Long Reads: Mahdi Amel's Anti-Colonial Marxism

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🗓️ 26 September 2024

⏱️ 62 minutes

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Summary

Over the last week, Israel has launched a full-scale attack on Lebanon as an extension of its campaign against Gaza. So far the air strikes have killed well over five hundred people. The attack on Lebanon has made the subject of this week’s podcast all the more relevant to the current situation.

Mahdi Amel was a member of the Lebanese communist movement and one of the most important political thinkers of the Arab left. Before his assassination in 1987, Amel produced a series of books and essays, some of which have now been translated into English for the collection Arab Marxism and National Liberation.

Long Reads is joined by the editor of that collection, Hicham Safieddine. Hicham is a professor of history at the University of British Columbia. The conversation was recorded Friday, September 19th. Please excuse sound quality issues, due to a bad connection, in the last part of the interview.

Read Hicham's piece about Amel in Jacobin: https://jacobin.com/2024/05/anti-colonialism-marxism-mahdi-amel

See also Hicham's recent coverage of the Israeli attack on Lebanon: https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/israel-lebanon-hezbollah-new-front-war-cannot-end

Long Reads is a Jacobin podcast looking in-depth at political topics and thinkers, both contemporary and historical, with the magazine’s longform writers. Hosted by features editor Daniel Finn. Produced by Conor Gillies, music by Knxwledge.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of Long Reads is brought to you by Haymarket Books.
0:04.0	One Haymarket title he might enjoy is Environmentalism from Below,
0:08.1	how global people's movements are leading the fight for our planet.
0:12.0	Ashley Dawson takes readers inside the popular struggles for environmental liberation in the global south,
0:18.0	among communities that are least responsible for the climate crisis but face the most immediate danger on account of it.
0:26.9	You can find environmentalism from below at haymarketbooks.org
0:31.2	there's a 20% discount on paperback titles when you buy them through the website.
0:37.8	Hello, you're very welcome to Long Reads, a Jackerman podcast where we look in depth of political topics and thinkers.
0:44.0	My name is Daniel Finn and the features editor here at Jachaman and I'll be presenting the show.
0:50.0	Over the last week Israel has launched a full-scale attack on Lebanon as an extension of its
0:56.3	campaign against Gaza.
0:58.6	So far the airstrikes have killed well over 500 people. Al Jazeera carried this report on September 24th.
1:06.0	Another attack in the heart of southern Beirut.
1:09.0	Once again, Israel says it targeted a Hezbollah commander when it bombed a residential building in the
1:15.2	suburb of Daha'ia on Tuesday. Chaos and panic as emergency services came to the scene, dealing with the aftermath, while some civilians
1:25.7	are choosing to leave the suburb completely.
1:29.8	Our building shook because it was next to another building that was hit.
1:33.0	Right now, I'm leaving the neighborhood because the situation is getting worse because
1:36.5	the Israelis don't distinguish between civilians and fighters.
1:40.7	He's not alone.
1:42.4	Thousands of Lebanese have been fleeing from the south of the Latani River and heading towards the capital.
1:47.0	Most are leaving their homes in a panic after an intense bombing campaign launched by Israel across the southern and eastern regions of
	...

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