Campaign
organizer says activists have no intention to leave site that is
located north of the Dead Sea; IDF spokesperson says is aware of "quiet
demonstration."
Palestinians at Ein Hijleh, January 31, 2014 Photo: IRENE NASSER, COURTESY
Hundreds of Palestinians gathered in the West Bank in the Jordan
Valley north of the Dead Sea to reestablish the village of Ein Hijleh on
Friday evening.
The Palestinians were gathered under the
campaign that they called "Melh Al-Ard" (Salt of the Earth) that was
launched at the site "in protest of Israeli policies aimed at Judaizing
and annexing the Jordan Valley," and was held in protest of the current
round of negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israellis, that
according to Palestinian activist Irene Nasser, further endangers the
annexation of the area to Israel.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post on Friday from the scene of the campaign Nasser said some 500 people had gathered at the site and had no intention to leave.
Under
the current round of US brokered talks, Israel has stressed its
security concerns with regard to ceding control of the Jordan Valley
under a future negotiated settlement.
US Secretary of State John
Kerry is expected to unveil in the coming weeks a framework agreement
for continuation of the peace talks.
Martin Indyk, the State Department’s lead envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, told Jewish leaders on Thursday in Washington
that Kerry's framework will include special security arrangements in
the Jordan Valley including a new security zone with new fences, sensors
and unmanned aerial vehicles.
Nasser told the Post on Friday that the campaigners belonged to a collection of various Palestinian groups and communities.
The
village that the activists wish to reestablish is located on land that
belongs to the Orthodox Church, and its name Ein Hijleh is the original
Canaanite name of the village that was once present there, Nasser said.
"We refuse Kerry’s Plan that will establish a disfigured
Palestinian state and recognizes the Israeli entity as a Jewish State,"
read a campaign press statement.
An IDF spokesperson said on
Friday evening that the IDF was aware of the Ein Hijleh gathering and
that it recognized it as a "quiet gathering."
In March of last year Israel Police evacuated 40
Palestinian activists from an empty hilltop in the area known as E1,
who like the Ein Hijleh activists sought to establish a Palestinian
presence in the area located near the Ma’aleh Adumim settlement in the
West Bank.
None of the land Israel is trying to steal with U.S. (Kerry/Obama) help is Israel's under U.N. agreements. We are accomplices in destroying Palestine and creating the Palestinian holocaust that is going on 66 years now.
Two Norwegian politicians have nominated fugitive U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Socialists
Baard Vegar Solhjell and Snorre Valen said they do not condone all of
Snowden's disclosures, and they acknowledge he may have damaged the
national security of several countries.
But they said they are
convinced that his whistleblowing sparked a public debate and changes in
policy. They say those changes have contributed to a more stable and
peaceful world order.
Snowden, a former contractor for the U.S.
National Security Agency, revealed last year that the NSA was tracking
telephone calls by U.S. citizens and several foreign leaders as part of
the fight against terrorism.
The United States wants to put Snowden on trial for alleged espionage and stealing secret documents.
Russian President Vladimir Putin granted Snowden a year's asylum.
The
deadline for nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize is Saturday. The
prize committee does not disclose the nominees. It will award the prize
in October. Last year's winner was the Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons.
Hundreds of crosses, representing gun
deaths since the Newtown, Connecticut elementary shootings, are placed
on the National Mall on April 11, 2013 in Washington, DC.Karen Bleier/AFP/Getty
Over 7,000 children are hospitalized or killed due to gun violence every year, according to a new study published in the medical journal Pediatrics.
An additional 3,000 children die from gun injuries before making it to
the hospital, bringing the total number of injured or killed adolescents
to 10,000 each year.
The new study, led by researchers at the Yale School of Medicine,
highlights the toll gun violence has on child mortality rates in the
country. Doctors surveyed the most recently released data from 2009 that
tracked pediatric hospital stays.
“This study reinforces what we know from the mortality data,” Daniel
Webster, the director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Policy and
Research, told NBC News. “We have an extraordinary health burden in our youth associated with firearms injuries.”
