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Wednesday, September 23, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
Arabs Rise for Rights
WOMEN’S DAY: An Arab Israeli Woman Fighting on All Fronts
"Every woman is a woman of frustration. Me, I'm just struggle." Hanin Zoabi, 41, is a Palestinian Israeli woman, a fighting woman. An elected member of the Israeli Knesset parliament, she is the first woman on an Arab party's list, Balad.
EGYPT: Burning Questions for Mubarak’s Secret Police
The much-feared secret police and intelligence service that protected the regime of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak by arresting, torturing, and even killing opponents has started a wave of burning documents and evidence that could incriminate them, as calls escalate for abolishing the force altogether and bringing its officers to justice.WOMEN’S DAY: Rallies Planned in Iran Despite Crackdown
Women's rights campaigners are hoping for a strong turnout to public rallies set to be staged across the Islamic Republic of Iran next Tuesday, despite a government crackdown on opposition demonstrators in recent weeks.
LIBYA: Heading Unarmed to Take On Gaddafi
The rebel forces fighting to oust dictator Muammar Gaddafi from power are slowly moving towards the Libyan leader’s bastions in the cities of Sert and Tripoli. Ordinary citizens are responding to the call to arms, even though they have no weapons.Brazil Opposed to Military Options in Libya Crisis
Brazil, firmly opposed to a militarisation of the crisis in Libya and in favour of negotiated solutions without foreign intervention, is heading to a Mar. 7-8 ministerial meeting with India and South Africa.Libyan Leader Arab World’s Perennial Gadfly
The irrepressible Hollywood comedian and celebrated movie director Woody Allen once jokingly remarked that the 1917 Russian Revolution erupted when the serfs discovered that "czar" and "tsar" were one and the same autocratic monarch they hated.Protesters Converge on Iraq Capital
Hundreds of people have converged on Baghdad's Tahrir, or Liberation, Square for an anti-government demonstration despite a vehicle ban that forced many to walk for hours to the heart of the Iraqi capital.Fresh Protests Break Out In Oman
Fresh protests have taken place in the Gulf sultanate of Oman, following a wave of pro-democracy demonstrations across the Arab world. The unrest in Sohar has been a rare outbreak of discontent in the normally calm sultanate of Oman.LIBYA: Thousands of Foreign Labourers Trapped in Turmoil
As violent unrest continues unabated in Libya, with the potential to descend into what U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called a "protracted civil war" in statements to lawmakers here this week, international rights groups are raising the alarm over the resulting humanitarian crisis and the particularly desperate plight of stranded immigrant labourers.EGYPT: Mubarak Regime ‘Provoked’ Attacks on Christians
Ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak portrayed himself as a paradigm of stability in a country he once described as a "powder keg" of sectarian unrest. Yet far from promoting stability, his regime may have actually been the source of much of the religious strife it claimed to suppress.BAHRAIN: Migrants Stuck With Added Problems
Thousands of foreign labourers here are squeezed into houses the government says are uninhabitable, but they are unlikely to get any relief soon, with the non- stop protests in the capital hurting many businesses.
LIBYA: Recovering From Horror, Waiting for More
The walls outside the Al-Jalah Hospital in downtown Bengazi are covered with posters of missing persons, mostly teenagers and young men who disappeared after the protests began. Inside, hundreds of gunshot victims recover from the street battle between Muammar Gaddafi's forces and Benghazi's citizens.YEMEN: U.S. Rebuts Saleh’s Charges
Amid growing pressure on President Barack Obama to intervene more forcefully in Libya, the White House Tuesday sharply rebutted charges by Yemen's president that Washington is conspiring against his government and other Arab regimes.Pro-Peace Jewish Lobby Group Urges Obama to Seize Moment
J Street, the Washington-based "Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace" advocacy group, drew a large crowd to its annual conference this year despite criticism over its controversial calls for the Barack Obama administration not to veto a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.Recruiting Now for New Offensive Against Gaddafi
As the defectors from the Libyan army organize the weapons they have recovered from Muammar Gaddafi's strongholds in the region, thousands of Libyan men are volunteering to join the soldiers in a possible attack on Tripoli to oust Gaddafi from power.U.N. Body Suspends Libya from Human Rights Council
The 192-member General Assembly, the highest policy-making body at the United Nations, unanimously adopted a resolution Tuesday suspending Libya's membership in the Geneva-based Human Rights Council.Arab Uprising Bypasses Domestic Slaves
The uprisings sweeping the Arab world have been provoked by long injustice, low income, police brutality, and lack of social security. While the world looks at this, the suffering of up to three million maids across the Arab world remains wrapped in silence.Turkey Gets the Worst of Two Worlds
Turkey's foreign policy is undergoing an acid test as the political turmoil continues in the Arab World. The fragile situation in Tripoli, in particular, is giving the jitters to government and businesses alike, with billions of dollars of Turkish investment and trade at risk.Rights Group Urges Probe of Bahraini Crackdown
A leading rights group here condemned actions taken by Bahraini security forces in suppressing peaceful protests in recent weeks, including the deaths of seven Bahraini citizens in the last fortnight, and called for a "transparent and independent investigation into government initiated violence".LIBYA: West, U.N. Turn Up Heat on Gaddafi
International efforts to strangle Muammar Gaddafi's regime are intensifying, as Western leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, call for the autocrat's immediate departure, while the Pentagon and key allies consider contingency plans for a potential no-fly zone over the North African nation.Arab Civil Society Calls for No-Fly Zone over Libya
Besieged Libyan leader Muammar el-Gaddafi, who has incurred the wrath of his own people and drawn punitive strictures from the international community, is now under attack by a coalition of over 200 Arab non-governmental organisations (NGOs), including a group of intellectuals from across the Middle East.« Previous Page — Next Page »
The Arab Spring has changed the Arab seasons that have followed; it had to. The struggle continues in Syria; in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and in countries that did not change that dramatically, such as Bahrain and Yemen, the political world, and the tone of society itself has changed. IPS has not left these countries with the headlines that accompanied cataclysmic changes. We continue to track changes closely, always keeping in our sights first the rights of peoples, and then reporting changes from fresh, newsy and human perspective.
Middle East & North Africa
