When Mohammed Bouazizi set himself alight he unwittingly ignited a wave of popular uprisings and rebellions that have spread like wildfire across North Africa and the Middle East, the heat of which can be felt as far afield as Zimbabwe where, on Saturday 19th February, 46 pro-democracy activists including students, workers and trade unionists were arrested in Harare. Read the rest of this entry »
Archive for February, 2011|Monthly archive page
International Anarchist Statement in Solidarity with Zimbabwe’s Treason Trialists
In The Politics of Politics, we shall be the prey and the vulture on February 28, 2011 at 1:53 pmZimbabwe charges 46 with treason for watching videos of Egypt protests
In Repression on February 25, 2011 at 12:47 pmDavid Smith, The Guardian
Forty-six people in Zimbabwe have been charged with treason, and some allegedly beaten by police, after watching videos of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia Read the rest of this entry »
The iron heel: Why the US continues to crush Haitian democracy
In The Politics of Politics on February 25, 2011 at 9:02 amBen Terrall, Pambazuka
Haiti watchers in the US repeatedly hear several questions from North Americans new to the island nation’s history: why is Washington obsessed with containing any legitimate pro-democracy movement in the hemisphere’s poorest country? How is a nation state the size of Maryland with a mostly destitute population of nine million a threat to the US? Read the rest of this entry »
David Kato: Life after death
In we shall be the prey and the vulture on February 25, 2011 at 8:55 amNick Mwaluko, Pambazuka
Young, strong, sharp, reality’s electric in your present tense – this is who you are before the phone rings:
‘Dead? Murdered, who was?’
David Kato, 46, gay rights activist, Ugandan, bludgeoned with a hammer to the skull in his own home and now a group of organisers in New York City want a vigil in his honour followed by peaceful protest outside Uganda House would you like to come? Read the rest of this entry »
In search of an African revolution
In Revolt, The Politics of Politics on February 25, 2011 at 6:11 amAzad Essa, Al Jazeera
Demonstrations are continuing across the Middle East, interrupted only by the call for prayer when protesters fall to their knees on cheap carpets and straw mats and the riot police take a tea break. Egypt, in particular, with its scenes of unrelenting protesters staying put in Tahrir Square, playing guitars, singing, treating the injured and generally making Gandhi’s famous salt march of the 1940s look like an act of terror, captured the imagination of an international media and audience more familiar with the stereotype of Muslim youth blowing themselves and others up. Read the rest of this entry »
Militares angolanos ao lado de Kadhafi
In Tearing Ourselves Apart, The Politics of Politics on February 25, 2011 at 6:08 amQUINTA-FEIRA, FEVEREIRO 24, 2011
Oficiais angolanos, supostamente a pedido oficial do presidente Líbia,
Muammar Kadhafi, e, por isso, não enquadráveis na designação de
mercenários, estão em Tripoli para tentar manter o regime. Read the rest of this entry »
Quand un vent d’est balaie l’arrogance de l’occident
In Moments of Grace, Revolt, The Politics of Politics on February 23, 2011 at 7:37 pmAlain Badiou, le Monde
Le vent d’est l’emporte sur le vent d’ouest. Jusqu’à quand l’Occident désœuvré et crépusculaire, la “communauté internationale” de ceux qui se croient encore les maîtres du monde, continueront-ils à donner des leçons de bonne gestion et de bonne conduite à la terre entière ? Read the rest of this entry »
Egypt: Women of the revolution
In Moments of Grace, Revolt, Women on February 23, 2011 at 10:11 amby Fatma Naib, Al Jazeera
Egyptian women describe the spirit of Tahrir and their hope that the equality they found there will live on.
When 26-year-old Asmaa Mahfouz wrote on Facebook that she was going to Cairo’s Tahrir Square and urged all those who wanted to save the country to join her, the founding member of the April 6 Youth Movement was hoping to seize the moment as Tunisians showed that it was possible for a popular uprising to defeat a dictator. Read the rest of this entry »
Arab uprisings mark a turning point for the taking
In Moments of Grace, Revolt, The Politics of Politics on February 23, 2011 at 7:48 amby Peter Hallward, The Guardian
It’s not only in the Middle East that the balance of power is moving. The old neoliberal order has also been shaken.
In the late 1940s, Simone de Beauvoir was already bemoaning our tendency to “think that we are not the master of our destiny; we no longer hope to help make history, we are resigned to submitting to it”. By the late 70s such regret, repackaged as celebration, had become the stuff of a growing consensus. Read the rest of this entry »
Imperial Feminism, Islamophobia, and the Egyptian Revolution
In Moments of Grace, Revolt, Women on February 20, 2011 at 9:44 amNadine Naber, Incite! Women of Color Against Violence
“. . . I’m making this video to give you one simply message: We want to go down to Tahrir Square on January 25. If we still have honor and want to live with dignity on this land, we have to go down on January 25. We’ll go down and demand our rights, our fundamental human rights…The entire government is corrupt—a corrupt president and a corrupt security force… Read the rest of this entry »
