Islamophobia

(By Juan Cole) Two large explosions at the state security building in downtown Mansoura, Dahqaliya Province, killed at least 14 persons and wounded 130 on Monday, reducing some of the edifice to rubble and damaging its facade. The head of the directorate of security was among the wounded. [Photos via Mansouracity.com] Crowds immediately gathered to […]

Africa

Why are Christian Militias never “Christian Extremists”?

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) The dramatic events in the Central African Republic no doubt seem distant and complex for a North American audience. CAR is geographically as large as France, but with a population of only 4.5 million (similar to Lebanon or Costa Rica). It consists roughly of 25% Muslim, 25% Protestant Christian, 25% Catholic Christian, […]

Islamophobia

Muslim-American Tolkiens? Throne of Crescent Moon Author on Ethnic High Fantasy

Juan Cole

Saladin Ahmad, a Muslim-American fantasy author from Dearborn, Michigan, is the author of the novel, Throne of the Crescent Moon. He spoke in Grand Rapids on the meaning of his background for his writing and imagination: He made the interesting point that much high fantasy is already ethnic, it is just from the unmarked ethnicity […]

Islamophobia

Jon Stewart: Fox seems a little Hysterical about Muslim-American Women Swimming

Juan Cole

Jon Stewart has discovered the most horrible thing in the world on Fox Cable News. A YMCA in St. Paul Minnesota has set aside an hour for Somali Muslim women to swim at the pool, no men allowed. Actually gender-segregated swimming is quite common and is an accommodation also made for some Jewish Americans and […]

Islamophobia

G. Willow Wilson on her Ms. Marvel Character as Muslim-American Superhero (BBC)

Juan Cole

The BBC interviews G. Willow Wilson, creator of the reboot of the Ms Marvel comic book as a young Muslim-American. Here is the BBC interview: Informed Comment covered this development earlier: “ Umberto Eco argued that Superman, from the character’s inception in the 1940s through about 1970, was a politically conservative figure. The stories were […]

al Qaeda in the Arabian Penisula

Feinstein & Rogers justify NSA Spying with Syrian Rebels (Voted to Arm Syrian Rebels)

Juan Cole

Senator Diane Feinstein and Rep. Mike Rogers took to the airwaves on Sunday to warn that Americans are less safe than two years ago and that al-Qaeda is growing and spreading and that the US is menaced by bombs that can’t be detected by metal detectors. Call me cynical, but those two have been among […]

Islamophobia

Muslim-American Artists Perform to Challenge Stereotypes

Juan Cole

VOA reports:: ” Going back decades, Arab actors have been successful in Hollywood. Among the most successful, such as Omar Sharif, Tony Shalhoub, and F. Murray Abraham; the latter won an Academy Award for his role in the movie Mozart. But Muslims, openly proclaiming their religion, are an even smaller minority in the U.S. entertainment […]

Islam

Ms. Marvel and the Rise of the Muslim Superhero in America

Juan Cole

Umberto Eco argued that Superman, from the character’s inception in the 1940s through about 1970, was a politically conservative figure. The stories were about protecting property and combating petty crime, rather banal stuff given the character’s powers. The character was opaque and unchanging (i.e. the stories are plot-driven adventures, not character-driven). Art by Adrian Alphono […]

Afghanistan

Has Military Suppression of Political Islam ever Worked?

Juan Cole

The Egyptian military’s obvious determination to crush the Muslim Brotherhood involves serious human rights violations, apparent in the appalling scenes of the siege of members in a mosque on Saturday. A separate question, which any political pragmatist would ask, is, can it work? If we look at long term attempts to limit political expressions of […]