Bahrain Crackdown: Riot police storm protest camp on Manama Pearl Square

Libya Protest Uprising February 17 2011 Salute Libya

Why Global Food Prices Are Rising: CFR's Laurie Garrett Explains

Bahrain protesters hold ground - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Bahrain protesters hold ground - Middle East - Al Jazeera English

Lanka rejects Sudan-type referendum, highlights disparity in situations

1977  இல் நடந்த வாக்கெடுப்புக்கு பதில் என்ன?
1985  திம்புக்கோரிக்கைகளுக்கு பதில் என்ன?

Lanka rejects Sudan-type referendum, highlights disparity in situations

February 14, 2011, 9:47 pm

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Responding to ongoing efforts by overseas LTTE activists to have a referendum in Sri Lanka like the recent one in Sudan, the Sri Lankan government says those supporting the move have conveniently ignored the vast difference in the two situations.

Former Secretary General of the SCOPP (Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha told The Island that the move to demand a referendum in Sri Lanka revealed total ignorance of both history and political principles. He said: "In Sudan you had a situation, in which not only did the writ of the government not run in some areas, but also the administration was not able to supply basic services to people in those areas."

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) led by one-time LTTE legal chief V. Rudrakumaran and some pro-LTTE NGOs want the UN to pressure Sri Lanka to agree to a referendum.

MP Wijesinha said that the government, throughout the conflict, had provided services in all provinces, health and education for instance, including in the limited areas controlled by terrorists. "Successive government the whole time paid the salaries of and issued instructions to public servants in those areas, and they communicated with and travelled regularly to meetings in the rest of the country. Significantly, though such public servants were under tremendous pressure, they continued to work loyally, and the Government Agents affected for instance continue in service with appropriate promotions."

The MP went on to say: "Sadly this was not well known outside Sri Lanka, and a former French Ambassador for instance, who was one of the most positive European envoys in the period when many were under terrorist influence, told us he had been surprised to find how much we continued to do for people in the areas under terrorist control. The impression sought to have been created in Paris was quite otherwise. Significantly a senior member of the UN, which had also been trying to control assistance programmes, but soon learned that government should take decisions albeit happy to receive advice and support, told me that many people coming to Sri Lanka were in error, thinking that we were a country like Sudan, but they had soon learnt the truth."

"I cannot comment on whether particular attitudes contributed to making the situation in Sudan worse, but I am glad we were able to clarify things here and also get rid of the terrorism that was preventing us from serving all our people well. Naturally those who still espouse separatism will continue to try to disrupt the services we provide, and will not care about making people suffer as they pursue their own ends. I hope they will not be encouraged."

قمع مسيرة سلمية في البحرين - الديه يوم الغضب 14 فبراير 2011

Middle East and North Africa rocked by protests.

Middle East and North Africa rocked by protests

Shock waves from the ouster of presidents in Tunisia and Egypt continued to roll across North Africa and the Middle East on Monday, with peoples long subject to autocratic rule demanding to be heard.
Despite many states cautiously welcoming the overthrow of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak, their own populations have been seized by the momentum and are demanding greater freedoms and reform.

Following is a breakdown of events, both current and planned, in the Arabic-speaking world and in Iran.

ALGERIA:
Opposition leaders planned a second protest march in the capital despite a long-standing ban on demonstrations, and France called on Algiers to allow anti-government protests to take place freely and without violence.

BAHRAIN:
Bahraini police used tear gas to disperse dozens of protesters in the eastern village of Nuwaidrat, as security forces deployed in the tiny Gulf kingdom following Facebook calls for a February 14 "revolt."
EGYPT:
The new military regime called on workers to end a wave of strikes and civil disobedience that has threatened to paralyse the country in the wake of the fall of Hosni Mubarak's government.
IRAN:
Thousands of defiant Iranian opposition supporters in Tehran staged what they said was a rally supporting Arab revolts as riot police fired tear gas and paint balls to disperse them, witnesses and opposition websites said.
IRAQ:
Baghdad will on March 29 host its first annual Arab summit since the US-led of invasion of 2003, in the wake of popular uprisings that transformed the political landscape of the volatile but long autocratic region.
JORDAN:
Justice Minister Hussein Mujalli joins a sit-in held by trade unions and describes a Jordanian soldier serving a life sentence for killing Israeli schoolgirls in 1997 as a "hero," demanding his release.
LIBYA:
Facebook groups numbering several hundred members have called for demonstrations to mark a "day of rage" in Libya on February 17 modelled on similar protests in other Arab countries.
MOROCCO:
Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi was to meet the opposition to discuss parliamentary polls, with the impact of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia weighing heavily on the talks.
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES:
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas reappointed Salam Fayyad as premier and tasked him with forming a new government after his cabinet resigned.
SYRIA:
Woman blogger Tal al-Mallouhi, 19, gets five years in prison after being found guilty by a security court of "divulging information to a foreign country." Her blog focuses on the Palestinians, not Syrian politics.
TUNISIA:
The country marked a month since the overthrow of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
YEMEN:
Pro-democracy protesters clashed violently with police and supporters of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, with clashes also reported in Taez south of the capital, where thousands of people joined anti-Saleh demonstrations.

