It’s a mistake to assume that, because Islam permits individuals to commit violence in response to representations of Muhammad, the filmmaker of “Innocence of Muslims” knew murder might be a consequence.
Governments in Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, and elsewhere are showing signs of greater authoritarianism.
Actress Sandra Oh has taken on a new starring role: North Korean adoption activist. In a new ad, Oh pulls heartstrings for the rescue of North Korean children who have escaped and who “are living alone and without family in foreign lands” like China. “They need us,” she says against a backdrop of fleeting images of emaciated children. But who are these children?
Javier Sicilia, a poet who lost his son to drug war violence in March of 2011, catalyzed the Caravan for Peace — a coalition of victims and Mexican citizens fed up with the bloodshed that has claimed more than 60,000 lives and left tens of thousands more disappeared since former President Felipe Calderon launched the drug war five years ago.
Colombia has endured one of the longest-running civil conflicts in the Western Hemisphere. Throwing Stones at the Moon: Narratives from Colombians Displaced By Violence, edited by Sibylla Brodzinsky and Max Schoening, is a compelling compilation of personal accounts of the tragedies and abuses suffered by everyday Colombians during the country’s civil war.
Behind South Africa’s labor unrest is the fact that the 99 percent of black South Africans have not tasted the fruits of democracy and freedom. Only a tiny minority—the politically connected—reaped the rewards of black rule and the ANC’s Black Economic Empowerment program.
In a stunning violation of its own rules, the wishes of the majority of delegates at its national convention, and positions taken by the United Nations and virtually every country in the world, the Democratic Party leadership pushed through an amendment to its platform stating that Jerusalem “is and will remain the capital of Israel” and should be “undivided.”
The Republican-sponsored measure received wide bipartisan support in the Democratic-controlled legislature.
On August 28, an Israeli court rejected a civil lawsuit against Israeli occupation forces for the 2003 murder of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year old American peace activist killed in the Gaza Strip, upholding a severely flawed internal Israeli military investigation.
Neither former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh nor al Qaeda in Yemen have learned that murdering your countrymen turns their survivors against you.