MER Article Culture and Politics, Culture as Politics Although MERIP is best known for political economy critiques of systems of resource extraction, imperialism and authoritarianism, artwork, creative texts and cultural reviews have never been merely supplemental to its project. Elevating cultural expression and aesthetic performance from the Middle East and North Africa can be an act of political Ted Swedenburg, Paul Silverstein • 7 min read
MER Article Morocco's Palestinian Politics You are not in Gaza, this is al-Hoceima!” This title describes a video clip of tear gas in the streets of al-Hoceima, the epicenter of the ongoing protests by the Hirak movement in the mountainous Rif region of northern Morocco. [1] Hirak protesters risk their lives demonstrating against corruption Zakia Salime, Paul Silverstein • 9 min read
MER Article States of Fragmentation in North Africa Nearly 50 years after independence, the North African states of Algeria and Morocco face challenges to their national unity and territorial integrity. In Algeria, a Paul Silverstein • 18 min read
MER Article Amazigh Activism and the Moroccan State When primary school students in the major Berber-speaking regions of Morocco returned to class in September 2004, for the first time ever they were required to study Berber (Tamazight) language. The mandatory language classes in the Rif, the Middle Atlas, the High Atlas and the Sous Valley represent David Crawford, Paul Silverstein • 13 min read
MER Article Regimes of (Un)Truth Since 1992, the civil war ravaging Algeria has claimed at least 100,000 lives. Through armed raids, village massacres, terrorist bombings and weekly kidnappings and assassinations, the war has victimized Algerian society as a whole, from the urban elites to the village poor. While the body count continues to rise, Paul Silverstein • 13 min read
MER Article Rebels and Martyrs A Kenza a yelli / D iseflan neghli / F Lzzayer uzekka / A Kenza a yelli / Ur tru ara (O Kenza my daughter / We have sacrificed our lives / For the Algeria of tomorrow / O Kenza my daughter / Do not cry) —"Kenza," written by Lounès Matoub in 1993 for the daughter of assassinated Kabyle journalist a Paul Silverstein • 6 min read
MER Article Berbers in France and Algeria When the summer 1995 bombings in France brought the Algerian civil war across the Mediterranean, many began to recognize the permeability of political, social and cultural boundaries between the two countries and the extent to which the 1.5 million post-colonial immigrants and their mostly binational children in France functioned Paul Silverstein • 19 min read
