Category Archives: Middle East

Mob Action Charges Against Activists for Pro-Palestinian Encampment at UIUC

As students are returning to university campuses, we are seeing signs of continued support for Palestinians who are enduring an onslaught by Israeli military forces. Here at the University of Illinois, the first week of classes students chalked “DIVEST” on … Continue reading

 227 total views,  2 views today

Posted in Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Middle East, Police, Policing, Section, States'Attorney, University of Illinois | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Mob Action Charges Against Activists for Pro-Palestinian Encampment at UIUC

The Gaza Protests and Grassroot Challenges to US Foreign Policy

Letters to the editor, teach-ins, motions for divestment, campus protests, city resolutions . . . These expressions of citizen concern are not unique to the ongoing war on Gaza and are entirely appropriate to a democracy. Local communities have the … Continue reading

 121 total views

Posted in Foreign Policy, Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Middle East, Peace movement, Vietnam War | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Gaza Protests and Grassroot Challenges to US Foreign Policy

Popular University for Gaza at UIUC

From Friday, April 26 through Friday, May 10, we established a branch of the Popular University for Gaza at UIUC, joining the national student movement for Palestine. This encampment was just one small piece in the long movement for Palestinian … Continue reading

 278 total views

Posted in Israel/Palestine, Middle East, Section, Students, University of Illinois, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Voices | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on Popular University for Gaza at UIUC

May/June Issue Front Cover

The Suffering in Gaza is Our Community’s Concern!  990 total views,  1 views today

 990 total views,  1 views today

Posted in Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Justice, Middle East, Palestinians, War | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on May/June Issue Front Cover

City Business is Whatever the Community Cares About

Americans have been in the streets since October 8 demanding an end to the US-backed Israeli attack on Gaza. They’re at sporting events and camping out in front of top politicians’ homes. They were at tree-lighting and caroling events over the … Continue reading

 1,157 total views,  1 views today

Posted in Gaza, Israel/Palestine, Justice, Middle East, Palestinians, Politics, Section, Voices, War | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on City Business is Whatever the Community Cares About

Healing Culture in Wartime

Forty-one years ago when we organized the Common Differences conference on the UI campus, I was a young professor, already quite engaged in women’s issues, which had led to my research, writing, travels, and overall commitment. When I retired from the University of … Continue reading

 309 total views

Posted in Feminism, International, Middle East, Section, Voices, War, Women, Women, wonen's rights | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Healing Culture in Wartime

March/April Issue Back Cover

Hundreds gathered in Westside Park on Saturday, March 2 as part of a Global Day of Action for Palestine. They heard speeches and then marched through downtown Champaign.  277 total views

 277 total views

Posted in Imperialism, Israel/Palestine, Middle East, Peace movement, Violence, War | Tagged , , , , | Comments Off on March/April Issue Back Cover

Winter Issue Front Cover

Posted in Foreign Policy, Middle East, War | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Winter Issue Front Cover

The Age of Disconnect: US Policy and the War Beyond Gaza

The hypocrisy gap between US diplomatic pronouncements and US actions is no surprise to world audiences, but the disconnect on display since October 7 has put the nail in the coffin of the American Century. American officials have been invoking … Continue reading

 1,306 total views

Posted in Foreign Policy, Imperialism, International, Israel/Palestine, Middle East, Section, War | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on The Age of Disconnect: US Policy and the War Beyond Gaza

Israel’s Violence Will Never Bring “Safety” to Anyone, Including Jews

This article was published in Truthout on October 18, 2023. It has been updated to reflect numbers as of November 2, and lightly edited for style. The horror and heartbreak in Gaza reaches new proportions each minute: Israel’s siege has … Continue reading

 419 total views,  2 views today

Posted in International, Israel/Palestine, Middle East | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Israel’s Violence Will Never Bring “Safety” to Anyone, Including Jews

Frozen Conflicts, Flashmob Militants, and the End of the Gunpowder State

Syria, Libya, Yemen . . . and now Sudan. Sudan has the unhappy potential to become the next of the intractable conflicts that have unfolded over the past decade. These multisided struggles involving a cocktail of militaries, militias, and mercenaries … Continue reading