In the 2009 Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID), 7,391 children under the
age of 20 had been hospitalized for injuries from firearms and the
majority of those gunshot injuries —4,559—resulted from intentional
firearm assaults. 2,149 of those injured were accidents, and 270 were
suicide attempts. Of the children who were hospitalized, 453 – 6% – died
from their injuries.
“That’s more than 7,000 children injured badly enough to be
hospitalized,” said the study’s lead author, Dr. John Leventhal, a
pediatrics professor at the Yale School of Medicine. “All are
unnecessary hospitalizations because preventing gun violence is
something that can actually be done.”
Levanthal pointed out that parents should keep their guns locked in a
safe hiding place and keep them separate from the ammunition to
decrease the high number of accidental injuries, especially for smaller children.
Webster also suggested to NBC News that the government should make it
illegal for individuals under 21 to own a firearm, referring to
research that shows a peak in homicides between young adults age 18 and
20. “While you have to be 21 to purchase a handgun from a dealer, if
you’re an 18-year-old you can go to a private seller and legally
purchase a handgun in 45 out of 50 states,” Webster said.
Webster also compared the U.S.’ standing with other high income
nations and pointed out that the mortality rate from firearms in the
U.S. is nearly 10 times higher than the rates in other wealthy nations.
“This is a very unique and abnormal problem that such a wealthy nation
should have such high mortality and morbidity in youth related to
firearms,” he said.
After the devastating tragedy at Sandy Hook in December 2012, the gun
policy debate intensified, coinciding with the rising number of
children killed by guns in the U.S. every year. In the first 14 school
days of 2014, there have been at least 7 school shootings: at
Wakefield Elementary School in Calif., Berrendo Middle School in New
Mexico, Liberty Technology High School in Tenn., Albany High School in
Georgia, Delaware Valley Charter School in Penn., Widener University in
Penn., and most recently, Purdue University in Indiana. In 2013, there were 28 school shootings.
The American Academy of Pediatrics wrote in 2012 that “firearm-related deaths continue as 1 of the top 3 causes of death in American youth.”
“America’s pediatricians remain undeterred and united in our desire
to see significant policy change to address this public health crisis,”
the AAP wrote on the one-year anniversary of Newtown, pushing for tighter background checks, an assault weapons ban, and federal research on gun violence prevention.
To all NRA gun nut advocates. Stop killing and maiming our children with your greed for gun ownership at any expense, even children's lives.
Pope Francis today declared the Internet “a gift from God,” in a statement released by the Vatican to mark the Catholic Church’s World Communications Day.
The pope said the Internet “offers immense possibilities for encounter and solidarity” and that “is something truly good.”
Citing increased levels of inequality around the world, the pontiff said
the media could play a role by “creating a sense of the unity of the
human family which can in turn inspire solidarity and serious efforts to
ensure a more dignified life for all.”
There are downsides to greater interconnectedness, the pope said, adding
that the speed of communication “exceeds our capacity for reflection
and judgement.”
He added that by offering a wide variety of ideas, electronic forms of communication
“also enables people to barricade themselves behind sources of
information which only confirm their own wishes and ideas, or political
and economic interests.”
Digital connectivity, the pontiff added, “can have the effect of isolating us from our neighbors, from those closest to us.”
And while there are drawbacks, the pope said “they do not justify
rejecting social media; rather, they remind us that communication is
ultimately a human rather than technological achievement.”
He added that we need to “to recover a certain sense of deliberateness
and calm” and that “this calls for time and the ability to be silent
and to listen.”
The 77-year-old Argentine has proved a somewhat controversial figure,
saying, for example, that homosexuals should not be marginalized and
that Catholics should reach out to atheists.
In today’s statement, he told his followers that “engaging in dialogue does not mean renouncing our own ideas and tradition.”
Francis said the Internet and social media offered a chance for such a dialogue.
“The digital world can be an environment rich in humanity; a network not of wires but of people,” he said.
The new kit at a Chilean football club has been accused of being 'anti-Israeli' because of the unusual numbers that appear on the back of the shirts, it seems.
