Category: Human Rights

Quoted: Why There’s a Call for Boycotting “The Odyssey”

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Institute for Public Accuracy News Release, July 20, 2026, quotes Zunes:
“In accepting generous subsidies from the Moroccan regime, the film’s producers have provided legitimacy to the illegal occupation. It would be the equivalent of filming in Israeli or Russian-occupied territories in collaboration with those governments.  Freedom House, Human Rights Watch, and other human rights groups have ranked Moroccan-occupied Western Sahara as among the most politically repressed nations in the world. Since any protest within the occupied territory is not tolerated, it is imperative that global civil society mobilize against this injustice.” 

Interview: Washington funds worsening repression and political prisoners in Egypt

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Arab Organisation for Human Rights in UK, May 23, 2026
8 min. clip of Zunes and full seminar, 55 min.
Repression in Egypt is not happening in isolation, but is sustained through Washington’s continuous political and military support. Successive U.S. administrations have shielded the Egyptian government from accountability despite mass arrests, torture allegations, deaths in custody, and the imprisonment of tens of thousands of political prisoners… every waiver, arms deal, and public embrace of Sisi sends a message that repression will carry no consequences.

Has Senator Cruz been Misinformed About Western Sahara or What?

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Counterpunch, April 27, 2026: by Bill Fletcher Jr. – Stephen Zunes.
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), along with Senators Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Rick Scott R-FL), have introduced a bill targeting what they call the “Iranian Regime’s Polisario Front,” designating that popular North African nationalist movement as a “terrorist organization”… Since the early 1970s, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Rio de Oro (Frente Polisario) has led a fight initially for independence from Spain and subsequently for freedom from Morocco’s efforts to forcibly annex the territory.  The Polisario is a moderate secular movement whose leadership is democratically elected by refugees…

Interview: Trump’s ‘Board of Peace.’ What awaits Gaza?

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Wyoming Star, Jan. 29, 2026, quotes Zunes:
“The United Nations was willing to initially give support to the formation of the Board of Peace when it was seen as the best way to maintain the shaky ceasefire in Gaza, but the subsequently released charter doesn’t even mention Gaza. Indeed, it appears to be an effort to undermine the United Nations system as a whole. Trump has given himself effective control of the direction the board takes and the sole authority to name members, terminate members, and choose his successor. He can decide when the board meets and what it discusses, as well as issue resolutions without the approval of other members. Given that Trump’s credibility in the international community is at an all-time low, it is extremely doubtful that more than a couple dozen nations will take part. It doesn’t help that a disproportionate number of leaders who have joined or have expressed interest are far right and/or authoritarian. Indeed, two of the invited members, Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin, were unable to attend the signing ceremony in Switzerland because they would be arrested as indicted war criminals. Furthermore, Trump’s insistence that nations pay him one billion dollars to join, particularly since he can remove them at his whim, makes it look like some kind of scam. As a result, it is hard to imagine it will be more than a historical footnote.”

Trump’s quest to kick America’s ‘Iraq War syndrome’

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Responsible Statecraft, Jan 14, 2026 by Leah Schroeder (quotes Stephen Zunes)
Experts say the ‘easy’ Venezuela operation is reminiscent of George H.W. Bush’s 1989 invasion of Panama, which in part served to bury the ghosts of Vietnam
“Panama mattered because it showed the U.S. would continue intervention even after the Cold War,” said Stephen Zunes, professor of politics and Program Director for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco. “Many people thought the end of communism meant the U.S. would become a good world citizen and stop violating international law. Panama showed the Cold War was more an excuse than the reason, and that the U.S. would continue as an imperial, interventionist power.”
But where Trump might scare away a cautious population is with impulsive comments in which he says the U.S. could “run” Venezuela for years. “What makes Venezuela more serious on certain levels is that this is not a one-and-done,” Zunes said.