March 2009 - Page 3 of 4 - Toward Freedom

Al-Bashir and the ICC:The Shock of Responsibility

René Wadlow March 10, 2009 René Wadlow

Omar Hassan al-Bashir

After a thorough examination of the evidence presented by the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Luis Moreno-Ocampo, a panel of three judges has issued an arrest warrant against President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan. There are seven charges against al-Bashir including crimes against humanity, murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, rape, attacks against civilian population and pillaging.

Leftists Poised to Win Presidency in El Salvador

Various Authors March 9, 2009 Various Authors

After 17 years since the end of El Salvador's civil war, the leftist Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) is poised to accomplish what its guerrilla predecessors never did: take over the national government. Reliable polls unanimously project that FMLN candidate Mauricio Funes will win the March 15 presidential elections. What all this means for El Salvador -- and Latin America -- is the subject of the new, in-depth report, "The 2009 El Salvador Elections: Between Crisis and Change."

Video Interview: Conflict and Impunity in Sri Lanka

Sam Mayfield March 5, 2009 Sam Mayfield

Tamil Student Funeral Procession

Journalists are being killed, arrested and banned from entering and reporting from combat zone areas in Sri Lanka. Civilians are being held in refugee camps within their own country while the government bombards its own citizens. Suresh Premachandran, Parliament member from Sri Lanka talks about impunity and violation of inalienable rights of Tamil people in Sri Lanka. I met with Suresh at his home in Tamil Nadu, India.

Beyond the Inauguration: The Shifting Ground of Protest Strategies for Real Change in the Obama Era

Matt Dineen March 5, 2009 Matt Dineen

"What the cynics fail to understand," Barack Obama declared in his inaugural address, "is that the ground has shifted beneath them-that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply." Can progressive social movements in the United States apply the new president's own words toward successful strategies for truly meaningful change under his administration? What does the lack of visible dissent at Obama's inauguration suggest about the politics of protest and the prospects for global justice in the post-Bush era?

Grassroots Beer Brewers Score a Victory in Utah

Benjamin Dangl March 3, 2009 Benjamin Dangl

Just three companies control approximately 80 percent of the beer industry in the US. Brewing beer at home is one way to counter this corporate monopoly. However, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama and Oklahoma still outlaw the craft. Recently, a victory for homebrewers was scored in Utah, when on February 19th the State Senate legalized homebrewing, bringing the state out of the shadows of prohibition.

Homeless in Delhi

Jeremy Seabrook March 3, 2009 Jeremy Seabrook

A smoky sunset in the choking streets around Old Delhi Railway Station, where the traffic is permanently stalled. Low sunlight through a violet cloud bathes the scene in blood. Stringy cycle-rickshaw drivers strain every muscle with a mountainous load of goods to be despatched from the station. Everything moves with agonizing slowness, as though people are in an alien element. As indeed they are: displaced villagers struggling to survive in the city.