Set in the aftermath of Iran’s fraudulent elections of 2009, Zahra’s Paradise is the fictional story of the search for Mehdi, a young protestor who has disappeared in the Islamic Republic’s gulags. Mehdi has vanished in an extrajudicial twilight zone where habeas corpus is suspended.
Israeli Knesset Member Ben-Ari fears Israeli settlers will be overwhelmed by Palestinian demonstrators and that the Israeli Defense Force won’t protect them.
An implicit social contract underlies the Chinese people’s relationship with its government. The people accept the autocratic Communist Party of China regime with its corruption and minimal public participation, and the regime delivers a continuous and rapid improvement in the economic standard of living. But that social contract is now at risk, as China is on an unsustainable path that will result in economic stagnation or decline in the coming decades.
In July, students, political activists, human rights workers, and average citizens in Lima, Peru, joined a march entitled “Ni indulto ni impunidad, asesinos a prisión,” or “No pardons or impunity, murderers to prison.” The event occurred just two weeks before the presidential inauguration of leftist Ollanta Humala Tasso. Humala’s victory has led countless activists across Peru to herald a new era of democracy, freedom of expression, and most of all victory over Fujimorismo.
Hamas arrests by Israeli security forces would seem to indicate a severe setback for Hamas’s influence in the Occupied Territories.
From July 25 to August 2 of this year, hundreds of Central American migrants, their family members, and activists participated in the Caravan “Step by Step for Peace” to demand respect for immigrant rights. Part I (here) of this article details the goals of the Caravan, especially its protest of the kidnappings of migrants who cross Mexico. Part 2, presented below, chronicles the travels by freight train across Mexico.
The Islamist specter in Yemen is driving cooperation between the U.S. and the Saudi government with its questionable human rights record.
About the only difference between the Islamist far-right and the Christian (and Jewish) far-right is the tone.
NATO allies working to outmaneuver one another to secure oil contracts in Libya have overshadowed their “responsibility to protect.”
Multinationals and their products have been involved in suppressing the Arab Spring and have made hefty profits from providing surveillance capacity, security contracting and arms sales to repressive regimes.