Entries from Byline Portal tagged with 'Politics'
Invisibility of Mothers
by Zubeida Mustafa, Dawn, Pakistan - As a new government enters the corridors of power in Sindh it will find itself empowered with an innovative and sensible document that lays down the gender guidelines for official policies in the province....
The Identity Question
by Zubeida Mustafa, Dawn, Pakistan - At a time when secular-thinking liberal Pakistanis are under attack from the Taliban, reading Azadi’s Daughter by Seema Mustafa (no relative) proved to be a thought-provoking exercise for me. Sub-titled Journey of a Liberal...
Manifestos and Population
by Zubeida Mustafa, Dawn, Pakistan - In the ongoing violence-stricken election campaign there is a lot of talk about the economy and how that needs to be fixed to improve people’s lives. The political parties in the fray have apparently...
Hong Kong Political Veteran Elsie Tu Criticises Tycoons With No Conscience
by Colleen Lee, South China Morning Post, China - Political veteran Elsie Tu laments the widening income disparity in Hong Kong and has taken a shot at tycoons who have no conscience. The former lawmaker and urban councillor, who turns...
The Girl from Grantham
by Shazia Mirza, Dawn, Pakistan - Margaret Thatcher was an iconic woman. Today, where women become icons for having plastic breasts and marrying footballers, Thatcher was an icon for something substantial rather than ephemeral....
The Kiss of Death for Female Representation in Politics?
by Mary Regan, Irish Examiner, Ireland - "WE want to see as many of them as possible” — this was the one-line response by a grinning Enda Kenny two years ago, when he was asked if female representation would increase...
South Korean Anti-Discrimination Law Faces Conservative Pushback
by Lee Yoo Eun, Global Voices, Netherlands - South Korean conservative groups are mounting a fierce resistance to a proposed anti-discrimination law in South Korea that would prohibit discrimination based on based on religion, political ideology, or sexual orientation....
Equal Chances for Women Critical in ‘Healthy, Productive Society’
by Joan Erakit, IPS, Italy - In an effort to promote gender equality in workplaces and communities, business leaders, politicians and supporters came together during last week’s fifth annual Women’s Empowerment Principles Event to explore ways to ensure women are...
Republicans Still Don't Have a Clue How to Woo Women
by Ana Marie Cox, The Guardian, UK - Well, the organizers at CPAC learned sure their lesson from that debacle. They didn't feature women or women's issues at all. Yes, women were there. Plenty of them spoke! And not all...
Black Hoods and Commandos — Coming to Your Town?
by Nadine Bloch, Waging Nonviolence, USA - Both guerrilla theater and storytelling through documentation are dramatic ways of inserting the horrors of a war and atrocities fought overseas into the daily life and consciousness of blissfully ignorant constituents — and...
Europe Goes to War Blindfolded
by Barbara Spinelli, La Repubblica, Italy - Because it lacks a common political government, the European Union is not leading the war but it is, nonetheless, now part of its daily routine. If we add the never-ending fight against terrorism...
In Search of Independence for African Waters
by Chika Ezeanya, Pambazuka, Kenya - The African Union is at the conclusive stages of fashioning an African cabotage regime that will ensure that only vessels owned by Africans will trade within the continent’s coastal waters....
A Weapon-Free Karachi?
by Zubeida Mustafa, Dawn, Pakistan - It is now very clear that without a deweaponisation exercise there is absolutely no way of ending the violence in the metropolis....
Azerbaijan’s New Law on Public Gatherings
by Beril Dedeoglu, Today's Zaman, Turkey - The Azerbaijani government is perfectly well aware that there are many people in the country unhappy with the way the country is governed, and they are getting ready to pour into the streets....
Good-Enough Racial Equality at World Bank
by Adrienne Smith, Pambazuka, Kenya - The effort to abolish racial discrimination within the World Bank largely depends on the whims of its president and his perception of what is good enough for blacks....
Russia Should Cooperate If It Wants to Protect Post-Assad Interests in Syria
by Lale Kemal, Today's Zaman, Turkey - Russia now faces the risk of losing not only it's business interests in this country but also its strategic weight in the Middle East region as a whole if it continues to support...
