Stung by continued protests against the Rally for Constitutional Democracy (RCD) of deposed president Zine el-Abedine Ben Ali, the members of that party in the interim cabinet all resigned from it on Thursday morning. The president and prime minister had earlier left the party. The government also announced the freeing of all political prisoners. Some […]
Archives for January 2011
Ala. Governor Apologizes to Muslims, Hindus, Jews
Gov. Robert Bentley, the new governor of Alabama, created a firestorm of controversy on Monday when he said that if you are not a Christian he does not consider you his brother or his sister. He added, “… so anybody here today who has not accepted Jesus Christ as their saviour, I’m telling you, you’re […]
GOP to Uninsured: Don’t Get Sick, if you Get Sick, Die Quickly: Part Deux
In a mostly ‘symbolic’ gesture (i.e., the kind that uses the middle finger), the Republican-dominated House of Representatives voted to repeal the Affordable Health Care law passed late last year. The GOP arguments that the law will increase the budget deficit are just wrong (and based on inaccurate claims on their part), and their assertion […]
Top Ten Horrible Things done to Us by Outgoing Sen. Joe Lieberman
Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) announced Tuesday that he would not seek reelection in 2012, and progressive Americans breathed a sigh of collective relief. It is worth reviewing the most horrible things Lieberman has done to us since he has been in office. 10. Undermined Jeffersonian ideals by joining with George W. Bush to throw government […]
Juan Cole: Tunisia Uprising “Spearheaded by Labor Movements, by Internet Activists, by Rural Workers; It’s a Populist Revolution” (Democracy Now!)
My interview on Tunisia on Amy Goodman’s Democracy Now!, which aired on Tuesday, is on the Web. A transcript is here. Here is the YouTube video: Excerpt: ‘ AMY GOODMAN: And, of course, Ben Ali has taken refuge in Saudi Arabia. And if you heard Fares Mabrouk, they are calling for him to be extradited […]
Tunisian Revolution Shakes, Inspires Middle East – Cole in Truthdig
My column is out at Truthdig on the wider repercussions in the Middle East of the Tunisian events, “Tunisian Revolution Shakes, Inspires Middle East”. Excerpt: ‘The spectacle of masses of demonstrators pouring down Bourguiba Avenue on Friday, overwhelming security forces and putting the president to flight, raised the hopes of the dispossessed and the downtrodden, […]
No News is Good News (for Them)
Does anyone doubt that if Tunisia’s president had been overthrown by an Islamic Revolution, there would have been 24/7 coverage of it in US media? Stories more important than almost everything on CNN and other US cable television news channels on Monday: A new Tunisian government was announced, and whether the public is mollified might […]
New Tunisian Government Declares Total Liberty of Information, as the Opposition Demands more Change
The Constitutional Democratic Rally (RCD) managed to remain in control of Tunisia on Monday, with Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi announcing a national unity government in which his party retained the most powerful posts. He did bring some 9 opposition party members into the cabinet. The not-altogether-new government was greeted with disbelief, dismay and extreme suspicion […]
King on Guns, War and Non-Violence as a Social Movement
‘ I have condemned any organizer of war, regardless of his rank or nationality. ‘ – Martin Luther King, Jr. ‘ All history teaches us that like a turbulent ocean beating great cliffs into fragments of rock, the determined movement of people incessantly demanding their rights always disintegrates the old order. ‘ – Martin Luther […]
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