Security in Context: Mapping Urban (In)Securities in the Middle East and Reconceiving De-imperial Justice across the Global South

Between February 20-24th, 2024, activist scholars and filmmakers from around the world, including Egypt, Lebanon, Palestine, Sudan, Colombia, Brazil, Germany, Sweden, Italy, convened at the University of California, Santa Barbara for a once-in-a-lifetime conference. This major conference, entitled Security in Context: Mapping Urban (In)Securities in the Middle East and Reconceiving De-imperial Justice across the Global South, boasted contributions from nineteen countries and featured 88 speaking participants aimed at discussing and forming new strategies to address repressive security regimes in the Middle East, especially against the backdrop of war and genocide in Palestine. The goals of this conference were to share path-breaking empirical research and conceptual innovations in the area of Critical Security Studies. We also aimed to create spaces for new conversations and broad public education in Critical Security Studies that center the urban, the local, environment, and embodiment; and we gave analytical primacy to attendant vectors of class, gender, sexuality, and mobility that constitute relations of power materially. Finally, this convening launched major collaborative book projects, namely Cairo Securitized: Reconceiving Urban Justice and Social Resilience (Edited by Paul Amar, American University in Cairo Press, 2024), which will be discussed below. We also had the distinct pleasure of organizing twelve additional book panels, many of which featured new book launches. We would like to express our gratitude to the Carnegie Corporation for the essential extramural grant support that made the realization of this conference possible, sustained our uniquely inclusive network, and nurtured the high level of research productivity and public engagement of the Security in Context project. We would like to thank the team from the Security in Context Network for attending and thanks to Hillary Wiesner from the Carnegie Corporation for their attendance. We would like to give special thanks to the Paul Orfalea Gift Endowment for the founding and sustaining support for the Orfalea Center and its team of professionals, student fellows, and Global South research partners. This endowment also inspires our "Research for Action'' educational mission, aiming to cultivate measurable public impact through events, publications, policy papers, books and multimedia content generated by student-led research and content-production partnerships across the Global South and East.

A New Methodology of Conference Organizing

One of the methodological strengths of the conference was its diverse approach to presenting knowledge, as we featured not just professional academics but filmmakers, activists, graduate students, and undergraduates; namely Avery Gunderson, Leon Barhoum and Russell Nylen. Our selected geographies of focus were wide, including Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan Egypt, and Sudan. Not only was the number of speakers impressive, but most speakers participated as audience members as well, prompting consistent referencing of each other’s talks as the days went on. This format transformed the traditional academic conference, separated into distinct and divided segments, into a four-day-long group conversation where each day could help inform the next. A crucial methodological component of event organizing is to put on an event that is memorable and talked about, referenced, and that people feel good to have attended. This is done in all aspects of the creative process, such as creating a program that wows your attendees and is taken back home with them, and is especially vital in curating panel talks. Creating the environment to unleash ideas is as valuable as having important or fresh conversations and perspectives. In all these areas, we have succeeded. Another part of our conference methodology is post-conference content publications, such as this article, for those who were not able to attend. In addition to this article and continuing with our mission to push undergraduate student engagement, undergraduate students were tasked with creating small podcast interviews with selected speakers, further expanding the public availability of our content. Infusing diverse mediums for intellectual discussion into our organizing was also key.

Our inclusion of film was critical for telling Arab stories, as many of the authors of Cairo Securitized came to the conference to tell their stories.

We proudly presented four feature Arab short films: Ehab Tarabieh's "Forgotten" (Golan Heights); Firas Khoury's "Maradona's Legs" (Palestine); Oualid Mouannes' "The Rifle, the Jackal, The Wolf, and the Boy" (Lebanon); and Ahmad Saleh's "Night" (Palestine). Participating as discussants were director Oualid Mouaness, Bashar Tarabieh, the brother of Ehab Tarabieh, and Serge Bakalian, the Executive Director and founder of the Arab Film and Media Institute. As Serge Bakalian put it, this collection was an opportunity to “show our personal stories in a way that often Arab cinema isn't portrayed.”

Redefining Security Studies

Omar Dahi

Charles Hale

This convening to engage with urgent issues was appreciated by all who participated. Omar Dahi from the Security in Context Network provided some overlapping reasons for what brought us together: 1) A critique of the Western gaze on security, which often frames the West as the source of solutions and the non-West, or the Global South, as the origin of problems, to be subjected to military and other securitized forms of engagement; 2) A critique of the narrow disciplinary and methodological approaches of security studies, as well as the topics taken up by security studies. “This also includes a critique of whose voices count and whose voices count as security experts,” Dahi said. Through the diversity of Global South knowledge producers gathered at the conference, we showcased that those who count as security studies experts are not what is typically expected from security studies specialists outside of social activist spaces and activist-minded academia; 3) A moral critique of the global order and global hierarchies. “This is not just a critique, but a search for alternatives; one deeply committed and engaged with social movements and activists throughout the Global South,” Dahi said. These alternatives are not something we are inventing, they are already “out there,” and our hope is to deepen the collaborations, highlight those voices and perspectives and learn from them. Many of those voices were present and speaking at the conference. Dean of Social Sciences at UC Santa Barbara, Charles Hale, further emphasized this point, as he complimented our “common sense scrutiny of the premises of mainstream approaches to security, arguing that until these premises are dislodged and reformulated, a terrible global paradox will persist. Policies and practices Framed as efforts to foster security will continue to produce the opposite, deepened social suffering for large swaths of our societies, especially for racialized and marginalized peoples. Incremental steps in moderating influences will not change the course of history in ways that we so urgently need.”

This conference, its themes and the Orfalea Center’s collaborations with the Security in Context Network follow in the footsteps of a previous initiative focused on security studies that came out of the Social Science Research Council. Professor Charles Hale reflected on the Foundation Program in International Peace and Security (IPS), which operated from roughly 1982 to 2002. He shared insights into the program's origins, objectives, and the transformative impact it aimed to have on academia, policy-making, and public understanding of security issues. Drawing from his personal journey, Dean Hale outlined the ambitious scope of IPS. The program was launched during the Cold War era, amidst heightened geopolitical tensions and the existential threat of nuclear proliferation, to expand the field of security studies beyond traditional frameworks. It sought to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and introduce radically new understandings of human security, environmental security, state violence, identity-based conflicts, and non-governmental actors. Dean Hale recalled ideological polarity within the program between traditional security scholars and those invited as agents of change, emphasizing the program's role in facilitating spirited debates and epistemological dissent. He also mentioned the IPS program's evolution and its efforts to challenge US geopolitical hegemony, noting the diversity and influence of the selection committee in shaping the program's radical and transformative vision. Dean Hale posed reflective questions about the IPS program's impact on contemporary collaborative projects like Security in Context and talked about the program's legacy in fundamentally altering academic and public discourse on peace, conflict, and security. He questioned the reasons behind the program's abrupt end, suggesting a shift toward a traditional security focus post-9/11, and called for a proactive examination of lessons learned from IPS that could inform future field-building efforts. Dean Hale underscored the significance of the IPS program in broadening the intellectual and methodological horizons of security studies, marking a pivotal moment in the pursuit of more inclusive and interdisciplinary approaches to understanding global peace and security challenges. These are program goals that we continue to work towards today.

