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İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي

@iyad_elbaghdadi

6 Jan

Zoom out. Dictators win by convincing their people - and the world - that they're the best possible option. They win by destroying any alternatives to them. They win by literally stifling hope and spreading despair, fear, and anxiety.

I find this thing where we constantly expose their crimes, highlight their incompetence, criticize their every move... It's not unimportant, but it's insufficient. Someone has to do it, but the entire movement shouldn't be dedicated to it. It doesn't build power.

Zoom out further. We're living at time where nearly every paradigm around us is broken or close to breakage. The world is at the precipice of multiple, deep shifts. The movement should be full of architects of the new world, not (only) critics of the current one.

Read 5 tweets

İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي

@iyad_elbaghdadi

5 Jan

The regional conflict between the Iran axis and the Gulf-Israel axis in the Middle East is complex because it's a geopolitical conflict clothed as an ideological conflict, clothed further as a sectarian conflict. Even if you remove one layer, there are others underneath it.

This is before even mentioning historical grievances going back decades/centuries, the long shadow of Western colonialism/supremacy, the legacy of nationalism, radicalization, and ruling elites that are anxious and paranoid. And, of course, the will/native agency of the people.

For all these reasons, this conflict will persist in some form or another, and will only be resolved by a radical regional reconfiguration. This reconfiguration began decades ago and will continue for decades more, and many current actors will not survive it.

Read 4 tweets

İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي

@iyad_elbaghdadi

4 Jan

Zoom out. They're losing influence, and every time they lose a bit of ground they lash out angrily but foolishly, exposing just how deeply and helplessly racist their worldview is. Meanwhile the fucked up reality they are trying to defend only gets more fucked up.

And this reality - the very reality they want to sustain - will be their downfall, because its ugliness is so manifest that it just cannot be defended. They'll spend then next few years doing this and losing more ground. Now we need to figure how to spend the next few years.

We will win. 20 years. Not necessarily because we are right, but because the strong do not remain strong and the weak do not remain weak. Because there are global trends more inexorable than any PR budgets. Because no status quo remains unchanged forever. Because we don't forget.

Read 7 tweets

İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي

@iyad_elbaghdadi

1 Jan

Traveling this morning, passing by security, the lady wants to make pleasant conversations. She asks, "Where are you from?"

I hesitate a bit, it's the airport after all, I wonder if I should mention my official legal status of "stateless refugee"? But no, she's asking where I'm from. "I'm Palestinian", I say

"Oh", she answers cheerfully. "So you're flying back home"?

I don't remember what I reply. This is how everyday, pleasant conversation can be triggering. I hate this.

Read 5 tweets

İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي

@iyad_elbaghdadi

22 Dec 21

A lot of the time, I'd rather read a well-argued thread than an essay or op-ed. Given the amount of info we have to consume daily, I find threads much more to-the-point (and if done well, comprehensive). I'm starting to dislike articles, even when not meandering. Anyone else?

Actually let me make this a poll. For your daily information, would you rather read:
1 - Well-written, to-the-point threads
2 - Articles, essays, or op-eds

(If you respond to the poll, please also retweet it)

I find myself opening a lot of articles/essays and never finding the time to read all of them. A lot of the time, they're paywalled one way or another. Meanwhile the thread version of the same article would be to the point, highlights the important bits, and... is free.

Read 6 tweets

İyad el-Baghdadi | إياد البغدادي

@iyad_elbaghdadi

19 Dec 21

The Arab world doesn't have a "critical thinking" problem, it has a free speech problem. This idea that some groups of human beings somehow can't think and need to be "taught" is bullcrap. When they don't think it's not because they can't, it's because they're afraid to.

I was exactly the person I was in 2011 that I was in 2010 and so were my comrades across the Arab world. When our public spheres exploded with ideas and questions and debates in 2011, it wasn't because we all took a course. It was because we dared to speak freely.

Also, I absolutely hate it when people speak to me (or about me) as if I'm some sort of aberration. I am not a spectacular person and or an exception. I'm just another Arab person who grew up in the Arab world. I'm just lucky enough that I'm in exile and not in prison (or dead).

Read 4 tweets

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