In The News

The Zapatistas: The Second Stage

Immanuel Wallerstein July 15, 2005
When NAFTA came into effect in January of 1994, the Zapatistas – a group representing the indigenous Mayans in Mexico – revolted in Chiapas, one of the poorest regions in the country, and drew attention to their right to autonomy. For the last 11 years, the Zapatista rebellion has reinvigorated anti-systemic movements around the world. The protests at the 1999 WTO meetings in Seattle, as well...

A Place Where Women Rule

Emily Wax July 9, 2005
The small community of Umoja, Kenya, is a unique experiment in social progress and gender equality. The town serves as a refuge for women and does not admit men, much to the chagrin of the latter. Umoja represents a new awareness among African women about AIDS, rape, spousal abuse, and the gaps in legal codes that allow such violations to go unpunished. Women are increasingly banding together and...

How Africans See the Initiative to Help the Continent

Bashir Goth July 8, 2005
As the G-8 discusses plans to cancel Africa's debt this week, most agree that the world's richest countries can and should aid the ailing continent. In fact, the group agreed to double aid to Africa by 2010. But in the excitement surrounding the G-8 summit, few have asked Africans how they feel about the plan. The answer, supplied by African journalist Bashir Goth, is surprisingly...

Muslim Problem Needs a Muslim Solution

Thomas L. Friedman July 8, 2005
After the terrorist attacks in London yesterday, politicians, journalists, and the public at large began searching for answers, and started thinking about how to prevent future atrocities. Columnist Thomas L. Friedman posits that the best way to counter Islamic terrorism is for the Muslim community to publicly speak out against extremists. One of the greatest potential dangers of extremist...

Nagasaki 1945: While Independents Were Scorned, Embed Won Pulitzer

Mark Selden July 7, 2005
Sixty years after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, some newly disclosed journalistic accounts offer a unique insight into wartime press controls. A copy of Chicago Daily News reporter George Weller's dispatches, which were stopped in 1945 by US military censors, has recently been uncovered by his son. Both Weller and another reporter had documented the atrocities in post-...

Africa Needs an Al-Jazeera

Philip Fiske de Gouveia July 6, 2005
The spotlight on Africa of late has focused on many laudable goals: sustainable development, debt relief, disease prevention and control, and reining in governmental corruption. But promoting democracy and permanently establishing open and honest government, Philip Fiske de Gouveia writes, is inherently linked to a feature which most Africa nations still lack: a free press. The overwhelming...

Giving Voice to British Arab Culture – And Its Discontents

Omar Waraich June 29, 2005
When Reem Maghribi, a 26-year-old British Arab designer, realized that Arabs lacked a voice in the United Kingdom, she founded Sharq, a magazine devoted to the promotion of “British Arab Culture.” With an increasing number of British Arabs questioning their identity amidst a climate of “Arabaphobia,” the self-supported publication is offering them the opportunity to delve into their unique...