This thesis navigates the process of change and transformation of the relations between workers and state-power in the Islamic Republic throughout the 1980s, by analysing May Day posters and...Show moreThis thesis navigates the process of change and transformation of the relations between workers and state-power in the Islamic Republic throughout the 1980s, by analysing May Day posters and speeches related to the Labor Law. It observes ruptures and continuities through the lens of discourse and seeks to decipher how power circulated within and outside the Iranian factory, in terms of production of knowledge, meanings and signs. Power exercised by whom? This is a key question, because in post-1979 Iran there was not an all-powerful subject. Hence, this thesis explores how Khomeinists came to be accepted in the field of labor relations, beyond disciplinary measures or repression.Show less
This thesis investigates ‘pinkwashing’ – the allegation that the Israeli state and its allies portray Israeli society as homogenously tolerant towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer ...Show moreThis thesis investigates ‘pinkwashing’ – the allegation that the Israeli state and its allies portray Israeli society as homogenously tolerant towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people, and portray Palestinian society as homogenously intolerant towards LGBTQ people, in order to improve the Israeli state’s image abroad and justify its violations of Palestinian rights. Using evidence from interviews with LGBTQ Israelis and Palestinians, as well as other sources, this thesis argues that ‘pinkwashing’ is taking place, and that it harms both Israelis and Palestinians.Show less
This thesis reveals the networks of Édouard Herriot, the leader of the Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party and the Mayor of Lyon, with the Young Turks and the Kemalists in the Ottoman...Show moreThis thesis reveals the networks of Édouard Herriot, the leader of the Republican, Radical and Radical-Socialist Party and the Mayor of Lyon, with the Young Turks and the Kemalists in the Ottoman Empire and in the Republic of Turkey. The study displays Herriot's channels of communications and the influence of those relations starting from the 1908 Young Turk Revolution until the Atatürk's death in 1938. The thesis is divided into two parts in which it stand as before and after the Great War. In both parts, Herriot's role as an intermediary and the political go-between was contextualized. In the second part, the intellectual relations are exposed as well as his relations with the republican politicans, intellectuals, and the Kemalist elites. Therefore, the degree of influence generated from those relations are also discussed. The study is based on primary source material that were published in French, Ottoman Turkish (Turkish), and English.Show less
Suez is a seaport city which is one of the two gates of the Suez Canal. Most media talked about Tahrir Square in Cairo as the epicenter of the Arab Spring in Egypt. However the truth is that Suez...Show moreSuez is a seaport city which is one of the two gates of the Suez Canal. Most media talked about Tahrir Square in Cairo as the epicenter of the Arab Spring in Egypt. However the truth is that Suez was genuinely the center of the unprecendented uprising, as it was the first city to rise up against Hosni Mubarak. Likewise, Suez was also sadly known for being the city where the first protester was killed in Egypt during the January 2011 uprisings. Therein, Suez was renowned across Egypt for carrying ‘The Flame of Revolution‘. As such, some activists referred to Suez as the ‘Egyptian Sidi Bouzid’.Show less
Within his account of the Islamic Revolution, The Priest and the King, Desmond Harney, a former British diplomat in Teheran, made reference to the “old Iranian conviction of ‘the hand of the...Show moreWithin his account of the Islamic Revolution, The Priest and the King, Desmond Harney, a former British diplomat in Teheran, made reference to the “old Iranian conviction of ‘the hand of the English’ (dast-e Englis-ha).” The most obvious manifestations of the British presence in Iran during the 1970s were the British Foreign Office (FCO) and the BBC Persian Service (BBCPS). The BBCPS was significant as a media enterprise, in relation to the heavily censored domestic Iranian media, but also due to the part it played in the triangle which existed between the BBCPS, the British FCO and the Shah. The Shah believed that it was, in part, the BBC that had instigated, or at least promoted, the unrest which resulted in the 1979 revolution. Was this paranoia on the part of the Shah, or was it justified? A consideration of archival sources in the BBC written archives and the FCO archives during the decade preceding the Iranian Revolution helps to elucidate the complex relationship which existed between the BBCPS and the British FCO, while also providing some sort of answers as to why the Shah felt so threatened by the activities of a foreign media institution.Show less
