This doesn’t sound very good, does it? From the BBC, March 1: An opposition leader in Uzbekistan has been jailed for 10 years for economic crimes, a Tashkent court has said. Nadira Khidoyatova of opposition group Sunshine Uzbekistan was found… Read moreUzbekistan: opposition leader imprisoned
Our contributor Mahmood Ketabchi offers another critique of the US left’s reponse to the “cartoon controversy.” Interestingly, he finds reflexive support for any forces ostensibly opposing the US to be a paradoxical form of nationalism, that places the United States… Read moreUS “left nationalism” and the cartoon crisis
Great, just what we need—military incursions to provoke a general uprising in Pakistan’s increasingly restive Tribal Areas. Just to give the teetering edifice of Musharraf’s dictatorship a healthy shove towards the abyss. Then we can have a nuclear-armed Taliban in… Read moreWar in Waziristan?
From the Village Voice Power Plays blog, Feb. 25: Critical Mass: NYPD Carries Smaller Stick This Week by Sarah Ferguson The NYPD switched up its game at Friday’s Critical Mass ride. Instead of making mass arrests for protest charges like… Read moreNYC: de-escalation in Critical Mass struggle?
On Feb. 6 police arrested six leftist activists in the community of Antebi Cue, town of Sgto. Jose Felix Lopez (also known as Puentesinho), in San Carlos municipality in the northeastern Paraguayan department of Concepcion, near the border with Brazil…. Read moreParaguay: activists arrested in guerilla scare
From Haartez, Feb. 19: Jewish group: Try Ahmadinejad for incitement to genocide The European Jewish Congress (EJC) is set to file a complaint in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for incitement to… Read moreGenocide incitement charges for Ahmadinejad?
From the Village Voice’s Power Plays blog, Feb. 15: Judge: City Can’t Stop Critical Mass Ride by Sarah Ferguson A judge today threw another monkey wrench in New York City’s effort to stop the Critical Mass bike rides. In a… Read moreNYC: legal victory in Critical Mass struggle
From South Africa’s Mail & Guardian, from wire sources, Feb. 15: Italian minister to wear Muhammad cartoon T-shirt A prominent Italian government figure planned on Wednesday to wear a T-shirt sporting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that have sparked violent… Read moreSartorial front in “cartoon jihad”?
Yet more evidence of the Western democracies’ sterling commitment to freedom of expression. From the Washington Post: LONDON, Feb. 15 — The House of Commons on Wednesday backed a bill that would make “glorification” of terrorism a criminal offense, a… Read moreUK: anti-free speech measure advances
From Africa News Dimension, Feb. 15: Around 10,000 Eritrean-Americans marched from the White House to the Department of State in Washington , DC to urge the U.S. government to ensure the enforcement of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission’s (EEBC) “final and… Read moreEritreans march in DC for border demarcation
From Reuters, Feb. 14: Militias in Somalia are looting shipments of aid for drought victims and forcing aid drivers to pay bribes, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Attacks by Somali pirates in recent months have caused aid agencies to… Read moreProtein wars in Somalia
From Reuters, via The Star of Malaysia, Feb. 14 (emphasis added): BEIRUT – Uproar in the Islamic world over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad has prompted many in the Middle East to ask why Muslims have rarely mobilised to address… Read moreArab dissent in cartoon controversy
