Thawra

Today’s installment covers the creation of a Palestinian national liberation movement throughout the 1950s by a people dispersed by the Nakba: organizations, alliances, and theories of change assembled in the universities, cities, and refugee camps surrounding Palestine. We end with the 1959 foundation of Fatah, the first organization for Palestinians led by Palestinians focused first and foremost on Palestinian liberation. This is the story of the beginning of the Palestinian national liberation movement as we have come to know it today.Buy How to Abolish Prisons: Lessons from the Movement against Imprisonment at haymarketbooks.orgBuy States of the Earth: An Ecological and Racial History of Secularization at Versobooks.comSupport The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigCheck out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.comSpread the word about Thawra thedigradio.com/Thawra

This is a compact introduction to the Movement of Arab Nationalists, which in the 1950s built a presence that stretched across the region, from Beirut and Jordan to Cairo and the Gulf—becoming a truly powerful force in Kuwait. Led in significant part by Palestinians, its early history offers a ground-level look at the organizational and theoretical currents shaping radical Arab politics. It is also the backstory for key Marxist groups that later grew out of the Movement: the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, South Yemen’s National Liberation Front, and the Dhofar Liberation Front.Buy Future of Denial at versobooks.comOn May 1st, subscribe to a year of Jacobin‘s digital publication for just $1, or a year of Jacobin in print for only $10: jacobin.com/subscribe/?code=MAYDAYDIGOr this link for a gift: jacobin.com/subscribe/?type=gift&level=standard-digital&?code=MAYDAYDIGSupport The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigCheck out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.comSpread the word about Thawra thedigradio.com/Thawra

Today’s installment lays out the the US’s Eisenhower Doctrine, which in 1957 inaugurated a new era of imperialism in the Middle East; the Ba’ath Party driving Syria and Egypt into the United Arab Republic, a superstate under Nasser’s rule, in 1958; and, later that year, Eisenhower landing US Marines in Lebanon, the first American combat operation in the region.Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigCheck out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.comBuy Burnout: The Emotional Experience of Political Defeat at versobooks.comSubscribe to Jacobin bit.ly/digjacobin

Today’s installment lays out the intensification of the Cold War across the Middle East. Western imperialist powers attempted to recruit Arab countries to the Baghdad Pact, a Middle Eastern NATO. Nasser rallied the Arab masses in opposition, becoming an anti-imperialist icon. In 1956, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. In response, the British, French, and Israelis attacked Egypt. But Nasser and Arab anti-imperialism won the day.Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigCheck out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.comBuy What Was Neoliberalism at haymarketbooks.orgBuy Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, Vol. 1 at haymarketbooks.org

Today’s installment lays out the early years of a struggle for Syria that would decisively shape the Arab world: the fight for independence from France, the first (CIA-backed) coup of 1949, and the rise of the Ba’ath and Communist movements.Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigCheck out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.comBuy The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Wont Save the Planet at versobooks.comBuy Care: The Highest Stage of Capitalism at haymarketbooks.org

Today’s installment lays out the politics surrounding the Zionist settler colonial destruction of Palestine, the Nakba of 1948, and the ground-shifting event that followed in its wake: the Nasser-led 1952 Egyptian Free Officers Movement coup that would set the tone for two decades of revolutionary nationalism across the region. Also: the Soviet camp’s support for the colonial partition of Palestine and its calamitous impact on powerful Arab communist parties.Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigCheck out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.comSubscribe to a year of Jacobin for only $15— a special offer for Dig listeners! bit.ly/digjacobinBuy Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, Vol. 1 at haymarketbooks.org/books/2096-abolition

Today’s installment is a comprehensive overview of the Middle Eastern Arab state system that crystalizes with the end of British and French colonial rule.Support The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDigCheck out our newsletter and vast archives at thedigradio.comBuy Environmentalism from Below: How Global People’s Movements are Leading the Fight for our Planet at haymarketbooks.org/books/2101-environmentalism-from-below

Abdel Razzaq Takriti, historian of Arab and Palestinian revolutionary movements and Rice professor, guides a tour of 20th century anti-colonial struggles. He traces how Ottoman collapse birthed Arab nationalism. He maps the 1920 Iraqi revolt, rural-urban mobilization across mandates, the rise of Baathism and communism, and early Islamist resistance led by figures like Izz ad-Din al-Qassam.

Abdel Rezaq Takriti, historian of the modern Middle East and Rice University professor, traces European imperialism across the Arab Mashriq. He maps Ottoman social structures, the Nahda and new intelligentsia, colonial strategies like mandates and divided rule, and why Britain prioritized Palestine. Short, sharp scenes connect anti-colonial movements, settler comparisons, and Gulf geopolitics.

Introducing Thawra, a miniseries on 20th century Arab politics. Over the coming 16 episodes, host Daniel Denvir and historian Abdel Razzaq Takriti delve into the history of the diverse political radicalisms and revolts that have swept across Arab lands in the past century. Denvir and Takriti demystify the fundamental coloniality of the modern Middle East—including of Israel, the Zionist settler colony launched by the British.This project is brought to you from the Dig, Daniel Denvir’s Jacobin podcast on politics, history, and economics everywhere. Support Thawra and The Dig at Patreon.com/TheDig