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Riad Alarian

@alarian.muftah.org

editor @muftah.org, host @proteanview.muftah.org

36 Posts90 Follower93 Folgt
Muftah Magazine@muftah.org · 3mo ago

America is in the news again—it always is. Headlines celebrating the World Cup and the nation’s semiquincentennial run alongside grimmer ones about Iran, Gaza, and ICE. Americans are celebrating, grieving, and debating what America is and means. Our new issue is a small contribution to that debate.

Issue 5: America

Our America issue focuses on militarism, foreign policy, technology, capitalism, and exceptionalism through the lens of a word we’re hearing with increasing frequency: multipolarity.

muftah.org

Ajay Singh Chaudhary@materialistjew.bsky.social · 6mo ago

The good people @muftah.org had me and @dbessner.bsky.social on to talk the "Fascism Debate"! Even w/ a lot on the cutting room floor, and so much more to cover, it's a pretty deep dive. I hope generative at addressing this question and why it's important, analytically and politically...

Muftah Magazine@muftah.org · 6mo ago

This is an excellent dissection of the fabled ‘fascism debate’ in America, India, Israel, and beyond featuring two voices whose critical disagreements offer much needed clarity. From @proteanview.muftah.org

Muftah Magazine@muftah.org · 9mo ago

Unilateral demands for “disarmament” seem to have little to do with achieving peace. In fact, they actively avoid the politics that make actual peace possible. Militant movements can’t be disarmed by force; mutual political arrangements must make their weapons unnecessary and even counterproductive.

Is Disarming Hezbollah and Hamas Possible?

The lesson of history is that armed movements do not disarm because they are defeated, but because political developments and integration make their arms functionally obsolete.

muftah.org

Muftah Magazine@muftah.org · 9mo ago

Democracy survived the 1930s because of (not despite) authoritarian and populist tactics, argues Moshik Temkin. Procedural restraint alone is never enough to preserve democratic life. Restoring material security and public faith matter, even at the cost of elite consensus and institutional decorum.

When Populism and Authoritarianism Saved Democracy

In the past thirty years, the top 1% in America have added $21 trillion to their wealth, while the bottom 50% has lost $900 billion. We know from history that democracy cannot survive such conditions.

muftah.org

Riad Alarian@alarian.muftah.org · 11mo ago

This incredibly moving and haunting account of the Gaza genocide by a 19-year-old survivor in @thenation.com is a must-read. He was just 17 when the genocide started.

The Nation Magazine@thenation.com · 11mo ago

"We will remember the martyrs—those who died teaching, reporting, healing, mothering, surviving. We will carry their memory like fire in our hearts. And we will begin again." Read Ali Skaik, a 19-year-old from Gaza, on the ceasefire that will hopefully bring an end to genocide.

Riad Alarian@alarian.muftah.org · 11mo ago

It’s been less than a year since Bashar al-Assad was deposed, and much is still in flux, but I think the arguments @mesbushra.muftah.org and I made in June about Syria’s present condition and possible future continue to hold 👇

Is the New Syrian State Revolutionary?

Post-Assad Syria was, in theory, a blank canvas for revolutionary transformation—in reality, its leaders inherited conditions that narrowed the horizon of possibility before the first stroke was made.

muftah.org

Protean View@proteanview.muftah.org · 11mo ago

The release of our latest episode today marks a modest milestone for Protean View––our tenth episode! Keeping the show running at a consistent pace is a challenge, but we're excited for what's ahead. We hope you're enjoying our content. Thank you for your support ✌️

Muftah Magazine@muftah.org · 11mo ago

Don’t miss this—the recent response of philosophy departments to the Gaza genocide is also discussed. Other topics include Rawls’ early religious & political influences, the meaning of the analytic-continental divide, & how philosophy has historically reinforced the status quo.

Protean View@proteanview.muftah.org · 11mo ago

We have a new episode out with @schuringa.bsky.social on the politics of analytic philosophy. Want to know how and why analytic philosophy framed itself as apolitical even as it was bankrolled by the CIA and the RAND corporation? Listen to our conversation, out now wherever you podcast.

Muftah Magazine@muftah.org · last yr.

Is the new Syrian state revolutionary? In Muftah Magazine's new issue, @alarian.muftah.org & @mesbushra.muftah.org argue that while post-Assad Syria seemed, in theory, a blank canvas for revolutionary change, its inherited conditions narrowed the horizon of possibility.

Is the New Syrian State Revolutionary?

Post-Assad Syria was, in theory, a blank canvas for revolutionary transformation—in reality, its leaders inherited conditions that narrowed the horizon of possibility before the first stroke was made.

muftah.org

Muftah Magazine@muftah.org · last yr.

For Muftah Magazine's latest issue, Zaid Adhami asks: What does it mean to hold commitments 'in the gray'? Though our culture often extols the critical virtues of 'being skeptical,' with Gaza, it can often be an excuse to waver and mask moral evasion.

Commitment in the Gray

Many praise doubt as a critical virtue—but what happens when skepticism becomes an excuse to waver in the face of injustice? As Gaza burns, intellectual ambivalence becomes a mask for moral evasion.

muftah.org

Jason Ānanda Josephson Storm@profstorm.bsky.social · last yr.

Some of you might get a kick out of this short research note I wrote for Harvard’s CSWR: “The Body is Never Just Flesh.” about rival medical epistemologies, spectral anatomies, & the contested meaning of dissection in Edo-Meiji Japan. Enjoy! cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2025/05...

The Body is Never Just Flesh | Center for the Study of World Religions

What actually severed modern clinical practice from older ways of knowing was state power. In 1873, German-trained Nagayo Sensai established the Bureau of Medical Affairs, launching a biopolitical, hy...

cswr.hds.harvard.edu

Riad Alarian@alarian.muftah.org · last yr.

In our country today, we have to endure the circulation of genocidal statements like this as we simultaneously watch college students get caged—indefinitely and without charge—for opposing genocide.

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Muftah Magazine@muftah.org · last yr.

If you haven't explored @proteanview.muftah.org yet, what are you waiting for? We have six great episodes out (on our website and wherever you podcast) featuring Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, Salman Sayyid, Sherman Jackson, Daniel Tutt, Nader Hashemi, and Norman Finkelstein. Much more soon––follow us!

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