For obvious reasons, Israel’s image is deteriorating worldwide. (Activestills) By Jamal Kanj In response to questions rating which country ‘… is having a mainly positive or mainly negative influence in the world?’ Israel was tie with N Korea for third place with highest negative influence on the global stage. The 2012 BBC Country Ratings [...]
Egyptian women protest against the army’s use of violence against them in Cairo in 2011 after images of women who had been brutally beaten were circulated. Photograph: Mohamed Omar/EPA After the Arab spring, the sexual revolution? Mona Eltahawy‘s ‘Arab men hate women’ article sparks demands for a sea change in engagement between the sexes Martin Chulov in Beirut, [...]
Since the revolution, Egyptian women have much stronger and more collective responses to sexual harrassment carried out against them by men in the streets and male authority figures [GALLO/GETTY] Cairo, Egypt - This story was supposed to be about how wonderful it can be when artists, activists and intellectuals from across the Arab world and the [...]
Is the Arab Spring a movement leading to more freedom and equal rights? Not for women, according to Amal al-Malki, a Qatari author who is very concerned about the rights of women in the Arab world. She is largely skeptical of recent developments and says, if anything, the Arab [...]
(Image: Melville House Books)The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran’s Future edited by Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel (Brooklyn, New York: Melville House), 2010; $18.95. Iran‘s Revolution and the Global Politics of Resistance Thursday, 05 April 2012 10:00By Vinay Lal, Economic & Political Weekly | Book Review link :http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/8337-irans-revolution-and-the-global-politics-of-resistance In the euphoria over [...]
The text presented to parliament said: ‘Egypt will never be the friend or ally of the Zionist entity‘ [GALLO/GETTY] Egypt’s lower house of parliament has called for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Cairo and halting of gas exports. The vote was taken by a show of hands on a report approved by the Arab affairs committee [...]
A poll of Arabs in 12 countries found that by a 15-1 ratio, Israel and the US are seen as more threatening than Iran [EPA] The first of its kind – a poll conducted in 12 Arab countries, representing 84 per cent of the population of the Arab world, in an attempt to gauge the [...]
Russia Seeks Major Role in Mideast Politics Moscow and its Brics partners need to establish a new multilateral mechanism for regional security By Patrick Seale February 26, 2012 “Gulf News” — After a long absence, Russia is now demanding a seat for itself at the top table of Middle East affairs. [...]
Satellite television, unlike internet-based new media, required no interactivity and tended to reach its target audience with relative ease [EPA] Editor’s note: This article is an excerpt from chapter six, and the sixth of a series of excerpts that Al Jazeera will be publishing, from The Invisible Arab: The promise and peril of the Arab revolutions. Missed [...]
Restaurants in Istanbul are translating their menus into Arabic to entice Arab diners. Photograph: Atlantide Phototravel/Corbis In the Turkish restaurants around Taksim Square in Istanbul, the menus are getting a new look. It’s not so much the food that is changing but the languages, as more and more restaurateurs choose to include Arabic. Erkan Ali Karabulut, manager of [...]
The year 2011 saw the rise of a new country, the fall of long-time leaders and the tragedies and triumphs in between This was perhaps the biggest news year in the last two decades. In 2011, protesters overthrew entrenched autocracies, the US caught its most wanted man, a devastating earthquake and tsunami thrashed Japan, a new [...]
DUBAI (Ma’an) – Hamas chief Khalid Mashaal on Saturday tried to put an end to speculation about Hamas leaving the Syrian capital Damascus, saying they had no such intentions. Speaking to Al-Arabiya, Mashaal highlighted that some individual Hamas members have left Syria “for social reasons” which have nothing to do with what is going on [...]
Suggested Topics Middle East Libya Muammar Al-Gaddafi North Africa A year ago the popular anger that grew into the Arab Spring was first ignited by an impoverished Tunisian fruit and vegetable seller, Mohamed Bouazizi, who set fire to himself after his cart, his sole means of feeding his family, was confiscated by police. Within days, [...]
