Saturday, 31 May 2025

الحركات الاجتماعية وتعبئة الموارد - تأملات


 

منذ مدة، كنتُ مهتمًا بقراءة موضوعين أثريا نفسي بشكل كبير: التصوف وعلم الاجتماع.

النقطة التي وجدتها في علم الاجتماع الكلاسيكي هي: ١) أي نوع من الحكم الاستبدادي في العالم، عندما يريد بسط سيطرته على البنية المعرفية للمجتمع وإخضاعه، يجب أن يبدأ بالعلماء، ثم بالعلم ذاته وتطويعه. (من كونت إلى دي تاكفيل)

٢) جميع أشكال "الديمقراطية" القائمة ليست ديمقراطية. إنها نسخة مشوهة، لأنه لا يوجد ذكر، وفي نهاية المطاف، لا يوجد ذكر، بين الحكام والأنظمة، للقدرة على تضخيم الديمقراطية كمبدأ راديكالي للمساواة. (كراهية الديمقراطية - بقلم: جاك رانسيير)
...
من جهة أخرى، أكد الإمام علي جمعة، في شرحه لكتاب "إحياء علوم الدين" للإمام أبي حامد الغزالي، على نفس النقطة الأولية المتعلقة بالعلماء والأنظمة الاستبدادية.
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لماذا أقول هذا؟

١) لأن جزءًا أساسيًا من بناء أي حركة هو العلم الذي يقودها، من الاستراتيجيات، إلى علم الاجتماع، إلى اقتصاديات الحركة... وهو ما يُسمى بنظرية تعبئة الموارد. وهي إحدى الركائز الأساسية. بدونها، تُصبح الحراكات الساعية للتغيير نابعة من مجتمعًا مُعرّضًا لأحداث تُثير غضبًا جماعيًا، لكنه لا يملك وسيلة للتعبير عن هذا الغضب... إلا على نفسه.

٢) من جانب آخر، هناك - كما قد يعلم البعض - أنواع مختلفة من الحركات الاجتماعية (iCLANT4R)، مُقسّمة حسب مطالبها بالتغيير.

الهوية، المحافظة، الليبرالية، البديلة، الاجتماعية الجديدة، العابرة للحدود، الإصلاحية، الثورية، الخلاصية، والرجعية *سأذكر تعريفاتها أدناه.

٣) لأنني أعتقد أن من الدلالة أن معظم الكتب التي أراها تُطبع وتُباع في المكتبات (على الأقل في مصر)، ومعظم وسائل الإعلام والمسلسلات التلفزيونية، تدور حول: تطوير الأعمال، والتنمية الشخصية (بمعنى شبه نفسي/رأسمالي)، والدين (ولكن ليس بالمعنى النقدي)، وقصص السحر والغموض والعنف.

الكتب ووسائل الإعلام "المسموح بتوزيعها" هي مؤشر على الأيديولوجيات التي يجب غرسها وأين (في أي طبقة اجتماعية-اقتصادية).

من ناحية أخرى، عندما نلجأ إلى وسائل التواصل الاجتماعي، من مواقع التسوق إلى تعليقات الناس عليها، إلى الدردشة، فإن نظرة سريعة تُظهر تدهورًا في معرفة اللغة. ولا أقصد البلاغة (لا! إنها مسألة نسبية)، بل أقصد الإملاء والقواعد! أؤكد لكم أنني رأيت هذا في كتاباتي الرسمية أيضًا، طوال فترة عملي.

الآن، يُسجن أو يُنفى جميع علمائنا الذين يقاومون - بناءً على العلم والمعرفة والفكر الذي اكتسبوه - أو يُجبرون على المقاومة الجسدية، مثل علاء عبد الفتاح ووالدته، الأستاذة الدكتورة ليلى سويف، اللذين يخوضان إضرابًا عن الطعام منذ أكثر من 3 و8 أشهر على التوالي لإنهاء سجن علاء التعسفي بعد أن أمضى 11 عامًا في السجن! قارنوا العدد الهائل من المهندسين والعلماء وعلماء الاجتماع والأطباء خلف القضبان.