Launching Cairo Securitized: Reconceiving Urban Justice and Social Resilience

Another core component of this conference and these conversations is the launch of an exciting new volume, Cairo Securitized: Reconceiving Urban Justice and Social Resilience. Professor Paul Amar opened with what makes this new volume so groundbreaking and described it as a collective product of a set of mostly young activist scholars, most of them from Egypt, who started to come together during the revolution in January 2011 and then collaborated in various spaces of exile or diaspora or modes of alternative alliance productions throughout the years that followed during the pandemic period. With the support of the Security and Context Network and the Carnegie Corporation grant, “we were able to find a particular, collaborative project that could bring together many of these dispersed scholars and repressed or marginalized collective research efforts that have begun and been launched during the period of the “Arab Spring” or the revolution in Egypt,” stated Amar. This was a more than two-year-long project to create a conversation about the processes of securitization, the processes of security, crackdowns of urban demolitions and transformation of population dispersions, forms of social and political control, and of the productivity of media, the popular cultural sphere, and of the imaginary itself. Cairo was chosen, as it has served many times as a center for landmark revolutions and projects of global social transformation and is now in a period of intense repression and social and economic collapse. However, coming out of the revolutionary experience, there were many new concepts, frameworks, and alliances that functioned on other levels that were not registrable in the public spaces that survived the period of counter-revolution after the coup in 2013. Amar stated, “This research has been done by very brave, creative activist scholars who spent years building trust with communities, developing alternative ways of thinking, acting, writing, and building alternative political imaginaries.” With new ways of writing comes new ways of reading by new and diverse audiences. The chapters in the book, as Amar described, are each designed to be easily read by an undergrad, a member of the public, a traveler, or a journalist, but who will all pick up on some of the most revolutionary shifts in perspective and will understand the geography of radical subjects that have emerged within Cairo in the past 20 years. Built into the planning, research, and curation of chapters in this book is the knowledge that it is both an activist guide and a contribution to academic scholarship. Amar explicitly stated that one of the goals of the volume was to “plant the seeds so that these ideas can return again in another time and another place so that they can cultivate new futures and new ways of imagining not just social sciences, but also urban life and urban social transformation.”

Keynote (Jasbir Puar): Book Commentary on Cairo Securitized

Jasbir Puar approached Cairo Securitized from a methodological perspective, emphasizing queer and trans aspects of securitization and de-securitization. Puar praised Cairo Securitized for expanding the narrow themes of security studies and providing alternatives that showcase the vitality of urban life beyond surveillance and containment measures. In her talk, Puar detailed the historical and ongoing dynamics of Cairo, including the transformations caused by economic liberalization and resultant stratification and inequality. She discussed how Cairo Securitized is part of a trilogy that maps the urban life shifts in Cairo, showing the city as a space of justice, safety, sustainability, and "sustainable spatially expressed emancipation." She stressed how the volume serves as an indirect feminist, queer, and trans studies reader, pointing out ways that it breaks from traditional area studies’ limitations and emphasizing the importance of recognizing area studies’ work on gender and sexuality as epistemic knowledge. Further, Puar critiqued the conventional approach that often sidelines these areas of scholarship. She elaborated on the volume's expansive methodology and non-binary, anti-patriarchal queer approach, asserting that security studies cannot be anything but queer if it aims to understand the mechanisms of securitization and de-securitization effectively. Puar concluded by provoking thoughts on future research agendas, particularly concerning disability. She connected the discussion back to the broader themes of securitization, noting the disproportionate impact of violence on disabled bodies and the need for critical examination of disability in the context of global security. Her talk was not only a summary of the Cairo Securitized volume but also an exploration of the intersections between urban life, security, and queer theory, advocating for a more inclusive and nuanced approach to understanding the complexities of securitization and urban existence.

“Security in Context” Network Roundtable: Updates and Achievements

The Security in Context Network is one of the Orfalea Center’s core collaborators and partners in programming and organizing, and the immense success of this conference is shared with them. It was a pleasure to hear some of their contributors speak about their incredible work. Elie Haddad gave us an introduction to the Security in Context Network and its four main research tracks. A number of scholars from the Security in Context project were present to discuss their research, which aligns with the four tasks laid out by Elie Haddad:

1) Measuring and Redefining Insecurity; 2) Multipolarity, Great Power Competition and the Global South. Firat Demir introduced the Center for Peace and Development at the University of Oklahoma, and discussed the center's long standing collaboration with Security in Context and their joint research ventures. One is multipolarity and the great power competition. The multipolarity segment focuses on defining and measuring the concept, particularly in terms of South-South versus North-South exchanges, including the development of data sets to track, for example, the degree to which south side trades materialize. On the other hand, the great power competition aspect examines the nature of international influence and competition among major powers like the US, Russia, and China. A significant outcome of this research is the development of datasets which analyze the leadership within international organizations, including the national and educational backgrounds of those in leadership positions, providing insights into the distribution of global influence and authority. Another outcome involves measuring insecurity, or measuring security from the bottom-up. “How do people on the ground feel insecurity? What are those experiences? How do we measure not just weaponized or militarized versions of insecurity?” he asked. The start of this project will be in Syria, and eventually applicable to other countries, where a newly developed methodology to measure insecurity will be deployed involving publicly available data and in-depth interviews. Mandy Turner also has focused on track number two and asks: what are the multilateral agencies and agreements across these different sectors? We can all offer critiques, but what does the current moment tell us about the potential for change in terms of these multilateral agreements and agencies? The current moment, being, the unfolding genocide in Palestine and the utter lack of accountability from institutions set up to do so. “One of the themes that kept emerging, particularly as we watched the unfolding genocide in Palestine, is looking at how the Global South is using multilateral institutions to push forward their agenda and to collaborate with each other. We're seeing this in the UN General Assembly. We're seeing this in the UN Security Council. We're seeing this, of course, at the International Court of Justice” says Turner. 3) Global Capitalism, Transnational War Economies, and Military Industrial Complexes. Shana Marshall's project intentionally focuses on the material and digs into questions of contemporary political economy around war, taking as a departure point the way that the global economy and all its manifestations, such as hyper contemporary forms of capital circulation patterns of accumulation, like financialization, are reshaping the global economy of war. It’s not solely or even primarily about how war may impact a domestic economy where conflict takes place, but how the conditions of the global economy shape war-making itself. 4) Class, Race, Gender and Insecurity. Lisa Hajjar spoke about the origins of her “Global Carceral States” initiative, conducted in conjunction with the Security in Context Network and the Orfalea Center. According to Hajjar, the collaboration between this project, the Orfalea Center, and SiC Network considers carceralism in its multiple dimensions and lenses. She said that the project has four core dimensions: 1) Carceral states: the states themselves, their carceralized populations, and their rationales; 2) The strategies and technologies of carceralism, which are ripe for thinking about transnational flows of violence, surveillance, repression and torture; 3) How carceralism really affects carceralized populations and how they respond; 4) Anti-Carceral movements and agendas. One of the major achievements of this project was a trilingual virtual conference in 2021. As posted to our website, the conference “sought to reflect upon the current globalized carceral reality, and on imprisonment as a tactic of control, subjugation, and dispossession. It presented an opportunity for scholars to contribute to our understanding of prisons, torture, violence, securitization and carcerality. It also invited engagement with the wide range of resistance tactics and transgressions that prisoners, worldwide, devise against state policies and incarcerating regimes.” Readers can view the entirety of that conference here.

