Rene Wadlow, Author at Toward Freedom

Crisis in Burma: A Constitution is More Than a Document

Rene Wadlow May 7, 2008 Rene Wadlow

The tropical cyclone Nargris which struck the Burma Irrawaddy delta on May 3, and the incompetent military response for relief efforts, could be the equivalent of Katrina in New Orleans in showing the incoherence of Myanmar's military government and its disregard of the welfare of its people. Prior to the cyclone, the government was planning to hold a referendum on a government-drafted constitution for the country. If all goes as in now planned, the referendum will be held on 10 May in most of the country and in the storm-ravaged areas on 24 May. Were people to vote freely, it is likely that the military constitution would be swept away.

Worldwide Food Shortages: The Rich Have Already Eaten

Rene Wadlow April 22, 2008 Rene Wadlow

More Empty Shelves

Food riots in Haiti brought the issue of hunger to the front gates of Haiti's presidential palace and death to a United Nations peacekeeper from Nigeria who was shot by the crowd surging from a slum area of Port-au-Prince. The Prime Minister, Jacques-Edouard Alexis, was forced to resign for having failed to act despite sharp increases in the price of food over the past several months, pushing people who are already poor into deeper poverty.

Aimé Césaire: A Black Orpheus Puts Away His Lyre

Rene Wadlow April 18, 2008 Rene Wadlow

Aimé Césaire

Aimé Césaire, the Matinique poet and political figure died on April 17, 2008 at 94. He had been mayor of the capital city, Fort-de-France for 56 years from 1945 to 2001, and a member of the French Parliament without a break from 1945 to 1993. First elected to Parliament as a member of the Communist Party, he had left the Party in 1956 when he felt that the Communist Party did not put anti-colonialism at the center of its efforts.

Tibet: Universal Responsibility

Rene Wadlow March 24, 2008 Rene Wadlow

Recent protests of Tibetans in Lhasa and in Tibetan-majority areas in Chinese provinces have drawn attention to the ever-growing frustration and anger of Tibetans as Chinese settlers take over the economy of Tibet. For the first time, there has been violence used by angry Tibetans against Chinese and Muslim merchants in Lhasa.

Phantom Republics: Front and Center After Kosovo Independence

Rene Wadlow February 21, 2008 Rene Wadlow

The self-proclamation of independence by Kosovo may be the last act in the division of former Yugoslavia, or it may be one step in a new chain of territorial adjustments. There are calls in Republika Srpska, the Serb unit of the Bosnia-Herzegovina federation for its integration into Serbia. There have also been discussions among Serbs of the partition of Kosovo with the area north of the Ibar River joining Serbia.

Chad: Crossing the Chari

Rene Wadlow February 13, 2008 Rene Wadlow

Refugee Camp in Chad, Photo by Mark Knobil

The recent fighting in Ndjamena, Chad on February 2-6 between an alliance of insurgencies and the army of President Idriss Déby Itno has highlighted the transnational politics of Sudan, Chad, and the Central African Republic. Europeans and Americans living in Ndjamena were flown out by French Army planes, mostly to Libreville, Gabon where France has a military airbase. Many ordinary Chadians, an estimated 20,000, walked or drove across the two bridges which span the river Chari into northern Cameroon.