The globalisation of revolution

Cached:  http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/03/2011320131934568573.html

Revolutions are caused by human agency; not telecommunications technologies, scholar argues.

Tarak Barkawi Last Modified: 21 Mar 2011 14:41

To listen to the hype about social networking websites and the Egyptian revolution, one would think it was Silicon Valley and not the Egyptian people who overthrew Mubarak.

Via its technologies, the West imagines itself to have been the real agent in the uprising. Since the internet developed out of a US Defense Department research project, it could be said the Pentagon did it, along with Egyptian youth imitating wired hipsters from London and Los Angeles.

Most narratives of globalisation are fantastically Eurocentric, stories of Western white men burdened with responsibility for interconnecting the world, by colonising it, providing it with economic theories and finance, and inventing communications technologies. Of course globalisation is about flows of people as well, about diasporas and cultural fusion.

But neither version is particularly useful for organising resistance to the local dictatorship. In any case, the internet was turned off at decisive moments in the Egyptian uprising, and it was ordinary Egyptians, mothers and fathers, daughters and sons, who toppled the regime, not the hybrid youth of the global professional classes.

Nothing new about globalisation

Are there other tales of globalisation, perhaps those told by rebels and guerrillas?

Globalisation is also coming to awareness of the situations of other peoples, such as those similarly oppressed by local and faraway powers. Of particular interest are those moments when these peoples rise up, when they devise forms of revolt and struggle. Defeats provide lessons, and victories give hope. These revolutions need not be on satellite TV to effect their instruction. Revolutionaries in France and Haiti in the 1790s received news of one another””s activities by the regular packet ship that plied between Jamaica and London.

Sailors, slaves, and workers circulating in the Atlantic between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries shared and improved upon their repertoires of revolt and resistance, bringing the good news to ports from Rio to Boston, Bristol to Havana.

When Indians rose in revolt in 1857, Frederick Engels analysed their mistakes – like the Libyan rebels today, they were too eager to stand and fight against a better organised opponent. Engels publicised the uprising in a series of newspaper articles that ultimately inspired Mao Tse-tung”s theories of guerrilla warfare, which went on to circulate as well-thumbed texts in the pockets of Vietnamese, Cuban, Algerian and other revolutionaries (and of those who sought to defeat them).

Before Mao, Chinese nationalists and intellectuals at the turn of the twentieth century staged operas about the dismemberment of Poland and looked to the Boers, the Filipinos and others fighting imperialist oppressors, all in order to think through their own situation.

This is the globalisation of revolution, and these are the histories within which the Tunisian example belongs, the example that so inspired the Egyptian people. News of it might as well have arrived in Egypt by caravan as by fiber optic cable, it would still have been electric, the very idea that the solitary stand of a fruit seller could bring down the big men. The agency was human, the act political.

But these are also histories of despair, self-immolation and tragedy. Few peoples have resisted as have the Vietnamese, but at what cost, and for the reward of delayed re-entry into the capitalist world system. It is a blessing that the voice of the Algerian revolution, Frantz Fanon, who hailed from Martinique, is not alive to see the state of Algeria today.

Soon we may feel the same about Nelson Mandela, the conscience of South Africa’s struggle against apartheid, as his country sinks into the hands of a venal elite. China prospers, but has abandoned its revolution, its people paying a greater price for Mao”s strategies in peace than they ever did in war.

Post-revolution struggle

It is no joke that revolutionaries face their greatest challenges after the revolution, and usually fail to meet them with sufficient humanity. Having broken from the international order in their struggles for freedom, revolutionary countries have proved unable to negotiate a re-entry into that order on terms that allow them to flourish, while remaining true to their principles.

The question now is what kind of example will Egypt provide, to its Arab sisters and brothers, and to present and future struggles for justice, liberty and democracy the world over. The democratic forces of Egypt must look to other countries to think through their complex struggles, against old regime elements at home, for a political and economic order that promises opportunity and justice, and for a foreign policy that balances realism with values.

In doing so, Egyptians would do well to cease looking to the tired countries of Europe or to the United States for recognition and inspiration, and instead turn their attention to the other powers of the global South who face the same dilemmas, powers like Brazil, India, Turkey and Indonesia.

Having dealt a mortal blow to the American-centreed order in the Middle East, Egypt must still find its way in the one world we all share, and regain its place as a great non-Western power.

