December 17, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
One year after Mohammed al-Bouazizi lit himself on fire in protest against mistreatment by police, sparking a movement that has toppled regimes in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, a global wave of popular protest continues, from the Arabic-speaking world to Europe, India, Chile, the United States and Russia. Today, democracy advocates protest unlawful detention, arbitrary power and socio-economic injustice across the world.
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November 25, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Hundreds of thousands of Egyptians are gathering for a nonviolent “Last Chance” pro-democracy protest. Military police have killed at least 41 unarmed civilians since last Saturday. Today, the massive numbers of civilians who turned out are demanding an end to military rule, and an orderly transition to genuine democracy. The 9 months of military rule [...]
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October 20, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
News emerging from the battle-torn city of Sirte, hometown of ousted dictator Col. Muammar Qadhafi, suggest Qadhafi was wounded in battle, captured, and has died from his injuries. Al Jazeera is broadcasting images of a body it says is Qadhafi’s, and images have been published showing a young Misuratan TNC fighter brandishing a gold-plated handgun he says he took from Qadhafi when he captured him.
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September 11, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
9/11 should, after this 10th anniversary, and in the aftermath of the deviation from and restoration of core values that we have undergone, become a national day of solemn recognition, collaborative restoration, and an affirmation of our civic space, in which citizenship is a sacred trust and human interest in the principal goal of our activity. It should be a day of national reflection and of the reaffirmation of the value of an open, democratic and voluntary civic space.
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August 23, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Two days after taking control of most of the capital, and a day after two of Qadhafi’s sons escaped house arrest as pro-Qadhafi forces staged a challenge to the rebel onslaught, Libya’s pro-democracy rebels swept into Qadhafi’s compound in Tripoli. Reports from the Libyan capital spoke of scenes of rebels destroying images of Qadhafi and [...]
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August 21, 2011 :: staff :: One Comment
Reports from Tripoli, the capital of Libya, suggest rebel forces have taken territory inside the capital, and captured one of Qadhafi’s sons, after a top security official ordered troops to lay down arms and let the rebels in. There are reports of convoys of rebel soldiers moving into the capital, being welcomed and celebrated by unarmed civilians. Some news reports have talked of “uprisings” in the suburbs, and possibly within Tripoli itself.
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August 20, 2011 :: staff :: 2 Comments
After 42 years in power, ruling throughout with authoritarian force, the regime of Muammar Qadhafi now appears to be falling. Abandoned by the international community, his top commanders defecting, and reports his troops have laid down their arms and fled, the rebel forces are now reportedly moving into the capital Tripoli.
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August 20, 2011 :: staff :: 2 Comments
After six months of fighting, the Libyan rebel forces, representing the pro-demcoracy movement that came under military attack by 42-year dictator Muammar Qadhafi, are reportedly advancing on the capital Tripoli. Since the fighting began, the rebels’ Transitional National Council has won support from world powers, the international community and ultimately the United Nations, as the official governing and diplomatic authority for Libya. Now, an isolated Qadhafi looks likely to lose power in the coming weeks or months.
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August 19, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Pres. Barack Obama, who with Sec. of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has managed a complex array of shifting diplomatic relations throughout the developing democratic awakening across the Arabic-speaking world, yesterday demanded that Syria’s authoritarian leader Bashar al-Assad relinquish power. Assad has engaged in five months of full-scale military attacks on unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators.
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August 9, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is being sued for allegedly formulating policies that led to the torture of multiple American citizens, at the hands of American military personnel in Iraq. Now, for the second time this month, in two distinct cases, a federal court has found that Mr. Rumsfeld does not enjoy any immunity for actions occurring either during his service as Secretary of Defense or in a war zone.
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August 5, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
prime minister pushing for reforms, as protests widen Faced with rapidly rising housing prices, a growing movement of Israeli citizens has staged protests across the country. Modeled on the protests of Tahrir Square and Europe’s anti-austerity protests, the Israeli protest movement includes encampments and demands for sweeping political reform. Protesters of all ages are accusing [...]
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August 1, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
Yemen may be where the Arab spring, this sweeping current of democratic upheaval in the Arabic-speaking world, takes a turn definitively toward violence or toward civic solutions. The regime of Ali Abdullah Saleh, a tribal dictatorship using feudal power tactics, based in the capital Sanaa, is now waging one war against extremist Islamists and another against non-violent pro-democracy protesters.
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July 15, 2011 :: The Editors :: 3 Comments
The Libya Contact Group held its most recent diplomatic summit today in Istanbul, to discuss how best to deal with the exigencies of the security crisis there, and possible political solutions. Sec. of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, of the United States, now fully recognizes the Transitional National Council, based in Benghazi, as the legitimate government [...]
