At the outset of Syria's civil war in 2011, Bashar al-Assad had been ruling over the country for 11 years. His father, Hafez al-Assad, had died in June 2000. Bashar only slightly modified the neo-patrimonial system his father had created. While this political system was built around the Assad family and Syria’s Alawite community, Hafez …
Author: Matthias J. Messerle
Middle East Specialist, Speaker, Writer and Political Consultant
The Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam
In this article, I will discuss the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam, agreed upon and issued by the member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in August 1990. It constitutes in many ways a counter-draft, or an Islamic rendering, if you will, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) of 1948. One …
Continue reading The Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam
Love Your Neighbor as Yourself
I met many in Oujda. In just a very short period of time I was given a very personal insight into life and society in Morocco. Of course I couldn't make it to all of the famous tourist attractions such as the cities of Casablanca and Marrakesh. And yet I felt as if I already …
Fundamentalist Misunderstandings
Now that I'm leaving the German Bible Belt, I have come to terms with my own Christian fundamentalist heritage. Religious fundamentalism is on the rise in today's world, it seems, and it is increasingly coupled with intolerance and violence. This is not to say that fundamentalism is necessarily and inherently militant which can be seen …
Academic Frustration
It is done. Finally! Now that I have obtained my first academic degree, I somehow feel eligible to speak out on behalf of all those who are still suffering out there. I can tell from experience that it is serious. Not that everything I have seen and heard was bad. All in all, my experience …
The Last Supper
Danish journalist Klaus Wivel gives an alarming account of the deteriorating human rights situation of Christians in the Middle East. Divided into four chapters, Wivel scrutinizes the fate of Christians in Palestine (West Bank and Gaza), Egypt, Lebanon, and Iraq. Originally published in 2013, the book looks into a future which presents itself worse today …
Germany at Odds with Islam
It was just another talk show on German television dealing with the question whether or not Islam is violent. Terror in God's name – does Islam have a violence problem? was the title of the show hartaberfair that was broadcast Monday evening by the first German TV channel (ARD). It was definitely not the first time …
Mal eben konvertieren – wirklich?
Mein Freund traute sich nicht, also fragte ich den Rabbi: Was man denn tun müsse, um zum Judentum zu konvertieren? Hmm, schwierige Frage. Und keine wirklich eindeutige Antwort. Mein Freund kommt aus Aserbaidschan, er hat teilweise jüdische Vorfahren, praktiziert aber keinen Glauben. Er studiert Israel Studies hier an der Universität Haifa, er möchte in Israel leben, …
Habib Galbi: Liebe meines Herzens
Die Gruppe A-WA besteht aus den drei jüdischen Schwestern Tair, Liron und Tagel Haim. Ihre Großeltern lebten im Jemen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel, bevor der Staat Israel im Jahr 1948 gegründet wurde. Sie verließen ihre Heimat und kamen nach Israel, genauso wie ca. 850 000 andere Jüdinnen und Juden aus der arabischen Welt, größtenteils aufgrund …
Es darf nie einen Schlussstrich geben
Gastbeitrag von Daniel Fetzer (2015) “Der Holocaust ist 70 Jahre her, du bist erst 23 Jahre alt. Du trägst doch keine Verantwortung!” Nicht ganz falsch, was meine norwegischen Freunde da behaupten; ich habe tatsächlich nie jemanden ermordet, verraten und auch keine Nachbarländer überfallen. Warum ich trotzdem überzeugt davon bin, dass auch meine Generation keinen Schlussstrich ziehen darf. Des Gedenkens müde …
Scrutinizing the World 