexicon.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Only One Man Can Help a President Obama Rebuild the American, and Global Economies
If Barack Obama is elected President there will be little doubt that the financial crisis of the last few months helped win him the election. But will an Obama Administration be able to solve the world's most complex economic crisis in almost a century?
Of the two candidates, Obama has more clearly recognized the need, as he describes it, for “new direction,” “new leadership,” and a “real change in the policies and politics of the last eight years.”
Sunday, August 31, 2008
The Scary Alternative to a 2-State Solution
Lost in the international uproar over Russia's Olympic-eve invasion and occupation of Georgia and now the political and meteorological storms sweeping across the United States is a seismic shift in the dynamics of another conflict, one which offers a similarly vexing challenge to the core policy goals of the United States, Europe and many Middle Eastern governments to that posed by a newly belligerent Russia.
Largely unreported in the American and Western media, on August 10, two days after the start of both the Russian invasion and the Olympics, Palestinian lead negotiator Ahmed Qurie declared that if the peace process did not advance towards a final settlement soon, Palestinians would stop pursuing a two-state solution demand the establishment of a bi-national state with Israel.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Like Music and Oil. Perfect Together?
With few exceptions, it's now possible to say that most everybody everywhere is an environmentalist, especially politicians running for higher office. Even the major oil companies and oil rich Gulf state are sponsoring environmental initiatives and research into alternative energy sources.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Motley Crue: It's Time to Really Make Rock History!
About a month ago, I walked into my local Guitar Center to buy some equipment and noticed banners all over the store which read, simply, “Make Rock History.” There was no other information indicating what the banners meant, but one of the salesman filled me in on the secret: On August first Motley Crue would announce a contest to determine who would open for them on their upcoming tour. The idea was to discover a young, unsigned band and use the tour to help launch them to rock 'n roll stardom.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Obama and the Taliban
[Mr. LeVine is professor of modern Middle Eastern history, culture, and Islamic studies at the University of California, Irvine, and author of Heavy Metal Islam: Rock Religion and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam (Random House/Three Rivers Press, July 8, 2008).]
Among its many goals, Barack Obama's historic July 24 speech in Berlin sought to demonstrate the Senator's command of the world stage, particularly with regard to creating a united front with Europe against global terrorism. Given the largely positive reception it has received, the presumptive Democratic nominee likely achieved this goal.
But beneath the lofty rhetoric, Senator Obama's strategy for prosecuting the War on Terror is based on questionable, and potentially flawed premises—one shared with his Republican opponent John McCain—which would likely impede the ability of either administration to achieve “victory” against Muslim extremism.
Monday, July 14, 2008
First Bashir, Next... Bush?
[Mr. LeVine is professor of modern Middle Eastern history, culture, and Islamic studies at the University of California, Irvine, and author of the forthcoming books: Heavy Metal Islam: Rock Religion and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam (Random House/Three Rivers Press, July 8, 2008), and An Impossible Peace: Oslo and the Burdens of History (Zed Books, in press).]
Today the International Criminal Court in the Hague announced its indictment of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Although there is certainly little if any chance al-Bashir will ever be brought to trial in the Hague, his indictment marks a good day for anyone concerned about human rights around the world.
For Americans, however, the ICC indictment should offer a moment of sober reflection--not merely for our relative inaction with regard to years of mass murder in the Sudan. As important, and quite disturbing, is that much of the indictment could just as easily be applied to our own President, George W. Bush, as it could be applied to his Sudanese counterpart.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Norman Finkelstein and the Future of Israeli Democracy
[Mr. LeVine is professor of modern Middle Eastern history, culture, and Islamic studies at the University of California, Irvine, and author of the forthcoming books: Heavy Metal Islam: Rock Religion and the Struggle for the Soul of Islam (Random House/Three Rivers Press, July 8, 2008), and An Impossible Peace: Oslo and the Burdens of History (Zed Books, in press).]
It was ironic, yet quite sad to hear that Norman Finkelstein was denied entry to Israel earlier this week and banned from visiting the country for ten years, after being accused by Israeli security officials of being a “security threat.”
Recent Entries
- Iran in 2009--Redux of 1968, 1979, or 1989?
- Obama, the "Student of History," Needs to Go to Summer School
- Will it Remain Business as Usual in the Middle East?
- 100 Years of Solitude: Tel Aviv's Anniversary
- Can Obama Bring the Audacity of Hope to the Middle East?
- Who Will Save Palestinians From Themselves
- Who Will Save Israel from Itself?
- Stop all Military Aid to Israel and to Palestinians
- An Open Letter to My Fellow HNN Blogger, Daniel Pipes
- STATEMENT ON GAZA FROM CALIFORNIA SCHOLARS FOR ACADEMIC FREEDOM
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- Elliott Aron Green on Obama, the "Student of History," Needs to Go to Summer School
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- Elliott Aron Green on Obama, the "Student of History," Needs to Go to Summer School
- james joseph butler on Obama, the "Student of History," Needs to Go to Summer School
- Elliott Aron Green on Obama, the "Student of History," Needs to Go to Summer School
- Elliott Aron Green on Obama, the "Student of History," Needs to Go to Summer School
- Elliott Aron Green on Obama, the "Student of History," Needs to Go to Summer School
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