Progress, Secularism and the Orientalist Gaze
Olivier Roy, a professor of Orientalism, joins Centre Stage to talk about the roots of Orientalism and the enduring myth of how only the West represents progress. From colonial-era narratives to modern-day politics, Roy explores how the Global South is still perceived through a Eurocentric lens — and what that says about our civilisation, modernity and the West's ongoing struggle with pluralism. This episode is produced in partnership with the International Conference on Orientalism, an intellectual and academic platform that brings together leading scholars in the field to foster informed dialogue towards a balanced civilizational engagement.
Video Duration 20 minutes 47 seconds 20:47
Video Duration 24 minutes 13 seconds 24:13
Video Duration 17 minutes 38 seconds 17:38
Video Duration 23 minutes 28 seconds 23:28
Video Duration 20 minutes 11 seconds 20:11
Video Duration 24 minutes 25 seconds 24:25
Video Duration 18 minutes 40 seconds 18:40
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Al Jazeera
6 days ago
- Al Jazeera
Belgian police question Israelis over alleged Gaza war crimes
Belgian authorities have interrogated two members of the Israeli military following allegations of serious breaches of international humanitarian law committed in Gaza, the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Brussels said. The two people were questioned after legal complaints were filed by the Hind Rajab Foundation and the Global Legal Action Network. The complaints were submitted on Friday and Saturday as the soldiers attended the Tomorrowland music festival in Belgium. 'In light of this potential jurisdiction, the Federal Prosecutor's Office requested the police to locate and interrogate the two individuals named in the complaint,' said the prosecutor's office in a written statement on Monday. 'Following these interrogations, they were released.' The questioning was carried out under a new provision in Belgium's Code of Criminal Procedure, which came into effect last year. It allows Belgian courts to investigate alleged violations abroad if the acts fall under international treaties ratified by Belgium – including the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1984 UN Convention Against Torture. The prosecutor's office said it would not release further information at this stage of the investigation. The Hind Rajab Foundation, based in Belgium, has been campaigning for legal action against Israeli soldiers over alleged war crimes in Gaza. It is named after a six-year-old Palestinian girl who was killed by Israeli fire while fleeing Gaza City with her family early in Israel's war on Gaza. Since its formation last year, the foundation has filed dozens of complaints in more than 10 countries, targeting both low- and high-ranking Israeli military personnel. The group hailed Monday's developments as 'a turning point in the global pursuit of accountability'. 'We will continue to support the ongoing proceedings and call on Belgian authorities to pursue the investigation fully and independently,' the foundation said in a statement. 'Justice must not stop here – and we are committed to seeing it through.' 'At a time when far too many governments remain silent, this action sends a clear message: credible evidence of international crimes must be met with legal response – not political indifference,' the statement added. Israel's Foreign Ministry confirmed the incident, saying that one Israeli citizen and one soldier were interrogated and later released. 'Israeli authorities dealt with this issue and are in touch with the two,' the ministry said in a statement cited by The Associated Press news agency. The incident comes amid growing international outrage over Israel's conduct in its war on Gaza. More than two dozen Western countries called for an immediate end to the war in Gaza on Monday, saying that suffering there had 'reached new depths'. After more than 21 months of fighting that have triggered catastrophic humanitarian conditions for Gaza's more than two million people, Israeli allies Britain, France, Australia, Canada and 21 other countries, plus the European Union, said in a joint statement that the war 'must end now'. 'The suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths,' the signatories added, urging a negotiated ceasefire, the release of captives held by Palestinian armed groups and the free flow of much-needed aid. On Sunday, the World Food Programme accused Israel of using tanks, snipers and other weapons to fire on a crowd of Palestinians seeking food aid. It said that shortly after crossing through the northern Zikim crossing into Gaza, its 25-truck convoy encountered large crowds of civilians waiting for food supplies, who were attacked. 'As the convoy approached, the surrounding crowd came under fire from Israeli tanks, snipers and other gunfire,' it said on X, adding that the incident resulted in the loss of 'countless lives' with many more suffering critical injuries. 'These people were simply trying to access food to feed themselves and their families on the brink of starvation. This terrible incident underscores the increasingly dangerous conditions under which humanitarian operations are forced to be conducted in Gaza.' Gaza's Health Ministry described the Israeli attack, which killed at least 92 people, as one of the war's deadliest days for civilians seeking humanitarian assistance. More than 59,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel began its war on Gaza in October 2023, according to local health officials. Much of the territory lies in ruins, with severe shortages of food, medicine and other essentials due to Israel's ongoing blockade.
Al Jazeera
18-07-2025
- Al Jazeera
Is the international community finally speaking up about Israel?
