Audio Podcast of Dr. Zunes at the Commonwealth Club of California
Commonwealth Club of California, March 10, 2011
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Pro-Democracy Protests Spread to Oman
Foreign Policy In Focus/Insitute for Policy Studies
March 7, 2011. Also in Eurasia Review and Huffington Post
Oman’s autocratic monarchy has long been one of the closest U.S. allies in the Middle East. And, as with authoritarian U.S. allies in Tunisia, Egypt, Bahrain, and Yemen, a largely nonviolent, pro-democracy struggle has arisen in Oman as well. Protests began in the capital of Muscat on February 19 but soon spread…
Interview: A Force More Powerful (audio)
Wisconsin Public Radio, March 2, 2011: Of the more than 100 radio interviews I’ve done on the civilian insurrections in the Middle East over the past 6-8 weeks, this one is probably the most salient. The entire 55-minute interview focuses on the power of nonviolent action (and includes audio clips from Gene Sharp, Mohandas Gandhi, and others.) [Source and recording are no longer available; Find related links.]
America Blows It on Bahrain
Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies March 2 & Alternet March 15, 2024
The Obama administration’s continued support of the autocratic monarchy in Bahrain, in the face of massive pro-democracy demonstrators, once again puts the U.S. behind the curve of the new political realities in the Middle East. For more than two weeks, a nonviolent sit-in and encampment by tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters has occupied the Pearl Roundabout. This traffic circle in Bahrain’s capital city of Manama – like Tahrir Square in Cairo – has long been the symbolic center of the city…
Libya, the United States, and the Anti-Gaddafi Revolt
Huffington Post Feb 25, 2011: As outlined below, the uprising comes despite decades of US hostility toward Gaddafi, which paradoxically strengthened the regime and arguably contributed to its longevity. It also comes despite the fact that, compared with the recent successful civil insurrections against dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, the challenges faced by the pro-democracy forces in Libya have been far greater.
Lessons and Signs of Hope Amidst the Carnage in Libya
Counter Currents February 27, 2011 and YES! Magazine
The civil insurrection in Libya has been far more violent, and forces loyal to the dictator far more violent still, than the recent successful unarmed revolutions against the dictatorships in neighboring Tunisia and Egypt. Still, there are signs of hope and important lessons to be learned in the ongoing struggle against the 42-year regime of Muammar Gaddafi…
Credit the Egyptian People for the Egyptian Revolution
Truthout February 26, 2011
While there will undoubtedly have to be additional popular struggle in Egypt to ensure that the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak leads to real democracy, the ouster of the dictator is by any measure a major triumph for the Egyptian people and yet another example of the power of nonviolent action. Indeed, Egypt joins such diverse countries as the Philippines, Poland, Chile, Czechoslovakia, Nepal, Serbia, Bolivia, Indonesia, and others…
Mubarak’s Ouster: Good for Egypt, Good for Israel
Huffington Post Feb 17, 2011 | Updated May 25, 2011
Also in Common Dreams and Tikkun: The inspiring triumph of the Egyptian people in the nonviolent overthrow of the hated dictator Hosni Mubarak is a real triumph of the human spirit. While there will likely be continued struggle in order to ensure that the military junta will allow for a real democratic transition, the mobilization of Egypt’s civil society and the empowerment of millions of workers, students, intellectuals and others in the cause of freedom will be difficult to contain…
Interview: Departure of Mubarak and the Future of Egypt (audio)
China Radio International February 14, 2011
Source link and recording are no longer available. Find related links.