Who could have predicted the chain of events Bouazizi’s act of protest would set in motion? [GALLO/GETTY] It doesn’t look like much, the patch of asphalt were Mohamed Bouazizi set himself alight, igniting a pro-democracy revolution across the Arab world with his sacrifice. Yet, even nine months after the act that changed world history, I [...]
Report From Egypt by Eric Margolis Recently by Eric Margolis: Dateline: Tahrir Square CAIRO – Tahrir Square, epicenter of the earthquake that ousted Egypt’s western-backed dictator, Husni Mubarak, is quiet – for the moment. Banner-wavers, speakers, and scruffy youngsters mill about. But the by now world-famous square has a forlorn, leftover look, with more [...]
Marzouki wore a traditional cloak as he took the oath [image from Marzouki's Facebook page] Tunisia‘s new president Moncef Marzouki has been sworn in in front of the country’s constituent assembly as the nation turned a new page nearly a year after the uprising that toppled Zine el Abidine Ben Ali in the first of the [...]
Marzouki became Tunisia‘s first elected president since the country’s revolution sparked the Arab Spring [Reuters] Rights activist and former opposition leader Moncef Marzouki became Tunisia’s first elected president since the revolution. “I am proud to carry the most precious of responsibilities, that of being the guarantor of the people, the state and the revolution,” said the [...]
Analysis: Arab Spring has yet to focus on media freedoms By Daoud Kuttab Did the independent media help produce the Arab Spring or did the revolutions succeed in liberating local media in the Arab world? This and many other questions were debated and discussed by Arab and international freedom of expression advocates, [...]
Manama‘s landmark Pearl Roundabout was the focal point of Bahrain’s protests [Ben Piven/Al Jazeera] Protesters in Bahrain say police have fired rubber bullets and tear gas at demonstrators who were trying to take back the site of the Pearl roundabout – the symbol of the protest movement that erupted in February. Bahrainis were marking Ashoura, a [...]
Is political Islam replacing Arab dictators? With a victory for Islamist parties in Tunisia and Morocco, is political Islam now spreading across North Africa? The Arab revolution spread accross the Arab world as the population demanded political change. But in Morocco protesters did not bring down the government. The Moroccan monarch quickly responded to their [...]
Speaking truth to power is still possible. (Aljazeera) By Ramzy BaroudThe so-called ‘Arab Spring’ is creating an intellectual divide that threatens any sensible understanding of the turmoil engulfing several Arab countries. While it is widely understood that revolutions endeavor to overthrow political structures and aim to change the social order and power paradigm within any [...]
Explainer: Why Egypt matters Panel of experts, activists and two former ambassadors weigh in on why the country has a significant role to play. For much of its modern history, strategically located Egypt has been a pivotal force in the Middle East. Since winning independence from the British in 1922, the country once known as “The [...]
OWS is an idea that would only fortify with faltering US economy. By M. I. Bhat When Arab streets started swelling with anger political pundits in the West tried to explain it away as public outburst against poverty, unemployment and dictatorial suppression, and spin it as the flowering of Obama’s Cairo speech extolling and inciting [...]
The tide of popular opposition had become unstoppable. (Aljazeera) By Deepak Tripathi Popular uprisings that began with peaceful protests in Tunisia and Egypt nearly a year ago, and spread across the Arab world, have created a new reality, not only in countries to experience political awakening, but far beyond. More worryingly for Washington, the Arab [...]
For much of its modern history, strategically located Egypt has been a pivotal force in the Middle East. Since winning independence from the British in 1922, the country once known as “The Mother of the World” has been governed by kings and dictators. Many Egyptians grew to distrust politics and steered clear [...]
Tunisia‘s transition to democracy is being watched closely by Egypt and Libya [AFP] Tunisia’s Islamist Ennahdha party and its two coalition partners have reached agreement in principle to share the top three government posts between them, senior sources from two coalition parties told Reuters news agency. Under the deal, the most powerful post of prime [...]