Sami Hermez represents one of Security in Context’s international partnerships with the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Global South. Sami described his years-long work with Omar Dahi, coordinating a project for the Arab Council for Social Science. The project is a working group on critical security studies, which he has reestablished in Qatar and brings together a group of scholars to think interdisciplinary on issues of critical security. The scholars come from fields such as anthropology or psychology, ones not typically associated with security studies, but still reflect the expanding definition of what security and security studies can and should be.

Middle East and Latin America: Insecurity States, Militarization and Authoritarianism

One strength for a conference on Securitization is a wide geographic focus, not just Egypt or the Middle East, and an acknowledgement that even a specific geographic focus has global connections, such as those between the Middle East and Latin America. As was stated earlier, a highlight of this conference was the many book launches throughout the week. The first was by Fernando Brancoli, who launched his recently released book Bolsonarismo: The Global Origins and Future of Brazil’s Far Right.This panel discussed sections of Fernando’s book and focused on militarism, sectarian politics, and the environment, all relating back to an authoritarian security regime. The inclusion of Palestine in the week’s content organization was evident, and this book launch was no different. Responding to recent global developments, Fernando changed his presentation in response to Brazil's recalling of their ambassador in Israel, and focused his presentation on more directly relevant aspects of his writing. “What I'm trying to do with the book is show how authoritarian groups in Brazil were not only engaged and focused on Brazilian politics, but they were engaging in a lot of transnational alliances in Africa, Middle East and the US, and I give particular focus to their engagement with Israel,” said Fernando. The book outlines how these authoritarian connections with Israel encompass various areas such as politics, business and religion – Fernando highlights how Bolsonaro saw himself as aligned with a US-Israel Western block in a global holy war to defend civilization. However, the book also portrays how resistance movements in Brazil, such as the landless movement, are engaging with Palestinian activities and movements, arguing that “if they are using the same weapons and systems to oppress groups, we [the resistance groups in Brazil] should somehow create collective resistance to better resist this. It has been quite interesting to see how those movements and the underground movements in Brazil and in Palestine are creating collective resistances,” concluded Fernando.

Commenting on the book, the panelists either responded to particular chapters or themes. Amy Fallas discussed one of the book chapters, and focused on the intersections of moral geopolitics, neo- pentecostalism, Christian Zionism, and the internationalization of salvation, highlighting how these elements have influenced domestic and foreign policy in Brazil under Bolsonaro's presidency. Amy discusses how neo-pentecostalism provided a framework for Bolsonaro to articulate moral discourses, leading to queerphobic and racist policies. She appreciated the chapter's focus on material impacts and the cyclical networks of neo-pentecostalism between the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, emphasizing how these relationships create tangible realities, such as arms sales and the criminalization of vulnerable communities.  Russell Nylen, a second-year PhD student and Orfalea Center Graduate Fellow commented on the ways in which the themes of the book relate to his own research, which focuses on the conflicts between farmers, environmentalists, and mining corporations in Brazil and the difficulties these groups face in communicating and finding common ground. He is particularly interested in the dynamics of resistance movements, such as the Landless Workers Movement, and the lack of dialogue that exacerbates these conflicts. Russell reflected on the ideas presented in the book about the dangers of nationalism and the tendency to demonize the opposition. He discussed how this mindset contributes to societal divisions, extending beyond criminal elements to include political and environmental activists.

Kai Thaler focused on Fernando’s chapter on militarism, and how the concept and strategy of pacification has historically been mobilized against marginalized groups in Brazil, especially Black and Indigenous communities in both urban areas and in the Amazon. Bolsonaro and other right wing actors defended the need for the military and other security forces to secure the nation and promote development against forces of disorder. In an ironic twist, the Workers Party decided to take on a global leadership role in leading a peacekeeping mission in Haiti, Minustah (The United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti), that helped build a new generation of military leaders intent on reinvigorating the military's domestic role within Brazil. “Fernando shows how ideas flowed back and forth between militarized policing of favelas in Rio de Janeiro and militarized military peacekeeping operations, combating gangs in Haiti, pursuing, ‘stabilization’ with top officers who served in Haiti then taking up prominent roles in Bolsonaro's government,” Kai stated. Roosebelinda drew parallels between the political climates of Brazil and Colombia, emphasizing the significant role international dynamics play in shaping the far-right movements. She commended Fernando's approach to understanding the far-right as part of a global domain, which she finds both generative and politically urgent. Roosebelinda delved into the historical specificities distinguishing the Colombian case, such as the emphasis on anti-terrorism over anti-corruption, a narrative that conflated guerrilla warfare with drug trafficking and opposed previous peace negotiations. She outlined parallels between the Colombian and Brazilian cases as part of a broader international ideological field, highlighting key areas: the commitment to neoliberalism, the militarization supported massively by US aid, the deployment of moral panics defining internal and external enemies, and the racialized discourses underpinning national identity.

Forced Displacement, Migration and (in)Security Regimes

This panel highlighted how security regimes, securitization and insecurity affect migrants, specifically how security regimes force migration and impact their journeys, and how securitization policies track migrants after they arrive in a new location. We were also exposed to alternative forms of security and safety, as demonstrated by migrants themselves. Securitization and security regimes are also not exclusively 20th or 21st century concepts, as we learned from Professor Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky who discussed securitization seen in historical refugee regimes, as read in his newly launched book, Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State. “The main argument of my book is that the Ottomans constructed a refugee regime between 1860 and World War One in a similar fashion to what we would expect today from a system of refugee protections.” However, we were warned to not glamorize this system, as resettlement also came with displacement, making clear that, as Vladimir said, “We tend to imagine humanitarianism and ethnic cleansing as polar opposites… but in reality they overlap. Humanitarianism and ethnic cleansing often go together by design.” What interests Vladimir is why refugee resettlement had such different outcomes. “One lesson for today is that state support for refugees is critical for refugees to thrive. It is not enough to simply accept them,” he concluded.

We learned about how security regimes force migration, as was the case with indigenous populations in Guatemala. Professor Giovani Batz discussed themes of securitization in the context of extractivism, state sponsored megaprojects, and forced migration of indigenous peoples in Guetemala who have faced historical and ongoing exploitation and violence as a continuation of past invasions: Spanish colonization, the creation of a plantation economy, and state-sponsored genocide. Giovani’s research illustrates how these invasions have intensified as the Guatemalan state supports megaprojects that harm indigenous communities. He highlighted the concept of “Cuatro Ojos” or “four dispossessions,” reflecting the historical and ongoing struggles of the Maya people against extractivism and neoliberal policies. Colonial extractivist policies and projects have displaced indigenous peoples; Giovani gave the examples of those who had to sell their land and property in order to leave then were forced to return due to financial strains without any claim to their former property. Professor Debanuj DasGupta provided insights to the question of what people do to ensure their own security, in this sense, security can be community, it can be breathing in and out without fear, it can be mundane. He discussed his ethnographic work, detailing the formation of significant relationships with LGBTQ refugees and asylum seekers in Argentina. He illustrates how Argentina's progressive stance on LGBTQ rights has made it a safer haven for queer individuals fleeing persecution, and gives the example of two Syrians who had to flee Syria. He highlights the complex dynamics of refugee resettlement, the challenges faced by immigrants, and the supportive networks formed within the LGBTQ community in Buenos Aires. Through his recounting, Debanuj underscores the transformative power of storytelling and community in addressing the trauma of displacement and fostering new understandings of migration studies. His account not only sheds light on the specific experiences of LGBTQ immigrants but also reflects broader issues of global migration, identity, and the politics of belonging. Do we belong? Do I feel comfortable? These are security questions. We heard of the bond between Debanuj and two queer migrants, how they supported one another, keeping each other “safe.” In this global context, concluded Debanuj, “there is a way queer migrants find each other and create alternative securities in a world where global securities have failed them. And this alter security can be this counter public, it is endearing, it is livability, it is just being with one another, holding one another, cooking together.” This is a type of security, which was seen, however subtly, throughout a number of panels in this conference.