The number "1" on the Santiago-based Palestino FC shirts is shaped to look like Israel and the Palestinian Territories - as a single entity - and the design has caused consternation among Chile's Jewish community.
They say the shape of the numeral implies that Israel belongs to Palestinians, The Santiago Times reports.
"How would Chileans feel if the Argentine football shirt displayed Chile as part of Argentina?" Samy Telias of Chilean pro-Israeli publication Revista Shalom said.
Gabriel Zaliasnik - the former Chilean Jewish Community president - told the Times it was "a lousy form of political violence in Chilean football - chauvinistic and in bad taste."
The Israeli government has entered the fray, too, expressing "surprise and concern" over the new kit, and saying it amounted to "provocation... with the evident intention of denying Israel's existence", according to La Nacion newspaper.
But Palestino FC remains defiant. "For us, free Palestine will always be historical Palestine, nothing less," the club says in a statement on its Facebook page. Chile's Palestinian Federation has spoken out in support of the decision, too, saying the map has existed as a symbol in Chile since 1920.
Chile is believed to be home to the largest Palestinian community outside the Arab world, and the football club was set up by Palestinian migrants to the country.
DAVOS: A tiny elite comprising the richest 85 individuals hold wealth equivalent to that owned by the bottom half of the world's population, a report says.
The report by worldwide development organisation Oxfam, titled 'Working For the Few', published ahead of the World Economic Forum meet in Davos, details the impact that widening inequality is having in both developed and developing nations.
"Wealthy elites have co-opted political power to rig the rules of the economic game, undermining democracy and creating a world where the 85 richest people own the wealth of half of the world's population," Oxfam claimed.
It further added that since the late 1970s, tax rates for the richest have fallen in 29 of the 30 countries for which data are available, meaning that in many places the rich not only get more money but also pay less tax on it.
As per the report, in the last 25 years wealth has become even more concentrated in the hands of fewer people so much so that one per cent of the world's families own almost half (46 per cent) of the world's wealth.
Oxfam wants governments to take urgent action to reverse the trend. It is asking those attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) to make six-point personal pledge to tackle the problem.
"It is staggering that in the 21st Century, half of the world's population own no more than a tiny elite whose numbers could all sit comfortably in a single train carriage," Oxfam Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said.
The report alleged that the richest individuals and companies in the world hide trillions of dollars away from the tax man in a web of tax havens around the world. "It is estimated that $21 trillion is held unrecorded and off-shore," it said.
85 people own the world! It's like a James Bond thriller with an Evil Cabal only these people make our presidents and send Americans into battle to make more money as they run charity scams to divert attention away from themselves.
Benjamin Netanyahu said it was "time to stop the hypocrisy"
Israel has summoned the ambassadors of Britain, France, Italy and Spain, accusing their countries of pro-Palestinian bias.
The Foreign Ministry said the envoys would be told that their "perpetual one-sided stance" is unacceptable.
On Thursday, the four EU countries summoned Israeli
ambassadors to object to plans to expand settlements in the occupied
West Bank.
The EU's Catherine Ashton has labelled the settlements "an obstacle to peace".
However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it
was "time to stop this hypocrisy" and "inject some balance and fairness
to this discussion".
"The EU calls our ambassadors in because of the construction
of a few houses? When did the EU call in the Palestinian ambassadors
about incitement
that calls for Israel's destruction?" he said at a meeting of foreign journalists on Thursday.
The Israeli government has accused the Palestinian Authority
of taking no action to stop inflammatory language against Israel and
Jewish people in its official media.
"This imbalance and this bias against Israel doesn't advance peace," Mr Netanyahu said.
"I think it pushes peace further away because it tells the
Palestinians: 'Basically you can do anything you want, say anything you
want and you won't be held accountable.'"
Last week Israel announced plans to build 1,400 new homes in
Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which Ms Ashton
said constituted "an obstacle to peace and threaten[ed] to make the
two-state solution impossible".
About 500,000 Jews live in more than 100 settlements built since Israel's 1967 occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The settlements are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
Do we see what Israelis consider quid pro quo? Pals cannot speak ill of Israeli land stealers or else it's considered provocation that calls for Israel to steal more land in retaliation, i.e. an endless cycle of land stealing by Israelis until there is no more Palestine left for Israeli Zionists to steal.
