The Lede

A Portal to Another World: Translating Early Arabic Poetry — With James Montgomery and Lydia Wilson

Early Arabic hunting poetry showcases a fascinating overlap between the pre-Islamic world, which was dominated by the concepts of fate and time, and the post-Islamic world, in which the standout theme was an omniscient or omnipotent god. “The wise thing about the poetry is it doesn’t seek to reconcile the two, it allows both to coexist,” says Montgomery, Sir Thomas Adams's professor of Arabic at the University of Cambridge, who joins New Lines Culture Editor Lydia Wilson on The Lede.
Montgomery tells Wilson how poetry is a portal to the pre- and early Islamic worlds, and how, after struggling with one set of translations for over 20 years, inspiration came from an unlikely source: YouTube.
Further reading: The Seven Hanging Odes of Mecca
Produced by Finbar Anderson and Joshua Martin
For more information go to newlinesmag.com/podcast

Rethinking Nasser: A New Look at One of the Arab World's Most Polarizing Figures — With Alex Rowell and Joshua Martin

For Alex Rowell, the need to reassess the legacy of former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser has only increased in the decades since the death of the hugely influential figure, and especially recently.
“If you just take a moment to look at the Arab Spring and the countries in which the largest protests occurred, and the regimes against which millions so courageously rose up … they were precisely the regimes that were the most direct legacies of Nasser’s time in power,” Rowell, New Lines’ online editor and author of “We Are Your Soldiers: How Gamal Abdel Nasser Remade the Arab World,” tells Joshua Martin.
Rowell and Martin consider Nasser’s enduring impact up to the present day, including Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza.
Further reading: Hoping to Channel Nasser, Egypt’s Sisi Provokes a Backlash
Produced by Finbar Anderson
For more information go to newlinesmag.com/podcast

Democracy and Controversy in the World's Largest Elections — With Surbhi Gupta and Kwangu Liwewe

In a year of elections across the globe, none will be bigger in scale than that in India, where nearly 1 billion people are eligible to vote. “In the seven decades since India got its independence, democracy has been its identity,” Surbhi Gupta tells Kwangu Liwewe on the first episode of Global Insights on The Lede. 
Gupta and Liwewe discuss the various key issues in the upcoming elections, such as the rise of Hindu nationalism and controversies such as improper donations to major parties, as well as the arrest of key opposition figure Arvind Kejriwal.
Further listening:India’s Political Hinduism — with Nilanjan MukhopadhyayThe War on India’s Free Press — with Manisha Pande and Samar Halarnkar
Further reading:The Ambani Gala Expands the Limits of the Big Fat Indian Wedding
Produced by Finbar Anderson
For more information go to newlinesmag.com/podcast

In the Firing Line — With Joumana Haddad and Faisal Al Yafai

“War changes you. It doesn’t necessarily make you a tougher person or a better person or a worse person, but it is a training on the art of dying,” Joumana Haddad tells New Lines’ Faisal Al Yafai. “I’ve always thought about that ever since I can remember. And it’s not easy to live while thinking you can die any minute.”
The author and activist explains how growing up during the Lebanese Civil War fundamentally shaped her character, encouraging her to try to change the world around her, even if that might just be in her immediate circle.
Haddad and Al Yafai discuss why she chooses to remain in Lebanon despite physical threats to her safety and a tempestuous political climate, most recently manifested in the war in Gaza that has turned southern Lebanon into a warzone. They also discuss some of the ideas that have put Haddad in the firing line in Lebanon, such as her insistence that wearing of the veil or burqa should be banned.
Produced by Finbar Anderson
For more information go to newlinesmag.com/podcast

