Now
is the winter of our discontent
By Carol Schiffler, YellowTimes, September
24, 2002
(YellowTimes.org) – "Do you
care about [insert name of Cause]?
Take action! It only takes seconds.
Click here to send an e-mail to your
Senators and Representatives!" It
seems miraculous at first. In less
than the time it takes to microwave
a bag of popcorn, you, John Q. Citizen,
can become a participant in the democratic
process. You need not lose any time
from work. You need not miss your
dental appointment. Hell, you are
able to do your civic duty, run to
the Quickie Mart for beer and chips,
and still make it back in time for
the opening kick-off.
The
Rape of a Nation
By Salam Rahal, Palestine Chronicle,
September 25, 2002
It has been many months since I last
wrote anything that I believe would
be a contribution toward the struggle
of Palestinians for freedom, independence
and most importantly justice. I found
that my inability to write was part
of both an inner and external struggle
as a deep sadness has been rooted
in my heart and for so many months
weaved itself around me - body and
soul. Since September 2000, the outbreak
of the Palestinian struggle for independence,
the Al-Aqsa Intifada, I have born
witness to the rape of a nation, people
and land. In my thirty-one years on
this earth I have gone though many
struggles -- beginning as a young
girl to womanhood to belonging to
a 'minority; and being a firm and
strong believer and follower of feminism.
However, nothing in my thirty-one
years prepared me for witnessing the
rape of a nation and what I truly
believe is outright ethnic cleansing
of a people - all in broad daylight
and on prime time TV.
The
Fifty-first State?
By James Fallows, The Atlantic Monthly,
November 2002
Going to war with Iraq would mean
shouldering all the responsibilities
of an occupying power the moment victory
was achieved. These would include
running the economy, keeping domestic
peace, and protecting Iraq's borders—and
doing it all for years, or perhaps
decades. Are we ready for this long-term
relationship?: Over the past few months
I interviewed several dozen people
about what could be expected in Iraq
after the United States dislodged
Saddam Hussein. An assumption behind
the question was that sooner or later
the United States would go to war—and
would go with at best a fraction of
the support it enjoyed eleven years
ago when fighting Iraq during the
Gulf War. Most nations in the region
and traditional U.S. allies would
be neutral or hostile unless the Bush
Administration could present new evidence
of imminent danger from Iraq.
''Palestinians
are dying for relative calm''
By Steven Salaita, YellowTimes.org,
September 27, 2002
(YellowTimes.org) – The baby
died, naked, on a wooden table. Her
only exposure to the idyllic language
of her ancestors arose from memories
of prenatal calm. In life, she lived
and died hearing only the peculiar
vocabulary of her mother's unacknowledged
screams. The child was delivered into
adulthood. She learned, before her
mother cleaned the mucus from her
mouth with a bloody pinky finger,
that her appearance was unwanted.
She was born a refugee. She was born
in isolation. She was born poor. She
was born placeless. She was born premature
but proud: she was born Palestinian.
I will never forget when my friend
recounted her baby's life story over
acrid cups of Arabic coffee in the
sultry heat of Shatila, Lebanon. My
friend went into labor two months
early. Her family, like most Palestinians
in Lebanon, had no insurance. She
was turned away at four hospitals
before a public facility agreed to
admit her. The agreement didn't extend
to providing care, however.
Short
memory, history repeats itself
Arjan El Fassed, Electronic Intifada,
September 23, 2002
The compound: I just sneaked out of
Dahiya al-Barid. During lunchtime
my dad visited me at the office and
I walked with him up to Dahiya al-Barid.
The whole morning we heard sounds
of small explosions. We couldn't really
get to know where it came from. An
Israeli army helicopter has been circling
over Ram, Dahiya al-Barid, Beit Hanina
and other areas. In the morning the
checkpoint on the main road was closed.
Sound bombs and tear gas were shot
at commuters.
Nablus:
Home snaching, back to square one
Amer Abdelhadi, Electronic Intifada,
September 25, 2002
After what seemed like four days of
near peace, most people being able
to get from one place to the other
with less chances of getting spotted,
a large number army tanks, armored
vehicles and army jeeps re-entered
Nablus. The buildings, residential
ones, are snatched again. The curfew
has been enforced for 96 days since
June 20. No breaks, no chance for
students to go to schools, people
to get to work and breadwinners to
provide for their families. On Saturday,
schools were opened. The decision
was taken mostly by students with
the help of their parents and the
series of talk shows in we adopted
for that matter in Radio Tariq Al
Mahabbeh.
Campus
Watch: Middle East McCarthyism?
By Nigel Parry and Ali Abunimah, Electronic
Intifada, September 25, 2002
"A pro-Israel think tank plans to
start an Internet site," according
to a September 18 article in The Wall
Street Journal, "to monitor the attitudes
of American professors and universities
toward Islamic fundamentalism and
the Arab-Israeli conflict." ("Pro-Israel
Web Site To Monitor Views Of US Academia")
"To be launched by the Philadelphia-based
Middle East Forum," the article continued,
"www.campus-watch.org will maintain what
it calls "dossiers" on professors
and academic institutions and collect
information from students regarding
their teachers' political opinions."
Campus
Watch: Interview with Prof M. Shahid
Alam
Nigel Parry, Electronic Intifada,
September 26, 2002
Following the launch of "Campus Watch",
a new Daniel Pipes project to monitors
the views of Middle East Studies lecturers
on campuses, EI's Nigel Parry interviewed
academic M. Shahid Alam, Professor
of Economics at Northeastern University,
Boston, about how he felt to be one
of the professors on which a "dossier"
had been opened.