Roundtable and Book Launch: My Brother, My Land: A Story from Palestine

As the current Israeli genocide continues in Gaza, Palestine becomes a prime example of the alternative security mentioned by Debanuj. Global securities have more than failed the Palestinians for at least 75 years, and liberal concepts of security have even been employed against them as well. This injustice can be seen in the Security Council today as the United States has held Gazans hostage to its political whims, it can be seen in the weaponisation of humanitarian aid, it can be seen in “security measures” by the Israelis through “evacuations” of Gazans, and it can be seen in the Israeli logic in a campaign of genocide and ethnic cleansing in the name of “security,” not just for Israelis but for the “civilized” world. The book is the story of Sireen Sawalha’s family and her brother, Eyad. Sami Hermez, the co-author who put down Siree’s oral story to paper, further explained the unique contributions of this book. “This is a story of resistance, not just armed, but through staying and living on the land. This family is on the outskirts of Jenin, and there are very few novels of Palestinians outside the city centers,” he stated. Presenting the book in this fashion at the conference was important. Sireen’s story is hard, both for her and for the audience, yet these presentations are important, as these powerful personal stories do not always make it into the book. This book also teaches us the importance of telling stories and keeping those stories alive, not just for a people or for a cause, but for a single individual as well, as was the case with Sireen. “Our story is very important, and I feel every one of you has a story to tell. Every time i thought I hit rock bottom in life, I remember the book that was being written at the time, and this lifted my spirits as a Palestinian,” said Sireen.

Sherene Seikaly, Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara, gave a powerful and emotional statement about not just the book, but the current genocide in Gaza. While every Palestinian is in a state of constant mourning and grief, Sherene reminded us, “My Brother, My Land teaches us about everyday life, about walking through fire to return, to return to land, to return to each other, to return to the beginning and to imagine different ends. On the first pages of this urgent book, an anonymous Palestinian revolutionary reminds us, love is our motive, not hatred. And that's why we will win,” she concluded.

Authoritarian Security, Youth and Gender Mobilization and Counter-Revolution.

While the Egyptian revolution has been covered in academia, it is also beneficial to revisit this time period with new and matured eyes. THis conference reminded attendees that, just as we will revisit a field site, we must revisit a time period, a moment, a memory, or an event.

Atef Said spoke about his recent book, Revolution Squared: Tahrir, Political Possibilities and Counterrevolution in Egypt. Atef invited us to reevaluate the Egyptian revolution by questioning its geographies. During the revolutionary crisis in Egypt, both Tahrir Square and other sites showcased remarkable displays of power by ordinary citizens. While the global focus was primarily on Tahrir Square, Atef noted a shift in perception among activists regarding this site. What was once seen as a utopian space symbolizing unity and the construction of an alternative society has come under scrutiny, as some critique that the singular focus on Tahrir might have overshadowed other significant activities during the revolution. This critique led to a reevaluation of the role and impact of Tahrir in the revolution, raising questions about the nature of revolutionary spaces, the boundaries of revolution, and whether a revolution is defined by a single rupture or multiple ones. Atef continued with this new lens and reevaluation of the revolution and critiqued the focus on “results” or visible “outcomes” as the sole measure of the revolution. “Often, as social scientists, we prioritize evaluating the outcomes of systemic upheavals—deeming revolutions successful or failures based on whether they lead to regime changes or major institutional transformations. However, this narrow focus overlooks the significance of the process itself,” said Atef. Discussing power, Atef contended that “evaluating the effectiveness of a revolution based solely on its ability to seize power oversimplifies the complex interplay of power dynamics at work. In my analysis, I argue that overlooking the practices of power and the ability to articulate power undermines our understanding of a revolution's impact. For instance, dismissing the Egyptian revolution for not seizing power without acknowledging the significant missteps made is simplistic. More importantly, we should delve into how power was exercised and articulated during this period, recognizing the immense potential that might not have been fully realized.” Similarly, Atef stated that a more comprehensive analysis of counter-revolutionary movements would, much like revolutions, both expand possibilities and instigate containment. This dual nature underscores the importance of examining both the potential and the limitations that arise in the wake of revolutions.

Dina Wahba discussed her recently published book, Counter-Revolutionary Egypt: From the Midan to the Neighbourhood, whichfocuses on emotion and affect during the revolution. Specifically, she analyzes the affective and emotional dynamics of the eighteen days of Egypt's 25th January Revolution and investigates shifting state-society relations in one neighborhood struggling for survival. Like Atef, Dina moves beyond Tahrir Square to explore “how Cairo's urban poor lived, manifested, and appropriated the affective register of the revolution in their local context,” she said. In her book, Dina explores how the regime's systematic efforts to dismantle the revolution's emotional momentum are key to understanding the period following the revolution, highlighting the closure of political opportunities and the failed transition to democracy. She discussed how the state, by spreading narratives of fear and vilification, specifically targeted the urban poor and labeled protesters as terrorists or thugs based on their political affiliations and social classes – a campaign that continued in the post-revolutionary period.

Media, Capitalism, and the Class/Race of the “Popular”

Notably and painfully missing from this convening was Lina Attalah, co-founder of Mada Masr, Egypt’s last remaining independent news source. Lina was targeted, and her travel blocked, by the same security regimes we all convened to discuss and dissect. Her absence was a powerful reminder that “the digital” plane is not one that can be separated from our physical world: these two realms are in constant engagement, subject to the same harsh and authoritarian security regimes all over the world. This lack of safety in online spaces and new ways that digital technologies create insecurity was another theme of the conference. Adel Iskander's presentation focused on the multifaceted figure of world-famous football/soccer player Mohamed Salah, examining his status as a national and global icon against the backdrop of Egyptian politics and society. Adel discussed Salah's unprecedented rise as a football star and his profound impact on Egyptian identity, culture, and politics. He highlighted Salah's unique position of some autonomy from the political machinations within Egypt, unlike other athletes who often become instruments of state propaganda. Adel talked about the concept of "limitless liminality," suggesting Salah inhabits a space that allows him to navigate various social and political landscapes without committing fully to any, thus maintaining his widespread appeal and influence. This liminality, Adel argued, offers Salah a form of protective ambiguity but also places him in a complex relationship with state authority and public expectation. Iskander also touched on the broader implications of Salah's positionality for understanding contemporary Egyptian society and its diaspora. He portrayed Salah as a figure who embodies the tensions and potentialities of modern Egypt, balancing between state narratives and personal autonomy, tradition and modernity, local allegiance and global celebrity. Adel's analysis of Salah serves as a lens through which to view the broader socio-political dynamics of Egypt, illustrating how individual stories can reflect and influence national narratives and identities.

