Articles

“Come, I will make the continent indissoluble… O Democracy” once sang Walt Whitman, the 19th-century US poet laureate. With the unrest in Oakland, Portland, Berkeley, New York City, spanning the indissoluble continent as it were, democracy has once more become an unknown quantity, subject to definition.

On October 29, Muslim researchers, journalists and editors gathered in Tehran to inaugurate the establishment of the Press Union of the Islamic World. The first general assembly session of the press union attracted Muslim media professionals from 38 countries representing different media outlets including Crescent International.

South African civil society formations can be justifiably proud of pulling off one of the most serious challenges confronting Israel: the question of apartheid. By successfully hosting on November 5–7, a venerable “people’s court” within the precincts of a looming symbol of resistance against apartheid — the District 6 Museum — they made a powerful statement whose effects are still creating waves of discontent.

Since January 2011, Syrian streets have been hit by a protest demanding removal of the Ba‘th regime and Bashar al-Asad from power. A growing armed insurgency and other developments, which took place in November, showed that the situation is getting out of control, dragging the country into a bloody civil war.

Iraq War veteran, Ross Caputi, writes about his thoughts on the role of veterans in the Occupy movement. The author is a Marine Corps veteran of the second siege of Fallujah and a member of March Forward! He is the founder of the Justice for Fallujah Project, which hosted various events during the second annual Remember Fallujah Week, November 16-19, 2011.

General Mirza Aslam Beg — who is the former Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan and currently Chairman of the Islamabad-based NGO, Foundation for Research on International Environment, National Development and Security (FRIENDS) — expresses some of his views about the Islamic resistance and Pakistan.

One of the more bizarre cases of terrorism, which reflects more the criminal nature of Indian police, is coming to a close. Seven of the nine Muslim youth accused in the September 8, 2006 Malegaon blast, were granted bail on November 16 by a Special Court in Mumbai. The blast killed 37 people and wounded hundreds of others. That most of the victims were Muslims did not bother the police or the anti-terrorism squad.

Iraq War veteran, Ross Caputi, writes about his thoughts on the role of veterans in the Occupy movement. The author is a Marine Corps veteran of the second siege of Fallujah and a member of March Forward! He is the founder of the Justice for Fallujah Project, which hosted various events during the second annual Remember Fallujah Week, November 16-19, 2011. 

Perhaps the most comforting thing in a revolution, in the midst of angst, bloodshed, and existential fear, is food. Steaming hot victuals, nourishing a tired body; the pleasure of breaking bread with compatriots in arms, cementing the fellowship you have formed under the hail of bullets, police batons, and clouds of tear gas.

It is an open question whether the Occupy Wall Street Movement will achieve its objectives. Launched on September 17, it has not only lasted much longer than most observers had anticipated, it has also gone global. On October 15, there were rallies in 82 countries worldwide from east to west and north to south.