Disciplining dissent: multicultural policy and the silencing of Arab-Canadians

This article examines two cases of state funding cuts to the most prominent and active Arab community organisations operating in Canada, the Canadian Arab Federation and Palestine House. It contextualises the cuts within broader ‘crisis of multiculturalism’ debates imbued with anti-Arab/anti-Muslim racism and the silencing of Palestine advocacy efforts; arguing that the shift to a neoliberal multiculturalism, emptied of anti-racist politics, along with the construction of national identities around a set of western ‘core values’ has advanced a marginalising politics that demarcates a ‘civilisational’ border which excludes Arabs, Muslims, and by extension Palestine solidarity. Curtailing freedom of expression, partly through funding cuts, thus becomes a key mechanism for disciplining dissent in racialised communities

Palestinian Workers Are Bearing the Brunt of the Pandemic

Palestinian workers play a vital role in Israel’s economy, but they’ve been left exposed to the danger of COVID-19 without any support from the Israeli authorities or their own leaders. The pandemic has exposed the harsh realities of life for workers under Israeli occupation

Outside the multicultural: solidarity and the silencing of Palestinian narratives

"This dissertation examines a series of efforts by the Canadian state to silence and censor the Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM), particularly activism engaged in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign, in the years following the second Palestinian uprising (Intifada) of 2000. Following a delineation of the broad contours of Canada's official multicultural policy, the dissertation seeks to interrogate multicultural policy's inability to accommodate Palestinian narratives relating to the struggle for Palestinian self-determination. The analysis explores the central contradiction between the multicultural state's self-construction as accommodating and even celebrating cultural difference, and Canada's adoption and deployment of the discourse of clash of civilizations and the War on Terror. Rooted in a critique of liberal theories of the state and an understanding of Canada as a racial state embedded in neoliberal global hierarchies as a second tier imperialist state, this study reveals the ways in which notions of ""tolerance"" may be used to establish boundaries and markers of belonging. Moments of erasure and silencing are analyzed as racializing moments, whereby the state reveals its class and racial character in both domestic and international spheres. Specifically, the manifestations of anti-Arab, anti-Muslim racism in Canada are interrogated. The silencing campaign against the Palestine Solidarity Movement demonstrates the role official multicultural policy has played in obfuscating this racism. Multicultural rhetoric is used to enact the erasure and silencing of the Palestinian narrative; under the guise of ""respecting diversity,"" the Palestinian narrative is cast out as it makes some feel ""uncomfortable."" Relying on a textual analysis of state records, parliament proceedings, public speeches, media reports, journalistic reports, op-eds, and documents obtained through freedom of information requests, three specific case studies are examined: the attack against Israeli Apartheid Week; the defunding of Arab/Palestinian ethnocultural organizations, as well as development organizations and research bodies deemed pro-Palestinian; and the campaign to ban Queers Against Israeli Apartheid from marching in Pride Toronto. Close attention is given to three interrelated silencing discourses that rely on historical forms of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim racism: the accusation of anti-Semitism, calls for balance and dialogue, and the distinction between extremists and moderates.

The importance of the Saudi-UAE alliance: notes on military intervention, aid and investment

This contribution focuses on the shifts in the characteristics and forms of intervention by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the Middle East and North Africa post the Arab Uprisings of 2011–2012. Although less commented upon, increasing military intervention by the two states has been accompanied by ‘aid intervention’, whereby financial assistance is utilised to secure foreign policy objectives. While scholarly work on intervention typically focuses on Western intervention and, to a lesser extent, the BRICS, this paper argues that Saudi–UAE intervention is reshaping the MENA region through a multi-pronged approach incorporating military campaigns and an alignment of foreign aid with private capital investment priorities. The direct military intervention in Yemen and aid intervention in Egypt are highlighted as illustrations of overarching trends of Saudi–UAE intervention

Constructing a logistics space: perspectives form the Gulf Cooperation Council

Development plans across the Gulf Cooperation Council emphasise logistical infrastructure as a driver of economic diversification. Investments in maritime ports, roads, rail, airports and logistics cities are transforming the economic geography of the region. This study aims to make visible this neglected aspect of the physical transformation of the Gulf Cooperation Council with a focus on the understudied maritime container ports in Oman and Qatar. Shifting the analysis to emergent maritime logistical infrastructure at a regional level gives insight into the uneven developments within the Gulf Cooperation Council’s integration project. Three key features emerge: (a) a large degree of duplication in maritime port infrastructure across Gulf Cooperation Council states; (b) a regional hierarchy among Gulf Cooperation Council states that are resource rich and those dependent on public–private partnerships and (c) increasing competition among internationally dominant port operators looking to gain access to the Gulf Cooperation Council maritime port market. These features both reflect and reinforce competitive tensions within the regional integration project

Disciplining dissent: multicultural policy and the silencing of Arab-Canadians

This article examines two cases of state funding cuts to the most prominent and active Arab community organisations operating in Canada, the Canadian Arab Federation and Palestine House. It contextualises the cuts within broader ‘crisis of multiculturalism’ debates imbued with anti-Arab/anti-Muslim racism and the silencing of Palestine advocacy efforts; arguing that the shift to a neoliberal multiculturalism, emptied of anti-racist politics, along with the construction of national identities around a set of western ‘core values’ has advanced a marginalising politics that demarcates a ‘civilisational’ border which excludes Arabs, Muslims, and by extension Palestine solidarity. Curtailing freedom of expression, partly through funding cuts, thus becomes a key mechanism for disciplining dissent in racialised communities