In 1968, socially and economically marginalised groups of people protested in a global movement [GALLO/GETTY] The turmoil in Arab countries that is called the Arab Spring is conventionally said to have been sparked by the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in a small village of Tunisia on December 17, 2010. The massive sympathy this act aroused [...]
‘La Tunisie Vote’. (Aljazeera) By Ramzy Baroud Following Tunisia’s first fair and free elections on October 27, the Western media responded with a characteristic sense of fear and alarm. For many, it seemed that the ghost of the Islamic menace was back to haunt ‘Western values’ throughout the Arab world. The narrative employed [...]
Noam Chomsky on Israel-Palestine Prisoner Exchange, U.S. Assassination Campaign in Yemen Image via Wikipedia democracynow on Oct 18, 2011 Posted on October 24, 2011 by dandelionsalad Dandelion Salad MIT Professor Emeritus Noam Chomsky, the world renewed linguist and political dissident, spoke Monday night at Barnard College in New York City about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, just hours before [...]
(Image Credit: Dana A.Shams/©Gulf News) By Ramzy Baroud, Special to Gulf News Professor Robert B. was my first Middle East politics lecturer at the University of Washington. Only minutes into his opening lecture, he made a comment that had me sink into my seat with embarrassment: “The Arab world is made [...]
Noam Chomsky on Israel-Palestine Prisoner Exchange, U.S. Assassination Campaign in Yemen MIT Professor Emeritus Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned linguist and political dissident, spoke Monday night at Barnard College in New York City about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, just hours before Israel and Hamas completed a historic prisoner exchange. “I think [Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit] should have been [...]
“The West Is Terrified of Arabic Democracies” Noam Chomsky interviewed by Qantara Qantara, June 17, 2011 Mr. Chomsky, many people claim that the Arab world is incompatible with democracy. Would you say that the recent developments falsify this thesis?Noam Chomsky: The thesis never had any basis whatsoever. The Arab-Islamic world has a long history of [...]
Some of the participants pose for a photo during the opening of the third Arab Bloggers Conference in Tunis [EPA] Bloggers say Arab Spring has gone global Prominent Arab bloggers, who meet in Tunis, say their methods are being picked up by activists in the West. Yasmine Ryan Last Modified: 04 Oct 2011 00:08 TUNIS, Tunisia [...]
AMY GOODMAN: We continue with Noam Chomsky. His latest book, 9-11: Was There an Alternative?, has been republished—well, with a new essay about the assassination of Osama bin Laden. His original book,9-11, just months published after the 9/11 attacks, was the seminal counter-narrative to what was being said after the attacks of September 11th, 2001, as he [...]
Why Mr. President give new credits to anti-American sentiment? (UN Photo) By Ahmed Yousef – Gaza Mr. President, The Arab world is experiencing a time of epic transformation. Few believed the streets of Tunis would rebel in their lifetimes, let alone simultaneously with Tripoli, Cairo, Damascus, Sana’a and all the smaller cities known more to [...]
The narrative of the Arab Spring, with calls for freedom and dignity, is what drives Yemeni protesters [EPA] Death has returned to the streets of Sanaa. On Sunday, a mass anti-government march was attacked by all manner of weaponry, with reports, and evidence, of pro-government forces using anti-aircraft guns and rocket-propelled grenades. Attacks continued on Monday, [...]
Jordanian demo demands Israeli embassy closure Published yesterday (updated) 15/09/2011 21:58 Jordanians wave their national flag and shout slogans during a protest [AFP/Khalil Mazraawi] AMMAN (AFP) — Around 200 Jordanians demonstrated near the Israeli embassy in Amman on Thursday, demanding that the government expel the state’s envoy and scrap the joint 1994 peace treaty. [...]
In the 9/11 decade, funding for the security has been dramatically increased in many liberal democracies [Al Jazeera] The 9/11 state of mind Ten years later, 9/11 continues to condition our thinking, being, behaviour, and identity. Larbi Sadiki Last Modified: 11 Sep 2011 11:05 Nothing compares to 9/11 – two odd numbers that resonate endlessly. [...]