International public opinion continues to turn against Israel for its war on Gaza, with more governments slowly beginning to reflect those voices and increase their own condemnation of the country. In the last few weeks, Israeli government ministers have been sanctioned by several Western countries, with the United Kingdom, France and Canada issuing a joint statement condemning the 'intolerable' level of 'human suffering' in Gaza. Earlier this week, a number of countries from the Global South, 'The Hague Group', collectively agreed on a number of measures that they say will 'restrain Israel's assault on the Occupied Palestinian Territories'. Across the world, and in increasing numbers, the public, politicians and, following an Israeli strike on a Catholic church in Gaza, religious leaders are speaking out against Israel's killings in Gaza. So, are world powers getting any closer to putting enough pressure on Israel for it to stop? Here's what we know. According to its website, the Hague Group is a global bloc of states committed to 'coordinated legal and diplomatic measures' in defence of international law and solidarity with the people of Palestine. Made up of eight nations; South Africa, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Honduras, Malaysia, Namibia and Senegal, the group has set itself the mission of upholding international law, and safeguarding the principles set out in the Charter of the United Nations, principally 'the responsibility of all nations to uphold the inalienable rights, including the right to self-determination, that it enshrines for all peoples'. Earlier this week, the Hague Group hosted a meeting of some 30 nations, including China, Spain and Qatar, in the Colombian capital of Bogota. Also attending the meeting was UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who characterised the meeting as 'the most significant political development in the past 20 months'. Albanese was recently sanctioned by the United States for her criticism of its ally, Israel. At the end of the two-day meeting, 12 of the countries in attendance agreed to six measures to limit Israel's actions in Gaza. Included in those measures were blocks on supplying arms to Israel, a ban on ships transporting weapons and a review of public contracts for any possible links to companies benefiting from Israel's occupation of Palestine. More and more. On Wednesday, Slovenia barred far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and ultranationalist Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from entering its territory after the wider European Union failed to agree on measures to address charges of widespread human rights abuses against Israel. Slovenia's ban on the two government ministers builds upon earlier sanctions imposed upon Smotrich and Ben-Gvir in June by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK and Norway over their 'incitement to violence'. The two men have been among the most vocal Israeli ministers in rejecting any compromise in negotiations with Palestinians, and pushing for the Jewish settlement of Gaza, as well as the increased building of illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. In May, the UK, France, and Canada issued a joint statement describing Israel's escalation of its campaign against Gaza as 'wholly disproportionate' and promising 'concrete actions' against Israel if it did not halt its offensive. Later that month, the UK followed through on its warning, announcing sanctions on a handful of settler organisations and announcing a 'pause' in free trade negotiations with Israel. Also in May, Turkiye announced that it would block all trade with Israel until the humanitarian situation in Gaza was resolved. South Africa first launched a case for genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice in late December 2023, and has since been supported by other countries, including Colombia, Chile, Spain, Ireland, and Turkiye. In January of 2024, the ICJ issued its provisional ruling, finding what it termed a 'plausible' case for genocide and instructing Israel to undertake emergency measures, including the provision of the aid that its government has effectively blocked since March of this year. Israel's bombing on Thursday of the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, killing three people, drew a rare rebuke from Israel's most stalwart ally, the United States. Following what was reported to be an 'angry' phone call from US President Trump after the bombing, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office issued a statement expressing its 'deep regret' over the attack. To date, Israel has killed more than 58,000 people in Gaza, the majority women and children. Mass public protests against Israel's war on Gaza have continued around the world throughout its duration. And there are clear signs of growing anger over the brutality of the war and the toll it is taking on Palestinians in Gaza. In Western Europe, a survey carried out by the polling company YouGov in June found that net favourability towards Israel had reached its lowest ebb since tracking began. A similar poll produced by CNN this week found similar results among the American public, with only 23 percent of respondents agreeing Israel's actions in Gaza were fully justified, down from 50 percent in October 2023. Public anger has also found voice at high-profile public events, including music festivals such as Germany's Fusion Festival, Poland's Open'er Festival and the UK's Glastonbury festival, where both artists and their supporters used their platforms to denounce the war on Gaza. Protests against the war remain small but are growing, with organisations, such as Standing Together, bringing together Israeli and Palestinian activists to protest the war. There has also been a growing number of reservists refusing to show up for duty. In April, the Israeli magazine +972 reported that more than 100,000 reservists had refused to show up for duty, with open letters from within the military protesting the war growing in number since. Netanyahu's hard-right coalition has been pursuing its war on Gaza despite its domestic and international unpopularity for some time. The government's most recent proposal, that all of Gaza's population be confined into what it calls a 'humanitarian city', but has been likened to a concentration camp and has been taken by many of its critics as evidence that it no longer cares about either international law or global opinion. Internationally, despite its recent criticism of Israel for its bombing of Gaza's one Catholic church, US support for Israel remains resolute. For many in Israel, the continued support of the US, and President Donald Trump in particular, remains the one diplomatic absolute they can rely upon to weather whatever diplomatic storms their actions in Gaza may provoke. In addition to that support, which includes diplomatic guarantees through the use of the US veto in the United Nations Security Council and military support via its extensive arsenal, is the US use of sanctions against Israel's critics, such as the International Criminal Court, whose members were sanctioned in June after it issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on war crimes charges. That means, in the short term, Israel ultimately feels protected as long as it has US support. But as it becomes more of an international pariah, economic and diplomatic isolation may become more difficult to handle.
Al Jazeera
18-07-2025
- Al Jazeera
The Take: Why is Taiwan training for war with China?
Taiwan's annual war games simulating a real Chinese invasion are bigger than ever. As China continues to ramp up military pressure on the island, what does it feel like to live in a place rehearsing for invasion? In this episode: William Yang (@WilliamYang120) – Senior Analyst, International Crisis Group Episode credits: This episode was produced by Tamara Khandaker, Noor Wazwaz, and Amy Walters with Phillip Lanos, Spencer Cline, Kisaa Zehra, Marya Khan, and our guest host, Manuel Rapalo. It was edited by Sarí el-Khalili. Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Joe Plourde mixed this episode. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take's executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera's head of audio. Connect with us: @AJEPodcasts on Instagram, X, Facebook, Threads and YouTube
