Egypt

Arab AI Slop and the Precarious Politics of Digital Kitsch

As Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the subsequent regional war reshape the Arab internet, AI-generated slop has emerged as a new form of digital kitsch and political fantasy fueled by precarious labor.

Nermin Elsherif • 13 min read

Egypt

NEW: Arab AI Slop and the Precarious Politics of Digital Kitsch

Dear Friends and Comrades, If you spend any time on social media, you’ve seen the uncannily rendered videos and memes known colloquially as AI slop, crudely generated videos playing on stereotypes meant to generate viral outrage. In our upcoming summer issue of Middle East Report, Nermin Elsherif looks at

James Ryan, Nermin Elsherif • 4 min read

MER Article

Khartoum's Women Street Vendor Cooperatives and the Politics of Care

The everyday activism of Sudan's women-led worker cooperatives.

Nada Ali • 9 min read

Current Analysis

Jordan’s Syrian Refugee Response and Discriminatory Development Aid

The labor-oriented migration policies celebrated by European donors leave many more vulnerable.

Shaddin Almasri • 10 min read

Current Analysis

Palestinian Trade Unions Call for an End to Arming Israel

Amid an escalating crisis in Gaza, trade unions in Palestine appeal for international solidarity.

Marya Hannun • 5 min read

MER Article

The Politics of “Unskilled" Labor in Qatar—An Interview with Natasha Iskander

With the approach of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Natasha Iskander speaks to Arang Keshavarzian about the politics of labor that underpin the tournament – and their devastating effects. From the deliberate framing of migrant workers as “unskilled” to the regulation of workers protests, minimal refor

Natasha Iskander, Arang Keshavarzian • 14 min read

Current Analysis

The Politics of “Unskilled" Labor in Qatar—An Interview with Natasha Iskander

With the approach of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Natasha Iskander speaks to Arang Keshavarzian about the politics of labor that underpin the tournament – and their devastating effects. From the deliberate framing of migrant workers as “unskilled” to the regulation of workers protests, minimal refor

Natasha Iskander, Arang Keshavarzian • 14 min read

MER Article

Sudanese Migrants’ Labor in Times of Economic Crisis and Revolution

[su_dropcap style="simple" size="4"]“I[/su_dropcap] have worked so much,” Hamze told me, laughing, “It’s all the same.” Hamze grew up working on his parents’ land in Gezira, two hours south of Sudan’s capital, Khartoum. Gezira is known for its fertile

Anna Simone Reumert • 13 min read

MER Article

Rethinking Informal Labor Through the Lens of Film Production in Cairo

Many movies, television shows and advertisements film on location in the busy and crowded streets of Cairo. Mariz Kelada explains with ethnographic detail the complex and multilayered work of production assistants, fixers and sub-fixers to create the right conditions and relationships for filming in

Mariz Kelada • 13 min read

MER Article

Currencies of Power

The summer 2022 issue of Middle East Report, “Currencies of Power,” examines the contemporary global economy to highlight how the tightening noose of global capital is suffocating the region’s working classes. MERIP has always been dedicated to issues of justice in the Middle East and North Africa—i

The Editors of Issue #303 • 5 min read

Current Analysis

Rethinking Informal Labor Through the Lens of Film Production in Cairo

Many movies, television shows and advertisements film on location in the busy and crowded streets of Cairo. Mariz Kelada explains with ethnographic detail the complex and multilayered work of production assistants, fixers and sub-fixers to create the right conditions and relationships for filming in

Mariz Kelada • 13 min read

MER Article

Putting Workers on the Map

When the first issue of MERIP Reports was published in May 1971, discussions of labor relations and workers were common in the New Left circles from which its editors emerged but were nearly invisible in debates about the Middle East and North Africa among American and European academics and activists.

Peyman Jafari • 7 min read