I am a philosopher who is interested in better possible futures. I am specifically interested in a world wherein subjugated peoples, and especially Middle Eastern and North African peoples, can exist in cooperatively-determined communities without fear of violent domination or the objectification that affords said violence. In this sense, I am interested in the sort of contingent liberatory praxis that has become associated with decolonial efforts.
I wrote a book! Anti-Colonial Solidarity: Race, Reconciliation, and MENA Liberation (Rowman and Littlefield) takes up the problem of racial conflict and violence–specifically as it involves MENA perceived people–through a global lens. I reflect on how those who are directly impacted by racialization and racism might coordinate in the name of self-defense and, ideally, the above mentioned cooperatively-determined future. How can we become a We who decides our own fate? I argue that the answer is an anti-colonial solidarity, which I take to be an open-ended collectivity that resists rigid universalism, as well as reification, and prioritizes reciprocal relations with others and the environment.
A lot has happened to the global order since my book was published, including the rapid proliferation of machine learning (ML or AI). Much of my recent work has honed in on how ML systems have been used and abused by state and non-state actors to further subjugate vulnerable populations around the world. In other words, unchecked big data and ML exacerbates already existing vulnerabilities, introduces new ones, and makes the need for solidarity movements and autonomist resistance even more exigent.