Author Page

Ben Ashraf

Benjamin Ashraf

Ashraf

Benjamin Ashraf is The New Arab's Deputy Features Editor. He is also a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Jordan's Center for Strategic Studies and a member of Red Pepper's Admin Collective.

 

Areas of focus: Critical Theory, Post-Colonialism, Aesthetics, and Sound Studies.  

 

Follow him on Twitter: @ashrafzeneca

Analysis: Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has been gifted the keys to the West Bank, an unprecedented concession that allows him to realise his 2017 manifesto to annex Palestinian territory and turn it into a Jewish theocracy.

22 March, 2023

Analysis: There are few more divisive figures in Pakistan than General Pervez Musharraf. Seizing power in a bloodless coup, Musharraf's admirers credit his liberalising agenda, while his detractors accuse him of 'selling off' the country to the US.

20 February, 2023

A wave of anti-boycott legislation has swept across the United States, with Palestine the first casualty. Julia Bacha's film Boycott traces this dangerous trend through three disparate plaintiffs, unveiling an optimistic face of American resolve.

22 November, 2022

Digging beneath the mainstream, Palestinian record label MaJazz Project is unearthing the sounds and stories of unsung pioneers; from the revolutionary Intifada anthems of Riad Awwad to the utopian folk of Al Fajer.

01 September, 2022

India and Pakistan's chauvinistic independence displays often forget the tragedy of Partition, where millions were either killed or displaced. 75 years on, a virtual reality project is reconnecting survivors with the childhood homes they once knew.

12 August, 2022

Five years after the Grenfell Tower fire killed 72 of its residents, none of those found responsible have been held to account. Today, we remember the legacy of the victims and reiterate our lasting call for justice.

14 June, 2022

After decades of existential interrogation, the UK’s Asian Underground is finally reaping the rewards of a long struggle to be seen and heard, with Riz Ahmed’s Oscar-winning performance the latest triumph for the burgeoning creative community.

31 May, 2022

Imran Khan's desperate attempt to cling to office has plunged Pakistan back into chaos. As the dynastic powers return and Khan's claim of a foreign conspiracy refusing to subside, there's little hope for a better future, writes Benjamin Ashraf.

11 April, 2022

As the 2022 election nears, France's Muslims find themselves in the eye of a political, legislative, and psychological storm. Faced with deepening forms of state-sponsored persecution, the future of the French Muslim community is uncertain at best.

22 March, 2022

People's Review of Prevent have released a report berating the British government over its counter-terrorism policy of Prevent, a policy which has become a highly intrusive, oppressive instrument of surveillance against the British Muslim community.

15 February, 2022