Arab Spring Exposes Duplicity of Conventional Western Policy (Image Credit: Dana A. Shams/Gulf News) By Ramzy Baroud, Special to Gulf News For many Arabs, Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg is just another politician committed to preserving his interests and those of the ruling class in his country. Despite his attempts at appearing kinder than [...]
Turkey‘s PM rallies Arab world in Cairo with call for UN to recognise Palestine Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the opening session of Arab foreign ministers meeting in Cairo. Photograph: Khaled Elfiqi/EPA Analysts believe Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Egypt visit is designed to strengthen Turkey’s influence in the region and isolate [...]
Noam Chomsky on the 9/11 Decade and the Assassination of Osama Bin Laden: Was There an Alternative? Ten years ago, at a time when lawmakers from both sides of the aisle joined together to authorize endless war, Noam Chomsky’s was the leading voice to call for the United States to rethink its actions in the [...]
Anti-American sentiment has grown steadily in the years since 9/11 and the deaths of countless civilians in the conflicts associated with the ‘war on terror’ [EPA] 9/11 did not start or end at midnight All too often we view 9/11 from the perspective of the nation-state rather than from a global standpoint. Richard Falk [...]
Analysis: Arab Spring reaches Israeli embassy in Cairo Published yesterday 16:30 Egyptian army officers arrest a suspected demonstrators attempting to come close to the Israeli embassy at the site of clashes between protesters and riot police in Cairo September 10, 2011. [Reuters/Amr Abdallah Dalsh] By Rashid Shahin Seven months after toppling the regime of [...]
Storming the Embassy: ‘Peace without Justice is Tyranny’ By Nath Aldalala’a What was built on feeble foundations is feeble. The Egypt-Israeli Peace Treaty (EIPT) was signed at a time characterised by a very different domestic and regional political climate. The most notable aspect of that period was the lack of voice from within the ranks [...]
Ten Kuwaiti lawyers are to join Mubarak’s defence in “gratitude” for his role in the first Gulf War against Iraq [Reuters] Scuffles have broken out between protesters and police officers outside the trial of Hosni Mubarak, Egypt‘s former president, as the court prepares to hear from police witnesses who were in the operation room during the crackdown on pro-democracy [...]
American authors of legal memos justifying torture, such as John Yoo, have escaped prosecution [GALLO/GETTY] Since September 11th, the United States and the Arab world have traveled a treacherous road together. Where they have arrived after ten years sets them apart. In the US, the embrace of human rights as a defining value and ideal [...]
Chomsky on Bernays, the man who made women smoke 21JUN “[Bernays's] major coup, the one that really propelled him into fame in the late 1920s, was getting women to smoke. Women didn’t smoke in those days and he ran huge campaigns for Chesterfield. You know all the techniques—models and movie stars with cigarettes coming out of [...]
Image Credit: Illustration: Dana A. Shams/©Gulf News By Ramzy Baroud, Special to Gulf News Arab revolutions are currently facing real dangers, which vacillate between lack of prioritisation, stagnation and foreign intervention. In Egypt, there have been deliberate attempts to divide the objectives of the revolution into blurred ideological classifications. A chasm is already growing between [...]
March 14, 2011 Is Egypt the Future IndoTurkeZil? So Many Ways to Strut Your Democratic Stuff in a New World By Pepe Escobar Three mummies were recently found in an underground temple in Luxor, Egypt. Translated hieroglyphs identified them as the Clash of Civilizations, the End of History, and Islamophobia. They ruled in Western domains [...]
Palestinian-American journalist, author, There is now no turning back. By Ramzy Baroud As the Arab Spring continues to challenge dictators, demolish old structures and ponder roadmaps for a better future, the US remains committed to its failed policies, misconceptions and selfish interests. Arabs may disagree on many things, but few disagree on the [...]
