Mahmood Darwish: Opening Pages of “Memory of Forgetfulness”

Getting up on the first morning after we started shelter-in-place here in New York, I went as always straight to the kitchen to start the ritual of making coffee — & immediately thought that the book I wanted/needed to reread at that/this moment was Mahmood Darwish’s Memory of Forgetfulness, which I have done on other occasions over the years since it was published by the University of California Press … Read more Mahmood Darwish: Opening Pages of “Memory of Forgetfulness”

Against Erasure: Art and Sudan’s Sit-in

& once again via & thanks to the great work ArabLit is doing: JUNE 15, 2019 More than 100 people were killed and hundreds injured in the government’s June 3 attack on a sit-in in Khartoum, where protesters were gathered to demand justice, accountability, and choice in their future governance. The sit-in site had also been a site for art: By Lemya Shammat Before it was brutally stormed at … Read more Against Erasure: Art and Sudan’s Sit-in

Uri Avnery on David Friedman: “Don’t Send Him!”

December 24, 2016 DONALD TRUMP has spat in my face. Not only in my own face, but in the faces of at least half the Israeli population. He has appointed a bankruptcy lawyer named David Friedman to the job of US ambassador in Israel. This sounds like a bad joke. But it is brutal reality. It sets a precedent unknown in the annals of international diplomacy. FIRST OF all, … Read more Uri Avnery on David Friedman: “Don’t Send Him!”

Uri Avnery: The Orange Man

July 30, 2016 SO HERE we are. Either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will be our next president.  “Our”? I am not a US citizen, and have no desire to be one. But I live in a world in which the USA is the sole superpower, in which every decision of the US administration has an impact on the lives of every human being. FOR ME AS a citizen … Read more Uri Avnery: The Orange Man

The World in a Wheelchair

An interesting, scary &, I believe, accurate article by Eric Holthaus on where we are at concerning global warming was just published by Quartz. Below, the opening paragraphs & the graph: So it’s come to this. Last year, a researcher presented a paper on climate change at the American Geophysical Union’s meeting entitled ”Is Earth F**ked?” which advocated “environmental direct action, resistance taken from outside the dominant culture, as in protests, blockades and sabotage … Read more The World in a Wheelchair

Stupendous Speed of Climate Change

via Stanford University news, opening paras of article you can read in full here: Climate change on pace to occur 10 times faster than any change recorded in past 65 million years, Stanford scientists say Not only is the planet undergoing one of the largest climate changes in the past 65 million years, Stanford climate scientists Noah Diffenbaugh and Chris Field report that it’s on pace to occur at … Read more Stupendous Speed of Climate Change

Food Safety Threatened, Democracy Subverted

Reprinted from current issue of Organic Consumer Association: Consumer Alert: Secret Trade Agreements Threaten Food Safety, Subvert Democracy By Katherine Paul and Ronnie Cummins Organic Consumers Association, June 13, 2013 For related articles and more information, please visit OCA’s Food Safetypage and Politics and Democracy page. If you think the U.S. government is doing a sub-par job of keeping your food safe, brace yourself. You could soon be eating imported seafood, beef … Read more Food Safety Threatened, Democracy Subverted

White Terrorists and Others

Top Ten Differences Between White Terrorists and Others By Juan Cole, Informed Comment 10 August 12 White terrorists are called “gunmen.” What does that even mean? A person with a gun? Wouldn’t that be, like, everyone in the US? Other terrorists are called, like, “terrorists.” White terrorists are “troubled loners.” Other terrorists are always suspected of being part of a global plot, even when they are obviously troubled loners. Doing … Read more White Terrorists and Others

Thousands of Palestinians Risk Displacement

Via The Electronic Intifada: Thousands of Palestinians in the Jordan Valley risk forced displacement, says UN body Submitted by Adri Nieuwhof on Sat, 02/11/2012 – 16:46 Sixty thousand Palestinians live under harsh conditions in the Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea area – one of the most isolated and restricted areas in occupied Palestine. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has summarized their humanitarian situation … Read more Thousands of Palestinians Risk Displacement

Quantifying Climate Impacts

Joint press release by the Potsdam-Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)  02/07/2012 Quantifying climate impacts: new comprehensive model comparison launched Climate change has impacts on forests, fields, rivers – and thereby on humans that breathe, eat and drink. To assess these impacts more accurately, a comprehensive comparison of computer-based simulations from all over the world will start this week. For … Read more Quantifying Climate Impacts