A potential $1.5 billion oil-for-goods swap between Iran and Russia
has prompted harsh responses from Washington, which says such a deal
could trigger new US sanctions.
By
Joao Peixe, Guest blogger /
January 15, 2014
Christian Science Monitor
Iranian
workers make repairs to an oil refinery in Tehran. Since sanctions were
slapped on Iran in July 2012, exports have fallen by half and Iran is
losing up to $5 billion per month in revenues.
Vahid Salemi/AP/File
Reports are emerging that Iran and Russia
are in talks about a potential $1.5 billion oil-for-goods swap that
could boost Iranian oil exports, prompting harsh responses from
Washington, which says such a deal could trigger new US sanctions.
So far, talks are progressing to the point that Russia
could purchase up to 500,000 barrels a day of Iranian oil in exchange
for Russian equipment and goods, according to Reuters.
"We
are concerned about these reports and Secretary (of State John) Kerry
directly expressed this concern with (Russian) Foreign Minister (Sergei)
Lavrov… If the reports are true, such a deal would raise serious
concerns as it would be inconsistent with the terms of the P5+1
agreement with Iran and could potentially trigger US sanctions," Caitlin
Hayden, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council, told Reuters. (Related article: Syria Signs First-Ever Offshore Oil Deal, with Russia)
Russian purchases of 500,000 bpd of Iranian crude would lift
Iran's oil exports by 50% and infuse the struggling economy with some
$1.5 billion a month, some sources say.
Since sanctions
were slapped on Iran in July 2012, exports have fallen by half and Iran
is losing up to $5 billion per month in revenues.
In the
meantime, a nuclear agreement reached in November with Iran and world
powers is in the process of being finalized, and the news of the
potential Russian-Iranian oil swap deal plays to the hands of Iran hawks
in Washington who are keen to seen the November agreement collapse.
The November agreement is a six-month deal to lift some trade sanctions if Tehran curtailed its nuclear program. Technical talks on the agreement began last week.
Under
the terms of the tentative November nuclear agreement, Iran will be
allowed to export only 1 million barrels of oil per day.
In
mid-December, Iranian oil officials indicated that they hoped to resume
previous production and export levels and would hold talks with
international companies to that end.
This announcement sparked an immediate reaction from US Congress,
which has threatened oil companies with “severe financial penalties” if
they resume business with Iran “prematurely” following the six-month
agreement reached in Geneva.
There are plenty of figures in Congress—Republican and Democratic alike—who are opposed to the deal. The key “Iran hawk”
in US Congress, South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham, has described
the deal as “so far away from what the end game should look like”,
which should be to “stop enrichment”.
The opposition in
this case believes any talk between Tehran and Western oil companies is
premature because they are convinced that we won’t see a comprehensive
resolution after the six-month period, and that sanctions will be laid
on stronger than ever before.
This shows the U.S. underbelly of Big Oil + Big Oil Profits + Zionists = Anti-Iran sanctions. Look what Iran and Russia are really doing. Normal Trade between countries but the U.S.A., acting as Big Oil Agent, wants to control everything so they cannot afford to let Iran work out any deals with competitors of Big Oil of which Russia is the biggest competitor.
Kalashnikov designed the AK-47 after being wounded fighting for the Red Army
The
inventor of the Kalashnikov assault rifle apparently wrote to the head
of the Russian Orthodox Church before he died expressing fears he was
personally responsible for the people it killed.
Mikhail Kalashnikov, who died last month aged 94, wrote a
long emotional letter to Patriarch Kirill in May 2012, church officials
say.
He said he was suffering "spiritual pain" over the many deaths it caused.
Kalashnikov had previously refused to accept responsibility for those killed. 'Devilish desires'
Analysis
Steve RosenbergBBC News, Moscow
The letter published by Izvestia provides a fascinating
insight into the mind of the man who created Russia's most famous
weapon.
