Bishara: Getting your Victims to Love You3 Nov 2007If you want to understand the magnitude of the Palestinian tragedy and the depths of their dilemma take a look at the recent decree issued by the Israeli Ministry of Education which in essence asks Jewish and Arab schoolchildren to sign the Israeli declaration of independence as part of the celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the state of Israel.In a statement distributed to the schools the ministry’s Society and Youth Administration set the following objectives for the jubilee: “To commemorate the passage of 60 years since the establishing of the state of Israel in the Arab and Jewish educational system; to strengthen the sense of belonging to, pride in and love for the 60-year-old state among all who attend educational institutes; to help all Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Druze and other youth to form a clear vision of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state; to inspire a sense of responsibility and social commitment among the young and to encourage them to become active participants in the affairs of society.
Whitfield: Suspended Afghan Parliamentarian Visits Canada2 Nov 2007There are no honourary citizenships on offer for those who deviate from the script that justifies Canada’s war in Afghanistan. In the Throne Speech, Stephen Harper included a promise to give honourary Canadian citizenship to Aung San Suu Kyi, a move that was whole-heartedly endorsed by all parties.
Solomon: Memoir Interview2 Nov 2007SCHWARZ: Where did you grow up? SOLOMON: I was born in DC, and grew up in Maryland in what was at the time a New Deal community—Greenbelt, which is still there. We moved around a bit, and then when I was eight my family moved to Calcutta for a year and a half.
Lendman: Congressional Shame and Duplicity2 Nov 2007The latest October Reuters/Zogby Index shows record low approval ratings for George Bush and Congress – 24% for the president that looks almost giddy compared to the bottom-scraping 11% level for the nation’s lawmakers. It’s more evidence that the criminal class in Washington is bipartisan and hoping November, 2008 will change things is pure fantasy.
Tharoor: Should we be proud of Bobby Jindal?1 Nov 2007The election of Bobby Jindal as governor of the US state of Louisiana has been greeted exultantly by Indians and Indian-Americans around the world. There’s no question that this is an extraordinary accomplishment: a young Indian-American, just 36 years old, not merely winning an election but doing so on the first ballot by receiving more votes than his 11 rivals combined, and that too in a state not noticeably friendly to minorities.
Goodman: Francisco Goldman on Guatemalan Elections1 Nov 2007AMY GOODMAN: In Guatemala, millions of voters head to the polls on Sunday for the second round of general elections to pick a new president. The runoff vote pits three-time center-left candidate Alvaro Colom against hard-line former army general Otto Perez Molina.
Silva: Nicaragua: At-Risk Pregnancy Means Death or Prison31 Oct 2007MANAGUA, Oct 31 (IPS) – Nearly 90 women have died in Nicaragua as a direct or indirect result of the repeal, one year ago, of the legislation permitting abortion in cases of risk to the mother’s health, according to women’s and human rights groups.Ana María Pizarro, the head of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Sí Mujer, and Latin American coordinator of the 28th September Campaign for the Decriminalisation of Therapeutic Abortion, told IPS that the reform of the abortion law has driven up the number of fatalities reported in this impoverished Central American country.
Davis: San Diego Builds a Statue to an Arsonist31 Oct 2007This August, just as the first Santa Ana winds bent the boughs of the eucalyptus trees in Balboa Park, 500 wealthy business people and Republican Party donors raised their champagne glasses to salute “Mr. San Diego,” Pete Wilson, as he unveiled a bronze statue of himself in downtown’s Horton Plaza.
DeVoir: The Easiest Solution30 Oct 2007Twenty Four Palestinian and Israeli men and women are sitting outdoors in a circle by on a sleepy street in Al-Ram Palestine. Spread about the garden and into the house-office are five other groups of similar size and make-up.
Davis: The Collision of Capitalism and Nature30 Oct 2007THE MEDIA verdict on this disaster seems to be that the federal government and the state and local authorities did a great job, and everyone who evacuated to the Qualcomm football stadium is getting the royal treatment. What’s left out of this picture? THERE’S BEEN a fractal class bias at absolutely every level of the coverage.
Gupta: The Apocalypse Will Be Televised30 Oct 2007The Revolution, Gil Scott-Heron prophesized, will not be televised, but at least the apocalypse will. It will be televised and googled, blogged, vlogged and 24-7 entertainment.
Ewins: The Privatisation of Public Space and the Democratic Alternative30 Oct 2007The capacity for any nation to support a thriving, independent and autonomous public sphere is, at least in part, predicated upon the ready availability of public space, open for free use by the various groups and interests that comprise broader civil society. The Greek, ‘Agora’ for instance, refers to a public space for such purposes: much the same as the traditional ‘city square’.
Quigley: Criminal Justice Meltdown in New Orleans?30 Oct 2007“We are faced with the daily reality of an imminent collapse of our criminal justice institutions.” New Orleans Police Chief Warren Riley Some say crime causes a city to be under siege; others say crime is the symptom of a city under siege.
Traboulsi: Is Iraq About to Be Partitioned? Not So Fast!30 Oct 2007[Translator’s Introduction: The following article by Fawwaz Traboulsi appeared in the Beirut daily as-Safir of October 4, 2007. In the United States much of the criticism of the Iraq war, whether from the left or from the right, is focused on the mismanagement and corruption that “has been at the center of the entire mission, from war-waging to nation-building” (Frank Rich, NY Times, Week in Review, October 21, 2007).
Engelhardt: The Bureaucracy, the March, and the War30 Oct 2007As I was heading out into a dark, drippingly wet, appropriately dispiriting New York City day, on my way to the “Fall Out Against the War” march—one of 11 regional antiwar demonstrations held this Saturday—I was thinking: then and now, Vietnam and Iraq. Since the Bush administration had Vietnam on the brain while planning to take down Saddam Hussein’s regime for the home team, it’s hardly surprising that, from the moment its invasion was launched in March 2003, the Vietnam analogy has been on the American brain—and, even domestically, there’s something to be said for it.
Doumani: Palestine Versus the Palestinians? The Iron Laws and Ironies of a People Denied29 Oct 2007An iron law of the conflict over Palestine has been the refusal by the Zionist movement and its backers, first Great Britain and then the United States, to make room for the existence of Palestinians as a political community. This non-recognition is rooted in historical forces that predate the existence of the Zionist movement and the Palestinians as a people.
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