على صعيد آخر، هناك تمجيد للقوام المثالي، واللياقة البدنية العالية، والشجاعة، لدرجة انخراطهم الإجباري في وظائف مثل "المعلمين"، للرجال والنساء على حد سواء. وهو ما يمكن رؤيته بشكل مشابه في تاريخ الفاشية.

كل هذا يطرح الأسئلة التالية:

كيف نسعى إلى التعبئة من أجل التغيير الاجتماعي بوسائل إما متجذرة في الأنظمة الاقتصادية القائمة على تجميد العلاقات والظلم (أي الرأسمالية - ولا أقصد حتى بالمعنى الماركسي!) أو بحاجة إلى موافقة الأنظمة نفسها التي تسعى لتغييرها في مرحلة ما؟!

ما الذي يجعل حركة حقوق الإنسان في مصر ومؤسساتها ومطالبها وأنشطتها "المقبولة" حاليًا؟ إصلاحية في أقصى أشكالها؟ أعني، يا إلهي!

كيف يمكننا فتح نقاشات حول العدالة التصالحية والعدالة التحويلية بيننا، ونحن أنفسنا لا نستطيع تحقيقها، ولا نملك حلولًا لمشاكلنا، لا من جذورها؟! وإذا كان الأمر كذلك، فما الذي نحتاج إلى فعله بالضبط لنتمكن من ذلك؟

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نظرية تعبئة الموارد: المبدأ القائل بأن الأشخاص الذين لديهم دافع لإحداث التغيير يجب أن يحصلوا على الموارد اللازمة للنجاح.

الحركة الاجتماعية: جهد دؤوب ومنظم يتضمن حشد أعداد كبيرة من الناس للعمل معًا إما لتحقيق ما يعتقدون أنه تغيير اجتماعي مفيد، أو مقاومة أو عكس ما يعتقدون أنه تغيير اجتماعي ضار.

أنواع الحركات ومعانيها:

الحركة الليبرالية/المبتكرة: تهدف إلى إدخال شيء جديد فيما يتعلق بالثقافة، وأنماط السلوك، والسياسات، أو المؤسسات.

الحركة المحافظة: تُبقي الأمور على حالها.

الحركة الرجعية: تُعيد العناصر الثقافية، وأنماط السلوك، والسياسات، أو المؤسسات القديمة (على عكس الليبرالية).

الحركة الإصلاحية: تُغير العناصر الثقافية، وأنماط السلوك، والسياسات، ولكن ليس المؤسسات.

الحركة الإصلاحية: تُغير العناصر الثقافية، وأنماط السلوك، والسياسات، ولكن ليس المؤسسات. 

Social Movements and resource mobilization- Contemplations

For some time now, I've been interested in reading two things that have greatly enriched my soul: Sufism and sociology.
The point I've found in classical sociology is that: 1) Any type of tyrannical rule in the world, when it wants to extend its control over society's cognitive structure and subjugate it, must begin with scholars, then with science. (From Compte to De Taqueville)
2) All existing forms of "democracy" are not democracy. They're a distorted version, because there's no mention, and ultimately no mention, among rulers and regimes of the ability to inflate democracy as a Radical principle of equality. (The hatred of Democracy - By: Jacques Ranciére)
....
On the other hand, Imam Ali Gomaa, in his commentary on the book "Ihya' 'Ulum al-Din" (The Revival of the Religious Sciences), by Imam Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, emphasized the same initial point regarding scholars and tyrannical regimes.
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Why do I say this?
1) Because a key part of building any movement is the science that drives it, from strategies, to sociology, to the economics of movement... which is called Resource mobilization theory. It is one of the fundamental pillars. Without it, resource management is a society that is exposed to events that cause collective anger/rage, but has no means to express this... except on itself.

2) On another aspect there are - as some might well know- various 'types' of social movements (iCLANT4R), divided according to their demands of change.

identity, conservative, liberal, alternative, new social, transnational, reformative, revolutionary, redemptive, and reactionary *will put their definitions below

3) Because I believe it is telling that most of the books I see commonly printed and sold in libraries (at least in Egypt), most of the media and tv series, revolve around: Business development, Personal development (in a pseudo psychological/ capitalist sense), religion (but not in a critical sense), and stories of sorcery, mystery, and violence.

