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 […]
New Wikileaks: US Knew Tunisian Gov. Rotten Corrupt, Supported Ben Ali Anyway
The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten released a series of US diplomatic cables from 2006 on massive and pervasive corruption and nepotism in Tunisia and its effect on economic development and social problems. The cables show that the United States government was fully aware of the dangerous and debilitating level of corruption in Tunisia, and its anti-democratic […]
Tunisia: Government of National Unity or Tanks in the Street?
The video on Aljazeera shows Tunis as a war zone on Saturday afternoon, with burned out vehicles in the streets and heavy black smoke floating over the city. Security forces loyal to deposed president Zine al-Abidin Ben Ali are alleged to be engaging in sabotage and looting, and to be coming into conflict with the […]
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