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July 15, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The mounting protest movement in Jordan is organizing massive new demonstrations, calling for constitutional reform that will maintain the monarchy, but establish a fully elected, democratic government. The protests were reportedly sparked by high and rapidly escalating food prices. There are reports that riot police today attacked demonstrators, though protest organizers say they do not [...]
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July 15, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The protest movement that ousted Hosni Mubarak, after three decades of authoritarian rule has returned tens of thousands of people from all walks of Egyptian life to Tahrir Square, to demand significant democratic reform. Protesters say the military governing council has been slow to prosecute former regime figures guilty of corruption and/or crimes against humanity, [...]
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May 20, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
Pres. Barack Obama upset many in Israel yesterday, when he called for a two-state solution based on the 1967 borders. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected the idea, saying it would not allow Israel to effectively defend itself, and conservative opponents of Obama are now actively trying to vilify him as having abandoned Israel. This [...]
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April 25, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
For days now, pro-democracy protesters have been calling Deraa “liberated territory”, and today, after two days of government forces massacring civilians in public demonstrations, the al-Assad regime has sent tanks to invade and to “retake” the city of Deraa. Sporadic eyewitness reports to the BBC suggest the streets are littered with bodies of the wounded [...]
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April 22, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
Syria’s authoritarian ruler Bashar al-Assad has lifted a notorious emergency law, after 50 years during which his family has used it to stamp out dissent and democratic process. It was the boldest and most significant concession to date, in the political response to ongoing protests in Syria, but it has not quelled the pro-democracy protests, [...]
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April 21, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
The al-Khalifa regime in Bahrain has seen its international reputation deteriorate from apparent friend of western nations and western values to violent police state using foreign mercenaries to kill its own people. No human rights lawyers were needed to bring about that shift; this was the flagrant, unapologetic and coordinated response of the regime to its people’s fairly moderate demand for political reform.
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April 4, 2011 :: The Editors :: 3 Comments
Iman al-Obeidi, the Libyan woman who was abducted by Qadhafi agents while telling foreign journalists that she had been held captive and gang raped by Qadhafi’s military, says after several days in custody, she continues to suffer physical assault, repeated arrests, and threats, from Qadhafi’s regime. The Qadhafi regime has orchestrated a coordinated campaign of [...]
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March 27, 2011 :: The Editors :: 2 Comments
Today, Juan Cole published an open letter to the political left, asking them to understand the humanitarian urgency of the situation in Libya, and to balance their desire for an end to war and foreign interventions against the need to protect human life and ensure that a viable democracy movement is not put down through massive slaughter of thousands or tens of thousands of civilians. Cole is right. Though military action is never the best of all possible outcomes, it is sometimes the only way to protect innocent human life against plans of deliberate mass murder.
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March 23, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: 2 Comments
The royal family ruling Bahrain has taken a military approach to its people’s demand for more democracy. The royal family, increasingly desperate to hold onto power by any means necessary, first called in foreign mercenaries, then the Saudi army, which now effectively occupies the capital, Manama. Reports coming from Manama say doctors and demonstrators gave told the press that Bahraini and/or Saudi forces surrounded the city’s largest hospital to prevent people attacked by gunfire and teargas from getting treatment.
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March 19, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Yesterday, there were reports of snipers taking up positions around peaceful, unarmed pro-democracy demonstrators, then firing into the crowd, inflicting fatal headshots and hitting other victims in the neck. At least one journalist was killed and another injured in the crackdown, and dozens of journalists have reportedly been targeted —detained, beaten, shot at— since the [...]
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March 19, 2011 :: staff :: One Comment
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously this week to authorize the enforcement of a no-fly zone over Libya, and gave member nations the power to take “all necessary measures” to protect civilians. NATO and an alliance of Arab countries are now orchestrating airstrikes against Libyan military positions, to clear the ground for a secure [...]
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March 17, 2011 :: The Editors :: 3 Comments
The United Nations Security Council voted unanimously today —with five abstentions— to support the imposition of a no-fly zone over Libya, authorizing military action against Muammar Qadhafi, to halt his war against the people of his own country. Qadhafi and his sons have been waging a full-scale military assault against civilians and rebel forces supporting [...]
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March 17, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
The regime in Bahrain is now officially killing civilians in order to halt what is increasingly a demand for full democratic rights. At first, the democracy movement in Bahrain was not calling for the removal of the king or the al-Khalifa family. But once security forces began cracking down violently on peaceful demonstrators in central [...]
