Subjects Archives: Culture

  • After Yugoslavia: Alternative Balkanization from Below, against the Belgrade Consensus

      Andrej Grubacic.  Don’t Mourn, Balkanize! Essays after Yugoslavia.  Introduction by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz.  PM Press, 2010. This is not a typical book review and I am not a detached reader.  The book’s author, Andrej Grubacic, is a friend and collaborator, a comrade in the truest sense of the word.  And as he makes clear throughout […]

  • Arming the Libyan Rebels

      Jon Stewart: Jon Stewart: Oh, people, we are now into our third week of a military bombing campaign in Libya, Operation Odyssey Dawn.  The operation cleverly named for the Odyssey, a 20-year harrowing journey through a hellscape where nearly everyone is killed.  Adding “dawn” . . . so it’s the earliest part of that […]

  • Syrians Living Abroad, Standing Up for Syria and Bashar

    Bashar al-Assad is a lucky man.  Even the mother of the Angry Arab (himself no fan of the Syrian president) seems to like him: “As my mom says about him: he is the best educated among Arab leaders (many of whom are illiterate) and it shows.” — Ed. Beirut, Lebanon, 27.03.11 Cairo, Egypt, 31.03.11 Bucharest, […]

  • Japan’s Muslim Community Aiding Tsunami Victims

      People from all walks of life and different faiths have come to the aid of the victims.  Members of the Muslim community of Tokyo are among the thousands of sincere and caring volunteers who are rushing supplies to Japan’s needy. . . .  Between Tokyo and the ravaged areas lies Fukushima Prefecture, where radiation […]

  • In Memory of Leonard Weinglass

      Not that long ago Len came to visit me and we worked for several hours preparing for the next step of my appeal.  I noticed at the time that he was tired.  I was worried with his advanced age that he was driving alone after a long trip from New York.  The weather was […]

  • You Can’t Pee for Free: Notes on the Privatization of the Public Sphere

      In his 1994 book entitled The Location of Culture, post-colonial theorist Homi Bhaba writes that “cafes are part of the social phenomena of the ‘third place’ [which] . . . people occupy outside of the home and work.  It’s a place to relax, to be alone, to socialize, to read, to gossip, to meet […]

  • Ohio Police Officers against Senate Bill 5

      Testimony before the Insurance, Commerce, and Labor committee, 17 February 2011 Statehouse Mobilization against SB 5 and Kasich’s Anti-Worker Agenda Date: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 Time: 1 PM Location: Ohio Statehouse, 1 Capitol Square, Columbus, OH Click here for more info. Chairman Bacon, Vice Chair Faber, and Ranking Member Schiavoni, and all members of […]

  • In Opposition to Ohio Senate Bill 5

      Testimony before the Insurance, Commerce, and Labor committee, 17 February 2011 Statehouse Mobilization against SB 5 and Kasich’s Anti-Worker Agenda Date: Tuesday, February 22, 2011 Time: 1 PM Location: Ohio Statehouse, 1 Capitol Square, Columbus, OH Click here for more info. My name is Sherry Linkon, and I’m John Russo.  Thank you for giving […]

  • Bahrain: The Third Day of Wrath

      “They renamed it [Manama’s central square] Tahrir Square after the one in Cairo.  They’ve started setting up tents, and vans are bringing supplies of food and water.” — Ahmed Hazim The Euronews video at the top and the Al Jazeera videos below it were released on 16 February 2011.  Cf. <www.facebook.com/TrueRoyalDemocracy>. | Print  

  • World Day of Solidarity with UPR to Mark 40th Anniversary of March 11

      February 16, 2011 — Networks of sympathizers with the ongoing student strike at the University of Puerto Rico announced today that they will stage simultaneous demonstrations in solidarity with the UPR in cities around the world on Friday, March 11, 2011, and invited all supporters to join them, coordinating their own activities in their […]

  • Integration instead of a Clash of Cultures: An Open Letter regarding the “LSE German Symposium 2011 — Integration Debate”

    We are irritated by the invitation extended to Mr. Thilo Sarrazin and Mr. Henryk M. Broder to sit on the panel of the opening event of this year’s “German Symposium” at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) on 14 February 2011, which is entitled ‘Integration Debate: Europe’s Future — “Decline of the […]

  • Puerto Rico: Police Assault Students and Professors Go on Strike

      The Association of Puerto Rican University Professors (APPU) on Wednesday called a 24-hour strike at the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), vowing that there will be no classes on Thursday. The decision to strike was made as students held a protest on campus, after a fierce confrontation with riot police in front of the […]

  • Tunisia’s Future: Opposition Says It Feels Threatened

      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, […]

  • Nawal El Saadawi: “I’m 80 Years Old But I’m Ready to Fight”

      “They gave them bribes to beat us, to beat us here. . . .  My friends here, my friends, my daughter and son, who are here among the people, who are here together, they want me to go home.  I said no.  I have to stay here, because . . . we have to […]

  • In Solidarity with the People of Egypt

      “We need more protests abroad in front of Egyptian embassies.” — Hossam el-Hamalawy Ann Arbor Atlanta Austin Boston Chicago Cincinnati Columbus, Ohio Dearborn Kansas City Los Angeles Manhattan Portland, Oregon Queens San Francisco Seattle Washington, DC Auckland, New Zealand Berlin, Germany Beirut, Lebanon Caracas, Venezuela Copenhagen, Denmark Dublin, Ireland Edmonton, Canada Istanbul, Turkey London, […]

  • Egypt: Fighting for Freedom

      Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.   See, also, <twitter.com/3arabawy/status/30662957587234817> and <twitter.com/3arabawy/statuses/30747797716209664>. | Print  

  • Tunisia: Major Opposition Parties Issue Statements Rejecting Unity Government

      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 […]

  • The IMF and Ireland: What We Can Learn from the Global South

    This paper highlights a number of concerns about the nature of the EU-IMF loan agreement with Ireland. It is based on the experience of global justice organisations that have long monitored the impact of IMF policies in the Global South. The paper first takes up that experience and highlights the pernicious impacts the IMF — whose governance is skewed towards the interests of rich countries — has wreaked throughout the Global South.

  • Tunisia: Notes on the Army

      Saturday, January 15, 2011 On the way downtown our cab had to stop.  The army and police were both outside the town liquor store arresting looters. The army was arguing with the police and eventually made them leave.  Then this happened. . . I wrote in the last page that, despite what I would […]

  • Arafat’s Ghost

      Asʻad Ghanem.  Palestinian Politics after Arafat: A Failed National Movement.  Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2010.  x + 208 pp.  $65.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-253-35427-3; $24.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-253-22160-5. November 2010 marked the sixth anniversary of the death of Palestinian National Authority (PNA) president Yasser Arafat.  For the last two years of his life, the once […]