Mikhail Kalashnikov spent his career designing and perfecting
assault rifles. More than 100 million Kalashnikovs have been sold
worldwide. The gun brought Kalashnikov fame and a string of awards.
But his letter to the Patriarch suggests that, towards the
end of his life, Kalashnikov felt a degree of guilt - or "spiritual
pain" as he puts it - for having invented a killing machine.
It's unclear, though, how much of this he wrote himself.
Izvestia quotes Kalashnikov's daughter, Elena, as saying she believes a
priest helped her father compose the letter.
"I keep having the same unsolved question: if my rifle
claimed people's lives, then can it be that I... a Christian and an
Orthodox believer, was to blame for their deaths?" he asked.
"The longer I live," he continued, "the more this question
drills itself into my brain and the more I wonder why the Lord allowed
man to have the devilish desires of envy, greed and aggression".
The letter is typed on Kalashnikov's personal writing paper,
and is signed with a wavering hand by the man who describes himself as
"a slave of God, the designer Mikhail Kalashnikov".
The Kalashnikov, or AK-47, is one of the world's most familiar and widely used weapons.
Its comparative simplicity made it cheap to manufacture, as well as reliable and easy to maintain.
It is thought that more than 100 million Kalashnikov rifles have been sold worldwide.
Kalashnikov refused to accept responsibility for the many
people killed by his weapon, blaming the policies of other countries
that acquired it.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attended Kalashnikov's funeral in December
However, pride in his invention was tempered with sadness at its use by criminals and child soldiers.
"It is painful for me to see when criminal elements of all kinds fire from my weapon," Kalashnikov said in 2008.
“He designed this rifle to defend his country, not so terrorists could use it in Saudi Arabia”
Cyril Alexander VolkovPress secretary for Russian Patriarch Kirill Defend his country
In his letter to Patriarch Kirill, Kalashnikov said that he first went into a church at the age of 91 and was later baptised.
The BBC's Steve Rosenberg in Moscow says it is unclear how
much of it he wrote himself. Izvestia quotes Kalashnikov's daughter,
Elena, as saying she believes a priest helped her father compose the
letter.
The press secretary for the Russian Patriarch, Cyril
Alexander Volkov, told the paper the religious leader had received
Kalashnikov's letter and had written a reply.
"The Church has a very definite position: when weapons serve
to protect the Fatherland, the Church supports both its creators and the
soldiers who use it," Mr Volkov was quoted as saying.
"He designed this rifle to defend his country, not so terrorists could use it in Saudi Arabia."
Kalashnikov received many Russian state honours, including
the Order of Lenin and the Hero of Socialist Labour, but made little
money from his gun.
He died on 23 December after being admitted to hospital a month earlier with internal bleeding.
Republican Congressman Darrell Issa is the wealthiest member of Congress, with a net worth upwards of $598m (file photo)
For the first time, half of the members of the US Congress are millionaires, according to a wealth analysis.
At least 268 of the 534 politicians in the Senate and House
of Representatives had a net worth of $1m (£606,821) or more in 2012.
Democrats were slightly wealthier than Republicans, found the
data from the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) at OpenSecrets.org.
It comes as politicians debate national jobless benefits and the minimum wage.
“There's been no change in our appetite to elect affluent politicians to represent our concerns in Washington”
Sheila KrumholzDirector of the Center for Responsive Politics
The median net worth for Washington politicians came in at $1m, according to data.
Democrats registered a median wealth of $1.04m while Republicans had $1m.
Senators ranked higher than members of the House in median wealth, with $2.7m versus $896,000 in the lower chamber.
The wealthiest member of Congress was Republican Congressman
Darrell Issa. The Californian reported a net worth of up to $598m,
earned largely through sales of a car antitheft system.
The poorest member of Congress was also a California
Republican, Congressman David Valadao. He listed debts upwards of $12m,
largely stemming from loans on a family dairy farm.
As Congress suffers under some of its lowest approval ratings
in history, "there's been no change in our appetite to elect affluent
politicians to represent our concerns in Washington", CRP director
Sheila Krumholz told the Agence France-Presse news agency.