Tarak Barkawi is a senior lecturer in War Studies at the Centre of International Studies in the University of Cambridge. He also authored the book Globalization and War (Rowman and Littlefield). He has held fellowships at the Olin Institute for Strategic Studies, Harvard University; the Department of War Studies, King’s College London; the Center for International Security and Cooperation, Stanford University; and the Mershon Center for International Security Studies, Ohio State University.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

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Al Jazeera

US reducing naval firepower aimed at Gadhafi

 

Cached:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42293218/ns/politics

By ROBERT BURNS

In this March, 26, 2011 photo released by NBC News, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates discuss the latest developments in the Middle East during a pre-taped segment of NBC's "Meet the Press" in Washington. (AP Photo/NBC, William B. Plowman)

WASHINGTON — In a sign of U.S. confidence that the weeklong assault on Libya has tamed Moammar Gadhafi’s air defenses, the Pentagon has reduced the amount of naval firepower arrayed against him, officials said Sunday.

The move, not yet publicly announced, reinforces the White House message of a diminishing U.S. role — a central point in President Barack Obama’s national address Monday night on Libya. The White House booked Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on three Sunday news shows to promote the administration’s case ahead of the speech.

Yet Gates, asked whether the military operation might be over by year’s end, said, “I don’t think anybody knows the answer to that.”

At least one of the five Navy ships and submarines that have launched dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles at Libyan targets from positions in the Mediterranean Sea has left the area, three defense officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive military movements.

That still leaves what officials believe is sufficient naval firepower off Libya’s coast, and it coincides with NATO’s decision Sunday to take over command and control of the entire Libya operation. Aided by international air power, Libyan rebels were reported to have made important gains by capturing two oil complexes along the coast.

The shrinking of the naval presence adds substance to Obama’s expected reassurance to the American people that after kicking off the Libyan mission, the U.S. is now handing off to partner countries in Europe and elsewhere the bulk of the responsibility for suppressing Gadhafi’s forces.

NATO’s governing body, meeting in Brussels, accepted a plan for the transfer of command. That is expected to mean that U.S. Army Gen. Carter Ham, who has been the top commander of the Libya operation, will switch to a support role.

Obama administration officials claimed progress in Libya, but lawmakers in both parties voiced skepticism over the length, scope and costs of the mission.

Obama is trying to address those issues in a speech that’s expected to provide his fullest explanation of the U.S. role in Libya and what lies ahead.

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., questioned whether it made sense to be involved at all. “I don’t believe we should be engaged in Libyan civil war,” Lugar said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“I believe the Libyans are going to have to work that out. The fact is that we don’t have particular ties with anybody in the Libyan picture.”

Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., the Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, was broadly supportive of the president’s steps so far. “It is a flyover which is succeeding. It has set Gadhafi back. He’s on his heels now,” Levin said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Still, Levin said it was unclear how long the air campaign will have to last if Gadhafi clings to power.

Gates, an early skeptic of establishing a no-fly zone, told ABC’s “This Week” that for practical purposes, the establishment of the zone is complete and can now be sustained “with a lot less effort than what it took to set it up.”

The Pentagon said Sunday that over the previous 24 hours, U.S. aircraft had flown 88 combat strikes against Libyan targets, down from 96 a day earlier. It provided no details on targets.

In advance of Obama’s speech at 7:30 p.m. EDT Monday, Gates and Clinton stressed the administration’s message that the U.S. role in the mission will shrink, illustrating that it’s possible for the U.S. military to partner with others without always being the leader.

Gates said the no-fly zone and efforts to protect civilians from attack by pro-Gadhafi forces will have to be sustained “for some period of time.”

Among other hard questions for Obama is whether the Libyan intervention should serve as a model for U.S. policy toward other Arab countries where revolts against authoritarian governments are gaining ground, including Syria and Yemen, and where civilians are at risk of violent reprisals.

Clinton declined to say if the U.S. might be willing to enter other such conflicts. She said it was too early to talk of getting involved in Syria, where security forces have opened fire on protesters amid nationwide unrest. Unlike Gadhafi, Syrian President Bashar Assad is a “different leader” and many members of Congress who have visited the country “believe he’s a reformer,” Clinton said.

Clinton and Gates insisted that the objective in Libya was limited to protecting civilians, even as they hoped the pressure of concerted international penalties and isolation might strip away Gadhafi’s remaining loyalists and cause his government to crumble.

“One should not underestimate the possibility of the regime itself cracking,” Gates said.

Asked if the Libyan conflict posed a threat to the United States, Gates said it was “not a vital national interest” but he insisted that the situation nevertheless demanded U.S. involvement. With tenuous democratic transitions under way in the neighboring countries of Tunisia and — more important to the U.S. — Egypt, allowing the entire region to be destabilized was a dangerous option.

