The Maldives: a serial coup in progress? admin, October 15, 2013July 8, 2024 Should Britain, the United States and others who claim to be concerned, stand by and allow reactionary forces to stage-manage a phony election, this sends yet another inconsistent and disheartening message to those struggling for peaceful democratic change in the Islamic world and beyond. Continue Reading
The ongoing attack on democracy in the Maldives admin, October 11, 2012August 15, 2024 A political struggle now under way on a tiny island nation in the Indian Ocean has huge implications for the global struggle for democracy and human rights. Western powers which profess to support democratic and accountable governance need to act decisively to prevent this Muslim nation, whose protracted nonviolent freedom struggle was an important precursor for the Arab Spring, to continue its slide back into authoritarianism. Continue Reading
Democracy Imperiled in the Maldives admin, March 15, 2012August 16, 2024 Well before the launch of the Arab Spring, the people of the Maldives, a Muslim nation located on a tropical archipelago in the Indian Ocean, were engaged in widespread nonviolent resistance against the 30-year reign of the corrupt and autocratic president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. The growing civil insurrection forced the dictator to finally allow for free elections in October 2008, which he lost. Continue Reading
The Power of Protest in the Maldives admin, December 9, 2008January 21, 2025 The recent ousting of the corrupt and autocratic president of the Maldive Islands, Mahmoud Gayoom, marks another victory in the global struggle for rights and democracy. Gayoom was defeated in a nationwide election on 28 October after ruling the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago as his personal fiefdom for more than thirty years…. Continue Reading
The Power of Protest in the Maldives admin, December 9, 2008 The recent ousting of the corrupt and autocratic president of the Maldive Islands, Mahmoud Gayoom, marks another victory in the global struggle for rights and democracy. Gayoom was defeated in a nationwide election on 28 October after ruling the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago as his personal fiefdom for more than thirty years. Continue Reading
U.S. Backs Tunisian Dictatorship in Face of Pro-Democracy Uprising admin, January 14, 2011January 21, 2025 The regime, U.S.-backed Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali has been the target of a nationwide popular uprising in recent weeks, which neither shooting into crowds of unarmed demonstrators nor promised reforms has thus far quelled. Whether this unarmed revolt results in the regime’s downfall remains to be seen. In recent decades, largely nonviolent insurrections such as this have toppled corrupt authoritarian rulers in the Philippines, Serbia, Bolivia, Ukraine, the Maldives, Georgia, Mali, Nepal and scores of other countries and have seriously challenged repressive regimes in Iran, Burma and elsewhere. Continue Reading
Pro-Democracy Uprising Fails to Keep Washington From Backing Tunisian Dictatorship admin, January 13, 2011January 25, 2025 Foreign Policy in Focus/Institute for Policy Studies January 13, 2011 The regime U.S.-backed Tunisian dictator Zine el Abidine Ben Ali has been the target of a nationwide popular uprising in recent weeks, which neither shooting into crowds of unarmed demonstrators nor promised reforms has thus far quelled. Whether this unarmed… Continue Reading
ARCHIVES See Over 1000 Posts Chronologically All Middle East Articles, Interviews, Clips Complete Articles and Written Interviews October 7, 2023 to January 10, 2025 Search by CATEGORY Audio, Radio, Video, Television, Lectures and Interviews Africa —Libya —Mali —North Africa —Somalia —South Africa —Sudan —Tunisia —Morocco/ Western Sahara Asia —Caucasus and Central… Continue Reading
Echoes of Solidarity 20 Years after Tiananmen admin, June 4, 2009January 21, 2025 Twenty years ago today, I was at Camp Thoreau in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Though I had already become a full-time academic, I was still involved in the topical folk music circles in which I had hung out for much of the previous decade and had come down from Ithaca to join this annual gathering of politically-conscious folk musicians for a weekend of workshops, jam sessions and performances. Continue Reading
Remembering Tiananmen Square admin, June 4, 2009January 21, 2025 Twenty years ago, on June 4, I was at Camp Thoreau in New York’s Catskill Mountains. Though I had already become a full-time academic, I was still involved in the topical folk music circles in which I had hung out for much of the previous decade and had come down from Ithaca to join this annual gathering of politically-conscious folk musicians for a weekend of workshops, jam sessions and performances…. Continue Reading