Democracy

By Bill Moyers | ( Tomdispatch.com ) | – – Sixty-six years ago this summer, on my 16th birthday, I went to work for the daily newspaper in the small East Texas town of Marshall where I grew up. It was a good place to be a cub reporter — small enough to navigate but […]

Bill of Rights

Can Americans get back their Democracy from the Oligarchy?

contributors

By John Scales Avery | (Inter Press Service) | – – COPENHAGEN, (IPS) – As many observers around the world have pointed out, the United States is no longer a true democracy. It is an oligarchy. The US government ignores the safety, wishes and needs of the majority of its citizens, and instead makes decisions […]

Authoritarianism

The rise and fall of Turkey’s progressive opposition

contributors

By Nick Ashdown | ( OpenDemocracy) | – – Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition party, the HDP roared into parliament on the back of a rainbow coalition of alienated progressives and minorities. Now, armed conflict is pulling it back into the messy tangle of Kurdish politics. “It started like a forest fire,” said HDP deputy and honorary president Ertuğrul […]

Democracy

Welcome to the Party, America! 11 Muslim women who have been PM or President

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Hillary Clinton gave a victory speech Tuesday night positioning herself as the logical conclusion of the first women’s rights meeting at Seneca Falls in 1848. Along the way, other milestones have included women gaining the right to vote, in 1919 and the first woman elected to […]

Democracy

Kurdish lawmakers Depart Baghdad: “Straighten up or We Won’t Be Back”

contributors

By Histyar Qader | Erbil | (Niqash.org) | – – After protestors invaded Baghdad’s Green Zone, Iraqi Kurdish politicians fled home. Despite the fact that their absence could paralyse Parliament, they say they won’t be back until certain conditions are met. After the first set of demonstrations during which protestors made it inside Baghdad’s highly […]

Democracy

Iran’s Pres. Rouhani may have parliamentary backing, but can he remake Iran?

contributors

By Nader Habibi | (The Conversation) | – – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his policies are set to get a boost this week after voters elected a parliament that favors reform. While Rouhani’s reformists didn’t win a majority of seats, it appears likely that the “moderate” independents also elected will side with his faction, […]

Corruption

The Danger Of Dictatorship: How To Replace Iraq’s Flawed Political System?

contributors

By Mustafa Habib | Baghdad | (Niqash.org) | – – Iraq’s Parliament has failed its people. This was the message from protestors last week. But what could possibly replace the flawed system? Each potential solution comes with its own dangers. Protestors left Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone last week, after having spent two days expressing […]

Democracy

With more Women than Clerics, will Iran’s new Parliament improve Women’s Rights?

contributors

Leila Alikarami | (Open Democracy) | – – The problem was the Guardian Council, a body which has veto authority over any legislature, which in this case rejected all 33 bills introduced by women deputies. Parvaneh Salahshouri in the conference of elected moderates and reformists of Iran, March 2016. Wikicommons/ Hamed Malekpour. Some rights reserved.Seventeen […]

Arms Sales

Big Money in Politics Doesn’t Just Drive Inequality. It Drives War.

contributors

By Rebecca Green | ( Otherwords.org) | – – Military contractors have shelled out over $1 million to the 2016 presidential candidates — including over $200,000 to Hillary Clinton alone. The 2016 presidential elections are proving historic, and not just because of the surprising success of self-proclaimed socialist Bernie Sanders, the lively debate among feminists […]