"We Have to Do Something": Rep. Carolyn McCarthy on the Growing Push for Gun Control after Newtown
by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!, USA - "Are we going to give animals a better chance of surviving than we as human beings?"...
No More Newtowns: What Will It Take?
by Monika Bauerlein and Clara Jeffery, Mother Jones, USA - What, after Columbine, Virginia Tech, Aurora, the Sikh temple shooting, and so many others, what would it take for the nation to grapple with the fact that our gun policy...
EU Nations Agree to Eurozone Banking Union
by Olivia Salazar Winspear, France 24, France - EU finance ministers reached an agreement on Thursday granting the European Central Bank new powers to supervise eurozone lenders beginning in early 2014, in what is Europe’s first major step toward a...
Changing the Game to Achieve Nuclear Disarmament
by Rebecca Johnson, IPS, Italy - The nuclear possessors make the situation worse by talking about preventing nuclear terrorism while hiding behind the voodoo of nuclear deterrence as if by wearing the weapons they can avoid having to worry...
Women on Every UAE Board, Rules Cabinet
by Lianne Gutcher, The National, UAE - The UAE Cabinet yesterday made it compulsory for corporations and government agencies to include women on their boards of directors....
Iranian Election Reform Could Favor Establishment Candidates
by Golnaz Esfandiari, Persian Letters, Czech Republic - A controversial election-reform bill working its way through parliament contains measures that could prevent undesirables from running while granting the clerical establishment greater control over the election's outcome in June 2013....
Rooting Change in Egypt’s Constitution
by Jaclyn L. Neo, Daily Star, Lebanon - Disagreements focus on issues such as the place of Shariah, gender equality, and the protection of minorities. But all of this obscures the core of the revolution that the constitution should be...
'Sweden Democrat Thugs Only Voice What Many Swedes Think'
by Mariam Osman Sherifay, The Local, Sweden - The real scandal isn’t what drunken Sweden Democrats say in a pub, but that the racism that they are expressing is so common in Sweden....
Hamas Says Gaza Conflict, U.N. Recognition Go Together
by Samia Nakhoul, Daily Star, Lebanon - Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal said the de facto recognition of a sovereign Palestinian state won by his rival Mahmoud Abbas should be seen alongside Gaza's latest conflict with Israel as a single, bold...
Syria Strains the Semantics of Civil War
by Jacqueline Outka, Asia Times, Hong Kong - The use of "civil war" to describe what is taking place in Syria has become common in recent months. The characterization is a far cry from its general definition, but has its...
Aftershocks from the Arab Awakening
by Amanda Paul, Today's Zaman, Turkey - In order to meet the expectations of the people the new leaderships need to create new social contracts, removing the legitimacy gap between the governing and the governed....
America the (In)dispensable
by Margaret Wente, Globe and Mail, Canada - We may be entering an era in which the U.S. is the leader not by design but by default. Americans want to be dispensable. But the world won’t let them....
The Honourable Thing to Do
by Natalie Shobana Ambrose, The Sun Daily, Malaysia - The reality is that, no country will ever be free of corruption – that is a fact. Yet we can strive to stop it, and not accept such gross abuse of...
Pussy Prophets & Nuns on Buses: Will Feminist Politics Get More Holy & Foolish?
by Beatrice Marovich, Religion Dispatches, USA - To the extent that Pussy Riot continues to infect, inflect, or influence feminist politics, I think it’s worth pointing out how novel and unprecedented this strange hybrid blend of feminism and religion really...
The Poor Will Be the First over the Fiscal Cliff
by Bryce Covert, The Nation, USA - The bottom 20 percent of Americans will see their taxes go up by an average of $209, reducing their after-tax income by nearly 2 percent. The top 40 percent, however, will only see...
Thoughts on 30 Years of Biya Power in Cameroon
by Amber Murrey, Pambazuka, Kenya - Paul Biya’s three decades in power have been marked by political repression, official corruption, poverty and many other ills. But the people have not looked on passively. The country has a rich history of...