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March 14, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
Bahrain’s government has asked for and accepted foreign intervention to help secure the nation against a spreading opposition movement. Pro-democracy demonstrators have said they will view any presence of foreign troops as an illegal foreign occupation. There are concerns the foreign forces might inflame sectarian tensions, as they are Saudi Sunni forces defining a minority [...]
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February 27, 2011 :: The Editors :: 2 Comments
Pres. Barack Obama’s ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, yesterday said to the UN that “When a leader’s only means of staying in power is to use mass violence against [his] people, he has lost the legitimacy to rule.” The Obama administration has now taken the position that Muammar Qadhafi can no longer be recognized as leader of Libya, and an interim government should be instituted to oversee a transition to democracy.
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February 26, 2011 :: staff :: One Comment
Benghazi, Tobruk and much of the east of Libya are now said to be firmly under the control of anti-Qadhafi protesters. Tripoli and smaller surrounding cities have been the scene of intense gun battles, reportedly including helicopter gunships and rocket-propelled grenades fired into crowds of demonstrators. Today, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called on [...]
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February 26, 2011 :: The Editors :: 2 Comments
Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations, today called for “concrete action” by the Security Council to stop the violence in Libya. He did not make clear if the action he considered “concrete” would be sanctions or military action. While no UN official has raised this prospect explicitly, there is mounting speculation there could [...]
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February 25, 2011 :: staff :: 2 Comments
Muammar Qadhafi has ruled Libya in strictly authoritarian fashion for 42 years. Now, as his grip on power appears to be slipping, with major parts of the country no longer under his control and top officials defecting to the opposition, he has vowed to wage war against his own people till the last drop of his blood.
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February 22, 2011 :: staff :: 4 Comments
As Muammar Qadhafi has ordered his air force to attack the capital city, Tripoli, his regime appears to be collapsing. According to the Egyptian military’s Facebook page, Libyan border guards have abandoned their posts. Two Libyan air force colonels reportedly flew their fighter jets to Malta, where they defected and revealed that Qadhafi had ordered the bombing of protesters. They seem to have fled to avoid participating in the violence against unarmed civilians. Qadhafi’s own UN ambassador has accused him of “genocide” and says the UN delegation stands with the protesters.
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February 20, 2011 :: staff :: One Comment
After 5 days of violent clashes, pro-democracy demonstrators in Bahrain flooded Pearl Square and caused the military to back out. The king has ordered his son to enter into reform talks with protest leaders and has called for an end to police violence. Tensions remain high, as the population of Bahrain has been shocked and angered by the regime’s violent attacks on civilians, and protesters’ demands for reform have widened.
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February 19, 2011 :: staff :: 2 Comments
From Tripoli to Benghazi, protesters have gathered in the thousands, to demand reform and an end to the dictatorship of Muammar Qadhafi. The security forces’ crackdown against the demonstrators has been persistent and intensifying, and new reports from Libya now say at least 84 people have been killed.
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February 18, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Reports this evening from Bahrain say a column of mourners, who had been attending a funeral for unarmed demonstrators killed by security forces yesterday, were “ambushed” as they moved toward Pearl Square. Witnesses reported seeing the security forces “fall back” and take up positions suitable for attacking the demonstrators once they entered a street that would channel them to the square.
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February 17, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
An ABC News reporter in Bahrain has been violently assaulted by a “gang of thugs” working for the government’s security forces. The effort to eliminate witnesses (media), following the same pattern attempted by the Mubarak regime in Egypt, appears to be underway. There are reports emerging from Pearl Square in the center of the Bahraini capital Manama that security forces have fired teargas into crowds of unarmed demonstrators.
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February 16, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
Lara Logan —a courageous CBS News reporter who was abducted by the Mubarak regime, falsely accused of being an Israeli spy and held without charge, for reporting on the protest movement in Egypt— is now reportedly recovering from a sexual assault she suffered while covering the demonstrations. She reportedly was attacked by a “dangerous element” on the very day Hosni Mubarak left power.
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February 15, 2011 :: staff :: 3 Comments
Demonstrators in Tehran yesterday defied an official ban on their proposed rally to support the people of Egypt and their ongoing process of democratic change. Security forces clashed with demonstrators, firing tear gas into the crowds. There are reports at least one person was killed, and hardliners within the regime are now calling for opposition leaders to be rounded up and executed.
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February 13, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
What took place in Egypt between Jan. 25 and Feb. 11, 2011, was a revolution, but it was non-violent and it joined together disparate ideological factions, rich and poor, old and young, Christian and Muslim. It gave the lie to the notion that moderation in politics cannot be a revolutionary force for transformative change.
