7 March 2011
BAGHDAD, Iraq (IPS/AJ) - Hundreds of people have converged on Baghdad’s Tahrir, or Liberation, Square on 4 March for an anti-government demonstration despite a vehicle ban that forced many to walk for hours to the heart of the Iraqi capital. Read more about Anti-government protests erupt across Iraq
7 March 2011
SOHAR, Oman (IPS/AJ) - Fresh protests have taken place in the Gulf sultanate of Oman, following a wave of pro-democracy demonstrations across the Arab world. The unrest in Sohar has been a rare outbreak of discontent in the normally calm sultanate of Oman. Read more about Pro-democracy protests spread to Oman
Gilboa Prison 4 March 2011
Al-Araqib was the last village I visited before my arrest. Al-Araqib is not just a village, but the very heart of a nation and a people. On 5 May 2010, I was there under the tent of Sheikh Sayah, a local leader. There was a big crowd after the destruction and the reconstruction of the village. We met there until late at night, taking advantage of the desert darkness. Ameer Makhoul comments. Read more about The struggle for al-Araqib is the struggle for Palestine
4 March 2011
Palestinian civil society groups are preparing for a day of mass sit-ins on 15 March, to protest the widening split between Palestinian political and resistance factions as Israel’s illegal occupation grinds on. Read more about Palestinians at home, abroad protest division, leadership
3 March 2011
BENGHAZI, Libya (IPS) - The walls outside the al-Jalah Hospital in downtown Bengazi are covered with posters of missing persons, mostly teenagers and young men who disappeared after the protests began. Inside, hundreds of gunshot victims recover from the street battle between Muammar Gaddafi’s forces and Benghazi’s citizens. Read more about Casualties mount as battle for Libya continues
3 March 2011
CAIRO (IPS) - Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak portrayed himself as a paradigm of stability in a country he once described as a “powder keg” of sectarian unrest. Yet far from promoting stability, his regime may have actually been the source of much of the religious strife it claimed to suppress. Read more about Mubarak regime source of sectarian unrest
3 March 2011
As international stars face widespread criticism for having earned huge fees entertaining Libya’s Gaddafi family, Nada Elia and Laurie King ask why artists who entertain apartheid Israel should not be held to exactly the same standard. Read more about Is entertaining dictators worse than normalizing apartheid?
3 March 2011
The recent murder of Hussam Rwidy, a Palestinian, by Jewish youths allegedly shouting “Death to Arabs” has highlighted the link between racist incitement and violence. The underlying ideology that fuels this hatred is Jewish nationalism, as Max Blumenthal and Joseph Dana argue. Read more about Facing up to Jewish nationalism and racist violence
2 March 2011
In the 1990s, one could only whisper Hosni Mubarak’s name. Political talk or jokes were avoided in phone calls. This year, millions of Egyptians fought for 18 days against their aging tyrant, braving the police troops firing teargas, rubber bullets and live ammunition. People in Egypt have lost their fear, but it did not happen overnight. Hossam el-Hamalawy comments. Read more about How Palestine's uprising inspired Egypt's
2 March 2011
Eleven University of California students face criminal charges and possible jail terms for protesting and disrupting a speech by an Israeli official as the Orange County district attorney’s office engages in what one of the students’ attorneys calls “selective and discriminatory prosecution” Read more about US students face jail time for disrupting Israeli official's speech