Helsinki Times

Tunisia's Revolution is Just Beginning

GENEVA, May 9, 2012 (IPS) - Lingering violence, intolerance and oppression in Tunisia, following the ousting of former dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali in January 2011, tells the revolutionaries who sparked the Arab Spring that their work is just beginning.

Most believe that the revolution never ended, and that a second wave of protest is not far off.

Islamic fundamentalists represented by Salafists have presented themselves as the biggest challenge to Tunisian democracy.

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French and Greek elections throw fiscal pact into jeopardy

VOTERS in France and Greece have sent strong messages that their patience with fiscal austerity is ending. In France, voters elected as their next president François Hollande, who has attacked the new EU treaty on austerity. In Greek parliamentary elections the parties which had negotiated the bailouts lost seats to those parties opposed to the current bailout terms.

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Peace lost in the Libyan desert

The recent outbreak of violence between the largely segregated Zwai and Tabu tribes in Libya’s remote, Saharan town of Kufra shattered the uneasy calm that held since last February’s clashes, resulting in more than 100 deaths. The clashes illustrate the challenges in building a new state.

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Fragmented protests rise in Jordan

On a Friday afternoon, police cars blocked the roads around the Al Husseini mosque, where hundreds of men were kneeling for the noon prayers. At the end of the service, the crowds rose and marched in a protest behind a car bearing a banner for the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.

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US Patriot Act kept Somalia starving

When war-torn Somalia was also ravaged last year by a drought-induced famine, which killed tens of thousands and displaced over a million people, international media was quick to blame the Islamist group Al-Shabaab for blocking humanitarian assistance from reaching its zone of control in southern Somalia.

According to Ken Menkhaus, professor of Political Science at Davidson College in North Carolina, the United States’ counter-terrorism laws played an equally central role as Al-Shabaab in obstructing assistance from reaching famine victims in desperate need of aid.

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Latin American countries call for alternatives to war on drugs

The countries of Latin America raised their voices at last weekend’s Sixth Summit of the Americas to condemn the “failed” war on drugs and propose alternatives, such as the controversial option of depenalisation, in order to curb drug-related violence, especially in Mexico and Central America.

THE summit, held on 14-15 April in the Colombian city of Cartagena, reached agreement on the need to reform anti-drug policies, but not on what their new direction should be. Many leaders here pushed for a new strategy to combat the illicit drug trade, fueled by US demand.

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Reuters: Apple promises changes to working conditions in China

Apple Incorporated and its heavily criticised Chinese manufacturing partner, Foxconn, have agreed to improve wages and working conditions at factories where working conditions have been found to be very poor.

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Arab Spring brings some sour fruits

Recent shifts in the Middle East and North Africa have presented several economic challenges such as high unemployment, an exodus of migrants from Libya and reduced tourism revenue. Given that economic discontent played a vital role in the Arab uprisings, economic growth has become vital to sustain the fruits of revolution.

“In societies characterised by young populations, and by a need to create hundreds of thousands of new jobs every year in order to absorb new workforce entrants, efforts to reshape economic policies and restructure the various economic sectors are of extreme importance,” Ziad Majed, assistant professor of Middle East studies at the American University of Paris tells IPS.

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Malaysia weighs minimum wage policy

Human resources minister Subramaniam Sinnapan has dismissed the manufacturers’ claims as “false and alarmist,” but Prime Minister Najib Razak appears rattled and has delayed an announcement until 1 May.

“I will study the matter in-depth and make an appropriate announcement on Labour Day,” he was reported as saying by The Star newspaper on 20 March.

The government is caught between having to shore up votes in an election year and the meeting the demands of manufacturers. Najib cannot ignore warnings by Malaysia’s Employers Federation that the closure of 200,000 SME units would mean the loss of four million jobs in a population of over 28 million people.

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Shared interests in Afghanistan could break US-Iran impasse

According to a new publication released on Thursday 15 March by an influential national security think tank, engaging Iran on shared interests in Afghanistan can help improve US-Iran relations and maximise the chances for stability in the country following the withdrawal of US-led combat forces by 2014.

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