Young boy leads chants at Feb. 5, 2011 solidarity rally for democracy in...

Where is the next upheaval?

Where is the next upheaval?

The shoe-thrower's index The Economist

Feb 10th 2011  from PRINT EDITION

BY PUTTING together a number of indicators that we believe feed unrest,and ascribing different weights to them, we have come up with a chart of Arab countries’ vulnerability to revolution. Some factors are hard to quantify and are therefore discounted; the data on unemployment, for example, were too spotty to compare. The chart below is the result of ascribing a weighting of 35% to the share of the population that is under 25; 15% to the number of years the government has been in power; 15% to both corruption and lackofdemocracy indices; 10% for GDP per person; 5% for an index of censorship and 5% for the absolute number of people younger than 25.

PFLP: Egypt's revolution brings an end to the era of Camp David

PFLP: Egypt's revolution brings an end to the era of Camp David


Comrade Abu Ahmad Fuad, member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said on February 11, 2011 that the Egyptian people have changed the course of history in the region through their revolution, and expressed his confidence that the Egyptian people would see their revolution through to completion.

In an interview with Ajras al-Awda, Comrade Fuad said that "We know that there are still battles to be fought, we know that the revolution is far from complete, we know that there are many forces still trying to make sense of the revolution, and we know that there is much time to come to congratulate each other; nonetheless, we warmly congratulate the great Egyptian people and declare that we stand with them until they achieve all of their demands."

The fall of the regime and the departure of the dictator Hosni Mubarak make us confident that the revolution will be completed, said Comrade Fuad, and we trust that the revolutionary people will not stop until all of their aims are achieved. "The people of Egypt have paid a great price for their freedom and the freedom of their nation," he said. "They accomplished the departure of the tyrant, whose hands were covered with the blood of the Egyptian people, whose coffers were filled with their looted wealth."

Comrade Fuad emphasized that the challenge, and the struggle of the Egyptian people in the post-Mubarak era is rebuilding Egypt, and returning Egypt to the center of an Arab nation eager to welcome Egypt's enhanced role, long lacking due to the natural result of years of the rule of tyrants.

He said that, looking towards Egypt, one could not help to be confident that Egypt would rise, and that Egypt's people are confirming with every action that they will continue until victory. He called for trials and accountability of all of those who looted, plundered and victimized Egypt for years, yet failed to suppress its people's dignity and commitment to rights and freedom.

Furthermore, said Comrade Fuad, "We are convinced, as we have always been, that the Egyptian people have created a shift in the history of the region; in fact, in world history. Egypt is the heart of the world, and the revolution pulses like an engine through its veins. The people of Egypt knew that their country had become junior partners with U.S. imperialism and Zionism, the very forces who were behind all of the disasters which befell Egypt and the Arab nation. We know that this is a big step towards returning the Palestinian issue back on the correct path to total liberation."

He concluded his remarks by expressing his salutes to the Egyptian people, who have returned the Arab nation to life, to dignity and the road to liberation.

Furthermore, the Press Office of the PFLP issued a statement, congratulating the people of Egypt and the Arab nation for their victory against tyranny and subjugation, and saying that "the victory of the great Egyptian revolution is also a victory for the Palestinian cause and the Arab nation as a whole."

The statement continued by noting that "the people of Egypt will be able to achieve the full objectives of their revolution for freedom, democracy and independence, and they will end the era of Camp David and restore Egypt's historically significant role. The fall of tyranny and subordination in Egypt, in the form of the despotic
regime of Hosni Mubarak, is a result of the steadfastness of Egypt's masses, and this historical revolution was triggered by the Egyptian youth and their free people.

The PFLP and all Arab people today welcome their victory that restores Egypt's leading role in the protection of Arab national security and the Palestinian cause." Said the statement, "The triumph of the Egyptian people's revolution is a turning point in the history of the Arab nation. It paves the way for the construction of a new Arab era with no room for the dominance of Zionism and imperialism or the subjugation of the capabilities of the Arab nation...These events in Egypt and the historic transformations to follow have direct consequences for the Palestinian cause and will help the Palestinian cause to end the Oslo agreements and its ensuing approach, and rebuild the Palestinian national movement."

Comrade Dr. Rabah Muhanna, member of the Political Bureau of the PFLP, said on February 11, 2011 in Gaza City that the victory of the revolution in Egypt and Tunisia and the wind of democratic change in the Arab world show that the Arab people collectively say no to tyranny, no to U.S. hegemony, and no to poverty. He noted the leading role of workers, youth and women in the Egyptian movement, saying that the revolution came as a result of decades of injustice and oppression. He stressed that the Palestinian people consider the Egyptian revolution and the fall of the subservient reactionary Arab regimes as an important step on the road to liberation.

Furthermore, Comrade Muhanna expressed that it is time for the Palestinian people - in the West Bank, Gaza, Occupied Palestine 48, in the refugee camps, and everywhere in exile and diaspora, to speak with one voice and say that the people want to end the division. He called on the Palestinian masses to act under the slogan "The people want to end the division," as a necessary step towards rebuilding the Palestinian liberation movement.
Source: PFLP (Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine) English Web.