Revolt in North Africa and the Middle East

Here are 5 articles worth reading:

Surveying events across North Africa and the Middle East, Tariq Ali writes “If there is a comparison to be made with Europe it is 1848, when the revolutionary upheavals left only Britain and Spain untouched” and makes some important points about the accomplishments and limits so far here.

Echoing Ali’s analogy with 1848, Pepe Escobar looks at Bahrain and Saudi Arabia and writes, “There’s a specter haunting the Persian Gulf: democracy… The great 2011 Arab revolt, for all its specific reasons in different countries, is definitely not about religion (as Mubarak, Gaddafi and Hamad have claimed) – but essentially working class unrest directly provoked by the global crisis of capitalism.” Read his article here.

Juan Cole writes today here that 90% of Libya is under rebel control:”Most of the country stretching from the outskirts of Tripoli east toward Egypt is now in the hands of popular committees allied with local security forces that have defected from the dictator.”

Cortni Kerr and Toby Jones look at Bahrain in more detail in this Feb. 23 article, suggesting the revolution has paused.

A member of the Egyptian group Revolutionary Socialists discusses the situation in that country and the role of the left in the revolution here.

 


 

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