Category: World News

by Medea Benjamin / Common Dreams / December 27, 2011

I had the privilege of starting out the year witnessing, firsthand, the unfolding of the Egyptian revolution in Tahrir Square. I saw people who had been muzzled their entire lives, especially women, suddenly discovering their collective voice. Singing, chanting, demanding, creating. And that became the hallmark of the entire year–people the world over becoming empowered and emboldened simply by watching each other. Courage, we learned in 2011, is contagious!

1. The Arab Spring protests were so astounding that even Time magazine recognized “The Protester” as Person of the Year. Sparked by Tunisian vendor Mohamed Bouazizi’sself-immolation to cry out against police corruption in December 2010, the protests swept across the Middle East and North Africa—including Egypt,Libya, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen, Algeria, Iraq, and Jordan.

Time mag’s annual “Person of the Year” is The Protester this time around. The image by Street artist Shepard Fairey is of Sarah Mason, a member of Occupy LA, and a resident of Highland Park. Fairey took Mason’s photo during a November 17th protest outside the Bank of America tower in the financial district.

At that action, she was was arrested with dozens of others. Plus Mason was present when LA cops moved in and cleared the Occupy LA camp outside City Hall less than two weeks later. She told a reporter that she left the park at City Hall because she didn’t want to risk another arrest. She was upset that she had walked away from her protesting companions and was angry at the city for closing the camp.

The Occupy Movement has taken on a certain ampleur around the United States and in a few European countries such as Greece, Italy, and Spain where there have been mass demonstrations. That hasn’t happened in France though. Different magazines and newspapers here have asked the question of why it is so feeble in France and have given different responses or theories.

At most there have only been a couple of thousand or a few hundred occupiers. These small numbers have made an intelligent change of plans. Before, they protested in traditional central Parisian sites, like the Place de la Bastille in the eastern part of Paris.

By Randall Erickson / Special to the OB Rag

PARIS, FRANCE. Political debate in France is generally rather civilized and simplistic name-calling of opponents is not common and even when it happens, it is more subdued than in the U.S. Religion is rarely mentioned. However, France has small minorities of fanatic Catholics and Muslims and Jews who readily take violent action.

The most serious incident recently was the fire-bombing with a Molotov cocktail of the offices of the satirical weekly magazine, “Charlie Hebdo” (Charlie Weekly) on the night of November 1-2. “Charlie had published an issue they called “Charia Hebdo”. They had Muhammad as its imaginary invited editor and who commented on the subjects of the day, with of course cartoons of the man. On the cover is a cartoon of Muhammad saying, “100 lashes if you don’t die of laughing”.

By Randall Erickson / Special to the OB Rag

PARIS. Recent events have caused me to add a preamble to this dispatch. These concern the very idea of democracy. The Greek prime minister announced that he would call for a referendum on the agreement he reached with the members of the Euro Zone on the management of the Greek debt and austerity program. This was too much for the powerful financiers and their stock markets which immediately plunged. So they have already voted against the democracy of the people. Can’t let the people decide on their own futures, you need the capitalist oligarchy and technocracy to do that.

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA – I think most Americans have little idea of the climatic conditions here in Saudi Arabia. We, with the exception of those who have experience in small desert towns, have nothing with which to compare this environment in Riyadh. It is stark, barren, bright, superheated, and dry to the nth degree. It is unforgiving, mean, murderous, virtually without plants, animals, water or shade. Somehow, Saudi Arabs have managed to adapt to and survive in this ultra-difficult setting for, I’m guessing, 5,000 years. It seems fair to say that’s worth a tip of the hat.

The biggest story of the week is the number of arrests made at Occupy encampments large and small across the whole country and the late night/early morning police raids that have generated so many of those arrests.

The most gripping example was the early morning dismantling of Occupy Oakland by police with riot gear. The whole world was watching as Iraq War Vet for Peace Scott Olsen was dragged to safety at a protest later that day after being left bloodied and prostrate on the ground by a police projectile. The image of someone in a wheel chair maneuvering through a cloud of smoke and tear gas was no less gut wrenching. Mayor Jean Quan decides to make nice with the occupiers the following day.

From Tehran to Scotland, from Hong Kong to the always fiery, militant youth of Rome, the Occupy Wall Street movement has spread across the globe. Tired and angry over decades of corporate owned capitalism, where wealthy stockholders and huge multi-national corporations set the agenda for political and economic policy decisions, plunging millions of middle-class families into poverty, exacerbating the conditions of the already destitute, and forcing millions of youth into either wage slavery or no future at all; the world’s 99% have taken to the streets.

Annual Conflict Resolution Conference Brought World Healers to Our Shores

Sister Pauline Acayo, is a large African woman. Large not merely in physical presence, but in the sense her heart is filled with love and compassion. George Gacharo is a young African man. Young not merely in the sense of age, but in the sense he is full of fire and energy for the work he does. Gidon Bromberg looks a bit like an Israeli Peter Sellers. And like Sellers’ comedic nature, his work is subtle and surreptitious in nature and he tells of it with a wry smile.

The Occupy Wall Street solidarity actions are indeed spreading across America.

As of today (Oct 4th) there are currently Occupy actions being planned – or are in process – in 148 cities across the U.S. Yes, that’s right, 148. Twenty-one are being planned in California alone. That’s 5 more than there was two days ago.

That’s actions in 46 states plus DC!

PARIS, FRANCE. September 27th this year, teachers in France from primary school to high school went on a national one-day strike. They weren’t asking for pay raises–though they certainly deserve them–they were on strike to demand the means to do their jobs.

There were around 150,000 demonstrators, including parents supporting their demands. The current rightwing government has already eliminated thousands of educational posts and proposes to eliminate another 14,000 next year. [Editor: Let’s be clear: France does not have a “socialist” government or education system.]

By Mike Davis / TomDispatch.com / September 13, 2011

1. Twin Towers

Two years from now the staffs of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker will move into the most haunted building in the world. There, the elite of American celebrity photographers, gossip columnists, and magazine journalists may meet some macabre new muses, aloft in the upper stories of 1 World Trade Center where 658 doomed employees were sitting at their desks at 8:46 AM, September 11, 2001.