Geography Archives: Africa

Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.  Cf. “As with Morocco, with the outcome largely predictable, the most interesting aspect of the results will not be the allocation of seats but the turnout.  SCAF will be hoping for a high participation rate as evidence of popular endorsement of its transitional role” (James Asfa, “Democrats Against Elections: […]

  General strikes were common in Europe and in the U.S. towards the end of the nineteenth century and in the first decades of the twentieth century.  They provoked great debates within the labor movement and within the revolutionary parties and movements (anarchist, communist, socialist). Much discussed were the importance of the general strike in […]

The leader of al-Nahda movement, Rachid Ghannouchi, made his first visit to a foreign country after the first post-revolution Tunisian elections. His choice was the State of Qatar. Analysts see many messages in this gesture but some Tunisians are troubled by the invitation he had extended to the Emir of Qatar. Although many do not want any foreign leader present during the opening session of the constituent assembly, some Tunisians are singling out the ruler of Qatar, Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, as a persona non grata. They see him as a bully who is using Al Jazeera and his huge wealth to push an agenda that is not necessarily in the interest of their country.

On March 9th this year, under the title of “NATO, War, Lies and Business”, I published a new Reflection about the role of that warlike organization. I am selecting some fundamental paragraphs from that Reflection: “As some may be aware, in September of 1969, Muammar al-Gaddafi, an Arab Bedouin soldier of a peculiar character and […]

On March 2nd, under the title of “NATO’s Inevitable War” I wrote: “In contrast with what is happening in Egypt and Tunisia, Libya occupies the first spot on the Human Development Index for Africa and it has the highest life expectancy on the continent. Education and health receive special attention from the State. The cultural […]

  Salim Lamrani.  État de siège; les sanctions économiques des États-Unis contre Cuba(State of Siege: The United States’ economic sanctions against Cuba).  Prologue by Wayne S. Smith.  Preface by Paul Estrade.  Paris, Editions Estrella, 2011.  15 euros. CSF: You’ve just published a new book under the title État de siège.  What exactly do you cover […]

The 15th of October (15O) was the first coordinated global response to the crisis, signifying the emergence of a new international movement.  Initially inspired by revolutions in North Africa, through emulation and imitation, protests began in the periphery of Europe.  The Mediterranean world thus found itself situated in the epicenter of a new wave of […]

  This is my will.  I, Muammar bin Mohammad bin Abdussalam bi Humayd bin Abu Manyar bin Humayd bin Nayil al Fuhsi Gaddafi, do swear that there is no god but God and that Mohammad is God’s Prophet, peace be upon him.  I pledge that I will die as Muslim. Should I be killed, I […]

In my last posting on #OWS, I related a series of conversations I’d had with global trade union activists on their perceptions of #OccupyWallSt.  After the article appeared, several global labor activists contacted me with follow-up and feedback.  Steve Faulkner, an International Officer at the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU), wrote to say that […]

The news of the killing of Colonel Gaddafi in the battle to take Sirte marked one more episode in this NATO war in Libya and North Africa.  The killing has all of the hallmarks of a coordinated assassination, synchronised between NATO aircraft and forces on the ground.  The reports are that Gaddafi was attacked when […]

  Rolando Segura is a TeleSur reporter.  He was TeleSur’s Libya correspondent till shortly after the fall of Tripoli.  This documentary film was shown at the headquarters of the Union of Journalists of Cuba on 7 October 2011.   var idcomments_acct = ‘c90a61ed51fd7b64001f1361a7a71191’; var idcomments_post_id; var idcomments_post_url; | Print  

We follow the struggle of the class-oriented labour movement in Greece. The struggle of PAME constitutes an integral part of our own struggle.  We express our solidarity with the strike of 48 hours, in this battle and struggle against the barbaric measures that are being promoted in Greece, such as the abolition of collective agreements, […]

  In the wars currently waged on the backs of the Arab revolutions, one particular term stands out in the lexicon of Arab politicians and their columnist and media acolytes: the phrase “convergence of interests,” which has made a big comeback. In Tunisia, liberals of the worst kind, and Islamists of the opportunist variety, have […]

Meetings such as this play a vital role in building a movement that can stop the hell-bound train of capitalism, before it takes itself and all of humanity over the precipice.  Building such a movement is the most important thing anyone can do today — so I’m honored to have been invited to take part […]

There has been a lot of hand-wringing and moralizing about the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) blocking a resolution in the UN against the government of Syria last week.  China and Russia used a rare double veto as permanent members of the Security Council, and the other three abstained. “During this […]

I have been staring incredulously at my TV screen these past few hours as the story of Iran’s alleged assassination attempt of a Saudi diplomat in Washington unfolds in dramatic increments. Reporters keep repeating the theme “like out of a Hollywood script” as they eke out increasingly unlikely details about this “terror” plot. My immediate […]

Oct. 15 is a day of nationally coordinated antiwar actions in cities across the U.S., the 10th anniversary of the massively destructive and criminal U.S. war on Afghanistan. When the U.S. government began its attack on Afghanistan 10 years ago, President Bush called it a “war on terror.”  It was followed by 8 years of […]

  Trafalgar Square, London, 8 October 2011, Video by Harry Fear TV At the very moment we are here, the United States, Britain, and France are bombing a city in Libya called Sirte.  There are 100,000 people.  Day and night, residential buildings, clinics, schools have been hit with fragmentation bombs and Hellfire missiles. . . […]

  Last April, former Le Monde diplomatique director Ignacio Ramonet published (in Mémoire des Luttes) a text entitled “Libya, the Just and the Unjust.”  The war had been started a few weeks earlier, inaugurated by French aircraft which had the honor of dropping the first bombs on Tripoli.  On March 19, “a wave of pride […]

  Address to the 66th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York, 26 September 2011 Excerpt: As early as the 21st of February, Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz had warned that NATO was inexorably preparing a war against Libya.  Since then, Cuba has indefatigably engaged in the defense not of a government […]