Leila Sansour

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Articles

Salt Journals: Tunisian women describe their country’s legacy of political imprisonment

Oct 25, 2024 | middleeasteye.net | Farah Abdessamad |Leila Sansour

In more than a dozen short stories included in Salt Journals, a diverse group of Tunisian women chronicle their experience of political imprisonment under the presidencies of Habib Bourguiba and Zine el Abidine Ben Ali. Together, they overcome silence, question the legacy of political oppression in the country and apply a gendered lens to violations that continue to shake Tunisian aspirations for freedom and dignity.
How Ta-Nehisi Coates broke free of liberal Zionism

Oct 16, 2024 | middleeasteye.net | Leila Sansour |Hamid Dabashi

The United States is the single most powerful supporter of the Israeli settler colony. The US government heavily arms and gives political cover to Israel, and considers the people at the mercy of its aggression as America's enemies. And president after president, Republican and Democrat, has enabled Israel to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity, and even genocide with total impunity.
The Racket: A chronicle of chaos wrought by the US empire around the globe

Sep 17, 2024 | middleeasteye.net | Leila Sansour

Matt Kennard’s The Racket, the second edition of which was published this summer, attempts to tackle head-on one of the most emotive questions of our political era: what kind of agent is the United States, and how do we deal with the negative effects of its overreach? Speaking of a single principle that underpins all of Washington’s global operations might sound crude.
Laughing through Christmas

Dec 24, 2023 | thespectator.com | Susan Hill |Dan Hitchens |Lionel Shriver |Leila Sansour

Joy. Family. Love. Lights. Stars. Festivity. And yes, all of those, if you’re lucky, and they are happy words, words that give you that fuzzy glow. Others come fast down the track, of course. War. Disasters. Accidents. Distress. Tears. I am old now so my most familiar Christmas word is “memory,” although I live in the present and “fun” is definitely a Christmas word — but “funny?” Yet as I have been sitting by the log fire thinking about Christmases past, funny keeps cropping up.
The history of stained glass

Dec 24, 2023 | thespectator.com | Dan Hitchens |Susan Hill |Lionel Shriver |Leila Sansour

On December 13, 1643, a Puritan minister called Richard Culmer borrowed the Canterbury town ladder and carefully leaned it against the Cathedral’s Royal Window. He then ascended the ladder’s sixty-odd rungs, holding a pike; according to his account, modestly written in the third person, “Some people wished he might break his neck.” Culmer had in his sights the “wholly superstitious” depictions of the Holy Trinity, of “popish saints” such as St. George, and in particular of St. Thomas Becket.
This will be the saddest Christmas in Bethlehem

Dec 24, 2023 | thespectator.com | Leila Sansour |Dan Hitchens |Susan Hill |Lionel Shriver

I am on my way to Bethlehem, which is where I come from and where I tend to spend Christmas. When I visit from London, I am given strict instructions to bring with me a generous amount of cheddar cheese, a good whisky and, as unlikely as it sounds, Yorkshire tea. I have made it into a local tradition and there is no one else but me to supply the tea in the quantities required. Normally, my biggest concern is trying to find enough space in my suitcase for all these supplies.
No one talks about Ukraine anymore

Dec 24, 2023 | thespectator.com | Lionel Shriver |Dan Hitchens |Susan Hill |Leila Sansour

Apologies for this seasonal downer. Had the website such a listing, this column would surely soar to number one in The Spectator’s “Least Popular” roster. For just now, few topics are a bigger turn-off than Ukraine. Following Russia’s invasion, I got caught up in the same waves of emotion that washed over most western publics, and I say that with no regret. After relentlessly battling the prevailing cultural winds these past few years, I was relieved to feel a sense of solidarity for once.
This Christmas will be the saddest yet

Dec 13, 2023 | spectator.com.au | Leila Sansour

I am on my way to Bethlehem, which is where I come from and where I tend to spend Christmas. When I visit from London, I am given strict instructions to bring with me a generous amount of cheddar cheese, a good whisky and, as unlikely as it sounds, Yorkshire tea.
This Christmas in Bethlehem will be the saddest yet

Dec 8, 2023 | spectator.co.uk | Leila Sansour

Text size Small Medium Large Line Spacing Compact Normal Spacious Comments I am on my way to Bethlehem, which is where I come from and where I tend to spend Christmas. When I visit from London, I am given strict instructions to bring with me a generous amount of cheddar cheese, a good whisky and, as unlikely as it sounds, Yorkshire tea. I have made it into a local tradition and there is no one else but me to supply the tea in the quantities required. Normally, my biggest concern is trying to...