Democracy

By Matthew Countryman | – The river was the metaphor that best captured “the long, continuous movement” of the black freedom struggle for theologian, historian and civil rights activist Vincent Harding. Harding, who had served as a speechwriter for Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., wrote in his groundbreaking 1981 study of African-American history, “There is […]

Democracy

George Floyd and Mohamed Bouazizi: What Americans can Learn from Tunisia’s Arab Spring

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – In mid-December, 2010 in the small Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, a small drama unfolded that would change the world, and certainly would change Tunisia. Tareq Mohammed Bouazizi, a street peddler who had just bought $200 worth of produce to sell off a cart, was harassed by police for not […]

Authoritarianism

The rest of the world sees uprisings, not riots, in Trump’s US

Reese Erlich

(48hills.org) – One of Germany’s largest dailies ran the headline “This killer cop set America ablaze,” with a photo of the Minneapolis police officer who killed George Floyd. Protests in the United States, the article reported, looked like “scenes out of a civil war.” Bettina Gaus, political correspondent for the Berlin daily Die Tagezeitung, tells […]

Democracy

Democracy is not a Luxury in Times of Pandemic

Elizabeth F. Thompson

Washington, D.C. (Special to Informed Comment) – While some pundits extol the virtue of strong government (i.e., dictatorship) in fighting Covid-19, Middle Eastern activists are once again mobilizing to insist that democracy is not a luxury in a time of pandemic. “Systems of government that are more democratic and transparent will keep citizens safe,” argues […]

Democracy

Trump Vetoes War Powers Restrictions on Attacking Iran as “Insulting”– as Iraq’s new PM enters Crosshairs

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – ( Nikki Carvajal at CNN reports that Trump vetoed the invocation of the War Powers Act passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives, with some bipartisan support in the wake of his assassination at Baghdad International Airport of Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani on January 3. Even some […]

Corruption

Protesters slam ‘Crime Minister” Netanyahu’s Assault on Democracy in Israel, Praise Palestinian-Israeli Medics fighting Coronavirus

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Some two thousand demonstrators gathered in formation in Rabin Square on Sunday in Tel Aviv for a “black flag” protest against the “destruction of democracy” by indicted prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu. They carefully kept six feet apart and wore surgical masks imprinted with the slogan “Crime Minister.” So reports Omar […]

Corruption

When you Work for Corporations you Don’t Care about People: How Wisconsin GOP Forced in-person Voting in the Midst of a Pandemic to Suppress Urban Dem Vote

Common Dreams

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer | – (Commondreams.org) – As footage of Wisconsin’s crowded polling stations flooded the internet Tuesday, public health officials and civil rights advocates condemned the state’s Supreme Court and Republican legislative leaders for allowing in-person voting during the coronavirus pandemic and thwarting Democratic Gov. Tony Evers’ last-minute efforts to address voter […]

Campaign Finance

A Civil Rights Issue: Less than 1% of Americans Provide most Money for Political Campaigns

OtherWords

By By Chiraag Bains | – ( Otherwords.org) – Less than 1 percent of the population provides most of America’s campaign funds. It looks nothing like the rest of us. By Chiraag Bains | March 17, 2020 Ten years after Citizens United, our elections are awash with money from mega-donors and corporations. They drown out […]

Bernie Sanders

The Real Losers on Super Tuesday: Urgent Climate Action, Medicare for All, Anti-Plutocracy

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – Primaries can be long drawn-out affairs. The Obama-Clinton struggle of spring-summer 2008 went down to the wire, still being contested in June. As I write Tuesday evening, the delegate count for Super Tuesday is still not known, and the actual count for California could take a long time to nail […]