As the Taliban retakes control of Afghanistan, China and Russia won’t make timid pleas to Washington to place forces on the ground in the country. The militarist path has been deemed a flawed move by both sides. In the coming days, the Sino-Russian bloc will likely prioritize political solutions, thereby promoting a more proactive position for the SCO and emphasizing the importance of regional frameworks.
“Unapologetic” is a much-needed exposé into the actual lives of actual activists. It reveals that the “people in the streets” are ordinary folks struggling with ordinary life, but they also have the extraordinary desire to challenge and change this system because, as Black women and Black queer people, they also struggle with the extraordinary burdens heaped upon them by this society.
The Afghans are largely glad to see the back of the U.S. occupation, to be one more Saigon in a long sequence. But this is not a victory for humanity. It will not be easy for Afghanistan to emerge out of these nightmare decades, but the desire to do so can still be heard.
WikiLeaks has given us real news about those who govern us and take us to war, not the preordained, repetitive spin that fills newspapers and television screens. This is real journalism; and for the crime of real journalism, Julian Assange has spent most of the past decade in one form of incarceration or another, including Belmarsh prison, a horrific place.
Editor's Note: The Taliban victory over the weekend and the evacuation of U.S. nationals cries out for context. That is why Toward Freedom is publishing this article that was submitted prior to the weekend's events. "Women are more mobilized, but they are not a powerful social movement. Afghanistan’s more liberal and left social forces are active underground and are not an organized force. These forces include the educated sections, who do not want extremist groups to drag the country into another proxy war. That proxy war would be between the Taliban, the U.S.-backed government in Kabul, and other militant groups that are no less dangerous than the Taliban or the U.S. government."
In her new book, "The Radical Bookstore," University of Michigan professor Kimberley Kinder studies spaces and the role they continue to play in movements for social justice and transformation. She highlights the importance of brick-and-mortar “counterspaces” that help sustain organizing and movement building in between bursts of protest activity in the streets.
Copyright Toward Freedom 2019