Latest news with #Taleb
Memri
30-07-2025
- Politics
- Memri
Lebanese Journalist Khoder Taleb on Hizbullah TV: I Wish the Nazis Had Burned All the Jews; This Situation Is Worse Than the Nazi Holocaust
Lebanese journalist Khoder Taleb, publisher of the Jareeda website, and former advisor to the Lebanese Prime Minister discussed talk of a peace agreement with Israel during a July 24, 2025 broadcast on Al-Manar TV (Hizbullah–Lebanon). He asked what kind of peace can be made with 'criminals' and 'child killers.' Taleb said that the current situation is worse than the Nazi Holocaust in Germany, adding: 'I wish the Nazis would have burned all those Jews.' He cited a hadith describing Muslims fighting Jews on Judgment Day and said that Jerusalem and Palestine will be liberated. Also appearing on the broadcast was British-Palestinian journalist Abdel Bari Atwan.
Morocco World
25-07-2025
- Politics
- Morocco World
The Colonial Grammar of Resistance: Taleb Sahara and the Paradox of Racialized Militancy
In the aftermath of decolonization, Frantz Fanon warned that the greatest danger to liberation movements was the internalization of colonial logics under the guise of resistance. Today, figures like Taleb Sahara illustrate a troubling mutation of this insight: militants of identity politics who, in the name of emancipation, reproduce the very epistemologies of racism, hierarchy, and essentialism that colonial power once used to dominate the 'native.' In this essay, I argue that Taleb Sahara represents a paradigmatic case of postcolonial racialized militancy that harnesses Eurocentric morophobia to define 'identity,' while simultaneously undermining the moral and ontological legitimacy of the very subject he claims to liberate. I. The Psychoanalytic Seduction of Purity Taleb Sahara's rhetoric is fixated on a fantasy of racial and moral purity, one that opposes the 'civilized Sahrawi' to the allegedly 'criminal' Moroccan. Drawing from Freudian and Lacanian psychoanalysis, we see here a classic mechanism of projection and scapegoating. The abject Other — in this case, the Moroccan migrant — serves to stabilize a fragile Sahrawi self-image. This maneuver constructs identity through negation: I am Sahrawi because I am not Moroccan. Such boundary-drawing is a response to postcolonial anxiety — an attempt to fix identity in the face of historical fragmentation, hybridity, and geopolitical ambiguity. But this disavowal of the Other is a double bind. As Judith Butler reminds us, identity is never self-possessed; it is always relational, citational, and embedded in power. The Sahrawi subject, as articulated by Taleb Sahara, is only imaginable through the disarticulation of the Moroccan. This is not liberation; it is a psychic repetition of colonial race-thinking. II. The Racial Instrumentalization of the Migrant Taleb's claims — that Morocco 'exports criminals' to Spain as a form of hybrid warfare — echo right-wing conspiratorial narratives across the Global North. The irony is stark: in his attempt to demonize Moroccan statecraft, he borrows the exact racist discourses used by Vox, Rassemblement National, and AfD to exclude all North Africans from the European political imaginary. Here, Taleb joins what Paul Gilroy once called 'the new raciologies' — postcolonial actors who co-opt the biopolitics of race in service of ethno-nationalist agendas. By portraying Moroccan migrants as criminal by default, he reproduces the colonial trope of the 'unassimilable native,' whose very presence threatens the integrity of the Western state. This is not an anti-colonial critique; it is racial ventriloquism. What's more disturbing is Taleb's instrumentalization of state clemency — claiming that Moroccan prisoners pardoned near the end of their sentence are 'weaponized' as migrant criminals. He offers no data, no causality, only paranoid inference. His accusation is not just empirically hollow; it is conceptually perverse. It enacts what Edward Said called a 'travesty of liberation': deploying colonial frameworks of control and suspicion in the name of postcolonial freedom. III. Identity as Fetish, Race as Tool The contradiction in Taleb Sahara's position lies in the fact that while he invokes anti-colonial language — 'liberation,' 'resistance,' 'self-determination' — he does so by deploying the race card as a tactical weapon. But race, as Stuart Hall taught us, is not a stable ground on which to construct