One Day on TV: Israel's Media War — With Laliv Melamed and Lisa Goldman

After the attacks in Israel on Oct. 7 last year that sparked the current war in Gaza, Laliv Melamed watched as Israeli society came together to mourn its victims — and also closed itself off. It was a phenomenon she recognized from previous conflicts. 
“The entire public sphere becomes like a collective body that is orchestrating around this war effort. I remember in later wars, or operations in Gaza, when I went out to demonstrate, people were shocked that I’m demonstrating in a time of war, because when war is happening everyone needs to be on the same front and just support the troops,” she tells New Lines’ Lisa Goldman.
In her book “Sovereign Intimacy: Private Media and the Traces of Colonial Violence,” Melamed charts the history of what she calls Israeli amnesia back to the 1982 war with Lebanon. She considers how both the country’s media and its anti-war movement present a “partial image of violence,” with profound implications for Israeli society and for those on the other side of the wars it prosecutes, whether in Lebanon or Gaza.
Produced by Finbar Anderson
For more information go to newlinesmag.com/podcast

Women, Life, Freedom: Iran's Protest Movement Today — With Arash Azizi and Danny Postel

In September 2022, the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement broke out in Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody. On this week’s episode Arash Azizi, the author of a new book on the movement, “What Iranians Want: Women, Life, Freedom,” and New Lines’ Danny Postel discuss its immense popularity, how it was different to other protest movements in Iran and why it ultimately failed. Azizi and Postel also consider how the current war in Gaza has shaped the Islamic Republic of Iran’s regional standing.
For more information go to newlinesmag.com/podcast

A Century After the End of the Ottoman Caliphate — With Ryan Gingeras and Faisal Al Yafai

One hundred years ago this week, the Ottoman Caliphate was formally abolished by a decree of the nascent Republic of Turkey’s National Assembly. In this week’s episode of The Lede, New Lines’ Faisal Al Yafai talks to Professor Ryan Gingeras of the Naval Postgraduate School in California, whose book “The Last Days of the Ottoman Empire” tells the story of the caliphate’s final years.
Further listening:The Last Days of the Ottomans — With Eugene RoganImperial Folly After the Ottomans — With James BarrThe Rise of the House of Osman — With Marc David Baer
For more information go to newlinesmag.com/podcast

South Africa-US Relations at a Crossroads

The recent decision by South Africa, a longtime ally of Palestine, to take Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on accusations of genocide sent shock waves through the global community.
The unprecedented move served as a wake-up call to Israel’s Western allies, who might not have predicted the drive of a seemingly less powerful nation to take such an action on the world stage.
“The U.S. is not used to having international court judicial proceedings used either against it or against any of its allies,” Stephen Chan, author and professor of world politics at SOAS, University of London tells New Lines’ Kwangu Liwewe. “The whole idea of international tribunals, international courts, international commissions seems very alien to the American sense of how international relations should work. So, in other words, the only actors should be states, preferably powerful states.”
 
Following South Africa’s case at the ICJ, U.S. lawmakers John James and Jared Moskowitz introduced a bill on Feb. 6 that seeks to reevaluate the bilateral relationship between the U.S and South Africa. The bill alleges that South Africa has forged alliances with malign actors such as Hamas and Russia and specifically accuses South Africa of pursuing a politically motivated lawsuit against Israel.
The legislation stipulates that within 30 days of its enactment, provided it is approved by both the House and Senate, the president must submit to Congress and publicly disclose “an unclassified assessment clearly stating whether South Africa has undertaken actions that undermine the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States.”
The South African government has dismissed the bill stating that it has no future. 
South Africa’s response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict has also made some doubt its assertion of being nonaligned. Western diplomats and local experts point to a series of actions that they say contradict this claim and raise questions about South Africa’s foreign policy and its national interests.
These actions include abstaining from U.N. resolutions condemning Russia, engaging in a joint military exercise with the Russian navy, publicly criticizing the U.S. and allegedly aiding a sanctioned Russian cargo ship.
“It is a confused foreign policy,” Phumlani Majozi, a South African author and political analyst says. “We are taking a direction that is breaking our relations with the West.”