Another ‘Year of the Woman’? Not So Fast
by Ann Friedman, New York Magazine, USA - I’m not thrilled to label this “our year” when women are nowhere near achieving parity. The “Year of the Woman” narrative just goes to show that we’re still labeling women’s marginal electoral...
Women Voters Usher in a Female Congressional Wave
by Bryce Covert, Forbes, USA - The percentage of women in office may still be small, but it’s edging up, in large part thanks to their fellow women at the polls....
The Steady Drone
by Mariana Baabar, Outlook, India - Obama or Romney, it is apparent that Washington won’t certainly change its polices towards Islamabad—whether on conditional aid, the use of drones or action against militants....
Why Vote? Because You Can Shift Power in the United States
by Aura Bogado, Colorlines, USA - Voting rights still matter as much as the act of voting itself. Aside from the long history that guaranteed suffrage for all adult citizens, casting a ballot does make a difference to our future....
The Purpose of U.S. Aid to Egypt Needs Re-Examining
by Thalia Beaty, Daily Star, Lebanon - o see U.S. foreign aid as a faucet that should turn on and off when the Egyptian government steps out of line with U.S. policy is fundamentally incorrect both in terms of how...
Mark Mazower Versus Orhan Pamuk
by Ariana Ferentinou, Hurriyet, Turkey - Looking at Europe from “inside the walls,” from a country deeply ensconced in an unmanageable recession and with a political elite still unable to find a sustainable model of governance which would guarantee the...
Against the Destruction of the World and the Climate by Greed
by Rebecca Solnit, The Nation, USA - You can blame it all on greed: the refusal to do anything about climate change, the attempts by the .01 percent to destroy our democracy, the constant robbing of the poor, the resultant...
Ukrainian Students Selling Votes on Social Network
by Irena Stelmakh, Claire Bigg, RFE, Czech Republic - As Ukrainians prepare for key parliamentary elections, some are openly offering to sell their votes online. The illegal practice is just one in a string of electoral violations observers are warning...
Sanctions Are Pushing Iran towards Nuclear Talks, Just Not US Sanctions
by Heidi Moore, Guardian, UK - Sanctions against Iran are working but you won't have heard that at the presidential debate – because the US has Europe to thank....
Year after Gaddafi Death, Libya Ponders Progress
by Leila Jacinto, France 24, France - October 20, 2011 marked a milestone in Libyan history with the capture and death of Muammar Gaddafi. A year later, Libyans still long for security, but they have managed a democratic transition –...
From Crisis to Cooperation
by Beril Dedeoglu, Today's Zaman, Turkey - Expectations of finding a solution to the Syrian issue through the international organizations are fading. As a result, the Syrian issue has gradually been turning into a bilateral crisis between Syria and Turkey....
Corruption Continues Virtually Unchecked in Greece
by Julia Amalia Heyer, Der Spiegel, Germany - While Athens waits for more aid from the European Union, the country continues to be administered in the same old careless manner. Corrupt politicians and the rich continue to help themselves to...
Collateral Damage in the War on Women
by Akiba Solomon, Colorlines, USA - Two years into what NARAL Pro-Choice America has famously dubbed the War on Women, the wear is beginning to show in cities and towns around the country where poor, uninsured women live. In the...
Marois Visits France to Seek Support for Sovereignty
by Sophie Cousineau, Globe & Mail, Canada - As Premier Pauline Marois starts her three-day official visit to Paris by meeting French President François Hollande, the Parti Québécois Leader hopes France will revert to its long-standing diplomatic position toward Quebec....
Gillard’s Words Changed Politics Forever
by Susan Mitchell, Crikey, This was not just one woman’s exasperated outburst on her own behalf. This was the Prime Minister of Australia saying to every Australian woman: we don’t have to take this any more....
Actually, Iran Sanctions Aren't Working
by Dina Esfandiary, Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic - There are two misconceptions about sanctions on Iran and the country’s currency crisis: one, that sanctions are the only cause for the rial’s free fall in value last week. And two,...
Ashes of Sino-Indian War Stay Warm
by Dr. Namrata Goswami, Asia Times, Hong Kong - Half a century has gone by since a border war between China and India broke out in the eastern Himalayas on October 20, 1962. Memories of that war linger not only...
