The outcome of the Trayvon Martin case holds critical implications. We are not responsible for George Zimmerman pulling the trigger, because the law treats this as an action subject to legal judgement. Is this the banality of legal?
Israel has charged five Palestinian teenagers for having allegedly thrown stones at a settler’s car. They face 25 years to life imprisonment for attempted murder. Yet again, the system punishes the crime while being blind to the triggering circumstances.
Paradoxically, Gezi Park presented Erdoğan with a golden opportunity, one that could also have helped Turkish democracy part company from the tendency of powerful political parties to drift into populism-fuelled authoritarianism.
Twin disaffection on the part of both Syrians and Palestinians in Jordan should be put in historical context. Both Palestinians and Syrians can claim historical links to Jordan, including arguments of political control and ownership, which may now surface more strongly.
Mutual fear may prevail and the use of force be felt necessary. Exactly this plays into the hands of the parasites inside the apparatus who are busy transforming themselves into a self-governing body within the state (especially the Interior Ministry) that can exploit, if not directly manipulate,
The logic of the authorities is truly Orwellian – the only offence of the ‘criminals’ was thought crime.
Visitors to the Amsterdam Museum are now met with the immodest claim that tolerance is part and parcel of the “Amsterdam DNA”. The concept of tolerance as understood now, and in bygone decades, needs critical interrogation if we are to advance a good society for all.
As the Syrian conflict spills over the border, the Lebanese tourist and trade sectors have taken a hit. It is imperative that Lebanon breaks its political deadlock and avoids sectarian conflict at all costs.
Britain and the United States have aligned foreign aid with gay rights and have threatened to cut aid to Nigeria if the current bill is passed.
