Uncategorized Archives - Page 82 of 274

Asia’s Axis of Evil?

by John Feffer | Jul 30, 2009

The two pariahs of Asia, North Korea and Burma, often get mentioned in the same breath. With no one else to depend on, these two countries would appear to be natural partners. Indeed, the Obama administration has been gathering circumstantial evidence that North Korea is providing Burma with nuclear technology so that they can both thumb their noses more aggressively at the international community. There are satellite images of Burma’s underground tunnels. The Japanese recently arrested a North Korean and two Japanese businessmen for attempting to sell Burma a magnetometer, a component of missile guidance systems. The Kang Nam, the North Korean ship that the Pentagon was recently tracking, was bound for Burma with a pile of who-knows-what on board.

Poem: “Feminicide/Fimicidio”

by Melissa Tuckey, Demetrice Anníta Worley | Jul 28, 2009

Amnesty International has confirmed that since 1992 the number of murdered women and girls from and around Ciudad Juárez is 475, and it believes over 5,000 women and girls have disappeared. – Barbara Martinez Jittner, independent film-maker i. On this eve of the dead, I cry out loud,“por favor Virgen de Guadalupe, don’t forsake me,” […]

Poem: “River, Page”

by Teresa Scollon, Melissa Tuckey | Jul 28, 2009

To Y. Thao Look how you’ve carried these small bodies across the ocean, looking for the next one to hear the story. Look how gently you laid these children down at the fire where stories are told. I hear it again: how the choppers lifted out of Saigon, cut away the desperate arms and fled, […]

Slaying the Dragon

by John Feffer | Jul 28, 2009

Our new king’s armor is starting to get tarnished.

Muslim Voices

by John Feffer, Ethan Pack | Jul 27, 2009

A chaikhana is a Central Asian teahouse where poets and performers — men and (unveiled) women — sing verses and recite prose in a conversational atmosphere with fellow patrons. In New York, last month’s Muslim Voices festival recreated a chaikhana to showcase Urdu writers from Pakistan, performances of Lebanese zajal (dueling poetry with audience response and affirmation), and West African jaliya, an hereditary bardic tradition from Mali that has produced many world music stars.

Honduras: A Broken System

by Lynn Holland, Emily Schwartz Greco | Jul 24, 2009

President Manuel Zelaya and his opponents now in charge in Honduras remain in a standoff. Inside the country, supporters of both sides are waging mass protests, while concerns continue regarding media censorship. This crisis provides an opportunity to look more closely at the Honduran political system and how it “broke.” Even more importantly, it’s a chance to consider what life is like for the average Honduran and how the United States impacts that small Central American country.

Obama to Africa: Tough Love or Tough Luck?

by Mukoma Wa Ngugi, Emira Woods | Jul 22, 2009

Africans are wading knee-deep in world financial institutions and leaders advising "good governance," "transparency," "accountability," and the ever-elusive "democracy." We did not need to hear these catchphrases that laced Obama’s Ghana speech. They are so benign that even Africa’s dictators, such as Kenya’s former dictator Daniel Arap Moi, promised them with each stolen election.

Fighting the Forgotten War: Students’ Activism for the Congo

by Kwaku Osei | Jul 21, 2009

Kambale Musavuli isn’t your average student.

Gassed to Death

by John Feffer | Jul 21, 2009

For the last decade, highway fatalities in the United States remained relatively constant, at 42,000 deaths a year. Every year, in other words, we lose more people on American roads than we did in the three-year-long Korean War.

North Korea’s ‘Papillon’

by John Feffer | Jul 20, 2009

When I was a boy, I devoured the great work of escape fiction, Papillon, which chronicled the astonishing life of Henri Charriere. The French courts sent Charriere to a series of penal colonies off the coast of South America, for a crime he didn’t commit. Nicknamed Papillon (butterfly) for the tattoo on his chest, Charriere managed to break out of several prisons, including a harrowing escape on a raft of coconuts from the virtually inescapable Devil’s Island.