The Battle for Tunisia's Art and Soul
by Alice Fordham, The National, UAE - Showcasing the work of about 100 artists, Dream City, funded by international cultural groups, aims to do many things - present art to citizens, bring people face-to-face with their history and tempt a...
Tough Talk for America
by Mattea Kramer, Tomgram, USA - Five big things will decide what this country looks like next year and in the 20 years to follow, but here’s a guarantee for you: you’re not going to hear about them in the...
How Far Is South Africa from a Female President?
by Jen Thorpe, Mail & Guardian, South Africa - The road to Mangaung is paved with good intentions, but none of these intentions include advancing women to the position of president or deputy president....
New Political Landscape in Georgia
by Nana Kurashvili, IWPR, UK - Opposition bloc’s transition to power has been unexpectedly smooth so far, but the real question is what it plans to do....
Latin America Becomes Less of a US Backyard and More of a Brazil Playground
by Mar Guinot-Aguado, Brazzil, Brazil - As Brazil seeks to expand its influence throughout and beyond Latin America, its foreign policy increasingly collides with the historically U.S.-dominated role in guiding issues such as trade and security matters....
In Case You Missed It: Obama Is Cracking Down on Slavery
by Dana Liebelson, Mother Jones, USA - President Obama signed an executive order that experts say could stop US tax dollars from funding human trafficking abroad. But does it go far enough?...
Saakashvili Faces Tough Challenge
by Daisy Sindelar, Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic - It's a contest that will determine the political future of Georgia. But for many, it has come down to one painful issue -- anger over an unfolding prison abuse scandal and...
The TPP: A Quiet Coup for the Investor Class
by Hilary Matfess, Foreign Policy in Focus, USA - American democracy is in a sorry state when corporations are granted more access to even the text of sweeping government agreements than the public and its elected officials. Although corporate influence...
Netanyahu and the US Presidential Election
by Susan Hattis Rolef, Jerusalem Post, Israel - Israel-US relations are already in need of some serious repair, and let us just hope that we are not in a situation of “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men...
One Nation by and for the Corporations
by Dahlia Lithwick, The Nation, USA - With the doctrinal reification of “corporate personhood”—seemingly placing it above human personhood—the Roberts Court established a political metaphor that would keep on giving to progressives throughout the Occupy Wall Street effort, the Wisconsin...
Tunisia’s Ban on Criticizing Religion Could Bring Social Repression
by Monica Marks, The Daily Star, Lebanon - While every country sets ultimate limits on its citizens’ rights and liberties, Tunisia’s broadly defined efforts to ban criticism of religion in Article 3 are worrisome. The article in its current, murkily...
India's Politics Rule - Economy Be Damned
by Swati Lodh Kundu, Asia Times, Hong Kong - With the aim of staying relevant for their constituencies so that they can be re-elected in the next term, the focus is increasingly on undertaking populist measures which leads to immediate...
5 Issues This Election Should Be About, and One to Drop
by Sarah van Gelder, Yes!, USA - Cutting through the campaign rhetoric and attack ads, here are five issues we believe should be at the center of the 2012 election, plus one that has no place in the public sphere....
Occupy Your Victories
by Rebecca Solnit, Tomgram, USA - People learned how direct democracy works; they tasted power; they found something in common with strangers; they lived in public. All those things mattered and matter still. They are a great foundation for the...
Innocence of Protesters, Not Killers or Provocateurs
by Merve Busra Özturk, Today's Zaman, Turkey - Either the Western countries will think that the dictators ousted by the Arab Spring have been replaced by pro-Shariah powers that must be stopped immediately, or the provocative act in Libya and...
A Black Mom-in-Chief Is Revolutionary
by Tami Winfrey Harris, Clutch Magazine, USA - What white feminists get wrong about Michelle Obama....
Serbia's Version of 'The Onion': Humor with a Point
by Iva Martinovic, Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic - The writers say they hope that by highlighting public figures in their satirical stories, they will prompt those people to think about their actions -- at least for a few seconds....
The Democrats’ Missed Opportunity
by Michelle Chen, In These Times, USA - In failing to link immigrant rights and women’s rights, DNC speakers overlooked how injustices interlock....
