As lives are lost, families separated and cultural institutions destroyed, female authors, artists and activists speak of their anger, fear and grief as war rages in their homeland
After the 2011 revolt forced Ben Ali out of power, many Western observers deluded themselves into thinking that Tunisia was successfully building democracy while its Arab neighbours were failing. They had been equally deluded about the quality of the country’s economic management before 2011. It has taken them many years to realise that they have got Tunisia wrong.
Leila Aboulela’s latest novel River Spirit (Saqi Books, March 2023) takes place amid the backdrop of the Mahdist Revolution in the 1880s and the Sudanese struggle for independence. The story, grounded in archival research and based on real characters and events, centers around Akuany, an orphan who later becomes enslaved, and her brother, who is taken in by a merchant family. The narrative shifts between several characters and perspectives as they navigate these turbulent years. Historian Marie Grace Brown, author of Khartoum at Night: Fashion and Body Politics in Imperial Sudan (Stanford University Press, 2017), spoke to Leila Aboulela about the process of bringing intimate and everyday histories to life. Their conversation took place on March 15, 2023 and has been edited for length and clarity.
It may take years before the results of NATO’s military operations against Colonel Muammar Qadhafi’s Libyan regime can finally be judged, but the issues raised by the crisis are of immediate importance. First, the way in which the operation has been conducted is a reminder of the importance to the United States of its European allies. Second, Libya offers a bad model for the future. “Coalitions of the willing” need to be led, and such leadership must come from the United States. Third, the leadership role which, by default, has fallen to Britain and France fosters damaging illusions about what can be expected of them. Without the commitment of substantially more defense resources, Britain will be unable to do more than strike a pose, and the West can least afford posing because security threats notably a rising China, a revanchist Russia, a still incorrigible Iran, and a mad, bad North Korea are real, and only strong American leadership can meet them.