Books and media 'allowed to be distributed' are an indicative of what ideologies are to be instilled and where (in what socio-economic class). 

On the other hand, when we go to social media, from shopping sites to the comments of people on them to other, to chatting, a quick skim would show the deterioration of knowledge of language. And I don't mean eloquence (nah! that's a relative matter) but I mean Spelling, and Grammar! I can assure you I have seen this in formal writing as well, through out my work.

Now we are having all of our scientists who are resisting -based on science and knowledge and thought they gained- being imprisoned, or exiled, or forced to take bodily forms of resistence, like that of Alaa Abdel-fattah and his mother Prof. Dr. Laila Soueif who are in over 3 and 8 months of hunger strikes respectively to end Alaa's arbitrary imprisonment after he finished 11 ys of imprisonment!. Measure the HUGE amount of Engineers, Scientists, Social Scientists, and Doctors behind bars.

On another level, a glorification of perfect body form, army like fitness, and gallantry to the extent of their obligatory enmeshment in being hired in jobs like "teachers", for both men and women. Such a way that could be seen similarly in the history of fascism.

All of this strikes the following questions:

  1. How come we are seeking mobilization for social change with the means that are either, rooted in economic systems of congealment of relations and injustice (a.k.a capitalism - and I do NOT mean it from the Marxist sense even!) or having to be approved in one stage or another by the exact systems it tries to change?!
  2. What does that make of the human rights movement in Egypt and its institutions and current 'accepted' demands and activities? reformative at most extreme form? I mean WTF.
  3. How can we open debates on restorative justice and transformative justice among us, when we ourselves can't have it, we are not having resolutions to OUR problems, not at their roots?! and if so, WHAT exactly do we need to do to be able to do so? 

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Resource mobilization theory: the ideal that people motivated to create change MUST have access to the necessary resources to succeed.

Social Movement: a persistent and organized effort involving the mobilization of large numbers of people to work together to either bring about what they believe would be beneficial social change or resist or reverse what they believe to be harmful social change.

Types of movements and what they mean: 

  • Liberal/ Innovative Movement: intends to introduce something new with regard to culture, patterns of behavior, policies, or institutions
  • Conservative: maintain things the way they are
  • Reactionary: bring back old cultural elements, patterns of behavior, policies, or institutions ( opposite to Liberal)
  • Reformative: Change cultural elements, patterns of behavior, policies, but NOT the institutions 
  • Revolutionary: Bring about great structural change by replacing one or more major social institutions
  • Identity: Create positive cultural and personal identities for members of groups that have been target of prejudice and discrimination
  • New Social: Achieve moral, quality-of-life, self-actualization, and other non-economic goals
  • Alternative: change on specific type of behavior (eg. abstinence movement)
  • Redemptive: total moral change of individuals affecting multiple behaviors ( eg. fundamentalist movement)
  • Transnational: Achieve aims in more than one country (eg. Human rights movement) 

 

Monday, 24 February 2025

Nat-Socs as an important nonesense

 

2017, neo-Nazi flyers distributed in central Charlottesville, VA.

Calling for the burn of mosques, the rise of the white crusaders, the return of true men instead of the woke "emasculation" of men, the death of "N*****s", the halting of women's right to vote, or work...
These were some of the things I found first hand over platforms like telegram, for groups about National Socialists. A bunch of white 'men' who just can not believe how come all whites are not NatSocs?! -Ugh, those brainwashed bastards, right?!

Beside the priorly mentioned, I can contour the following concepts:
  • Purity of White/Aryan race (Reminds of Nietzsche in Thus Spoke Zarathustra)
  • White and Christianity are used synonymously, like: Those kinda white.
  • The shade of Christianity they're calling for is basically anti-rights of all sorts:
    • Male-dominant
    • No work for women
    • No voting rights for women
    • degeneracy of Black/Afro descendants, LGBTIQ+, Asians, immigrants... You get the picture
    • The glorification of abled bodies
    • Anti-Abortion
    • Speaking about jews seemed like a "I can use them, but I don't respect them" discourse.
    • The use of colonialist anthropometrics and eugenics... the same as WWII Fascists and NAZI's used medical "Theories" and experiments to situate their discourse
  •  There is a huge obsession and complaint about how SMALL of a number they are, and the need to spread more:
    • in terms of mobilization among white people
    • in terms of reproducing more (hence I am assuming they will not see a problem with polygamy)
One might mistakenly think that this only in Euro-American societies, but let me insight you to the "brown barbarians" (to quote them) version of these folks:

In SWANA
  1. Fitrah (Ar. for Nature), Egypt - Nature is only male =men, and females=women
  2. Jnoud Al-Rab (Ar. for Soldiers of the Lord), Lebanon
  3. Jnoud Al-fayiha', Lebanon
  4. ISIS
  5. Taliban
  6. Boko haram
  7. Israel

The commonality in strategies between both Foes:

A. In terms of justification of existence and strategizing:

  • justifying its existence through the continuous production of enemies, both within and beyond its borders
  • the two are moving with the same motive: an unwaivering belief that that whatever they believe in right and Any other are demonic and should be exterminated.
  • They both try to mobilize on a grassroot level. Gaining as much public aid as possible. This is sometimes through service and charity, or through education in the suburbs.
  • Both seek to have their separate economy, but do sometimes due to service provision have government salaries
  • Both seek political dominance, and have emperical aims.
  • Based on ethnology, religion and nationalism, both rely on core belief systems. Making them nothing less that the armies of lovers (to quote plato), or the crusaders. Both who believed that death for the cause is even better (a.k.a martyrdom).
Aha, and Thou shalt not mix between such movements and armed resistence :) This is for another discussion.

B. Use of Digital Sphere:

Mobilizing over cyber space and utilizing means of propaganda are also means of seeking dominance. In my opinion, this could be one of the reasons for the growing polarization of opinions online/offline. I mean c'mon, ISIS's beheadings y'all.
Spending a fortune over purchasing means of surveillance, in dealerships: according to books such as Palestinian Laboratory, and other historical articles and reports, Israel and other states contributed efficiently in providing the hardware and software as well as intelligence and army trainings, for the majority of authoritarian regimes as well as Defined terrorist groups, such as "Janjaweed or Rapid Support Forces" in Sudan for example. Regardless of the source dealer, the stach should always be found.

D. With all the above mentioned, one shall conclude that:

1. Regimes are nothing but the catalyst for such fundamentalism and ethno fascism. What is deeper is the lobbying/organising, the economy/financial and resources mobilizing, and most of all the ideology.
2. Combatting, is not on the level of regimes, nor shall it be by trying to "make sense" into the publics minds. Trying that is like trying to convince a zombie to not eat humans. You don't make sense to the nonsense, you exterminate it, sense-making is for the powerful
3. Keep the knowlege and the sense to You as an organizer and mobilizer, you need it. If not for infilteration, it would be for knowledge of the enemies.
4. Contest over economy, and be innovative: learn from the people of the countries that gone to war, learn from Feminists and Flack movements that had every fucking system against them. Believe it or not Neo-liberalism Can fall down and IS about to fall down. A beast always pay its last rawr before the slash finishes it.
5. While law is all nice and necessary, know that ethics, morals and laws are 3 different things. Always know the difference to play it well. Any law pr mechanism can and will be used against you with the presence of a forceful authority. Take the UN as an Example.
6. Make your education inter and multi disciplinary: scientists and thinkers in the renaissance of the Islamic and European periods, were amazing for a reason, THIS. They mastered the tools to bring down, but also to Build. The only meter for that was what each scientist/philosopher/poet deeply sought, Knowledge for knowledge, or knowledge for authority?
7. Move with a goal that is deeper and more meaningful than being Anti..., what are you beside that?
8. To all my Queer/Trans folx and their intersectionality, especially in the SWANA: Move with all that you are in your activism, not just your sexuality. Your knowledge and expertize is well needed.

In your context how do you see strategizing possible?

Readings: https://wearenoor.org/roots-of-hate-swana/



Wednesday, 19 February 2025

A message to Human Rights Organizers

It is vital now more than ever, that people, especially movement organizers, project handlers etc. to educate themselves. To not wait for the more knowledgeable to rain the information on them. Spend some time to ask google (or Duckduckgo for better options) questions.

