Amandla! (A!): You have said that the Palestinian bid for UN membership has brought together the divided Palestinian factions of Hamas and Fatah. What is the state of their relations following the unity agreement?Raji Sourani (RS): I think the Israeli government...
Tunisia
Democracy Triumphs in Tunisia’s First Free Elections | by Stuart Schaar
Despite attempts to demonise Tunisia’s Al-Nahda, the Islamist party emerged as the most important in the elections held last month. Tunisia, where the Arab spring began, has shown what the ballot box can achieve.The atmosphere was celebratory, almost like being at a...
The Flowering of the Arab Spring: Understanding Tunisia’s election results | by Esam Al-Amin
Now that Tunisia's elections have passed - with just minor incidents - and the Islamist Ennahda party won the largest share of votes, the country waits for the constituent assembly to be formed, and to see what changes will be effected in Tunisian politics. It will...
Egypt To IMF: “Topple Their Debts!” | by Eric Walberg
The Popular Campaign to Drop Egypt’s Debts was launched at the Journalists’ Union 31 October, with a colourful panel of speakers, including Al-Ahram Centre for Political & Strategic Studies Editor-in-Chief Ahmed Al-Naggar, Independent Trade Union head Kamal Abbas,...
‘Islamists’ On Probation: Western Reaction To Tunisian Elections | by Ramzy Baroud
Following Tunisia’s first fair and free elections on October 27, the Western media responded with a characteristic sense of fear and alarm. For many, it seemed that the ghost of the Islamic menace was back to haunt ‘Western values’ throughout the Arab world. The...
Libya: The West’s new client? | by Simon Assaf
The uprising in Libya was inspired by the revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. But the intervention of Nato forces changed the situation dramatically. Simon Assaf asks if Libya is now destined to become a client state of Western powers or whether its revolution could...
Revolutionary Challenges in Tunisia and Egypt: Generations in Conflict | by Stuart Schaar
The great Syrian poet, Nizar Qabbani (1923-1998) more than four decades ago called on a new Arab generation to break with their dictatorial, bankrupt, and corrupt leaders and their supporters. Qabbani, from his London exile, hoped that young people would transform the...
History in the making – the Arab revolutions and the struggle for democracy | by League for the Fifth International
2011 will undoubtedly be remembered as the year of the Arab Revolution. We have seen an explosion of democratic aspiration and courageous struggle as revolutions spread in a few weeks from Tunisia and Egypt to Bahrain, Yemen, Libya, and Syria. Like all such movements,...