Also necessary is wealth "to run financially viable campaigns", she added
America is obviously a plutocratic government owned by bankers and we wonder why the little guy gets the shifty end of the stick..
PRESIDENT Barack Obama has taken a step toward reshaping the Federal
Reserve under incoming chairman Janet Yellen, choosing a leading expert
on the global economy to be her vice chairman.
Obama said on Friday he will nominate Stanley Fischer, a former
head of the Bank of Israel, for the No. 2 job at the Fed. He would
replace Yellen, who was confirmed this week to lead the Fed.
Fischer, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, was a long-time professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Departing Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and Mario Draghi, the current head of the European Central Bank, were among his students.
Obama
also is nominating Lael Brainard as a Fed governor. Brainard served as
the undersecretary for international affairs at Treasury during Obama's
first term. She left the administration recently. He also is
renominating Jerome Powell to the Fed for a second term.
All three nominations must be confirmed by the Senate.
"These
three distinguished individuals have the proven experience, judgment and
deep knowledge of the financial system to serve at the Federal Reserve
during this important time for our economy," Obama said in a statement.
The
selections were largely expected and did little to change economists'
outlook for Fed policy this year. All three will likely support Yellen's
approach to fighting high unemployment as long as inflation stays low.
And all three are likely to back plans to gradually withdraw some of that support, if the economy continues to show improvement.
In
December, the Fed said it would start reducing its bond purchases from
$US85 billion ($A95.87 billion) a month to $75 billion a month. Further
"measured steps" are expected this year.
The bond purchases are designed to lower interest rates to spur borrowing and spending.
In
selecting Fischer, Obama is tapping someone with extensive experience
in global economics. Fischer served as chief economist at the World
Bank, deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund, and
head of the Bank of Israel from 2005 until 2013.
During his time
at the IMF, Fischer dealt with a number of countries in financial
crises. That included the 1997-98 Asian currency crisis, which forced a
number of nations to seek support from the IMF to stabilise their
currencies and emerge from deep recessions.
Economists said they
did not expect Fischer, 70, to dissent from the activist approach to Fed
policy that Bernanke and Yellen have supported. That effort has kept
interest rates low in an effort to stimulate growth and fight high
unemployment since the Great Recession.
Critics say the central
bank's policies, which also include massive bond purchases, could
trigger unwanted inflation down the road. They also warn of a potential
buildup in asset bubbles, which could destabilise financial markets.
Obama's
selections still leave one spot to fill on the Fed board, with Sarah
Bloom Raskin nominated to become deputy Treasury secretary.
I'm tired of it. I want my country back! This is the United States of America, not the United Jewish States of America. Do we have to get a 98% Affirmative Action going to reinstall non-Jewish people into America's highest economic offices? Wake up, Americans! Zionists are stealing our nation and it's happening on the Democratic Party's watch.
I wouldn't believe it if I weren't sitting here in Tunisia's
parliament building. But I just watched the nation's constituent
assembly adopt, 116-40 with 32 abstentions, an amendment to its draft
constitution requiring the government to create parity for women in all
legislative assemblies in the country, national as well as local. After
the vote, the assembly and audience stood up spontaneously and sang the
national anthem. There wasn't a dry eye in the house -- including mine.
This
historic moment is embedded in another historic moment of still greater
scope. For the first time in the history of an Arabic-speaking country,
a freely elected assembly is publicly debating and finalizing a
constitution without an occupying army, a king or a dictator anywhere.
The Arab Spring has either struggled or failed everywhere else, but in
Tunisia, a democratic constitutional victory is in view.
The
process has been slow and not always steady. A draft text was
painstakingly worked out in six committees, then released for comment in
June 2013. Then there was a break for political crisis after the
assassination of secularist assembly member Muhammad Brahmi. Gradually,
politics returned, and a consensus committee -- which never stopped
meeting through the crisis -- has been editing and proposing changes.
The provision for gender parity came out of the consensus committee.