identity. It is a floating signifier, subject to the ideological work of power. Taleb's use of race as a tool — to divide, to criminalize, to stigmatize — reintroduces the logics of colonial racial classification into the bloodstream of liberation discourse. He is not dismantling the coloniality of power; he is repurposing it with new targets. This is identity as fetish — a reified, purified ideal that occludes the messiness, plurality, and shared histories of Maghrebi peoples. Postcolonial theorists from Achille Mbembe to Homi Bhabha have shown us that identity is always impure, always in process. To build identity on the foundation of exclusion is not only politically dangerous; it is philosophically bankrupt. It transforms difference into deviance, solidarity into suspicion. IV. The Political Economy of Morophobia Taleb's discourse cannot be separated from a broader European context in which morophobia — a racialized fear of Moroccans — is increasingly weaponized to shape migration policy and diplomatic alignments. His narratives are not isolated; they feed into a transnational economy of fear, one that seeks to devalue Morocco's partnerships and delegitimize its strategic role in Africa and the Mediterranean. But here's the contradiction: while Taleb accuses Morocco of using migrants as pawns, he himself instrumentalizes migrants as political symbols. He invokes the figure of the Moroccan prisoner, stripped of name, voice, or humanity, to enact a rhetorical performance of Sahrawi purity. The migrant becomes a cipher, a blank screen onto which fantasies of contamination, crime, and geopolitical conspiracy are projected. This is not anti-imperialism. It is a re-enactment of imperial power — now in the hands of the postcolonial militant. V. Conclusion: The Trap of Reactive Identity Taleb Sahara's rhetoric exemplifies the danger of what I call reactive identity politics: the construction of selfhood not through affirmative liberation, but through the negation of the Other. This is not a politics of becoming; it is a politics of boundary policing. As Fanon once warned, 'the oppressed will always believe the worst about themselves.' Taleb has taken this one step further — he believes the worst about others in order to justify his own imagined virtue. But in doing so, he resurrects the skeleton of colonial race-thinking and dresses it in the clothes of resistance. True liberation does not require scapegoats. It requires solidarity, plurality, and the rejection of racial logics — especially when they are dressed as emancipation.
Time Magazine
24-07-2025
- Health
- Time Magazine
Journalists In Gaza Are Documenting Their Own Starvation
Last month, unable to carry the weight of two cameras, a work laptop, and his body armor, Gazan photojournalist Bashar Taleb made the decision to prioritize his health over his work. The 30-year-old, who has worked with Agence France-Presse since 2010, had lost 35 pounds, he says, and began to calculate the distances he needs to cover. 'Can I make it back home, or not? Will I be able to find a means of transportation, or not?' He describes feeling weak and dizzy every day. The starvation forecast from over a year ago has now taken hold in Gaza. The U.N. World Food Programme this week said 100,000 women and children suffer from acute severe malnutrition, and a third of the territory's 2.1 million residents have missed meals for more than multiple consecutive days. On Wednesday, at least 10 Palestinians died of starvation, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, raising the total number of hunger-related deaths to 113, including at least 80 children. Journalists like Alkahlut, who lives in Al-Karama, North Gaza, are facing starvation along with the community they cover. 'Today we ate one meal, that's enough for us to live another day,' says Khalil Alkahlut, who works for the Anadolu Agency, a state-run Turkish news agency headquartered in Ankara. The 22-year-old photojournalist estimates that he has lost 60 pounds, speaking to TIME on Tuesday, Alkahlut was, like his three younger brothers, getting by on one serving of lentils a day, no breakfast, and no dinner. 'Tomorrow, I don't know what we will eat.' With international journalists barred by Israel from working independently in Gaza, local reporters are providing first-person accounts of hunger—provided they still have the strength to work. On Monday, the Société des Journalistes de l'Agence France-Presse, the union of Agence France-Presse, warned that AFP's remaining freelance staff in Gaza were at risk of death from malnutrition. Taleb posted on Facebook that his "body is thin" and he can "no longer work." 