Laila Shereen Sakr presented her recently released book Arabic Glitch: Technoculture, Data Bodies, and Archives, which explores the intersections of digital media, technology, politics, and art, particularly in the context of the Middle East. She discussed her efforts to bridge communities that don't often interact: technologists, artists, and activists, and detailed her concept of the "glitch" as a revealing force in digital culture, a momentary lapse that exposes underlying systems and structures. She aims to challenge conventional understandings of technology and promote a more nuanced comprehension of digital landscapes through her work. Sakr also emphasized the political and social dimensions of her work, discussing the Arab uprisings and the role of technology in mobilizing collective action and resistance, and explored the creation and circulation of "data bodies" – digital representations of individuals that carry significant real-world impacts. By analyzing digital disruptions and the flow of information, Sakr seeks to uncover new ways of understanding and acting within the complex web of global and regional politics. Her presentation underscored the importance of critical engagement with digital media as a tool for social change and highlighted the transformative potential of art and technology in shaping political discourse and action.

Protests, Democratization and Security States: Middle East and Africa

As we revisited the Egyptian Revolution in our previous panel, revisiting protest as a unit of analysis is equally important. These discussions show the need to rethink protest in a dialectical relationship with people; both constantly remaking the other. However, the state is part of this relationship, and we will see how, in some cases, the state is even created through this relationship. Rusha Latif discussed her recently released book Tahrir's Youth: Leaders Of A Leaderless Revolution,  an activist-ethnography focusing on leadership organizations in the Egyptian revolution. In the book, she challenges the original narrative of the January 25th, 2011 revolution in Egypt being a leaderless and “social media” revolution. In her presentation, she mentioned that the narrative described the revolution as youth led, asking “How can it be leaderless and youth led?” Her book is focused on her fieldwork in Egypt, not initially knowing what she would find, but seeking answers in the tension between these narratives. Latif told us that what she did find was confirmation of protest leadership, and described to us the secret strategy that the activists came up with for mobilizing protesters from the urban periphery of Cairo, the popular quarters specifically. Talking to a local leftist activist behind the secret organizing, she learned that this organization, along with others, would later go on to be called the Revolutionary Youth Coalition. Rusha described the plan in question, and how the number of protestors they gathered were far larger than expected, giving activists the opportunity to take Tahrir. “They sketched a map on the spot and they figured out how to route protesters. It was far more than they had ever had in the march, and they brought them into Tahrir. There were actually a lot of veins of protest feeding into Tahrir that day, but that was the one that everyone said brought in the critical mass that facilitated the game changing siege of the square. This means that if it didn't happen, it's possible we might not be talking about a revolution in Egypt today,” concluded Rusha. In her presentation, Cilja Harders noted the discrepancy between the German media's portrayal and the narratives shared by activists on the ground in Cairo during the Egyptian 2011 revolution. Similar to Atef’s analysis, this discrepancy spurred her to rethink traditional political science frameworks, which often simplify the uprising by focusing narrowly on certain demographics, strategies, or outcomes. Cilja stressed the importance of a broader, more complex web of motivations, actions, and consequences that define such movements. She specifically talked about her exploration of emotion dynamics during protest, and explained that her research aims to shift the analytical gaze from conventional metrics of success and strategic objectives to the nuanced interplay between affect, space, and political practices. She emphasized the transformative potential of collective emotional experiences in shaping political consciousness and action, and explained that by examining protests through this lens, Cilja seeks to uncover how these events create spaces for new forms of solidarity, identity, and political engagement, moving beyond the binary of success and failure.

Jillian Schwedler also discussed the creative potential within protest spaces and protest at large. She discussed her recently published book Protesting Jordan: Geographies of Power and Dissent and opened her presentation by addressing the power of protest in general and the pressure it instills on those in power. “Those in power have to reproduce their power constantly, and they would like you to think that protests are these rare, once-in-a-while rupture moments when in reality, they are constantly working. They want to silence those instances so that you're not aware that they're constantly facing challenges over and over,” she said. In the formation of Jordan by the West, there were many instances of protest and resistance, but they were crushed. However, Jillian noted that, yes, many instances of resistance are crushed, but we still see that Jordan is profoundly shaped by all of those instances. She gave the example of the capital of Jordan, currently Amman, originally being planned in As-Salt, yet due to local protest, the capital was moved to Amman, and there grew the bulk of the population. Schwedler’s is a fascinating analysis and challenges the idea that Jordan is not a “real” country with no history of autonomy.

Sudan: Conflict and Security? Or Revolutionary Consciousness and Transnational Solidarity

The Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies at UC Santa Barbara is proud to continue our programming and discussions around Sudan. Our previous content productions, an informative webinar and article can be found here. If we are to rethink a field such as security studies, we must widen our geographies of analysis and study. These geographies, however, are no less informative and active in our world. Providing a platform for these overshadowed stories is key to our redefining of security studies. We were happy to invite the speakers from that webinar – Khalid Medani, and Nisrin Elamin – to Santa Barbara to talk about Sudan in person.

Nisrin Elamin educated the audience with the tumultuous history and ongoing revolution and civil war in Sudan, offering a comprehensive understanding that intertwines historical events with the current crisis. She started by contrasting the December Revolution with previous Sudanese uprisings, tracing the roots of current conflicts back to the colonial legacies and the post-colonial state formation that prioritized certain regions and elites over others, leading to systemic inequalities and unrest. Nisrin highlighted tenant farmers’ early resistance to this exploitative system, noting how their suppression foreshadowed the prolonged conflict and state violence in Sudan. Nisrin then shifted focus to the better-known December Revolution, which began in December 2018 and culminated in the April 2019 overthrow of Omar al-Bashir. She painted a vivid picture of the grassroots movements and “neighborhood resistance committees” that became the backbone of the revolution and described these committees as diverse, community-based collectives that rose from long-standing grievances, illustrating their non-hierarchical leaderships as a beacon of hope and a model of democratic action. However, Nisrin also pointed to the challenges faced by these movements, including internal contradictions and the struggle against a repressive military regime that has tried to quash their efforts. Nisrin shared inspiring stories of resilience and solidarity from the emergency response rooms and resistance committees that continue to provide crucial support and maintain hope among communities and emphasized the importance of interconnected global solidarity.

