Geography Archives: Africa

Egypt Amin Saikal (ABC, 29 July 2011): “The Islamist parties [in Egypt] now stand a good chance to win an absolute majority in the parliamentary elections in November, and also contest successfully the presidential election. . . .  According to an Aljazeera public opinion survey, released on July 7, 2011, nearly 50 per cent of […]

Between June 14 and June 23, 2011, a delegation of 11 scholars, activists, and artists visited occupied Palestine.  As indigenous and women of color feminists involved in multiple social justice struggles, we sought to affirm our association with the growing international movement for a free Palestine.  We wanted to see for ourselves the conditions under […]

  We are 47 people from 22 organizations in 18 countries (Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Angola, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, South Africa, Central African Republic, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Portugal, USA, France, and Germany).  We are farmers and staff representing member organizations of La Via Campesina, along with allies from other farmer […]

  NUMSA and other COSATU workers, ANC Youth League President Julius Malema, and members of the South African Communist Party gathered outside the United States Embassy in Pretoria, Gauteng to demonstrate against the NATO bombings of Libya.  “South Africa should not have voted for that resolution,” said Malema, referring to UN Security Council Resolution 1973 […]

  Now that Swaziland is on the verge of far-reaching change, with the Tinkhundla system teetering on the brink of collapse, we are seeing a scramble by reactionary forces to try to take the initiative in the name of the pro-democracy movement and set the agenda for Swaziland’s future. These forces, which have received backing […]

COSATU has called on all workers to join the march organised by NUMSA to the Embassies of the US, Britain and France tomorrow, 6th July, 2011 starting at 10 am. The aim of the march is to protest the bombings led by the forces of imperialism as represented by the countries above against the people […]

The failure of the Indian state more than six decades after Independence to provide universal access to quality schooling and to ensure equal access to higher education among all socio-economic groups and across gender and region must surely rank among the more dismal and significant failures of the development project in the country.  It is […]

  The United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC) calls for demonstrations on June 27 against the US/NATO attacks on Libya.  June 27 is the date that the NATO mandate expires and their new mandate comes into effect. The United National Antiwar Committee was founded at a conference of 800 in Albany, NY in July 2010.  For […]

  Excerpt: Forty percent of South Africa’s 48 million people are poor, and more than half of poor people are female.  Official unemployment figures hover at around 25%, but since this statistics does not count those who have given up looking for work, real unemployment may be double this.  South Africa is, by world standards, […]

No one knows the precise plans of the Palestinian Authority vis-a-vis September: will Mahmoud Abbas declare a Palestinian state within recognized borders and ask that it be admitted as a full member of the UN — or not?  Perhaps Abbas himself does not know.  Now political leaders often make decisions alone or in consultation with […]

  13 June 2011 BONN — Today, Ambassador Pablo Solon of the Plurinational State of Bolivia addressed reporters at the UN climate talks in Germany.  Ambassador Solon outlined a clear plan, based on submissions from other countries and civil society, on how to move the talks forward in 2011. “The key issue at these talks […]

The recent agitation by farmers in Uttar Pradesh against cropland acquisition for non-agricultural purposes is only the latest in a long series of protests by farmers and rural communities, which started a decade ago in different parts of the country and which gathered momentum over the past five years and coalesced in some areas into […]

  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 […]

  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 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 […]

  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 […]

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  

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 […]

  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 […]

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 […]