Geography Archives: Africa

In 2007, Gaddafi expressed ambitions to revive a Fatimid state to create the foundations for a renaissance in North Africa, in a bid to attract the attention of Shia scholars and leaders.  In vain — for he unapologetically also expressed shockingly undemocratic sentiments to the effect that elections and coups are no different!  His failed […]

Statement of Ambassador Rodolfo Reyes, Permanent Representative, before the Human Rights Council on the Situation in Libya, Geneva, 25 February 2011 Mr. President: Less than 72 hours ago, Cuba, through its Foreign Minister, communicated the following in Brussels: “We are following with utmost attention the current events in the internal affairs of Libya and their […]

  On Al Jazeera, Dr. Azmi Bishara said that the violence unleashed in Libya against the Libyan people is beyond belief — indicative of desperation on the part of the political order — or rather “disorder” — in Libya, attempting to put a quick end to the uprising before escalation, as the situation is a […]

The policy of plunder imposed by the United States and their NATO allies in the Middle East has gone into a crisis. It has inevitably unraveled with the high cost of grain, the effects of which can be felt more forcefully in the Arab countries where, in spite of their huge resources of oil, the […]

The nature of a capitalist system depends upon the institutional framework that supports and shapes it. Oil has become the principal wealth in the hands of the great Yankee transnationals; through this energy source they had an instrument that considerably expanded their political power in the world. It was their main weapon when they decided […]

The events of the last weeks are one of those historical moments where the lessons of many decades can be telescoped into a few brief moments and seemingly minor occurrences can take on immense significance.  The entry of millions of Egyptians onto the political stage has graphically illuminated the real processes that underlie the politics […]

Egyptians are celebrating the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, as I write.  Inshallah they will celebrate for a long time to come.  But leaderless crowds are not well placed to govern.  The triumph of the Egyptian people leaves the military in control.  Let us hope that Egyptians will find no reason to share the complaint of […]

In 1915 the U.S. Marines invaded Haiti, occupying the country until 1934.  U.S. officials rewrote the Haitian constitution, and when the Haitian national assembly refused to ratify it, they dissolved the assembly.  They then held a “referendum” in which about 5 percent of the electorate voted and approved the new constitution — which conveniently changed […]

  Moncef Marzouki: We got rid of the dictator, but the dictatorship is still there.  I mean the secret police is still there, the party of the dictatorship is still there. Nazanine Moshiri: . . . Rachid Ghannouchi was also exiled under Ben Ali.  With many members of his Islamic al-Nahda movement imprisoned or tortured, […]

It didn’t get much attention in the media, but U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton did something quite surprising on Sunday.  After taping interviews on five big Sunday talk shows about Egypt, she then boarded a plane to Haiti.  Yes, Haiti.  The most impoverished country in the hemisphere, not exactly a “strategic ally” or a […]

  Arab uprisings are taking place with the historical speed of light.  I began writing this piece following the downfall of Tunisian dictator Ben Ali and closed with the imminent downfall of the Egyptian one Hosni Mubarak.  The Tunisian and Egyptian uprisings are not, as some armchair pundits called the Tunisian one, Jasmine Revolutions.  They […]

  Karl Marx, in his famous treatise on Louis Bonaparte’s coup d’état of 2 December 1851, pointing out its similarities to the coup undertaken by Napoleon Bonaparte a little over 50 years before, remarked that history has the tendency to repeat itself, ‘the first [time] as tragedy, then as farce’. As with so many other […]

  No to the Continuation of Tyranny, No to Foreign Intervention While the Tunisian masses have been continuing their sit-in in the Qasbah Government Square, and tens of thousands of Tunisians have been marching in Sfax, Tunis, Sidi Bouzid, Jendouba, Nabeul, and other parts of the country, to bring down the “national unity government,” a […]

  Nasser Nouri is an Egyptian photographer.  The videos above were released by Ahram Online on 20, 23, and 24 January 2011.   var idcomments_acct = ‘c90a61ed51fd7b64001f1361a7a71191’; var idcomments_post_id; var idcomments_post_url; | Print  

  “O, Tunisian people, rise up against the remnants of the dictatorship!” Fatima Thawadi, Primary School Teacher: We will not negotiate with this government, and we will never give up.  The Tunisian people will have the last word.  This crystal building in the middle of the capital, the RCD should fear to stay in this […]

  Below is a declaration of support for the Tunisian revolution written by exiled Tunisian activist Sadri Khiari.  The idea is to recollect signatures for this declaration, so if you are interested in signing, please write an EMPTY e-mail to: <solidaritytunisia@gmail.com>.  Please WRITE in the “subject” field your NAME, OCUPATION AND COUNTRY as you wish […]

1. The General Union of Tunisian Workers is a national organization necessarily interested in political affairs, given its history of struggle during the colonial epoch and the period of the construction of the modern state, considering the dialectical links among economy, society, politics, and culture in the process of development, but out task has become more urgent than ever.

Haiti’s infamous dictator “Baby Doc” Duvalier returned to his country this week, while the country’s first elected President, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is kept out.  These two facts really say everything about Washington’s policy toward Haiti and our government’s respect for democracy in that country and in the region. Asked about the return of Duvalier, who had […]

  Calls are mounting for disbanding the Rassemblement constitutionnel démocratique (RCD) or at least banning it from participation in the transition government of Tunisia.  Amid streets chants of “RCD out,” the RCD leadership (such as it still exists) first kept a low profile and then felt compelled to do “something.”  That something translated into a […]

  20 January 2011 19 January 2011 As 4 opposition ministers announced their resignation from the Unity Government, protesters once again took to the streets to express their rejection of any RCD involvement in the interim government.  Protesters shouted “RCD, Out Out!” and were greeted by tear gas, water cannons, and even live ammunition fired […]