Politics & Society

Syria: Could the International Criminal Court Get Involved?

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There are firm legal foundations for the International Criminal Court to intervene in Syria. Although Syria is not a party to the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention, prohibiting the use of chemical weapons, that does not matter. Customary international law prohibits the use of such weapons of indiscriminate effect generally and Syria would be responsible, especially if they were used against civilian populations regardless of whether they are party to the Treaty.

General News

Brits Kill Chances For War With Iran

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Something remarkable happened in London yesterday.  Members of Parliament prevented Prime Minister Cameron from joining in a U.S.-led attack on Syria. For the first time since Vietnam, the British government, reflecting the views of the British people, is refusing to be led into war by the United States. Prime Minister David Cameron says “I get it.”  The British don’t want to attack Syria which means he just can’t do it,
This is huge. But even more huge is the precedent it sets for Iran. If a relatively small action in the Middle East is rejected out of fear of a larger entanglement, what are the chances that the British people can be led into an infinitely larger war in Iran?

Healing Israel/Palestine

Non-Violent Palestinian Resistance: Echoes of the U.S. Civil Rights Movement

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Across the West Bank, Israel’s occupation has given rise in recent years to a nonviolent “popular resistance” movement that should be an inspiration to people across the globe. On my trip to the West Bank, Leaders of the Palestinian popular resistance – from intellectuals to grassroots villagers who’d been repeatedly jailed – spoke to us about universal human rights, about a human family in which all deserve equal rights regardless of religion or nationality.

Culture

Was the March on Washington Really Part of a Violent Struggle?

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There have been many threads of coverage and commentary surrounding the March on Washington’s 50th anniversary, and one of them is naturally about nonviolence: the nation’s leadership had assumed that the march would turn violent, but August 28, 1963, turned out to be one of the most notably peaceful days in the history of the District of Columbia. Still, the nonviolent character of the movement that the march defined is being questioned. There has been some interesting historical revisionism surrounding Rosa Parks and other civil rights figures who, unlike Martin Luther King, were less-than devoted to nonviolence as an abiding moral principle. (For my take on that, go here.) And now comes a book that, among other provocations, makes the case that King’s struggle was arguably a violent one. The author is Benjamin Ginsberg, and his forthcoming title is The Value of Violence (Prometheus Books).

Politics & Society

The Question Americans Can't Ask About Egypt And Syria

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The result of the U.S.’s engagement with Egypt and Syria has been bad for the U.S. and horrendous for the Egyptians and Syrians. Bloody stalemate has become the status quo. What would happen if the U.S. exerted all of its diplomatic, moral, and economic force based on the principles of nonviolence? Politicians, policymakers, and the media never ask this question, and so the U.S. public never learns to ask it either.

Culture

Tiphares vs Elysium — Welcome to the Age of Appropriation

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Elysium is the latest in a series of American productions that show how the Information Age has become the Age of Appropriation, one in which ideas and stories exist side by side for the borrowing, the taking, and ultimately, the mixing. What it also shows is that after almost a century of imitating the West, the tables are indeed turning and Hollywood is increasingly looking east.

art

A Dream Detained

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A Dream Detained
(after Langston Hughes)
    For the Dream Defenders, occupying the Florida state capitol for Trayvon Martin and racial justice
    And the #Dream9 immigrant activists, who were detained at the border and won their freedom
what happens to a dream detained? does it wilt like a rose
in the Arizona sun? does it sink into the ocean
as water fills its lungs? or does it fight to come home,
cross borders and spread hope
until it has won?   this is not a weak dream
a beach margarita dream
a suburban house and two car garage dream
this is an American dream
call it Aztlán
call it the hood
call it the walled-off ghetto
of Beverly Hills
we call it home
so bring them home
bring our youth back to us
safe and breathing
with a bag of Skittles and a smile
I have a dream
that one day Martin Luther King
will not be misquoted
by Bill O’Reilly on national TV
fake colorblind fallacies
affirming misplaced actions
tell me, what is so conservative
about killing a young black boy
walking home to watch
the all-star game with his dad?

Culture

Defining Racism in the United States: A Starting Point

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In the weeks after the George Zimmerman verdict, I have appreciated much of the discussion. But some people’s comments have given me pause, and left me unsure whether these commenters truly understand the definition of Racism. Sadly, Racism, Prejudice, Discrimination, and Bigotry seem to be used a great deal as though they are interchangeable. These words are not interchangeable – they are not all synonyms for Racism. Racism has to contain an institutional and structural power dynamic. Perhaps a bit of a history lesson might be useful here.