Month: April 2019

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A Non-Violent Movement is Gaining Ground in Pakistan

Suddaf Chaudry April 9, 2019 Suddaf Chaudry

Source: New Internationalist

I met Manzoor Pashteen, Pakistan’s most popular non-violent activist, in Islamabad. He is in his 20s, and comes wearing a red cap and blue shalwar kameez. Propelled to the centre of Pakistan’s political sphere, Manzoor has become the voice of a generation through his leadership of the Pashtun Tahafuz (Protection) Movement (PTM).

With his calls for justice in the tribal belt – one of Pakistan’s most troubled regions – Manzoor grew the movement from 20 to 20,000 supporters. read more

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US Capitalism Was Born in the Destruction of the Commons

Laura Flanders April 9, 2019 Laura Flanders

Source: Truthout

“Community has to be intended, not as a gated reality, a grouping of people joined by exclusive interests, and separating them from others, but rather as a quality of relations, a principle of cooperation and of responsibility, to each other and the health of the forests, the seas, the animals.”

So writes [feminist] Silvia Federici. But how can we get there from here? The practice of commoning, and the idea that we might hold and manage land and assets together in common, holds a lot of appeal these days. To help us think forward as we do on this show, we have two world-renowned experts on commoning in the house. Federici’s latest book is Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons. Its foreword is written by historian and “Laura Flanders Show” regular, Peter Linebaugh, who is the author of, among other classics, The Magna Carta Manifesto. In this interview, Federici and Linebaugh discuss the history of the commons and how we might apply some of the ideas central to commoning to rebuilding our communities. read more

The Eritrean Diaspora is Unsettling its Autocratic Regime Through Social Media

Abraham T. Zere April 9, 2019 Abraham T. Zere

Over their impatient Waiting for Godot, Eritreans have been deprived of their liberty, human dignity, and prosperity: the ratified constitution was shelved; military service made indefinite; businesses kept on hold; construction was banned; schools have been militarized; the only university was closed; the country has turned into a penitentiary state with numberless underground prisons, and the list goes on. Then to everyone’s surprise Godot arrived in July last year.