Geography Archives: Middle East

Protest leaders prepare for demonstrations next Saturday, October 29, across Israel, turning up the heat following the government announcement of an electricity price hike. After being put on the back burner for the past few weeks, the social protest is slowly turning up the heat following the recent electricity price hike announced by Israel’s neo-liberal […]

1) Not long ago I heard a writer claim that her publisher had demanded that the word “manifesto” be replaced in the title of her novel.  This is an Asian American woman who is feisty and strong-willed and political, who during readings calls out “blond boys” for flaunting the privileges of their maleness and their […]

Did you notice that there are people who say they are of the Left but who seem to only criticize people of the Left?  Never against the Right, whatever it does.  They specialize in pouring gasoline on any little fire within the Left. They never recognize victories, conquests, advances.  They only make predictions of defeats, […]

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 […]

America’s war in Iraq is over.  The last U.S. troops will leave by year’s end, “with their heads held high, proud of their success and knowing that the American people stand united in our support for our troops.”  So sayeth President Obama. A “sham of a mockery of a sham” is what Groucho would call […]

The camp has grown since people dropped their tents on Saturday evening, amidst a hail of police batons and riot shields.  By Wednesday, you could count well over 100 tents outside St Paul’s Cathedral.  ‘People’s Assemblies’ are conducted on a daily basis, where suggestions for improvements are put forward.  Khalil Gibran, Jeremy Scahill and George […]

  NATO has assassinated Gaddafi.  Now the puppets can dance.  This is not about democracy, as the “new” leaders are a combination of his ex-cabinet officials and ex-Mujahideen who took out the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan in the 80s and installed the Taliban for the CIA. Pro-Gaddafi protests in Tripoli have been met with […]

  Feras Bugnah is a filmmaker in Saudi Arabia.  Cf. Carlos Latuff, “Free Feras Bugnah, Filmmaker Arrested for Exposing Poverty in KSA” (MRZine, 18 October 2011). | Print  

Saadallah al-Jabri Square, Aleppo, 19 October 2011 Cf. “I woke up and watched the news on Aljazeera.  I saw the most massive demonstration in Syria in recent weeks.  It was huge.  It turned out to be a pro-regime demonstration.  I am sure that you won’t read about it in the New York Times” (As’ad AbuKhalil, […]

What happens to those who expose the biggest thief?

Occupy Eugene rally, 15 October 2011 We are here as part of the Occupy Wall Street movement, which in a few short weeks has become a global movement in hundreds of cities around the world.  We are part of the 99 percent not only in this country but the world. I have been reading the […]

What’s the origin of the Islamic Republic’s biggest banking scandal? The financial conglomerate Amir Mansour Arya Investment Development Company allegedly procured several letters of credit from domestic banks totaling $2.8 billion — far above the company’s available collateral.  The Arya Group, founded by Amir Mansour Khosravi and now controlled by his son Mah-Afarid, controlled around […]

“I’m just a soccer mom.  Well, a swimming mom, if you want to be exact.”  This is how the middle-aged women holding up the “Worked 1973-2003” sign at Saturday’s Occupy Wall Street rally at Times Square described herself to me.  She stood next to a young boy leaning against his dad, the son holding up […]

Uncle Sam, still pushing the world into the ring of multiple conflicts. . . . Hamid Karout is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was first published in Tishreen on 17 October 2011; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. | Print

THE WILL OF STEEL (Part One) Two days ago on Friday October 14th, Granma and Juventud Rebelde, the Communist Party and Youth League newspapers, published a brave and energetic message from Rene Gonzalez, Hero of the Republic, to the people of Cuba, after the odious and unfair 13-year punishment had finished, separately, like the other […]

  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 […]

Calls by Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary Hillary Clinton to “unite the world in the isolation of and dealing with the Iranians,” in response to an alleged Iranian plot to kill Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador in Washington, reflect a hubristic misapprehension of reality. The Obama Administration mistakenly believes it can exploit the accusations for strategic […]

Yara Kassem is a cartoonist in Cairo, Egypt.  This cartoon was circulated via her Twitter account on 14 October 2011; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  Cf. “Egyptian elections sound increasingly like a disaster in the making almasryalyoum.com/en/node/504768” (Blake Hounshell, 13 October 2011); “Egypt’s Communist Party to Boycott Parliamentary Elections” (Ahram Online, 13 […]

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 […]

John Bellamy Foster: Economic crises are functional to the system in that a crisis helps capital readjust its imbalances, disproportions, as Marxian theories often say, and it sets the basis for a renewed period of expansion.  So, regular business-cycle crises . . . help the system. . . .  But, in addition to cycles . […]