Book Review
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Bringing migrants to the Ethiopia-Djibouti border is not a simple task as there are several checkpoints along this migration route. Smugglers carefully work with different actors. They may secure support from border agents at various checkpoints, or they may use diverse transport strategies. Smugglers often transport migrants during the night, and they do not always take their clients by themselves, but instead use a variety of methods, depending on the context.
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Contemporary refugees in Greece are often viewed in negative and hostile terms. They are seen to represent a burden on the host country, and a particular source of discontent arises when refugees are perceived to have a better life than some of the Greeks themselves. While it is to the credit of the Greek news media that they apparently do not associate refugees with terrorists to the extent that the British press do, the perception that refugees enjoy better treatment by the state than Greek homeless people is a key source of political and social tension.
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The 4 December 2007 (13 Azar 1386) protest rally to commemorate national Student Day (16 Azar) on the campus of the University of Tehran marked the last public manifestation of the leftist student movement known as Students for Freedom and Equality (aka DAB, acronym for Daneshjuyan-e Azadikhah va Barabaritalab; literally, “Freedom-Seeking and Equality-Demanding Students”).
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In our modern world, the basis for this kind of critical thinking should be laid in school. Unfortunately, however, the quality of science education, and the quality of grade school in general, has suffered a sharp decline in recent decades.
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If you are a true internationalist you should support struggles against capitalism and authoritarianism wherever they occur in the world. Maybe you have more leverage to support struggles against your own state, but regardless of that you should do your best at least to speak out against oppression.
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We like to think that prehistoric humans were simpler than we are. We might even think they were stupid – think cavemen and -women dragging clubs around and gnawing raw meat. Of course, these depictions are far from accurate. The Flintstones is not a documentary. But these ideas point to a deep-rooted idea, an idea long espoused by philosophers and intellectuals – that people in the past weren’t capable of abstract political thought or social organization. We now know that this isn’t true.
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Nice racists like to think of racism as a problem everyone relates to as individuals. By that logic, some white people are racist while others aren’t. But there’s no opt-out clause when it comes to benefiting from systemic racism as a white person. Whatever your personal story is, the privileges you take for granted are the result of centuries of racist policies designed to bolster white supremacy.
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While the legal reform of Islamic gender relations is certainly possible and necessary, they will not put an end to the patriarchal regime. From a Marxist-feminist perspective, patriarchy is a social system; it is not a product of misbehavior, misunderstanding, or mis-education, although all of these may be present in individual cases.
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The book contains some of the best and most realistic analyses and insights into Middle Eastern societies that have been shaped by the author’s years of research, observation, experience, and living in the Middle East.