'Hunger is the hardest thing I've ever experienced,' Taleb tells TIME from Jabaliya, a city about two miles north of Gaza City. 'We [must choose] between death by starvation or death by killing in an attempt to get food from aid trucks.' Since barring international aid agencies and taking over food relief operations, Israeli forces have killed more than 1,000 Palestinians gathering to seek food, the UN reports. The distribution system—managed by the newly-established U.S. and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF)—has been widely criticized by the UN as an opaque mechanism that concentrates aid in a handful of guarded areas and violates core humanitarian principles. On the ground AFP currently maintains ten freelance journalists in Gaza—one writer, three photographers, and six video freelancers within the territory. Many international news organizations withdrew their foreign staff from Gaza in 2024 under Israel's bombardment, leaving local Palestinian journalists as the primary source of information for global audiences. More than 173 of them have been killed.'Journalists endure many deprivations and hardships in warzones. We are deeply alarmed that the threat of starvation is now one of them,' read a statement issued Thursday by the BBC, Reuters, AP and AFP. While declining to provide TIME with contacts for the local journalists working in Gaza, a Reuters spokesperson noted that 'We are providing our contributors with additional financial support to help them and, should they wish to leave the territory, we will provide any assistance possible to help them get out.' According to the union's statement, AFP's Gaza-based journalists receive monthly salaries but face the reality that "there is nothing to buy, or only at completely exorbitant prices." When journalists withdraw their funds from the few remaining cash points to purchase whatever food is left, they're also met with exorbitant withdrawal fees. 'When I go to withdraw $1000 from my bank account, I only receive $550 in cash,' Taleb says. 'This is also a big problem.' Al Jazeera, the Qatar-based news channel that Israel has made moves to ban, released a statement Wednesday calling for global action to protect their journalists in the region. 'I haven't stopped covering for a moment in 21 months,' Al Jazeera correspondent Anas al-Sharif wrote online. 'I am drowning in hunger, trembling in exhaustion, and resisting the fainting that follows me every moment … Gaza is dying. And we die with it.' The broader hunger crisis Famine has not been officially declared in Gaza primarily because, with international aid groups largely barred, the collective Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) system lacks sufficient verifiable on-the-ground data to meet the technical thresholds for a formal declaration. The hunger crisis has intensified since March, when what humanitarian organizations describe as an aid blockade began, pushing Gazans into what the World Health Organization has described as a 'dangerous cycle' following the reduction of aid distribution points from 400, during the spring ceasefire, to just the four military-controlled sites currently operating. That system was put in place at the end of May. Under it, Israel restricts the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) to delivering only 1,600 calories per person daily—significantly below the standard humanitarian requirement of 2,100 calories. Distribution, besides being lethal, is uneven, with reports of aid being diverted or stolen before reaching intended recipients. Israeli Government Spokesman David Mencer was asked Wednesday about mass starvation in Gaza. Speaking from Jerusalem, he said he wanted to talk about "facts, not fiction." On Wednesday, more than 100 NGOs released a joint statement pleading with the Israeli government to allow food, water, medical supplies and other life saving aid into the Strip. The statement quoted an aid worker providing psychosocial support to children in Gaza: "Children tell their parents they want to go to heaven, because at least heaven has food. The statement of the AFP's union observed: "None of us can recall seeing a colleague die of hunger.'
