I am confused by the analyses of the Anglophone left with regard to the social revolts in Libya. The only thing folks seem able to muster is a series of bifurcated abstractions. Thus certain metaphors in the analyses of Libya prevail, such as “greed and grievance”, “patron and client”, “rapacious rule vs innocent population […]
Geography Archives: Africa
Countries in the continent of Africa
Statement of Solidarity with the Queer Palestinian Call for Action “IGLYO Out of Israel”
Statement by the Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Society Palestinian queer activists from Al Qaws for Sexual & Gender Diversity in Palestinian Society, Aswat — Palestinian Gay Women, and PQBDS (Palestinian Queers for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions) have issued a joint statement on June 1st 2011 calling on organizations, groups and […]
Russia’s U-Turn
Russia went to the Group of Eight (G-8) summit meeting at Deauville as an inveterate critic of the “unilateralist” Western intervention in Libya, but came away from the seaside French resort as a mediator between the West and Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. The United States scored a big diplomatic victory in getting Moscow to work […]
Mother Nature, Make Me Rich
NBC recently aired a show called America’s Next Great Restaurant. Contestants, each of whom hoped to open a restaurant chain, were put through a series of tests to see whose idea had the best chance for success. A panel of judges eliminated one person at the end of each program, until the last one […]
Morocco: Mapping the 20th of February Movement Marches Held on the 22nd of May
For more information about the 20th of February Movement in Morocco, visit <24.mamfakinch.com>, <www.mamfakinch.com>, <www.facebook.com/Movement20>. Cf. Rashid Abul-Samh, “Besieged Monarchs” (Al-Ahram Weekly 1048, 19-25 May 2011); Oxford Analytica, “Persistent Protests Undermine ‘Moroccan Exception’” (24 May 2011). var idcomments_acct = ‘c90a61ed51fd7b64001f1361a7a71191’; var idcomments_post_id; var idcomments_post_url; | Print
May 15: The Return to Palestine, from the Maroun Ar-Ras Border
In 2006, I found myself working with a variety of Palestinian groups who wanted to establish an educational center downtown, to create a space for discussion of their legitimate grievances, both about the right of return to Palestine and their situation within Lebanon. The center went up, but then a few days later Israel started […]
On Syria and Libya
Question: Today, Clinton stated that the US considered it necessary to step up pressure on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. How can you comment on this? Foreign Minister Lavrov: No one is happy when in the countries of the Middle East and North Africa, as in all other states there are disturbing developments, with blood […]
Cairo and Athens: A Long Hot Summer
Convinced that Hosni Mubarak would inevitably resort to overt military force against protesters, my wife and I landed in Athens on February 4. Days of protesting, nights spent guarding the streets, and concerns for the sanity of our geographically distant family had taken its toll. Ironically, after less than 24 hours in Athens, I said […]
South Sudan: Rethinking Citizenship, Sovereignty and Self-Determination
Whatever your point of view, it would be difficult to deny that the referendum on South Sudan — unity or independence — was a historic moment. Self‐determination marks the founding of a new political order. Nationalists may try to convince us that the outcome of the referendum, independence, is the natural destiny of the […]
Feeding the Arab Uprisings
I’ll be talking about the relationship between food and the uprisings. I call them uprisings, I don’t call them revolutions, for a multitude of reasons that I will address. . . . One of the most common assertions is that these uprisings were triggered, at least partly, by high food prices. I would like to […]
Statement of Principles and Call for International Trade Union Support for BDS
Occupied Palestine, 4 May 2011 — In commemoration of the first of May — a day of workers’ struggle and international solidarity — the first Palestinian trade union conference for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel (BDS) was held in Ramallah on 30 April 2011, organized by almost the entirety of the Palestinian trade […]
Cuba Opposes Any Foreign Interference in Syria
Statement of Cuban Ambassador Rodolfo Reyes, at the Special Session of the Human Rights Council, on the human rights situation in Syria, Geneva, 29 April 2011 Mr. President: Cuba condemns the hypocrisy and double standards on which the convocation of this special session is based. Human rights are not its genuine motive. The motive is […]
Norman Gottwald: A Pioneering Marxist Biblical Scholar
Norman Gottwald belongs to a rare breed — an American Marxist biblical scholar. More than one jarring juxtaposition in that epithet! Unfortunately, he is less well known outside the relative small circle of biblical scholars than he should be. In order to introduce him to a wider audience, let me say a little about his […]
The War in Libya: Race, “Humanitarianism,” and the Media
Firing for Media Effect: Setting the “African” Agenda “We left behind our friends from Chad. We left behind their bodies. We had 70 or 80 people from Chad working for our company. They cut them dead with pruning shears and axes, attacking them, saying you’re providing troops for Gadhafi. The Sudanese, the Chadians were […]
The Class Dynamics of Asian America: A Primer
The notion that Asian Americans are model minorities originated in the 1960s, mainly in reference to the socioeconomic gains of Japanese and Chinese Americans in particular. It did not take long, however, for that very idea to be applied to Asian Americans as a whole, especially as it continues to be perpetuated by the mainstream […]
The Scorecard on Development, 1960-2010: Closing the Gap?
Executive Summary: This paper is the third installment in a series (the first and second editions were in 2001 and 2005) that traces a long-term growth failure in most of the world’s countries. For the vast majority of the world’s low- and middle-income countries, there was a sharp slowdown in economic growth for the two […]
COSATU to Swazi King: Stop Your Crime, or We’ll Block SA-Swazi Trade
COSATU Mpumalanga memorandum directed to King Mswati III delivered during the protest march held on 12 April 2011 at the Oshoek border gate 12 April 2011 His Majesty King Mswati III Today, the 12 April 2011 members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, together with the Alliance partners are gathered here at the […]
The 12 April Movement and Developments in Swaziland
The South African Communist Party greets the people’s determination and their actions in the epoch of Swaziland’s revolutionary crisis. Our party supports the victory of Swazi popular forces as a victory that will place the political struggle in the region on a new advanced footing. It will mark a sea of change and intensify the […]
British Peace Delegation Departs for Libya
Roshan Muhammed Salih: Angered by the NATO bombing of Libya, this delegation made up of British academics, lawyers, and journalists set off from London’s Heathrow Airport on a peace mission to Tripoli. Their intention is to emphasize that the Western intervention isn’t altruistic and has made the situation there worse. Dave Roberts: It’s really […]
Gilbert Achcar’s Defense of Humanitarian Intervention
Gilbert Achcar defends the recently “UN-authorized” imperialist intervention in Libya on the ground that general principles may require exceptions in concrete cases. “Every general rule admits of exceptions. This includes the general rule that UN-authorized military interventions by imperialist powers are purely reactionary ones, and can never achieve a humanitarian or positive purpose.”1 This kind […]
