The South African Civil Society Information Service
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
A nonprofit news agency promoting social justice. Seeking answers to the question:
How do we make democracy work for the poor?
In a speech to an international audience, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti, Secretary General of the Palestinian National Initiative presents the reality of the situation in Palestine.
He traces the history of the dispossession of Palestinian land in past decades and more recently the carving up of the West Bank as Jewish settlements expand into Palestinian territories. Barghouti's presentation includes maps that graphically demonstrate the displacement of Palestinians and the shrinking of their...
Juan Cole -
How Israel’s Gaza Blockade and Washington’s Sanctions Policy Helped Keep the Hardliners in Power
Iran’s Green Movement is one year old this Sunday, the anniversary of its first massive demonstrations in the streets of Tehran. Greeted with great hope in much of the world, a year later it’s weaker, the country is more repressive, and its hardliners are in a far stronger position -- and some of their success can be credited to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin...
Veteran White House Press Corps reporter, Helen Thomas, retired after 60 years. She was the most senior White House correspondent -- her stellar career covering nine presidents from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama. Her resignation comes in the midst of a blaze of condemnation from establishment critics and the White House after she made the controversial remark that Israel should "get the hell out of Palestine."
Thomas is no stranger to controversy and has a fierce reputation for...
Phyllis Bennis -
Israeli commandoes murdered nine humanitarian aid workers in international waters. Nine were Turkish citizens; one a U.S. citizen. They wounded scores more. They imprisoned hundreds, and impounded the ships they hijacked on the high seas. Someone asked me the question: will they get away with it? So far, I answered, they HAVE gotten away with it. And if history repeats itself, if nothing changes, they will continue to get away with it. Our job is to change history. And this time,...
Is Hamas willing to negotiate directly with Israel or not is the question put to Hamas representative in Lebanon, Usamah Hamdan, by The Real News Network.
Hamdan responds that negotiations are a political step which depend on political conditions. Until now the political climate has not allowed such a step, he says.
Would Hamas recognize the state of Israel if the majority of the Palestinian people supported a two state solution?
"If our people accepted anything through a free...
Saif Shahin -
America's failure to talk peace is undercutting its influence in the Middle East. It has cleared the way for proactive nations like Turkey and Qatar, who want a quieter neighborhood to push their economic growth, to step in and broker deals such as the recent Iranian nuclear fuel swap and the Lebanese accord of 2008. Continued U.S. intransigence may lead them to try and sort out issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well.
The United States chooses to be unconvinced by the...