In his presentation, Khalid Medani discussed the intricacies of revolutionary consciousness and youth activism in Sudan, especially following the partition between Sudan and South Sudan in 2011. He examined the emergence of youth-led organizations like Sudan Change Now, which, despite the disappointing division of the country, began to cultivate a deep-seated resistance against authoritarianism. Medani emphasized the development of a new revolutionary consciousness that persisted despite organizational challenges, highlighting the horizontal networks and informal associations that were pivotal for mobilizing against the repressive state. This emphasis on leaderless structures, Medani suggested, played a critical role in maintaining the movement's momentum against autocracy, and helped foster a space for inclusive participation across gender and class lines, while avoiding co-optation by established political entities. Medani further contextualized Sudan's revolutionary movements within broader historical and social frameworks. He articulated how the youth-led resistance aimed to reconstruct a lost national consciousness, addressing deeply rooted issues like racism and regional disparity that have plagued Sudanese society. The revolutionary charters and vision documents produced by these movements, he notes, provide concrete analyses and solutions, aiming for a redefined national identity that transcends divisive colonial legacies. Medani's discussion then transitioned to the current war in Sudan, to highlight the lack of any substantial civil backing: a stark contrast to typical regional conflicts. He connected this unique situation back to the legacies of Islamist authoritarianism and the systematic dismantling of national structures, which he argues have led to a fragmented society devoid of a unified national consciousness. He then shifted to the role of the Sudanese Professional Association, highlighting its role as a coordinating body during the 2018 uprising. The association's effectiveness, according to Medani, lay in its ability to bridge various professional sectors and social strata, thereby unifying diverse groups in pursuit of common goals. This collaboration marked a significant departure from traditional resistance frameworks, paving the way for a more inclusive and effective revolutionary strategy.

Washington, Palestine, Egypt: Diplomacy Struggles Beyond “Security:” Generational Challenges to Policy Consensus in DC as Mideast Faces Humanitarian Catastrophe, Genocide and Looming Regional War

While our focus is on grassroots and activist scholarship, the view from within Washington and their congressional world is necessary to complete a picture of national conversations around issues such as Gaza. Additionally, these updated insights into Washington’s thinking put into perspective the more active and assertive role the Global South is taking with international institutions. This is related to Yasmin Osman’s work, who began by talking about the Abraham Accords, noting that they have obviously failed in their sham “peace processes.” Omar pointed out that they represented a continued US policy of pushing war for peace, paving the way for the current genocide in Gaza. She framed support for Israel not just through arms and war, but also through economic and political means, such as the recent and current legal battles at the world court, while the US shields Israel from reprimand at the UN level. We see this support being challenged, utilizing the same neo-liberal institutions in ways never seen before. Alison McManus from the Center for American Progress shared a few of her observations on the power structure and organization of decision- and policy-making in Washington. Her insights are based on recent engagements with US policymakers and her analysis of the evolving policy landscape regarding the Middle East, particularly Gaza. McManus’s presentation noted significant centralization of policy direction within the National Security Council under the current administration. This shift, she argued, has led to a lack of accountability and transparency in decision-making processes. While we see the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions Campaign and wider Palestine Solidarity Movement spread rapidly all over the world, we must still ask if there has been any shift in policy regarding Palestine in Washington. Allison addressed this: “on policy outcomes, there is no fundamental generational shift.” There is little to any behavioral change. Not submitting to these demoralizing politics, we can see resistance to this government stubborness in the American street, as was stated by Alex Lubin on this panel. Alex spoke about how affect and cultural meaning produce politics, and the importance of understanding the dialect between global militarized security and conversations around it. We are seeing the formation of a new cultural resistance in the United States to the US-Israel special relationship. Alex highlights the statements of the Black churches coming out for a ceasefire, even those churches historically sympathetic to Zionism. Additionally, we have witnessed the consistent anti-genocide actions in the United States and the large numbers of those Americans who have signed an “uncommitted” vote before the general election. The Democrats have been put on notice. Shana Marshall discussed the concept of a global military-industrial complex, stressing the integration of private finance, such as venture capital and state investment funds, into the military domain. She articulated how technological advancements not only innovate weapons systems but also shape ideological stances towards military expansion, thereby contributing to a narrative that upholds US global dominance. Shana criticized the perception of non-troop interventions, like weapon exports, as lesser evils, using the US's involvement in Gaza through weapon supplies as a case study to underline the thin line between direct and proxy warfare. She highlighted the evolution of warfare through tech industry contributions, such as AI and drone technology, which allow for distant and less accountable military actions. Moreover, Marshall touched on the transformational impact of these dynamics on international relations, particularly through tech-enhanced military operations and the increasing autonomy of weapon deployment.

Celebrating the Authors of Cairo Securitized

While a small number of Cairo Securitized authors have already been quoted above, the following section will highlight the book and its stellar contributions. The authors were divided into thematic panels, and their specific chapters were discussed. The number of speakers and panels showcases the diversity of angles and approaches one can take when writing about the concept of “security.”

Facilitated Discussion Group: Militarization, Sectarianism, and Spatialization of “Security”

Yahia Shawkat spoke about his chapter in Cairo Securitized, “Pacta Sunt Servanda? Exercising Possession in an Informalized Cairo.” He provided an in-depth exploration into the complexities surrounding homeownership and housing security within Egypt, particularly in Cairo. He spoke about the significant gap between perceived and actual property ownership among Egyptian citizens, pointing out that while a vast majority believe they own their homes, only a small fraction holds legally registered deeds. This gap fuels a widespread culture of informal property transactions, contributing to housing insecurity and profoundly shaping Cairo’s urban fabric. Shawkat discussed the history of this issue, tracing it back to legislative shifts in the 1940s that aimed to modernize and formalize property transactions. Despite these reforms, a persistent failure to fully transition from customary practices to a formal legal framework has left many in a precarious state of occupancy. Through a detailed case study, Shawkat illustrated the personal and legal struggles faced by individuals entangled in this system, highlighting broader implications for urban development, social class, and the equitable distribution of property rights in Egypt. His talk underscored the challenges of addressing informalization and the urgent need for comprehensive reforms to ensure housing security and equitable urban development. Mostapha Mohie spoke on his chapter in Cairo Securitized, “Al-Asmarat: Managing Informality, Reproducing Precarity, and Dislocating Workers.” He focused on the real-life consequences of the Egyptian government's displacement strategies targeting residents of informal settlements in Cairo. His talk illuminated the harsh realities faced by communities uprooted from "unsafe areas" and relocated to newly constructed urban projects like Asmarat. While the government portrays these relocations as upgrades, Mostapha argued that they often lead to greater economic and social instability and emphasized how these displacements sever critical social and economic ties, leaving residents more vulnerable than before. By dissecting the disparity between official narratives and the actual experiences of displaced populations, Mostapha revealed the increased living costs, loss of livelihoods, and alienation faced by these communities.

Bert Duffield is the author of the chapter “Military Capitalism: The Economic and Security Logics of Egypt’s New Administrative Capital.” Bert presented her analysis of Egypt's new administrative capital project, revealing the interplay between economic ambitions, security considerations, and urban planning within the context of modern Egypt. She critically assessed the government's justifications for the new capital, such as alleviating congestion in Cairo and enhancing Egypt's global stature. Bert proposed that the project is more reflective of military capitalism and the state's desire for control rather than addressing citizens' needs. She pointed out the symbolic and material exclusions that such megaprojects entail, highlighting the disconnect between the government's grand visions and the realities of urban life for most Egyptians. Bert's examination extended beyond the new capital to broader trends of militarization, state authority, and their impact on urban development and public spaces. Her analysis not only questioned the beneficiaries of these urban initiatives but underscored the broader implications for civil society, public participation, and equitable urban growth. Amy Fallas delved into her Cairo Securitized chapter, “Sectarian Politics? Securitization, Urban Development, and Coptic Advocacy in Cairo.” She talked about the complexities of sectarianism and security within Egypt, with particular attention to the experiences of the Coptic Christian community. Her presentation intertwined personal narratives with broader socio-political dynamics, offering insights into the nuanced ways religious identity intersects with state policies and communal life. Amy challenged dominant narratives that minimize sectarian tensions, advocating for a deeper acknowledgment of religious identities in understanding Egypt's socio-political landscape. She framed addressing sectarian dynamics as crucial for building a more inclusive and just society. Through her exploration of recent incidents of violence and state responses, Amy highlighted the contradictions and challenges in Egypt's approach to religious diversity and sectarianism. Her call for a more nuanced and comprehensive approach underscored the importance of addressing not only overt sectarian violence but also the subtle, systemic factors that contribute to religious discrimination and marginalization.