 673 total views,  1 views today

Posted in Africa, Foreign Policy, International, International, Middle East, Section, Violence, War | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments Off on Frozen Conflicts, Flashmob Militants, and the End of the Gunpowder State

Silence and the Continuing Legacy of the US Invasion of Iraq

The twentieth anniversary of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq slid by with an encore performance of the arrogance that characterized the invasion itself. In 2003 that arrogance disregarded inconvenient international norms as easily as it disregarded the Iraqi victims … Continue reading

 1,425 total views,  1 views today

Posted in Foreign Policy, Imperialism, International, International, Middle East, Remembering, Section, World-wide death and suffering | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Silence and the Continuing Legacy of the US Invasion of Iraq

Labor Abuse as Product Placement at the World Cup

The 2022 soccer World Cup began its takeover of global sports channels on November 20, transmitting endless images of cosmopolitan crowds enjoying the sparkling new stadiums of Qatar to audiences around the world. The country that hosts the World Cup … Continue reading

 664 total views,  2 views today

Posted in International, International, labor, Labor/Economics, Middle East, Section, Sports | Tagged , , , , , | Comments Off on Labor Abuse as Product Placement at the World Cup

The Great De-Centering: The World after Ukraine

The Ukraine war is a turning point in history, but not the one you might be expecting. It won’t revive the Cold War. It won’t determine the survival of the Liberal World Order (whatever that is). And most decidedly, it … Continue reading

 942 total views,  1 views today

Posted in Foreign Policy, International, International, Middle East, Politics, Racism, Ukraine, War | Comments Off on The Great De-Centering: The World after Ukraine

Yemen: A War of Many Fronts

Journalists describe the conflict in Yemen as a sectarian proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, but that fails to capture the complexity of the war: in October, 2020, Human Rights Watch reported more than thirty battle fronts between various … Continue reading

 851 total views,  1 views today

Posted in Arab Spring, Foreign Policy, International, International, Islam, Middle East, War | Comments Off on Yemen: A War of Many Fronts

Black Lives Matter in the Middle East

George Floyd’s murder horrified people of the Middle East just as it did many in the US and, just as in America, the outrage that followed exposed cultural fault lines, forced uncomfortable introspection, and was sometimes exploited for political purposes. … Continue reading

Posted in African American, BLM, International, Middle East | Tagged | Comments Off on Black Lives Matter in the Middle East

Homewrecker: Trump, the Kurds, and the Grand Strategy We Have Been Waiting For

Donald Trump’s October decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria took his own advisors by surprise, not to mention the Kurdish military units that were U.S. partners in the war on ISIS during the past five years. Perhaps the only … Continue reading

Posted in International, International, Middle East, Syria | Comments Off on Homewrecker: Trump, the Kurds, and the Grand Strategy We Have Been Waiting For

Bolton is Out! But Imperialist Aggression Against Iran is Still In

On September 10, National Security Advisor John Bolton was fired from his post at the White House. With one of the staunchest advocates for US imperialism now out of the Trump administration, some were optimistic that the warmongering and the … Continue reading

Posted in Foreign Policy, Imperialism, International, Middle East, Politics | Comments Off on Bolton is Out! But Imperialist Aggression Against Iran is Still In

Anti-Semitism: Still the “Socialism of Fools”?

Scandals over alleged anti-Semitism have recently ensnared leftist British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn; the populist Yellow Vest movement, which leans both Left and Right (and neither, rejecting both); and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), critic of Israel and supporter of … Continue reading

Posted in anti-Semitism, Boycott, Israel, Israel/Palestine, Middle East | Comments Off on Anti-Semitism: Still the “Socialism of Fools”?

Congress must end American support for Saudi war in Yemen

By Mark Weisbrot The New York Times editorial board recently took an unusual position of denouncing what it called “war crimes” by a U.S. ally, in a war in which the United States is actively participating militarily. “Saudis try to starve … Continue reading

Posted in International, Middle East, military, Politics | Comments Off on Congress must end American support for Saudi war in Yemen