Dissent

(By “Jill Saunders”) “Jill Saunders”, a pseudonym, frequently attends the weekly demonstrations in the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh. In this reflective piece, “Jill” questions the very idea of ‘protest tourism’ in the West Bank. The wind from the open window blows dusty air across my face as our minibus winds down the roads from […]

Dissent

The New 1% isn’t just the Rich, it is the Spoiled Oligarch Heirs (Krugman)

Juan Cole

Bill Moyers interviews Paul Krugman Blurb: ” Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, a 42-year-old who teaches at the Paris School of Economics, shows that two-thirds of America’s increase in income inequality over the past four decades is the result of steep raises given to the country’s highest earners. This week, Bill talks […]

Dissent

The FBI’s Facial Recognition Database Combines Lo-Res Photos With Zero Civil Liberties Considerations

Juan Cole

Another FOIA lawsuit brought against the government by the EFF has resulted in the release of previously withheld documents. The papers cut loose this time detail the FBI’s facial recognition database and other parts of its “Next Generation Identification…

Dissent

Rep. Peter King sees Red over Pulitzers Honoring Snowden, Journalists covering NSA

Juan Cole

Rep. Peter King has made it clear that he will stop at nothing to attack anyone who thinks Ed Snowden did something useful. He was one of the first to call for the reporters who revealed the NSA’s surveillance to be prosecuted and has no qualms about…

Climate Change

Tutu: Climate Crisis Demands we Boycott Big Oil just as we Boycotted Apartheid

Juan Cole

(By Jon Queally) Nobel laureate says ‘people of conscience’ must break ties with oil and gas companies that are destroying planet’s future. Archbishop of South Africa and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu is saying their is no longer any excuse for not doing everything humanly possible to fight climate change and called on Thursday […]

Constitution

America’s Post-9/11 Dystopia: No-Fly Lists, Secret Gov’t Databases and Guilty even if Proven Innocent

Juan Cole

(By Peter van Buren) Rahinah Ibrahim is a slight Malaysian woman who attended Stanford University on a U.S. student visa, majoring in architecture. She was not a political person. Despite this, as part of a post-9/11 sweep directed against Muslims, she was investigated by the FBI. In 2004, while she was still in the U.S. […]

Dissent

Jimmy Carter: I send Landmail because of NSA Surveillance “Abuse”

Juan Cole

NBC’s Meet the Press interviewed former president Jimmy Carter on Sunday, and he complained that the National Security Agency probably has him under electronic surveillance. He said that when he communicates with a foreign head of state, he sends an old-fashioned landmail letter! If a distinguished former president feels this way, imagine ordinary citizens. Related […]

Dissent

Top attempts by Dictators to Shut down Twitter in Mideast (including Turkey’s PM Erdogan)

Juan Cole

(By Juan Cole) Trying to close down social media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube has been a desperate ploy of dictatorial regimes throughout the world. It doesn’t work very well, since typically users find workarounds. But what is interesting is why authoritarian regimes make the attempt in the first place. At midnight last night, […]

Dissent

Has Consumerism forever Killed the American Revolutionary Spirit?

contributors

(By Lewis Lapham) [This essay will appear in “Revolution,” the Spring 2014 issue of Lapham’s Quarterly. This slightly adapted version is posted at TomDispatch.com with the kind permission of that magazine.] In case of rain, the revolution will take place in the hall.— Erwin Chargaff For the last several years, the word “revolution” has been hanging […]