Sexuality Utopia/ Dystopia and Alternative Gendered Securities

Telling stories or speaking from a personal and intimate space was a theme of this conference that was restated and reflected in these presentations, with explicit mention from Ahmed Awadallah and Yahia Saleh. Ahmed’s goal in writing his chapter was to give a first person queer narrative from Egypt and portray what it means to be queer on Cairo streets. “I think we should not take for granted what it means for people from the region to write something and put their names on it,” he said, reminding us of the danger that can accompany publishing any work in Egypt or the region. Yahia echoed this, stating that he “didn't want to theorize about it. I just want to tell a story of how these acts of securitization are actually forced upon us. It is our bodies – queer bodies and black bodies – that are always tested and battled.” The author of “Cruising Ethics in Cairo Queer Street Socialites Against Fear Regimes,” Ahemd Awadallah talked about “queer desire” as a place to decenter conversations about security, as the queer presence in Cairo forces citizens and authorities to rethink security. Ahmed used the example of “cruising,” which can be described as making a purposeful flirtatious connection with a stranger in a designated space. Ahmed wanted to focus on something “fun” in queer life, not just a focus on trauma, and this fun is the ability for queer people to cruise Cairo streets and have more fun in the most dangerous of places. Cruising is a subculture of queer practice, and there are many who discuss how cruising creates moments to meet people who you would not normally meet if you used online dating apps. “It democratizes who we get to engage with, and then you not only meet, but you have a very intimate encounter at the same time,” Ahmed stated. Unknown to many people, Ahmed stated, Tahrir Square during the Egyptian 2011 revolution was a hotspot for queer cruising. “ It's not something respectable to talk about,” he said. This idea of respectability is a safety issue, as being queer in public is never entirely safe to begin with. He connected his presentation to Tina’s talk on public bathrooms as a place for cruising and said, in those bathrooms, you can find people’s phone numbers and short personal descriptors. “What does this mean for security when queer people are actually willing to publicly give out their number and meet strangers?” he asked.  In his chapter, “Entangled in the City: Interstitial and Queer Urbanism through the Eyes of a Second-generation Nubian,” Yahia Saleh spoke on the issue of queerness and safety, making the connection between freedom and risk, and gave the example of cruising and weekly pride parades. Yahia then talked about the importance of liberating oneself from within. “Everything in me is securitized. My skin color is securitized, my identity, my culture, my mother tongue that I don't speak because I was not taught it in school, and when my sexuality is securitized, what is left for me? If I didn't liberate myself from the inside, I would never be free,” he said. He challenged the mainstream discourse of “central” and “periphery” issues: part of being liberated from within is bringing those “periphery” issues front and center. Yahia mentioned academics and activists who don’t “see how important Nubian rights, land rights, and cultural rights are. The ‘center’ is having a revolution that calls for liberation from a military regime, but everything else is a periphery. No, queer rights are my center, not anything else. My Nubian rights are the center, not the periphery,” he concluded.

In his presentation, Omar Safadi discussed the interplay between masculinity and sectarianism in Lebanon, focusing on the role of homophobia as a mechanism of territorial securitization and social control. Safadi examined Maronite groups in the Achrafieh neighborhood, particularly the self-named "soldiers of God," noting their overt displays of masculinity – symbolized by large crosses, muscular physiques, and aggressive posturing. These groups, comprising disenfranchised and working-class youth, perceive themselves as protectors of their sectarian territory, specifically targeting queer individuals as threats to their social and territorial order. Safadi suggests that these actions by Maronite groups are not merely expressions of individual prejudice but are deeply tied to broader socio-political structures within Lebanon. He points out how the visibility of queer individuals and symbols like the rainbow flag in predominantly Christian neighborhoods such as Ashrafieh, becomes construed as a challenge to the traditional sectarian order: a perceived threat that draws aggressive responses aimed at reasserting control and reaffirming a sectarian identity tied to specific family structures and traditional values. The role of masculinity here is multifaceted. On the one hand, it is performed through physical violence and territorial patrolling, aiming to exclude and marginalize queer bodies from public spaces, thereby safeguarding the sectarian community's moral and physical boundaries. On the other hand, masculinity is implicated in the broader political struggle for control and authority within the sectarian system, where young men mobilize to defend their community’s interests against perceived internal and external threats. This dynamic underscores how sectarianism, masculinity, and homophobia intertwine to shape the political and social landscape of Lebanon, with significant implications for the rights and visibility of queer individuals.

Urban (in)Security, Sports, Sexuality, and “Sanitary Surveillance”

