December 2006

Al Ahram
14 - 20 December 2006
Issue No. 824

Arabs in Israel call for a “state of all its citizens” to replace Jewish-only policies, writes Jonathan Cook in Nazareth

The official political leadership of Israel’s more than one million Palestinian citizens issued a manifesto in Nazareth last week demanding a raft of changes to end the systematic discrimination exercised against non-Jews by the state since its creation nearly six decades ago.

Included in the manifesto — the first ever produced by the community’s supreme political body, known as the High Follow-Up Committee — are calls for Israel to be reformed from a Jewish state that privileges its Jewish majority into “a state of all its citizens” and for sweeping changes to a national system of land control designed to exclude Palestinian citizens from influence.

Read the rest of this entry »

Fierce anti-American and anti-NATO rhetoric can be heard almost everywhere in this country now. Even moderates who support the presence of foreign troops are predicting catastrophe.

Civilian deaths, corruption, occupying troops leading to “jihad” against foreigners, say leaders

By Chris Sands
The Dominion
December 19, 2006

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN–As a former senior Taliban commander and associate of Osama bin Laden, Mullah Abdul Salam Rocketi was a shining example of the warlords who seemed to be rejecting violence and embracing Afghanistan’s new democracy.

But the MP for the southern province of Zabul now typifies the anger and despair raging through this blood-soaked country.

In a series of interviews with The Dominion, a number of Afghan politicians said a mass uprising against NATO-led forces will soon begin, driving out the foreign troops and igniting a civil war.

Read the rest of this entry »

By Bernard Simon in Toronto
MSNBC
December 15, 2006

The US Army is considering measures to force striking workers back to their jobs at a Goodyear Tire & Rubber plant in Kansas in the face of a looming shortage of tyres for Humvee trucks and other military equipment used in
Iraq and Afghanistan.

Read the rest of this entry »

Canadians will have to be exceptionally alert when approaching the next election. There is such a strong desire to rid the country of the arrogant and condescending Stephen Harper that people may not think past this short-term goal.

By Murray Dobbin
TheTyee.ca
December 18, 2006

The Tyee debate about who to vote for in the next election is missing an important piece of the puzzle: the nature of political power.

Read the rest of this entry »

By JIM BRONSKILL
CNews
December 17, 2006

OTTAWA (CP) - RCMP spies shadowed Tommy Douglas, the fabled Prairie politician, for more than three decades, from his early days as a young firebrand through a tumultuous tenure as NDP leader.

A newly declassified file on Douglas shows the Mounties surreptitiously attended the witty orator’s speeches, dissected his published articles and, during one Parliament Hill demonstration, eavesdropped on a private conversation.

Douglas, a trailblazing socialist committed to social reform, drew the interest of RCMP security officers through his longstanding links with left-wing causes, the burgeoning peace movement and assorted Communist Party members.

In the late 1970s, as the veteran politician neared retirement, the Mounties recommended keeping his file open based on the notion “there is much we do not know about Douglas.”

(more…)

Government support is flagging, NATO is split on strategy, and Taliban fighters are revitalized.

By Laura King and David Holley, Times Staff Writers
December 9, 2006

‘People previously were repelled by the fanaticism of the Taliban, but anger at Americans is growing.’

Briarpatch magazine invites contributions to our March/April 2007 issue focusing on the politics of gender. We are looking for feature articles, op-eds, investigative reports, news briefs, interviews, profiles, reviews, poetry, and artwork that explore how gender intersects with other social issues and affects the lives of individuals and of society.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dave Oswald Mitchell
Briarpatch Magazine
December 2006/January 2007

When your intention is to challenge the status quo and provoke debate and discussion, you’re likely to ruffle some feathers now and then—and not always those of the people you set out to unsettle.

Read the rest of this entry »

Trish Elliott, Regina Media Collective
ActUpInSask.org
Monday, 04 December 2006

Exclusive to ActUp

by Ceri Au
Maisonneuve MediaScout
December 4, 2006

From the moment he arrived in Ottawa in 1996, a brown leather backpack slung across his shoulder, people began underestimating Stephane Dion