Monday, February 21, 2011

Arab World since the Feb 11 Departure of Mubarak

Good stuff about the Arab Spring:
  • The Guardian 5/21/11, Ahdaf Soueif, "Our Revolt is not Obama's: Barack Obama says he wants change in the Arab world yet insults us with the same old bad policies". A short piece, yet surpassingly powerful, about Obama's subversion of the Arab world's quest for economic opportunity even as he professes support for it. U.S. It has wonderful paragraphs like this one:   
The blame is not all with America. We had a regime that was susceptible, that became actively complicit; assiduously finding ways to serve US and Israeli interests – and ruin us. But: we got rid of it. Peaceably, with grace and within the law. We Got Rid of It.
Ahdaf Soueif (pictured right) is an Egyptian short story writer, novelist and political and cultural commentator. More Soueif pieces at the Guardian.
    Here is some background material on the changing situation in the Middle East (I completely overlook Libya; haven't had time to select good links):

    And here some stories about the impact of Egypt on the USA
    • Matt Stoller in "The Liquidation of Society Versus the Global Labor Revival" (posted at Naked Capitalism) sees the Arab world protests as doing what labor strikes used to do in the U.S. - and as inspiring (state employees at least) in Madison, WI and Providence, RI. He uses this striking Doug Henwood graph to account for why U.S. wages have kept "getting cut" since 1947: 

    More to come!

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