More Than Meets the Eye: Looking Twice at the History of Eyeliner — With Zahra Hankir and Ola Salem

“There’s more to eyeliner than meets the eye,” Zahra Hankir, author of “Eyeliner: A Cultural History,” tells New Lines’ Ola Salem. “This is not just a makeup product. It carries within it so much meaning that goes far beyond beauty. … Historically and through the centuries, eyeliner has been used as a form of conveying a person’s spirituality or their religiosity. It can be a way to repel the evil eye. It has been used medicinally to treat the eye of various ailments such as conjunctivitis. It’s been used to protect against the glare of the sun.”
Hankir and Salem consider their personal experiences and how the product offered them each a way to connect with their cultural heritage while growing up in the diaspora. “It really was a part of my journey of coming of age and self-acceptance,” says Hankir. “When you are growing up in a predominantly white society, and you’re sort of trying to fit in, just growing up by itself is difficult. … There’s this fine line between wanting to assimilate but also wanting to express yourself and your heritage.”
Hankir recalls that while researching her book she considered an aspect of the Orientalism discourse to which she had not previously given much thought. The bust of the ancient Egyptian Queen Nefertiti, she says, exposes the double standards that Western beauty ideals impose on women from the Global South. “Simultaneously the attraction is because she’s exotic-looking, but also they’re almost repulsed by the idea that they would be attracted to something exotic.”
“What I was trying to do with this chapter on Nefertiti was to understand what her place was in Western society, to situate her within the growth trajectory of eyeliner,” Hankir adds. “To learn about the history of how she was perceived I had to look at primarily Western sources and the discourse around her was so Orientalist.”
Hankir highlights some of the modern contradictions around the wearing of eyeliner, such as the case of Iran, where women’s bodies are policed despite the historically religious practice of wearing eyeliner. “Eyeliner is known in its earliest iterations to have been worn by the Prophet Muhammad. So that would make it permissible for Muslim communities to wear eyeliner,” she points out.
One of the more surprising elements of her research, Hankir notes, was how extensively eyeliner is used across different cultures. “This item of makeup has been used historically across these cultures in different ways,” she says. “At the same time, they will have commonalities and similarities. … They’re using eyeliner for similar purposes, and I think the interesting thing is obviously that the eye is so central to our being.”

The War on India’s Free Press — with Manisha Pande, Samar Halarnkar and Surbhi Gupta

India’s media ecosystem has a long and proud history. It was in Kolkata, after all, that the first newspaper in Asia was published. But journalists and observers inside the country are speaking with increasing alarm about a climate of repression and self-censorship, in which outlets that challenge the official government line expose themselves to sanctions.
“There’s a complete and near total capture of mainstream voices, especially the loudest voices, the most prominent voices,” says Manisha Pande, managing editor at Indian media watchdog Newslaundry and host of TV Newsance, a weekly show that looks at TV news in India. “It is not an exaggeration to say that, when you turn on the television today, it’s very close to what you see in non-democracies like Russia,” she tells New Lines’ Surbhi Gupta.
“In more than 30, I think 34 years now that I’ve been a journalist, I have never felt as acutely a sense of threat as I do today,” says Samar Halarnkar, the founder of the independent Indian news website Article 14.
Pande and Halarnkar discuss the ever-present threat of legal action against journalists and news organizations, often on flimsy grounds. 
“It doesn’t really matter what the charges are,” says Halarnkar. “In India, the judicial process is the punishment.”
Pande warns of a trend toward a hyperpartisan media environment in which the dominant, pro-government channels frequently join the government in attacks on the media and echo populist lines denigrating minority groups. 
“I think in 2016 there was a marked shift where anchors started asking for the jailing of activists or voices or dissenters that weren’t in line with the current government,” she says.
“What’s happening to the media is an indication of the de-democratic realization,” adds Halarnkar. “Many people are self-radicalized, believing every bit of this fake news,” he says. “That turns them against their neighbors and friends.”
The two journalists discuss the economic incentives behind pushing a pro-government line and the financial difficulties that might be suffered by trying to remain independent. 
“If you’re a digital news organization, you want investors coming in,” says Pande. “Today, you’re in that space where even if people believe in you and support you … they may not necessarily want to be seen around you because you’re seen as anti-government.”
Pande still marvels at the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modhi still refuses to speak directly to journalists at press conferences. 
“It’s really pathetic that the largest democracy in the world has accepted this,” she says.