Why Egypt Will Not Turn Into Another Iran
The Huffington Post Feb 10, 2011 | Updated May 25
Also at Iranian.com and CarolBaker.net
Some prominent congressional leaders and media pundits, in a cynical effort to mislead the American public into supporting the Egyptian dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak and opposing the popular nonviolent struggle for democracy, have raised the specter of Egypt’s government falling into the hands of radical Islamists who would attack Israel and support international terrorism. To illustrate this frightening scenario, these apologists for authoritarianism try to compare the current pro-democracy uprising against the U.S.-backed Egyptian dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak with the 1978-79 insurrection against the U.S.-backed Iranian dictatorship of Shah Reza Pahlavi…
Egypt’s pro-democracy movement: The struggle continues
Open Democracy February 8, 2011
Despite the natural subsidence of dramatic demonstrations on the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities, as many protesters return to jobs and catch their breath, there is little question that the pro-democracy struggle in Egypt has achieved lasting momentum, barring unexpected repression. As with other kinds of civil struggles, a movement using nonviolent resistance can ebb and flow. There may have to be tactical retreats, times for regrouping or resetting of strategy, or a focus on negotiations with the regime before broader operations that capture the world’s attention resume. Those who were expecting a quick victory are no doubt disappointed, but successful People Power movements of recent decades have usually been protracted struggles…
Interview: Democratic Revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt (audio)
Egypt: Lessons in Democracy
Life as a Human February 3, 2011. Also in Common Dreams
Together, the unarmed insurrection that overthrew the Ben Ali regime in Tunisia and the ongoing uprising in Egypt have dramatically altered the way many in the West view prospects for democratization in the Middle East. The dramatic events of recent weeks have illustrated that for democracy to come to the Arab world, it will come not from foreign intervention or sanctimonious statements from Washington, but from Arab peoples themselves…
Interview: MSNBC Q&A on Egypt
Americans for Peace Now, January 30, 2011 By Lara Friedman
… I recommend this MSNBC post with Professor Stephen Zunes
A: “Most Arab countries share these problems. However, some are more susceptible to these kinds of uprisings than others. For example, in Syria, civil society is weaker and the secret police are stronger. In Saudi Arabia and the smaller emirates of the Gulf, they can buy off much of the opposition. However, I would not be surprised to see an upsurge in pro-democracy protests in Yemen, Sudan, Jordan, Algeria and Morocco…”
Interview: All eyes on Egypt’s military: How will it respond?
Yahoo!News/The Lookout January 31, 2011, with Dr. Stephen Zunes
As mass demonstrations continue to threaten Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak’s grip on power, the country’s powerful military is emerging as perhaps the crucial player in determining the course of events in the Middle East’s most populous nation… The Lookout asked Stephen Zunes about how the Egyptian military might respond, and how that response might influence events…
Obama’s Shift on Egypt
Truthout January 31, 2011; Also in Huffington Post
The administration has yet to issue an explicit call for the authoritarian President Hosni Mubarak to step down, at least in public. However, yesterday, for the first time, Secretary of State Clinton and other officials began calling for “an orderly transition” to democracy. The apparent change in the administration’s approach comes from the belated realization that nothing short of a Tienanmen Square-style massacre would probably stop the protests…
US Continues to Back Egyptian Dictatorship in the Face of Pro-Democracy Uprising
Truthout January 27, 2011. Also in Huffington Post
Washington’s continued support for the Egyptian dictatorship in the face of massive pro-democracy protests is yet another sign that both Congress and the Obama administration remain out of touch with the growing demands for freedom in the Arab world. Just last month, Obama and the then-Democratic-controlled Congress approved an additional $1.3 billion in security assistance to help prop up Hosni Mubarak’s repressive regime.
The United States and the Prospects for Democracy in Islamic Countries
Foreign Policy In Focus/Institute for Policy Studies January 21, 2011. Also in Common Dreams and Eurasia Review
Many in the West are familiar with the way unarmed pro-democracy insurrections have helped bring democracy to Eastern Europe, Latin America, and parts of Asia and Africa. But they discount the chances of such movements in Islamic countries, despite Tunisia being far from the first. Meanwhile, the United States… continues to actively support authoritarian governments…
ROTC policy on Wikileaks threatens academic freedom
Huffington Post Jan 25, 2011 |Updated May 25, 2011 by Stephen Zunes
I have found ROTC cadets to be among my favorite students… It was with great consternation, therefore, to learn that, according to a memo sent to ROTC programs at the University of San Francisco and other colleges and universities last month, they have effectively been prohibited from completing any assignments that professors may make involving any material released through WikiLeaks…
Tunisia’s Democratic Revolution
Huffington Post Jan 20, 2011 |Updated May 25, 2011
Whether the overthrow of the corrupt and autocratic Ben Ali regime in Tunisia in a mass civil insurrection will lead to a stable, just and democratic order remains to be seen, but the dramatic events in that North African country underscore a critical point: Democracy in the Arab world will not come from foreign military intervention or sanctimonious lecturing from Western capitals, but from Arab peoples themselves.