Citing military gains against Libya over the past week, Gates said Pentagon officials are now planning the start of a force reduction. He was not specific, but he appeared to refer to moving some of the dozens of American ships or aircraft — or both — out of the immediate area.

“We will begin diminishing the level of our engagement, the level of resources we have involved in this,” he said, adding that as long as there is a no-fly zone, “we will continue to have a presence.” He gave as examples U.S. surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft that support the no-fly zone.

Even as naval firepower was reduced, Pentagon officials said they were considering adding air power. Vice Adm. William Gortney told reporters on Friday that low-flying Air Force AC-130 gunships, armed drones and helicopters were among weaponry that might be deployed to provide more precise air power against Libyan ground forces battling in urban areas. High-flying fighter jets run a high risk of causing civilian casualties if they attack inside cities.

It is unclear how long the U.S. will keep a Navy command ship, the USS Mount Whitney, in its role as overall coordinator of the sea and air campaign, once NATO assumes full command. NATO could run the full operation out of its Allied Joint Forces Command headquarters in Naples, Italy.

The Navy has had three submarines in the Mediterranean — the USS Providence, the USS Scranton and the USS Florida — plus two destroyers, the USS Barry and the USS Stout. All five are equipped with Tomahawks, the cruise missile that can fly long distances and maneuver to hit fixed targets like surface-to-air missile batteries and other air defense elements that posed a threat to coalition air patrols. It was not clear Sunday which of the five had been ordered out of the area.

Through the first seven says of the campaign to ground Gadhafi’s air force, those American ships and subs launched 184 Tomahawks — more than half of them in the opening moments of the assault on March 19, according to figures provided by the Pentagon. None was launched Saturday and two on Sunday, bring the U.S. total to 186. That is in addition to seven cruise missiles fired by British warships.

Gates and Clinton taped interviews Saturday on NBC, ABC and CBS’ “Face the Nation” that aired Sunday.

___

Associated Press writer Tom Raum contributed to this report.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Massachuseets officials: radiation from Japan in rainwater

Cached:  http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2011/03/27/mass_officials_radiation_from_japan_in_rainwater/?rss_id=Boston.com+–+Local+news

March 27, 2011

BOSTON—Radiation from the crippled nuclear plant in Japan is showing up in rain in the United States.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health said Sunday that very low concentrations of radioiodine-131 that were likely from the Japanese power plant severely damaged by the earthquake and tsunami earlier this month have been detected in a sample of rainwater. Officials did not say where the sample was taken.

The agency said the sample was taken in the past week and is one of more than 100 around the country. It is part of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency network that monitors for radioactivity.

State officials say similar testing was done in other states, including California, Pennsylvania and Washington, and showed comparable levels of I-131 in rain.

Officials also say there is no health impact to drinking water supplies, but will continue to monitor

“The drinking water supply in Massachusetts is unaffected by this short-term, slight elevation in radiation,” said John Auerbach, commissioner of public health.

I-131 has a short duration, lasting eight days, officials said. In addition, finding concentrations of I-131 in rainwater samples is significantly higher than in a lake or pond because falling water is diluted, officials said. As a result, health officials do not expect health concerns.

Testing last week of samples from the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs showed no detectable levels of I-131, health officials said.

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Richard K. Sullivan Jr. directed the Department of Environmental Protection to collect additional samples for testing from several water bodies across Massachusetts Sunday. Results will be available over the next several days.

Mounting problems, including badly miscalculated radiation figures and inadequate storage tanks for huge amounts of contaminated water, stymied emergency workers Sunday as they struggled to bring Japan’s nuclear complex back from the edge of disaster. Workers were trying to remove the radioactive water from the nuclear compound and restart the regular cooling systems for the dangerously hot fuel.

Company officials initially reported that radiation in leaking water in the Unit 2 reactor was 10 million times above normal, but they later said the huge number was miscalculated.

Nevada and other western states have reported minuscule amounts of radiation are showing up, but scientists say there is no health risk.

© Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Radiation in Massachusetts rainwater likely from Japan

Cached:  http://www.seattlepi.com/national/1110ap_us_japan_us_radiation.html

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

BOSTON — Health officials said Sunday that one sample of Massachusetts rainwater has registered very low concentrations of radiation, most likely from the Japanese nuclear power plant damaged earlier this month by an earthquake and tsunami.

John Auerbach, the Massachusetts commissioner of public health, said that radioiodine-131 found in the sample – one of more than 100 that have been taken around the country – has a short life of only eight days. He said the drinking water supply in the state was unaffected and officials do not expect any health concerns.

