By Lisa Benton-Short | (The Conversation) | – – On Jan. 20, Americans focused their attention on Washington, D.C., as the presidential inauguration ceremony took place on the National Mall, a place that urban scholars, geographers and historians refer to as a “stage for democracy.” As an urban geographer, I study the important role of […]
Protesters Face Increasing Criminalization in Trump Era
TeleSur | – – Changes aim to hit protestors with criminal records and beefed up fines and impunity for police who accidentally kill them. Donald Trump was officially sworn in Friday as one of the most unpopular U.S. presidents in recent history, sparking off widespread protests around the world. Resistance through protest and mass organization […]
Thousands of Palestinian-Israelis rally after Israel Razed Bedouin Village
Ma’an News Agency | – – ARARA (Ma’an) — Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets Saturday in the town of Arara in northern Israel, in the wake of a demolition campaign in the Bedouin village of Umm al-Hiran on Wednesday, when Israeli police shot local math teacher Yacoub Abu al-Qian to death under widely-contested […]
The left’s response to Trump and US Neofascism must be international
By Sayantan Ghosal | (The Conversation) | – – With Donald Trump’s inauguration as American president, one more event considered by many to be beyond the realm of possibility has come to pass. Protests may have been taking place in America and around the world, but the crisis of the left is all too apparent. […]
The Future of Iraq? As Police Lose Control Of Streets, Militias Take Over
Mustafa Habib | (Baghdad) | (Niqash.org) | – – The volunteer militias formed to fight the Islamic State group are now policing Baghdad’s neighbourhoods. But as they do, they compete with the real police, ignore the real laws and often act more like a mafia. Recently Baghdad local Jafar al-Aboudi’s son got into a fight […]
Top 3 Ways to rig an Election
By William deBuys | ( Tomdispatch.com ) – – Donald Trump was right. The election was rigged. What Trump got wrong (and, boy, does he get things wrong) is that the rigging worked in his favor. The manipulations took three monumental forms: Russian cyber-sabotage; FBI meddling; and systematic Republican efforts, especially in swing states, to […]
Even after Russia included US in Syria Peace Talks, can they Succeed?
By Mohammed Nuruzzaman | (Informed Comment) | – – The Middle East keeps going its way as usual, continuously creating global news headlines. Two such current and hot news events are the much awaited peace talks in Astana, the Kazakh capital, between the Syrian government and the diverse rebel groups under Russian–Turkish initiatives, and the […]
Is Trump the Shock America needs to Transition to Social Democracy?
David Graham Sweet | (Informed Comment) | – – Here on the “Left Coast” there’s much anguish & foreboding over the results of our recent election, and talk of “resistance.” I’m anguished too, but if you’ll forgive me, less pessimistic than ever about the future of our country. Here’s why. It’s not that the new […]
How Much is a Palestinian Life Worth? Disappointment at Azaria Sentence
By Ilaria Grasso Macola | (GlobalVoices.org) | – – On January 4, 2017, Elor Azaria, an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldier, was convicted of manslaughter by the Israeli military court. Azaria, now 20 years old, was found guilty of killing Abed al-Fattah al-Sharif, a 21-year-old Palestinian man, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank city of Hebron […]