Why Che's Daughter Fights to Preserve His Image as Idealistic Revolutionary
by Tracy McVeigh, The Guardian, UK - Next month marks the 45th anniversary of the killing of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, the guerrilla who helped lead the Cuban revolution and became an icon of rebellion. This year is also the 50th...
Widespread War on Reproductive Rights
by Lynsi Burton, Yes!, USA - National polls show that most of the public supports birth control and abortion rights. So what’s with the trend of trying to limit them?...
African Women Won't Wield Political Influence without Cultural Change
by Sarah Jackson, Guardian, UK - Women elected to African parliaments courtesy of candidate quotas are too often marginalised by a lack of respect once there....
Balancing the GOP Tripwire on Immigration
by Myriam Marquez, Miami Herald, USA - The face of the Republican Party may be white and the hair graying, but the number of young, dynamic Hispanic leaders on display at the GOP convention is telling. Are they “window dressing,”...
The Arts of Labor Day
by Nadine Bloch, Nonviolent Action Network, USA - This Labor Day weekend has me thinking about the varied contributions of labor unions to U.S. culture. One could even argue that the history of organized labor is a history of defining...
Read All about It: Journalism Has a Future!
by Katharine Murphy, Sydney Morning Herald, Australia - If balance is a pillar of the new media then the truth will still win out....
Light-Bulb Ban Casts Shadow over EU Democracy
by Michaela Schiessl, Der Spiegel, Germany - Beginning Saturday, it will be illegal to import or produce traditional incandescent light bulbs in EU member states. The move has upset consumers and many environmentalists, but it serves to highlight the EU's...
The Arab Spring Represents a Leap Backward for Women
by Hoda Badran, The Daily Star, Lebanon - This summer, as the dust of the Arab Spring revolutions begins to settle, women – who stood shoulder to shoulder with men in defying tyranny – are finding themselves marginalized and excluded...
Romneys Cast Aside "Moderate" Record on Abortion, Social Issues in Appeal to Extremist GOP
by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!, USA - Mitt Romney’s embrace of the Republican Party’s call for a federal ban on abortion stands in stark contrast to his record as Massachusetts governor, one of his many shifting stances over the years...
Fantasy Women of the GOP
by Jessica Valenti, The Nation, USA - What Romney, Akin, and their ilk don’t understand is that women’s anger isn’t about “one word” or one politician—it’s about an ethos, a Republican ideology steeped in misogyny and willful ignorance....
Why Scotland's Approach to Publicly Funded Education Works
by Melissa Benn, Guardian, UK - Unlike the 'three initiatives before breakfast' hyperactivity of the Engish regime, Scotland's modest, consensus-seeking approach celebrates education as a public good....
Feminism as Counterterrorism?
by Vasuki Nesiah, Foreign Policy in Focus, USA - Today, what we may term ”security feminism” is becoming embedded in American foreign policy — a trend that has been emphatically empowered by Hillary Clinton’s State Department....
Vanuatu: Looking for a Little Recognition
by Courtney Brooks, Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic - Very few people have heard of Vanuatu. But despite its obscurity, the tiny Pacific island nation has found itself in the middle of a behind-the-scenes struggle between Russia and the West....
Berlin Restores Realpolitik
by Adriana Cerretelli, Il Sole-24 Ore, Italy - Neither Berlin, nor its northern allies, nor Mario Draghi’s ECB intend to reduce the pressure that they believe to be necessary for the restoration of the stability, cohesion and credibility of the...
House Rules
by Susan Harada, The Walrus, Canada - The Green Party’s Elizabeth May went to Ottawa to champion environmental issues. Now the country’s hardest-working politician is out to rescue the democratic process....
An Open Letter to Rep. Akin from a Woman Who Got Pregnant from Rape
by Shauna Prewitt, xoJane, USA - My name is Shauna Prewitt. You do not know me, but you should. I am one of the approximately 25,000 women who every year become pregnant as a result of rape, and I would...
Clashes Expose India's Communal Divide as Elections Loom
by Nita Bhalla, Altertnet, UK - The grisly scenes unfolding in the far-flung northeast may fan communal politics in a country where simmering tensions between Hindus and Muslims have often been exploited for electoral gain....
