The ‘Un-revolutionary’ Figure

Abstract

Since protest movements had swept the Middle East and North Africa regions in early 2011, new politics have emerged, creating unimagined spaces, ways of existence and knowing the world, and more importantly, new subcultures of othering. This article critically examines revolutionary subcultures of non-comradeship, figurations of ‘non-authentic revolutionaries’ and ways of revolutionary othering by focusing on the term ‘Ramadyeen’ as a reference coined by Syrian revolutionaries to describe individuals whose politics are ‘not revolutionary enough’. Written from the positionality of a scholar-activist who participated in the protest movement, this text employs anti-sectarian feminist politics to reflect on how ‘Ramadyeen’ was mobilized to erase and decrease voices of nuances and criticism of dominant revolutionary demands, specifically around humanitarian intervention, militarization and sanctions against Syria. Therefore, this article locates ‘Ramadayeen’ as a keyword of counter-cultures targeting ‘un-revolutionary’ people and political positions.