Nevada and other Western states also have reported minuscule amounts of radiation, but scientists say those presented no health risks.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health said the in-state sample was taken in the past week, but they did not say where. The testing is part of a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency network that monitors for radioactivity.

State officials said similar testing was done in California, Pennsylvania, Washington and other states, and showed comparable levels of I-131 in rain.

Massachusetts testing last week of samples from the Quabbin and Wachusett reservoirs showed no detectable levels of I-131, health officials said.

Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Richard K. Sullivan Jr. directed the Department of Environmental Protection to collect additional samples for testing from several water bodies across Massachusetts. Results will be available over the next several days.

In Japan, mounting problems, including miscalculated radiation figures and inadequate storage tanks for huge amounts of contaminated water, stymied emergency workers Sunday as they struggled to bring the country’s nuclear complex back from the edge of disaster. Workers were trying to remove radioactive water from the nuclear compound and restart the regular cooling systems for the dangerously hot fuel.

 

In Libya, coffins carry a mystery – Ahmed Gaddaf al-Dam, Gaddafi’s cousin and aide, had flown to Egypt and resigned

Cached:  http://www.smh.com.au/world/in-libya-coffins-carry-a-mystery-20110325-1ca4s.html

David Kirkpatrick and Kareem Fahim, Tripoli

March 26, 2011

MORE than 30 coffins were carried to the Martyrs Cemetery on Thursday, escorted by hundreds of flag-waving supporters of Muammar Gaddafi chanting condemnation of what the state media said were civilian casualties of allied air strikes.

But after two hours of noisy cheers – and very little grief – for what state television called ”victims of the crusader-colonialist aggression”, most of the coffins were taken away. Only about a dozen burials took place, and two Western photographers said some smelt of corpses dead for days. There was no way to know who or what was in the others, or what was going through the minds of those who turned up to cheer.

Colonel Gaddafi’s Libya is a country where even a coffin is sometimes a question mark. Four decades of ruthless penalties for dissent – and vast rewards for loyalty – long ago transformed public life into an elaborate theatre, with a heavy curtain between public expression and private opinion. And that curtain has made the conflict a shadowy affair in which it is often hard to tell who is playing what role – from the colonel’s closest associates to the flag-waving crowds in the street.

At rallies in the city’s central Green Square and the colonel’s compound, Western journalists have run into at least three Libyans who had previously attended protests or made anonymous statements against the Gaddafi government.

Some shadows extend even into the Gaddafi family. A week after the uprising began the official Egyptian news agency reported that Ahmed Gaddaf al-Dam, Gaddafi’s cousin and aide, had flown to Egypt and resigned, ”to protest against the handling of the Libyan crisis”. His associates issued a statement calling for ”a halt to the bloodbath and a return to reason in order to preserve the unity and future of Libya”.

But recently, rebel supporters in Cairo have asserted that his defection was a ruse.

”That was a lie,” said Hany Soufrakis, a rebel organiser in an email. ”He is very active in supporting Gaddafi in Cairo and the region.”

Mr Gaddaf al-Dam could not be reached but Ali Maria, the Libyan ambassador to Egypt and a Gaddafi loyalist, said this week that he too believed Mr Gaddaf al-Dam continued to support the colonel.

In rebel Benghazi, leaders said that phenomenon has complicated their search for Gaddafi loyalists. They started looking for members of his network of civilian supporters known as the ”revolutionary committees”. But plenty of Gaddafi sceptics had also joined these committees in order to gain a visa to study abroad, paperwork to buy a car or various other perks.

Perhaps most discussed of all is the case of Abdel Fattah Younis, Colonel Gaddafi’s former interior minister, in charge of the extralegal detention and torture of untold numbers of dissidents.

General Younis became an early defector to the rebel cause

Then last weekend, state television began reporting that, far from deserting, he had recovered from a sick leave and returned to his job, leaving rebels and journalists wondering which side he had betrayed.

The rebels say he is still working for them. But Ali Tarhouni, a newly appointed minister in the rebels’ shadow government, sounded a little equivocal.

”I’m not sure we have somebody better,” he said.

On Monday, the government said it would bury 28 civilian casualties in the same cemetery. But none of the deaths could be confirmed and 24 graves were left empty. More than half were still empty at the end of Thursday.

Ten British and American journalists who are in Tripoli tried to visit a hospital the same day, but security forces intercepted them and returned them to their hotel. So the contents of the coffins remained a mystery. NEW YORK TIMES