OccupyWallStreet: America's Tahrir Square?

“The protesters are pounding on Rupert Murdoch’s front door,” reported a New York television journalist. “They are getting no answer.”

Her report on Tues., Oct. 11, was a tad exaggerated. An estimated 400 Occupy Wall Street protesters were pounding drums in front of the mogul’s Fifth Ave. apartment building. They never got in. Instead, they were easily held at bay by a couple of doormen bolstered by a large police presence.

Still, the effect was dramatic. for perhaps the first time, Rupert Murdoch - whose media empire circles the globe by print and satellite, and whose American holdings include the Wall Street Journal, Fox News, and the New York Post – was not controlling the dialogue; rather, he was its subject. And, this time, Murdoch – and four other multi-billionaire titans - were not sandbagging John Q. Public. Rather, they were being sandbagged.

“Stop the Machine!” The Scene from Freedom Plaza in DC

WASHINGTON, D.C.- What started out months ago as a rally only to protest the war in Afghanistan on the eve of its 10th anniversary, has now meshed with the national Occupy Wall Street movement. This week in Washington DC’s Freedom Plaza, just steps from the White House, people from both movements have joined together to form the “Stop The Machine! Create A New World!“ rally which brought together the varied grievances of many into a single demonstration.

Rather than feeling marginalized, protesters seemed energized by the cooperation of both groups. Instead of highlighting only one issue, they were able to show the general discontent that people are feeling right now toward the state of affairs in the United States. The start of the protest was to coincide not only with the anniversary of the Afghanistan war but also with the beginning of the 2012 Federal Austerity Budget, which people worry will cut funding for badly needed social programs while increasing military spending.

Carrie Stoner walked 9 days and 200 miles to DC from her home in Clarksburg, West Virginia. Stoner said that what motivated her journey was the diversity of the rally. “I could go attend a rally for women’s rights, which matters to me. I could go to a rally to protest war, which matters to me. I could go to a rally to protest Wall Street, which matter to me. And I could be at a rally to support gay marriage, which matters to me,” Stoner told Aslan Media. “But here we can say it all at once.”

“Carrie is the reason I’m here,” said Yvonne Scott. Scott, who drove to DC from Albuquerque, New Mexico, said “I saw her journey on Facebook and I said, ‘If she can walk 200 miles, I can put my sorry ass in a car and drive to D.C.’”

“No Simple Storylines” The Scene from Wall Street in New York

The number of protesters at the Occupy Wall Street rally has been steadily growing for weeks. Even after we entirely filled Foley Square, in front of the courthouses, protesters keep coming into the plaza via Broadway.

There has been a surprising amount of energy - including the banging of drums and an ensemble of tubas and horns which sounded like a New Orleans marching band. The feeling is that of anger and frustration, mixed in with festivity. The result is electrifying.

Aside from the number of protesters, the other surprise is the number of older people, like me, who date from the 60's. New York Magazine recently ran a story about those camping out at Zucotti Park. The vast majority are in their teens and 20's - only 2% were over 50. I expected to be an "older" protester surrounded by a sea of young people. Instead I’ve been delighted to find maybe 25% of the protesters are in my age group. They include a mom whose teen-age daughter has been camping in the park for three nights. The mom works in midtown, and had marched against the Viet Nam war. Asked if she was nervous about her daughter camping in the park, she said the only ones who made her nervous were the police. And, she said, her husband was not protesting because he had ties to Wall St. and was afraid of retribution.

Other protesters range from single, white haired ladies (interestingly, not to many older men are here) to teens, Latinos, blacks and gays, all chanting slogans in Spanish and English and holding their respective flags - be it the gay flag, the Puerto Rican flag, or whatever else.

The police are all over and have tight faces, with at least one white shirt (a senior official) looking like he is champing at the bit. I stayed away from him, while multiple helicopters have been circling overhead.

Still, I’ve seen no police violence. The only disorderly action I witnessed was one marcher who took down a barrier keeping protesters on the sidewalk. He then called out for all of us to take to the street, and the opening did seem legit. Thankfully, no one followed this guy into the breach, and thirty seconds later a few cops showed up and put the barriers back in place.

A Lesson Not Yet Learned: How the Left in Israel has Hijacked the Memory of Yitzhak Rabin

This month, in what is now called Rabin Square, an event took place marking the 16th anniversary of the assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin at a peace rally by right-wing radical Yigal Amir. The commemoration began at around 7:30 PM Saturday night, with thousands showing up to pay their respects to the late Prime Minister. Many, including Yossi Sarid of the Meretz Party, Hagit Ofran of Peace Now, and Eldad Yaniv of the National Left, spoke to those gathered, offering Israel’s struggling and wounded left-wing words of solace and encouragement.

Sadly, it seems that less than two decades after losing one of the brave pioneers of peace in Israeli politics, those who still care about peace seem to have completely missed the point of what happening on the fateful day in November 1995, for it was not to keep a particular political party alive. True, since the Prime Minister’s assassination the peace process has stalled several times, and at this point it would be fair to say that it barely has a pulse. Yet, what needs to be imprinted in the collective memory of this young state is not the need to be an outspoken leftist, but rather to learn how to disagree with the politics of others and coexist with them. Yet some of those gathered in Rabin Square carried signs declaring, “I Will Not Let The Right Silence Me,” while others stood under banners that identified them as members of the Meretz Party or the National Left.

An Interview with Meherzia Laabidi, VP of the Tunisian National Constituent Assembly

Tunisia has been called the success story of the Arab Spring. Far from the chaos in Syria and the political power struggles in Egypt, Tunisia’s democratic transition has been relatively smooth and successful thus far. The country is close to completing its first draft of the new Constitution, with elections for public office coming up in six months.

Towards A New Constitution: Images of Progress in Tunisia

A few weeks ago, the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy (CSID) hosted a national debate on the drafting of the country’s new constitution. The event was attended by many distinguished guests and speakers. Spread over two days, Friday and Saturday, the gathering featured five sessions on different topics pertaining to the Constitution. The goal of the Conference was not only to inform the Tunisian public about the specifics of the Constitution, but to bring the writers of the constitution and Tunisian citizens together and provide a forum in which they can discuss those specifics together.