Now
the full assembly is debating each of 180 propositions in order. The
women's rights provision is No. 45. It would have to be implemented by a
later electoral law, and it might be interpreted to require parity in
resources, candidates or even election results. It might still be
reversed by the assembly, which voted to adopt the amendment but has not
yet finally approved the whole provision. There are 135 more provisions
to go before the assembly votes on ratification of the whole document,
probably before the end of January.
And, as it turns out, public
debate can be extraordinarily intense. Before the vote to adopt the
parity provision, one woman, an assembly member from the Islamist
Ennahda party, railed against the proposal, arguing that positive
discrimination on behalf of women violated the constitutional guarantee
of equality. The assembly's presiding member -- also an Ennahda woman in
a head scarf -- insisted that parity served equality rather than
contradicted it. When she was challenged for expressing an opinion from
the chair, she insisted that she was an elected member of the assembly,
too, and entitled to express her opinion.
Ennahda representatives
were split in their vote, the first time they had failed to maintain
party discipline in favor of the consensus committee's recommendations.
When the vote was over and the national anthem had been sung, yelling
broke out in the chamber, with the more extreme Islamists denouncing the
result. The presiding member loudly demanded order and eventually got
it. A lunch break came as a welcome respite from the heated tempers and
raised voices. "This is democracy," one observer from a leading Tunisian
transparency group said to me. And how.
Tunisia will continue to
face serious problems even when (and if) the constitution is ratified.
The system that the assembly negotiated is semi-presidential, meaning
that (as in France) the directly elected president will control foreign
affairs and national security, while a prime minister elected by the
parliament will choose a cabinet and administer domestic affairs. This
arrangement creates the risk of constant struggle between a president
and a prime minister from different political parties, which would make
it hard for democracy to take root. And this situation (the French
inimitably call it "cohabitation") is especially likely in Tunisia.
Ennahda is likely to win a plurality in parliament but much less likely
to win the presidency, if it even chooses to field a candidate.
Yet
it is precisely Tunisia's divided political scene -- and its political
culture of consensus -- that gives constitutional democracy a reasonable
chance of success here. With only a plurality in the assembly, the
Islamic democrats of Ennahda have had no choice but to compromise. They
have governed in coalition, and today Prime Minister Ali Larayedh
stepped down in favor of a caretaker government that will supervise next
year's elections. Unlike any other Islamist party in the world, Ennahda
has agreed to remove any reference to Sharia law from the constitution.
Repeatedly, they have made concessions to an opposition that is
primarily by suspicion of their intentions.
Such compromise is the
stuff of which successful constitutions are made. A constitution, in
its practical essence, is an agreement among political elites endorsed
by the public. If the political leaders of a country don't abide by the
agreement after reaching it, the constitution will fall into disuse and
disrepute, no matter how good it seems on paper.
The long, slow
work of the consensus committee has had the effect of building a measure
of trust and mutual confidence in the constitutional pact among the
leading political actors. Having worked together, they know what they
are agreeing to do later on. They are always negotiating against the
backdrop of their expectations of how politics will work later -- and
that is a good thing, not a bad one. The veil of ignorance has no place
in constitutional negotiations, which must reflect the likely political
balance after ratification.
The greatest risk is that someone will
come to power who is outside the constitutional bargain -- and
disregard the constitution to which he or she hasn't been a party. That
could still happen in Tunisia after presidential elections, with
disastrous consequences for democracy.
And of course the assembly
could still reject the gender-parity provision, or indeed the
constitution as a whole. Nothing is yet written in stone. But for the
moment -- the historic moment -- there is something profound for lovers
of constitutional democracy to celebrate.
According to my dna I have Jewish relatives in Tunesia and this is great news for all Tunesians! I just hope they can keep the full democracy revolution for all intact against fundamentalist Abrahamics, all of them opposed to women's equality.
Prophesy bearer for four religious traditions, revealer of Christ's Sword, revealer of Josephine bearing the Spirit of Christ, revealer of the identity of God, revealer of the Celestial Torah astro-theological code within the Bible. Celestial Torah Christian Theologian, Climax Civilization theorist and activist, Eco-Village Organizer, Master Psychedelic Artist, Inventor of the Next Big Thing in wearable tech, and always your Prophet-At-Large.
