Transnational Repression Against Exiled Women Activists

In Spring 2011, as the uprising against Bashar Al-Assad erupted in Syria, Sana, the daughter of Syrian exiles living in Canada, began engaging in online activism. Her support for the revolution rapidly gained traction among fellow Syrians and a widening global audience. But as her voice grew louder, she found

Noura Aljizawi, Siena Anstis, Marcus Michaelsen • 13 min read

The Legal Webs of Transnational Repression

On October 2, 2018, Saudi journalist Jamal Kashoggi was killed in the Saudi embassy in Istanbul. Intelligence services quickly determined his death to be a targeted assassination ordered by the Saudi crown prince. The instance was a brazen act of transnational repression: the process by which regimes attempt to silence

Mirjam Edel • 7 min read

Organizing for Digital Rights—An Interview with Mohamad Najem of SMEX

Activists are fighting for an online civic space.

Marya Hannun, Mohamad Najem • 12 min read

Current Analysis

“Think Again, Turn Away”…from Lousy Public Diplomacy

CIA black sites. “Extraordinary rendition.” The PATRIOT Act. Massive NSA surveillance. The 2003 invasion of Iraq. Abu Ghraib. Torture. Religious and racial profiling. FBI entrapment. Drones, “kill lists” and civilian casualties. “Terror Tuesdays.” Whatever the successes of US public diplomacy since

Amanda Rogers • 3 min read

MER Article

The Responsibilities of the Cartoonist

Khalid Albaih is a political cartoonist “from the two countries of Sudan,” in his words, who is now based in Qatar. His drawings appear at his Facebook page, entitled Khartoon! in a play on the name of the Sudanese capital. Katy Kalemkerian and Khalid Medani spoke with him in Montreal on November 9,

Katy Kalemkerian, Khalid Mustafa Medani • 22 min read

Current Analysis

The Latest Iranian Distractions

While senior Iranian and US officials are planning bilateral talks [http://backchannel.al-monitor.com/index.php/2014/06/8432/breaking-us-iran-to-hold-bilateral-nuclear-talks-in-geneva/] over Iran’s nuclear research program [http://www.merip.org/mero/mero041614], the Iranian and world media are distr

Norma Claire Moruzzi • 3 min read

Current Analysis

Please Explain This Map

In early May the website Vox made a small splash on the Internet with “40 Maps That Explain the Middle East [http://www.vox.com/a/maps-explain-the-middle-east].”

Chris Toensing • 6 min read

Current Analysis

On Memes and Missing Girls

Michelle Obama tweeted a photo of herself on her official account last week using the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls, joining the Twitter campaign on behalf of the hundreds of schoolgirls [http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/14/nigeria-talks-boko-haram-kidnapped-schoolgirls], most of them Christia

Jillian Schwedler • 5 min read

MER Article

Quetta's Sectarian Violence and the Global Hazara Awakening

On a cold February day in London, over 40 Hazara men, women and children sat wrapped in blankets at the foot of the King George V monument opposite the Houses of Parliament. They were protesting the bombing of a vegetable market on February 16 in Quetta, Pakistan, that killed at least 91 of their br

Zuzanna Olszewska • 16 min read

Current Analysis

Viral Occupation

When Israeli security forces arrived in the middle of the night at the Tamimi house in Nabi Salih, the occupied West Bank, the family was already in bed. The raid was not unexpected, as news had traveled around the village on that day in January 2011: Soldiers were coming to houses at night, demandi

Rebecca L. Stein • 13 min read

Current Analysis

Inside Israel's Twitter War Room

Within hours of the onset of Operation Pillar of Defense, Israel’s latest military campaign in the Gaza Strip, global news outlets had already turned their spotlight on social media. A raft of stories led with the Israel Defense Forces’ use of the popular networking platforms to advance their public

Rebecca L. Stein • 9 min read

Current Analysis

Iranian Cyber-Struggles

From the Green Movement in Iran in 2009 through the Arab revolts that began in 2011, social media have held center stage in coverage of popular protest in the Middle East. Though the first flush of overwrought enthusiasm is long past, there is consensus that Facebook, Twitter and other Web 2.0 appli

Narges Bajoghli • 9 min read