Occupy: The Fall of the Oakland Commune
The Occupy movement is more than five years in the past, and its legacy is mainly one of frustration. But there is still much to be gained from those few tense weeks.
Month: November 2017
Splitting the Atom: A Pacifist Looks Back on 75 Years of Nuclear Deterrence
On the 75th anniversary of the first nuclear chain reaction experiment, pacifist and mathematician Brad Lyttle looks back on the history of nuclear deterrence. “The human species has created the machinery to destroy itself," Lyttle explains.
The Illusion of Justice: When Will Reparations be Served to Iraq’s Victims?
If Iraq is to be extricated from the cycles of violence and resentment that have dominated its recent history, a truly inclusive transitional justice process is needed to acknowledge the harms committed by all parties to the conflict, past and present.
Who Are the Criminals? The Western Role in Endless War in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen
The comfortable nations often authorize the worst atrocities overseas through fear for their own safety, imagining themselves the victims to be protected from crime at all costs. Such attitudes entitle people in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen to look in our direction when they ask, “Who are the criminals?”
Uganda Rises Up in Unprecedented Opposition to 31-Year Dictator
Source: Waging Nonviolence
During the early morning hours of September 21, nine young activists — all in their twenties — hauled a coffin toward a police station in the northern city of Lira. The coffin was draped with posters of Ugandan dictator Yoweri Museveni and a number of his other allies in government. Written across the coffin on one side were the words “Change the constitution and bury Uganda” — a reference to a proposed constitutional amendment that would do away with the presidential age limit.
Robert Mugabe and the Poisonous Legacy of British Colonialism
Source: The Nation
Britain left behind two evil legacies when Zimbabwe gained independence: the harsh lesson that violence works, and a grotesquely unequal distribution of farmland.
The life of Robert Mugabe is a human tragedy, but his awful failure is not all of his own doing. Mugabe could have been another Nelson Mandela—the renowned father of his nation, and a moral exemplar. Instead, he is finally being pushed from power in disgrace, years after a clear majority of Zimbabweans turned decisively against his violent tyranny.