The Sun
22-07-2025
- General
- The Sun
AFP journalists in Gaza face starvation amid Israeli blockade
LONDON: The AFP journalists' association has issued a dire warning that journalists working with the agency in Gaza are facing extreme food shortages and risk starvation under Israel's ongoing blockade. The SDJ, representing AFP staff, stated they refuse to let their colleagues die from hunger. 'Since AFP was founded in August 1944, we have lost journalists in conflicts, we have had wounded and prisoners in our ranks, but none of us can recall seeing a colleague die of hunger,' the association said in a post on X. AFP currently employs a freelance reporter, three photographers, and six video journalists in Gaza. Among them is Bashar Taleb, a 30-year-old photographer, who shared his deteriorating condition on Facebook. 'I don't have the power to cover media anymore. My body is lean and I no longer have the ability to walk,' Taleb wrote. His older brother reportedly collapsed from severe hunger. Despite receiving salaries, AFP journalists in Gaza struggle to afford food due to inflated prices. The agency lacks vehicles as fuel shortages prevent travel, and moving by car risks Israeli airstrikes. Another journalist, Ahlam, expressed fears of not returning alive from assignments. 'Every time I leave the tent to cover an event, conduct an interview, or document a fact, I don't know if I'll come back alive,' she said. - Bernama-Anadolu The union warned that their courage in reporting will not ensure survival. 'We risk learning of their deaths at any moment, and this is unbearable,' the statement added. Israel's blockade since March 2 has barred food, medicine, and aid, worsening famine risks. Over 59,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in Israel's offensive since October 2023.
Business Insider
18-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
'Black Swan' author Nassim Taleb shares 4 life lessons — and reveals what keeps him awake at night
Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the author of "The Black Swan" and "Antifragile," has advice for navigating this period of economic instability, geopolitical upset, and technological upheaval: Stick to what you believe in, future-proof yourself against AI, exercise your mind and body, and have a holistic view of success. The scholar, statistician, and former hedge fund manager also shared what keeps him up at night. Here are four life lessons he shared during a wide-ranging interview with Business Insider. 1. Have the discipline to stick to what you said you'd do A cornerstone of success is having the "discipline to stick to what you promise you're going to do, and do it in the best possible way," Taleb said. Universa Investments, a "Black Swan" fund where he serves as a distinguished scientific advisor, specializes in protecting client portfolios against rare and extreme market events. It now has more than $20 billion in assets under management. The fund has spent "two decades doing the same trades, and we haven't drifted," Taleb said. "If you stick to something that you really believe in, you should never stray," he continued. 2. Future-proof yourself against AI Taleb championed the "Lindy Effect," the theory that the longer an idea, technology, or cultural practice has survived, the longer it is likely to continue to survive. "AI is not denting Lindy skills," he said, advising people to work in "robust" professions less likely to be displaced by AI. He pointed to gardening, nursing, cooking, plumbing, and masonry as "essential" skills that AI can't replace for now. The AI revolution marks the "first time in history" that white-collar knowledge professions are "in danger" relative to manual trades, he said. 3. Exercise your mind and body Taleb told BI that he does 10 to 15 hours of exercise a week, and emphasized that working both the mind and body is essential to living a good, long life. "We all underestimate how much exercise we need," Taleb said. "Being sedentary requires a lot more exercise than we think." He praised Wall Street legend Ed Thorp, 92, for remaining "athletic, in shape, mentally sharp." Now that Taleb is no longer running a hedge fund, he relishes having more free time to read widely and dig into anything that intrigues him, he said. 4. Redefine success as more than getting rich "What I consider success is looking at yourself in the mirror and not being ashamed," Taleb told BI. Taleb, who was born in Lebanon, said his concept of success extends beyond having a great career and making money. It also involves behaving ethically, being useful to others, surrounding yourself with grandchildren and other family members, and being loved by your community. What keeps him awake at night When asked what keeps him awake at night, Taleb said he fretted over the "physical and financial health" of friends and family. Taleb said it's troubling when he sees older people "realize they don't have enough for retirement." A key underlying issue is that advanced economies "struggle to keep the momentum going" as they mature, leading to slower growth and "less of a good future" for their citizens. "They don't realize the dangers," Taleb said. "That worries me." The system "worked for a few generations because people were always doing better than their parents," but that's no longer true for many, he said.