You will notice the differences in results geographically, and based on your usual search. This is because - surprise- search results geographically, and politically controlled and manipulated. An example of the political takeover, is the dispute between Mexico and US, after Trump's decision to change the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America on Maps. Google complied, of course! Shyly.


So, in short; seek the information your want; then verify the information necessary from your circle of relevant experts. Don't work in Human rights now if you are not willing to do that labor, and are just fine with being a project implementation and reporting tool.

The Fediverse:

For those who don't know what the fediverse is: "A collection of social networking services that can communicate with each other using a common protocol. Users of different websites can send and receive status updates, multimedia files and other data across the network." - Wikipedia (Illustrated Below)
what that means is that instead of having X, Meta, Tiktok administrated by that single owning corp., These servers are collectively administered and regulated in terms of community regulations and moderation. It allows more freedom of expression, and more feminist approach towards bodily autonomy and agency to representation, meaning Nude bodies are allowed, and are marked as hidden and/or NSFW. Movement wise; This ought to be a more consistent and coherent option.
Therefore; Philanthropists, NGOs, CSOs, Activists..etc. should be on these platforms (especially now)

A message to philanthropy and Civil Society:

Those of us who still struggle, or who just began struggling under the crippling arbitrary measures of authoritarianism, Fascism, and fundamentalism in some areas (ex. US, EU, India), will be faced - to my speculations- by an even worse measures. Such as, over surveillance and authority over activities; or control over banking accounts etc.
This will be particularly expected within the issues of: LGBTIQ, SOGIESC, Women's rights, SRHR, Labor rights for diversities, Racial equality and rights, disabilities rights, digital rights, and religious minorities rights.
My speculation comes from what we have been facing for the past several years in the SWANA/MENA region, collectively called "shrinking of civil society space".
Measures included, but not only:
  1. Incitement against specific NGOs, with moral policing, and accusations of treason.
  2.  Societal incitement by government officials/ reps, religious clerks/groups, etc. against racial groups (especially Black/Afro descendant), LGBTIQ+, Women who seek abortion, Women who practice sexual relations in non-heteronormative ways, religious minorities, tribes...etc.
  3. Using social media and dating apps as methods of entrapment and persecusion.
  4. Legitimization of arbitrary measure, either by issuance of laws, or by usage of state of emergency.
  5. Cutting the funds, or controlling the access to funds from NGOs that are not on the vibe of the government.
  6. Incitement against international human rights entities and threatening the presence of their representatives in some countries.

Here are the 3 points that I want to pass:

  1. It is of utmost necessity for philanthropy and civil society to discuss alternative means of circulating financial transactions. In ways that are accessible, credible, monitorable, and secure. This is due to, the potentiality of closure of bank accounts (Like Egypt), or banks being bombed in war zones (Sudan), or due to country's bankruptcy (like the case of Lebanon).
  2. We need to operate according to our Goals as movements, not as a re-action to adversary's actions measures and policies. i.e. see the adversary (right-wing for example) as a pebble in the way, not the point of the whole agenda around combatting.  
  3. The decentralization was created for two reasons:
    1. The realization of the lethal effect of a singular ownership over platforms and their policies, to rights of expression, access to knowledge and other Eco. Soc. rights.
    2. The core belief of W3C (the world wide web consortium) and its founders, about the UNCHANGING rights of people to access knowledge without Biases (but eachone's own opinions); to anonymity as a form of expression for those who come from places or identities persecuted in their own contexts, or marginalized. And there is a vast body of research in Social Anthropology about this topic in specific. Our rights do not change; and are not granted by the same body that takes it away, they are taken by force.
Let me know your two cents.

خدعة الإعلانات في التطبيقات والموبايل، وكيف تستسخدمه الحكومات (مقال Citizenlab: Uncovering Webloc)

 هذا المقال ترجمة ملخصة وبصرية لتقرير استقصائي نشره معمل "سيتيزن لاب" التابع لجامعة تورونتو بكندا والمعروف بتقاريره وتحقيقاته عن ك...