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February 13, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
The Egyptian military council now ruling Egypt has announced, by way of an official communique (number 4), that it will suspend the Mubarak-era constitution and dissolve parliament —a central demand of the pro-democracy movement, as Mubarak’s party was given 83% in rigged elections— and that free and fair elections will be held to organize a democratic transition. Protesters remain in Tahrir Square, intent on helping to guide the transition to democracy, and labor strikes are being called.
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February 13, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Across Yemen, pro-democracy protests are spreading, demanding the resignation of a dictator in power for over 30 years. Yemen is one of the world’s least stable countries, with more than one ongoing sporadic insurgency and a regime that after 32 years in power is unable to stabilize the food or water supplies. As the protests in Egypt began to intensify, and it was clear there was a spirit calling for change, Pres. Saleh agreed he would not seek another term in office (he has done this before, only to go back on his word).
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February 12, 2011 :: The Editors :: No Comment Yet
Across the middle east region, hardline regimes with more or less favorable relations with Washington are reportedly expressing concern about how the United States “abandoned” Mubarak after a 30-year relationship. These complaints show three crucial facts about the situation they find themselves in: 1) they are not evolving psychologically to keep pace with events; 2) they do not understand what gives them legitimacy; 3) they need to institute credible democratic reforms immediately, if what they want is “certainty” about US support.
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February 11, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
By stepping down, President Mubarak responded to the Egyptian people’s hunger for change. But this is not the end of Egypt’s transition. It’s a beginning. I’m sure there will be difficult days ahead, and many questions remain unanswered. But I am confident that the people of Egypt can find the answers, and do so peacefully, constructively, and in the spirit of unity that has defined these last few weeks. For Egyptians have made it clear that nothing less than genuine democracy will carry the day.
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February 11, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Hosni Mubarak resigned today as president of Egypt, ending 3 decades of authoritarian rule. His vice president, Omar Suleiman, said power has been entrusted to the leadership of the Egyptian military. There is music, singing and dancing, in Cairo, as demonstrators hurl fireworks into the air and chant about the fall of Mubarak and the emergence of political freedom.
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February 11, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
UPDATE, 11:12 am EST (6:12 pm Cairo): Shortly after 6 pm Cairo time, it was announced by Vice President Omar Suleiman that “President Hosni Mubarak has decided to waive the office of the republic”. Suleiman said the government was now in the hands of the military leadership. No further announcement has been made regarding the status of negotiations to establish a coalition government for the transition to democracy.
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February 11, 2011 :: J.E. Robertson :: No Comment Yet
The new expression of political authority in Egypt is beginning to unfold, even as Hosni Mubarak and Omar Suleiman refuse to cede power to the people. Whether credible or not, the regime’s mounting “concessions” are beginning to demonstrate the real political authority of the Egyptian people, whose right to decide what is legitimate for their government is beginning to be recognized at home and abroad. The “perpetual session” of the military’s leadership council, and their “Communique 1″ and “Communique 2″ suggest the military would like to guide events with language of their choosing.
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February 10, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Egyptian pro-democracy demonstrators today are intensifying their protests against the regime of Hosni Mubarak. Prominent figures from the entertainment industry today formed a rally outside Tahrir Square in the center of Cairo, which numbered as many as 1,000 by the time they reached the square. A nationwide transport strike is seeking to paralyze the country’s economy, joining the call for Mubarak to resign.
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February 9, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Wael Ghonim, the new face of the Egyptian protest movement, abducted on video in broad daylight by Mubarak’s security forces and held incommunicado for 12 days, addresses hundreds of thousands gathered at Tahrir Square. Ghonim told the massive crowd that now is not a time for parties and factions, but for the Egyptian people to speak with one voice, to put the good of the nation ahead of personal interest, and to demand the end of the regime.
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February 9, 2011 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Faced with the expansion of the Cairo demonstrations to a second site, outside the parliament building, and of the wider movement into Kharga Oasis, in Wadi al-Gadid (New Valley) governorate, Vice President Omar Suleiman yesterday issued a statement describing the protests as “very dangerous” and warning they were potentially leading to a “coup”. The language is widely thought to presage a renewed crackdown on dissent. But the pro-democracy movement is now expanding across the country, as a general strike spreads, and workers join in the call for Mubarak to leave office.
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February 8, 2011 :: staff :: 2 Comments
Central Cairo was again today the scene of a massive demonstration numbering in the hundreds of thousands, as ordinary Egyptians traveled to lend their support to the pro-democracy movement and call for the end of the regime of Hosni Mubarak. Thousands marched from Tahrir Square to the parliament, denouncing the parliament, which Mubarak filled with 83% membership from his own party in rigged elections last year, and calling for a new government.
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