Security in Context Security in Context

Hamid Khalafallah is a non-resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy focusing on inclusive governance and mobilization in Sudan. He is also a program officer for the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), supporting Sudan’s democratic transition. In this interview, Hamid Khalafallah shares his take on Sudan's militarized conflict.

Margaret Cerullo is a professor of Sociology and Feminist Studies at Hampshire College and a member of the Lightning Collective, which put together the book “Zapatista Stories for Dreaming An-Other World by Subcomandante Marcos.”

In this gorgeous collection of allegorical stories, Subcomandante Marcos, idiosyncratic spokesperson of the Zapatistas, has provided “an accidental archive” of a revolutionary group’s struggle against neoliberalism. For thirty years, the Zapatistas have influenced and inspired movements worldwide, showing that another world is possible. They have infused left politics with a distinct imaginary—and an imaginative, literary, or poetic dimension—organizing horizontally, outside and against the state, and with a profound respect for difference as a source of political insight, not division. With commentaries that illuminate their historical, political, and literary contexts and an introduction by the translators, this timeless, elegiac volume is perfect for lovers of literature and lovers of revolution.

What has Security in Context achieved in the past two years? And what does the future hold for the project? 

In this episode, we hear from some of the key people leading Security in Context’s research network, including: Omar Dahi, Project Director of Security in Context and Economics Professor at Hampshire College; Shana Marshall, Associate Director of the Institute for Middle East Studies and Assistant Research Faculty member at the George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs; Pete Moore, Associate Professor of Politics at Case Western Reserve University; Lisa Hajjar, Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara; Firat Demir, Professor of Economics at the University of Oklahoma and co-director of University of Oklahoma's Center for Peace and Development; Rabie Nasser, economist, researcher and co-founder of the Syrian Center for Policy Research; and Fernando Brancoli, Assistant Professor of International Security and Geopolitics at the Institute of International Relations and Defense at the University of Rio de Janeiro.

In this episode we investigate the Russian war in Ukraine from a global South perspective by analyzing the effects of the crisis on the different countries and regions of the global South, and highlighting the issues that are currently missing from the mainstream discussion.

Our guests include: Eric Draitser, independent political analyst and host of CounterPunch Radio; Samar Al-Bulushi, assistant professor of anthropology at University of California, Irvine; Noha Aboueldahab, assistant professor of international law and transitional justice at Georgetown University in Qatar; and Arlene Tickner, professor of international relations at the School of International, Political and Urban Studies, at the Universidad del Rosario Bogotá. At the end of the episode, Security in Context co-founders Omar Dahi and Firat Demir discuss the main highlights of the interviews and share their own takes.

Khaled Barakat is a Palestinian-Canadian activist and writer, currently based in Vancouver, who was recently subjected to a media and political campaign aimed at silencing him and those fighting for Palestinian rights in Canada. Attempts to criminalize Barakat originated in an article published in the right-wing newspaper The National Post, and quickly became subject of debate in the Canadian Senate, with a conservative senator going so far as to asking the government to expel Barakat, a Canadian citizen, from the country. The campaign against Khaled Barakat is one of many smear campaigns being launched against pro-Palestinian voices, a phenomenon that seems to be increasing nowadays.

According to the late Pakistani writer and revolutionary activist Eqbal Ahmad, the Palestinian struggle for self-determination stirs the emotions of the entire world, particularly the nations and societies of the formerly colonized world. In this episode we explore the Palestinian struggle for liberation from the perspective of solidarity movements.

Our guests include: Mouin Rabbani, an independent analyst specialized in Palestinian affairs and the Arab-Israeli conflict; Noura Erakat, a human rights attorney and associate professor at Rutgers University; Lina Meruane, an author and professor at the Madrid branch of the New York University; and Yara Hawari, an academic, writer, and senior policy analyst at Al-Shabaka.