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?
Deadly violence is continuing in Egypt after the military ouster of President Mohamed Morsi. On Monday July 8, at least 42 people were killed at the military site where Morsi is being detained. Meanwhile Mohamed ElBaradei, a Nobel peace laureate and former head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, was tapped for the post of prime minister, but the decision to install him as PM was vetoed by an Islamist group participating in Egypt’s political process. However, Tamarod, the campaign...
Alex Kane -
The Egyptian street has erupted once again. Two and a half years after the revolution that overthrew longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak captivated the world and fundamentally changed the Middle East, another massive shock to the Egyptian political system is unfolding.
After a year of rule by President Mohamed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood-backed politician who won Egypt’s first-ever free and democratic elections last year, ordinary Egyptians have had enough. Responding to a grassroots...
Commenting on Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi's move to grant himself sweeping powers that has brought Egyptians back to the streets in protest, Hamid Dabashi, Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York, says Egypt has had an "open-ended revolution". After negotiating a ceasefire between Israel and Gaza, Morsi passed edicts, which allow him to overrule any judicial oversight, essentially giving him dictatorial powers.
It is very...
Musician and activist, Dave Randall, has written a superb article about the music behind the Arab revolutions highlighting some great music videos from Syria, Egypt and Tunisia. We feature the Syrian clip above and link to the others from this post.
Syria
In the clip above, listen to firefighter and part-time poet, Ibrahim Qashoush, singing in the "traditional call and response folk form of the region", as he criticises the Assad regime at a protest. "A few days...
Pepe Escobar -
Let's start with a bomb. Over 10 days ago a new brand of coup d'etat took place in Paraguay against elected president Fernando Lugo. It was virtually unnoticed by global corporate media.
Anything unexpected? Not really. A March 2009 cable from the US Embassy in Asuncion, revealed by WikiLeaks, had already detailed how oligarchs in Paraguay were busy devising a "democratic coup" in congress to depose Lugo.
At the time, the US embassy noted political conditions were not ideal...
Egypt's revolution received another blow this weekend as the country's ruling military council, The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) severely restricted the authority of the newly elected president by issuing a constitutional declaration that tightens its grip over the country's institutions. Under the new decree, the president is stripped of his power as commander in chief and the generals maintain complete control over the military. The generals also retain all legislative powers,...