The Danger of Laughing at Todd Akin
by Ilyse Hogue, The Nation, USA - The impact of Akin's effort to redefine the terms of this debate reaches beyond this one race. In the multi-dimensional chess that shapes public opinion, the game is less about individual elections and...
'Yo Soy 132' Mexican Student Movement Looks to the Future
by Ela Stapley, Upside Down World, Canada - “It started out as an act of solidarity with the Ibero students, but it soon became about much more... The movement just grew, we were 20 universities then 90. Now we are...
EU Membership Losing Its Appeal
by Kristina Karasu, Der Spiegel, Germany - Amid the euro crisis drama, Turkey has seen economic growth as its European neighbors have suffered. As a result, the country has a newfound confidence that makes EU membership seem less important. But...
Paul Ryan's Unpopular (but Unknown) Ideas
by Molly Ball, The Atlantic, USA - The specifics of the vice presidential nominee's budget proposals poll poorly, but most Americans still aren't familiar with them....
Gun Control? Dream On
by Katha Pollitt, The Nation, USA - Despite recent mass shootings in Colorado and Wisconsin, Americans' support for increased gun control remains depressingly low....
EU’s Leaders Roam Uncharted Waters
by Melle Garschagen, NRC Handelsblad, The Netherlands - If Europe as a whole cuts back and taxes are raised, the economy won’t grow. This will fuel unemployment, the slump will worsen in the short term, and resistance against reform will...
Liberal Victory in Libya Stuns Maghreb
by Houda Trabelsi, Magharebia, Tunisia - A triumph by moderate forces in Libya's democratic election could alter the politics of the Maghreb....
Women in the War Room
by Shira Toeplitz, Campaigns & Elections, USA - Are female operatives finally breaking through a male-dominated industry?...
'Russia Is Not Naive, It Knows Assad Will Soon Leave'
by Barcin Yinanc, Hurriyet, Turkey - Moscow did not want a regime change in Damascus because it doesn’t want Syria, to become a transit route for oil and gas. A quick Google search will let us remember that only two...
Women Secure a Third of Mexican Parliament
by Anayeli Garcia Martinez, IPS, Italy - Female candidates are poised to occupy an unprecedented third of the seats in Mexico’s bicameral parliament when preliminary results for the Jul.1 election are confirmed....
It's Time Environmental Health and Public Health Were Governed as One
by Caroline Lucas, Guardian, UK - Charles Dickens and Charles Darwin knew how closely the two were linked, and politicians now have a chance to catch up....
Ottomanism as the New Nationalism
by Nuray Mert, Hurriyet, Turkey - The idea of the Ottoman Empire has induced a nostalgic longing for the days when Turkish sultans ruled diverse people in vast lands....
Nearly Two Of Three Respondents In Iran State TV Poll Want Nuclear Enrichment Stopped
by Golnaz Esfandiari, Radio Free Europe, Czech Republic - More than 60 percent of the respondents in an opinion poll posted on the irinn.ir website of Iran's state television news channel on July 3 said they were in favor of...
As First Election Looms, Libyans Count Blessings
by Leela Jacinto, France 24, France - As the country heads for its first free elections after the rise and fall of Muammar Gaddafi, Libya is once more in the news - and it’s not good news. Yet behind the...
Putin’s Ironic Potential
by Lilia Shevtsova, Project Syndicate, Czech Republic - Vladimir Putin’s recapture of the Russian presidency has been met with widespread derision, both at home and abroad. But the autocrat’s return to the Kremlin could be Russia’s best hope to escape...
Gay Pride Is Kosher in Ra’anana, as Long as It Stays ‘Modest'?
by Allison Kaplan Sommer, Haaretz, Israel - Try as one might to freeze time, the winds of change will blow anyway and some circumstances force a politician to stand up and show us what they are made of....
HOME
| About
| Authors
| Contact
| Partners
| Privacy & Security
| Terms of Use
| The WIP RSS News Feeds
| Archives
| Donate
Copyright © 2011 THEWIP.NET
