Interview with Gilbert Achcar about growing impact of Chinese economy

Interview in Alakhbar could be read here. It is in Arabic.

Ghadhafi's out

One of the longest to occur till now, and with western (unfavoured and unwanted intervention). A report in Arabic from Lebanon's Assafir. And these are constant updates from the Guardian.

Zionism

"In fact, Israel never needed a pretext to start bombing Gaza. Israel’s warplanes do every day shell the hell out of Gaza. This was a pretext for exercising extrajudicial execution the outcome of which is still on the rise. And yes, it didn’t take long for the aerial, ground and naval operation to get under way. You can’t tell me Israel would miss this chance"

Zionist crimes against humanity 11-17 August

·       IOF killed two Palestinians, including a mentally disabled child in the Gaza Strip.
-        4 Palestinians, including a child, were wounded by IOF in the Gaza Strip.
-        A Palestinian child was injured by the explosion of a suspicious object in the West Bank.
 
·       Israeli warplanes bombarded a number of targets in the Gaza Strip.
 
·       IOF continued to attack Palestinian fishermen and fishing boats in the Gaza Strip.
-        A Palestinian fisherman was wounded in the northern Gaza Strip.
 
·       IOF continued to use force against peaceful protests in the West Bank.
-        Dozens of demonstrators suffered from tear gas inhalation.
 
·       IOF conducted 27 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank.   
-        IOF arrested 10 Palestinian civilians.
 
·       Israel has continued to impose a total siege on the OPT and has isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world.
-        IOF arrested 7 Palestinian civilians, including a woman and her baby, at military checkpoints in the West Bank.
 
·       IOF have continued settlement activities in the West Bank and Israeli settlers have continued to attack Palestinian civilians and property.
-        Israeli settler guards fired at Palestinian farmers north of Hebron.

Source: PCHR, week of 11-17 August, 2011

An excellent read on events in Syria

This article has been very well translated into English by Jadaliyya, originally published in Aladab academic journal that is edited by leftist activist and writer Samah Idriss. "The Syrian 'Common': The Uprising of the Working Society" Despite the fact that it has been circulating for a while now, it is very important and worth the(late) posting!

Sex according to the Lebanese state

" As citizens, our bodies are the stuff of politics and the target of law because it is through our bodies that we produce the next generation of citizens and thus ensure the longevity of the state."

Think 'consciousness industry'

"The most amazing aspect of JK Rowling's achievement and that of the Harry Potter marketing machine is that they have produced so much stuff for so long – kept the profile so high, the advertising so pervasive – and yet somehow contrived to leave a huge section of their audience still wanting more. They've given Harry the attributes of pistachio nuts and crack cocaine without the health risks."
This is what the culture industry is about profit, money making, and how to make people consume more of the product. Think mass astrology, music, films, ideas and food that'll fit well into the global market and the transnational elite class that dominates it. I like Harry Potter and think the themes are very important and politically relevant (Lord of the Rings on that note as well) as emphasized in the book, particualry at the beginning (anti-racism) but the more it has been commercialized and marketed in the aim to sell, it has lost much of it's thematic significance and molded to selling much of the toys, and sweets associated with it.

Ahmad al Shahaat

The age of heroes. This is a video of the demonstration yesterday in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo and how Ahmad al Shahaat, a demonstrator,, climbed the building, removed the Israeli flag which was later burnt, and replaced it with an Egyptian flag. Inspiring!
Every time there is a remarkably powerful protest against the usurping entity in our part of the world I get a flashback to when Walid Jumblat said, 'eventually we will have to recognize israel's existence.... So, why not contemplate the possibility of peace." How embarrassed and delegitimized must he be feeling. Mind you, this was also after the 2006 war on Lebanon!

Resuming

Dear followers, I apologize for the inconsistent blogging. For the last few months I have been traveling extensively. I will resume normal activity on the blog starting September first.
Many events I have not been able to cover on this blog since May, including the courageous and daring protests in Syria, the escalation of usurping Zionist entity's violence and terrorism against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza including the illegal settlement expansions, the protests (and I insist in calling them protests as opposed to "riots") in Britain, following up also on European and North American imperialist practices in Libya and their destruction of the country, their ever ending greed for the resources in the region and will to (so-called 'third world') domination. That includes the latest opinion, criticisms and op-eds by prominent activists and political analysts from the region and elsewhere (I would really hate to call them intellectual, as that, I believe, creates a gap between them and the people they are speaking about, who they are part of!) on the new Arab world and its intifadas.
All coming soon, and of course, we are witnessing the end of an era...after all J.K.Rowling ended her Harry Potter series, no?