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South Africa’s Role in Nigeria and the Nigerian Elections
Introduction From the very start, the recent Nigerian elections, which saw Olusegun Obasanjo placing his hand-picked successor Umaru Yar’ Adua into the Presidential palace, were mired in controversy. The ballot papers for the election, which were printed in South Africa, contained no counterfoils or serial numbers — features which would have made vote riggingdifficult. In […]
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African LGBTI Human Rights Defenders Warn Public against Participation in Campaigns Concerning LGBTI Issues in Africa Led by Peter Tatchell and Outrage!
PUBLIC STATEMENT OF WARNING In order to prevent Peter Tatchell and Outrage! from causing further damage through their unfounded campaigns and press releases, we issue this public statement of warning. As Human Rights Defenders from across Africa, we strongly discourage the public from taking part in any LGBTI campaigns or calls to action concerning Africa […]
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Somalia: A History of US Interventions
There’s a woman — some call her “Black Hawk Down” lady — who lives in a packed, squalid neighborhood in the middle of Mogadishu and runs a rather simple but grisly museum. For under a dollar, visitors can view her prized possession, the mangled, mud-splattered nose of a US Black Hawk helicopter that was […]
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Criminalizing Compassion in the War on Terror: Muslim Charities and the Case of Dr. Rafil A. Dhafir
“The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But . . . the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’” — Martin Luther King, Jr.1 “The truth […]
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Post-American Geopolitics
I. Three Metropoles, Four Peripheries Many of us on the Left have pondered what would replace the Cold War division of the planet into the First, Second, and Third World. Though the three worlds thesis was arbitrary at best — the social divisions within nation-states are often more significant than the distinctions between nation-states — […]
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To End the Israeli-Arab Conflict [En finir avec le conflit israélo-arabe]
Nous appelons, alors que le Moyen-Orient est plongé dans sa crise la plus grave depuis des années, à une action urgente de la part de la communauté internationale en vue d’un règlement global au conflit israélo-arabe. Nous sommes tous perdants dans ce conflit, à l’exception des extrémistes, qui prospèrent à travers le monde en exploitant […]
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When Worlds Collide
When Fabio Grosso placed his penalty kick into the back of the French goal, Italians around the globe erupted into a state of euphoria. I was one of those Italians, hungrily following every kicked ball throughout Italy’s run to winning its fourth World Cup, which ranks second only to Brazil’s five. For my brother […]
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Global Oil Market Dangers
International intrigues and eventually war — with all its now daily horrors — flow partly from the highly unstable economics of global oil. Not only has this been true for a long time, it promises to continue that way unless and until some mass movement ends it. The report of US planning to bomb Iran […]
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Who Wants Peace in Darfur?
The “Save Darfur” rally today was aired on C-Span. The rally was small — only several thousands according to Reuters (“Thousands March to Stop Darfur Killing,” 30 April 2006). And the crowd in attendance was overwhelmingly white. But, boy, it was a professionally-staged photo op, with celebs, politicos, and exiles from Sudan at the podium […]
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Fighting Islamophobia: A Response to Critics
Since my essay on the Danish cartoons was published on 21 February 2006, I have received dozens of emails supportive of my argument that racism has no place on the left. Additionally, comments on the article posted on MRZine show that there are people willing to stand up against anti-Muslim bigotry. However, what is deeply […]