In this panel, the authors challenged the binaries of digital/virtual space and street/real space, using two cases related to an Egyptian 2018 cybercrime law as examples, as well as how infrastructure projects can be used for social “sanitation.” Both panelists Sara Abed and Nora Norall’s presentations relate to Egypt’s 2018 Cybercrime law. Sara Abed presented her chapter, “The Crime of Shamelessness: TikTok Women, the Principle of Bodily Integrity, and Independence without Regrets,” and focused on the crackdowns on working and lower middle-class TikTok women in the year 2020. This was followed by the arrest of nine of them and a belly dancer, all of whom were charged with “violating Egyptian family values” under the 2018 Cybercrime law. Sara stated in her talk that “through the case of the TikTok women, we are able to understand the interplay of digital rights, urban justice, and erotic labor.” By examining the state discourse of sexual morality, Sara argued that the politics of respectability operate through gender, sexuality, moral, social, and class discourses that are monopolized by the state and supported by pro-state media outlets. Sara was more interested in “interrogating the ways in which literature and sex work, along with intersectional and queer readings, could provide us an analysis that recognizes these women's efforts in opposing the state moralizing attitudes and surveillance.” The TikTok women define new urban realities, work opportunities, and routes for social, physical, and virtual mobility to and from major cities.Nora Noralla, and co-author Afsaneh Rigot’s chapter in the book is titled “Queer Digital Activism: Street Media and Subversion of Digital Securitization.” Nora’s presentation also discussed the 2018 cybercrime law, addressing the recent shifts under President Sisi’s regime and ways that vice crimes have been re-politicized and used as tools for social control. She discussed the impact of the 2017 rainbow flag incident and the 2018 cybercrime law, which have led to increased policing of queer spaces online and heavier financial penalties for those convicted. According to Nora, the law provided the legal framework for broader and more systematic policing of the queer community, especially in online spaces. This law enabled authorities to monitor and criminalize a wide range of online activities under the broad category of “immoral acts,” which often included expressions of queerness or non-normative sexual identities. The legislation led to increased digital surveillance, entrapment via dating apps, and harsh penalties for those found guilty. Nora noted that the law's vague definitions and broad applicability empowered it as a tool for moral policing, extending the state's reach into private lives and digital interactions. Similar in theme, Tina Guirguis, author of the chapter “Toilets for the People? Hygiene in the City andDepathologizing Popular Sanitation,” discussed what she calls “Potty Politics” and social sanitation regimes in Egypt. Tina stated that the securitization of Cairo has led to the literal vanishing of public toilets. Tina said, “According to a spokesperson, there were only 44 toilets in all of Cairo that were available to the public..none of them actually still work or are open.” “Why are there no toilets?” Tina asked: a simple question that prompted a discussion of the historical decline in public bathhouse usage in Cairo, largely due to the adoption of indoor plumbing in wealthier neighborhoods. However, as access to indoor plumbing remains limited for much of the city's population, the disappearance of bathhouses – often stigmatized as spaces of poverty and immorality – has exacerbated the sanitation crisis. Recent crackdowns, such as the 2014 raid on a bathhouse under pretexts of combating homosexuality and AIDS, have reinforced negative perceptions and deterred their use, leading to a significant infrastructural void in public sanitation. In response, informal communities have developed sanitation networks to meet the city's needs, highlighting the growing divide between state responsibilities and citizen needs. Tina emphasized the shift in focus from addressing infrastructural challenges to prioritizing social cleansing and urban segregation, utilizing surveillance, public shaming, and punitive measures while associating cleanliness with moral and religious duties. Her research highlights the state's use of infrastructural neglect as a tool for enforcing security and social order, which leads to increased urban surveillance and capitalist development and sidelines the need for public sanitation facilities. In her attempt to map Cairo's public toilets, Tina encountered widespread public aversion and found most facilities either nonexistent or in disrepair, and a media-driven campaign associating these spaces with deviant behaviors, reinforcing governmental negligence.

Rania Ahmed also discussed state efforts to “sanitize” and crack down on public spaces in her chapter, “The Khaki Color of Football: Digitized Militarization and Social Sanitization of Egypt’s Most Popular Game.” Rania shed light on the complex interplay between sports, politics, and society in Egypt, revealing how football stadiums have become battlegrounds for broader political and social contestations. She discussed the digitized militarization and securitization of football stadiums in Egypt, tracing the origins and impacts of these processes on fans, especially the Ultras, and their broader societal implications. Rania discussed the history and significance of the Ultras groups, particularly Ultras Ahlawy and Ultras White Knights, portraying them as significant actors in Egypt’s social and political spheres, especially during the 2011 uprising. Her research shows how the state’s efforts to control and 'sanitize' football spaces through digital entry ID passes reflect wider themes of authoritarian control, resistance, and public space manipulation. The emergence of these fan groups, Rania suggested, represented a reclaiming of public spaces and a challenge to state authority, leading to a fraught relationship with law enforcement. The intricate mechanisms of securitization utilized by the state, including the militarization of stadium ownership, enhanced police surveillance and digitized ticketing processes that serve to exclude certain demographics, particularly working-class fans and Ultras leaders, from football venues. Rania framed these actions within a broader attempt by the state to suppress potential dissenting voices and ensure a particular public image, both domestically and internationally.

Thugs Versus Heroes, Police and Abolition

Hatem Hassan discussed his investigation into thuggery – baltaga – and we saw how he challenges conventional narratives that predominantly frame it as a tool wielded by the state. Discussing his chapter, “Gestures of Territorialism: Baltagiya, Land Anxieties, and Securitizing Squatting,” he highlighted its extensive presence within everyday social interactions and disputes over territorial boundaries, suggesting that thuggery is a complex social phenomenon deeply embedded in Egyptian society's fabric. By examining instances of housing evictions in the 2010s, Hassan illustrates how thuggery is central to narratives of displacement: a stark example of how these practices are utilized by various actors, including the state, landlords, and even community members, to assert control and influence over urban spaces. Furthermore, Hassan addressed the performative and gendered dimensions of thuggery, highlighting how it is employed to police social norms and maintain societal conservatism. His analysis reveals that thuggery, as a concept and practice, is instrumental in enforcing territoriality and policing the boundaries between individual autonomy and collective norms. This insight into the broader implications of thuggery challenges us to reconsider our understanding of power dynamics, social control, and resistance within urban contexts. Aly El Raggal discussed his chapter, “Thuggery, Urbanity, and Enforced Sovereignties: Competing Universes of the Baltaga.” His reflections stem from a dissatisfaction with existing frameworks that either romanticize or demonize thuggery without adequately addressing its embeddedness in the neoliberal restructuring of urban spaces and state governance. Aly's research interrogates the genesis and evolution of baltaga within the context of Egypt's neoliberal turn and the post-2011 political landscape. By examining the symbiotic relationship between thugs and the state, Aly illuminates the processes of territorialization and de-territorialization that underpin the governance of urban spaces. His focus on the "market behind thuggery" unveils the economic underpinnings of thuggery as both a product and a producer of urban insecurity and spatial control. Drawing on fieldwork beyond Cairo, Aly offered a nuanced understanding of how thuggery operates across different urban and rural settings, revealing the complexities of identity, governance, and resistance that shape the contours of thuggery. His call for a reimagined methodological approach looks to capture the multifaceted realities of thuggery, moving beyond reductive analyses to appreciate its role in negotiating power, security, and belonging in contemporary Egyptian society.

Book Launch Organized by the Center for Middle East Studies (UCSB): Maya Mikdashi, Sextarianism: Sovereignty, Secularism, and the State in Lebanon (2022)

The final book launch of our conference was organized by Sherene Sekialy and Shiva Balaghi, and the Center for Middle East Studies at UCSB. The book, Sextarianism: Sovereignty, Secularism, and the State in Lebanon (2022) by Maya Mikdashi, according to Stanford University Press, “offers a new way to understand state power, theorizing how sex, sexuality, and sect shape and are shaped by law, secularism, and sovereignty. Drawing on court archives, public records, and ethnography of the Court of Cassation, the highest civil court in Lebanon, Mikdashi shows how political difference is entangled with religious, secular, and sexual difference. She presents state power as inevitably contingent, like the practices of everyday life it engenders, focusing on the regulation of religious conversion, the curation of legal archives, state and parastatal violence, and secular activism. Sextarianismlocates state power in the experiences, transitions, uprisings, and violence that people in the Middle East continue to live.”

Conclusion

Bringing this conference to a close, and recognizing the intense trauma and loss experienced over the past months and the thirteen years of counter-revolution in the Middle East, Amar reflected on the collective strength and potential for future collaboration among the participants. He proposed that the conference mark the beginning of ongoing projects rather than the conclusion of a singular event, inviting participants to engage in future brainstorming and planning sessions facilitated by himself, Omar Dahi, and the Orfalea Center team. Amar concluded by underscoring the conference's success in creating a genuine collective dynamic with practical and inspirational outcomes, ensuring continued efforts to foster these intersections and successes. In this regard, the Orfalea Center has already succeeded in its continued dialogue with the Cairo Securitized book authors, which have and will continue to come to the public in the form of podcasts, webinars, and articles.