Monday miscellany
Update: Is Lewisham Islamic Centre a centre of hate?
Brockley Central linked to my post on the Lewisham mosque. An update came in from Lewisham council on the centre becoming a hate crime reporting site: "The Islamic Centre is not a third party reporting site. They gave initial commitment last March to the scheme, and were included in the original leaflets but have since been pulled from the list. They did not agree to sign up to the reporting protocol."
Wikio has the most accurate statistical tools at its hands: official
I just noticed that I am just outside the Top 60 Political Blogs in the Wikio rankings, higher rated than I have been for a while, mainly, I think, due to links generated by Toby's Green Party resignation letter, including big hitters like Luke Akehurst and Working Class Tory. My Wikio ranking gratifyingly places me above the likes of right-of-Attila-the-Hun Tory libertarian Douglas Carswell, New Labour's Luke Akehurst, LibDemVoice's Mark Pack, the Labour left group site Left Futures, and the enjoyable Chicken Yoghurt. Of course, linking to all of them will now up their stats, and therefore devalue mine, unless they respond by linking to me, which is rather unlikely.
Working Class Tory
Talking of him, I'm going to add him to the blogroll, for posts like these: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
The degeneration of the Egyptian revolution
In Egypt, the Mubarak regime has gone, but the new military junta has closed down much of the democratic spirit which burst forth in the revolution. Islamism is on the rise, as exemplified by the harassment of the secularist ElBaradei when he went to vote against the inadequate constitutional proposal in last week's referendum. The yes vote was endorsed by the Muslim Brotherhood and Mubarak's National Democratic Party. The yes vote was of course endorsed by the US State Department, hopeful it will mean a swift return to business as normal - the business of doing business that is. The gloomier scenario is electoral advance for the well-organised Muslim Brotherhood, and some kind of Pakistani style outcome seems to me the increasingly likely outcome in Egypt: military/Islamist co-operation with the light veneer of democracy and funding from the USA to bolster it. The military junta is also trying to outlaw trade union dissent, while the army has used virginity tests against women protestors. More from Amr Ezzat.
Libya
I recommend this essay by Roland Dodds on Evolving Norms in Intervention and State-building. Also read: James B on Libya and the peace movement; Bernard Kouchner on the morality of intervention; Dave Semple weighs in; Sean Matgamna refuses to denounce; Gilbert Achcar on anti-imperialism; Jim opposing intervention.
Nir Rosen at LSE
The London School of Economics, who gave us hits like the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, a PhD thesis written by Monitor Consultants, the concept of the Third Way, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Sameh Habeeb, and Abdel Bari Atwan, have hired Nir Rosen, whose scoffing at sexual violence we encountered here.
March 26
For family reasons, I was not able to go to Saturday's big TUC march against the cuts, and am still digesting the reportage. Among the things I've read, from a variety of perspectives, are by Flesh, Martin, Paul, Nick Cohen, Nick again, Christopher Phelps, Ben Lear, Harpy. More links from Jim.
Also
Essential reading: Marko on Anti-Semitism, racism and Srebrenica genocide denial. Other things: Ross Wolfe's radical critique of the green movement; What's going on in Morrocco? David Cesarani on The Promise. And more links from Mod.
Brockley Central linked to my post on the Lewisham mosque. An update came in from Lewisham council on the centre becoming a hate crime reporting site: "The Islamic Centre is not a third party reporting site. They gave initial commitment last March to the scheme, and were included in the original leaflets but have since been pulled from the list. They did not agree to sign up to the reporting protocol."
Wikio has the most accurate statistical tools at its hands: official
I just noticed that I am just outside the Top 60 Political Blogs in the Wikio rankings, higher rated than I have been for a while, mainly, I think, due to links generated by Toby's Green Party resignation letter, including big hitters like Luke Akehurst and Working Class Tory. My Wikio ranking gratifyingly places me above the likes of right-of-Attila-the-Hun Tory libertarian Douglas Carswell, New Labour's Luke Akehurst, LibDemVoice's Mark Pack, the Labour left group site Left Futures, and the enjoyable Chicken Yoghurt. Of course, linking to all of them will now up their stats, and therefore devalue mine, unless they respond by linking to me, which is rather unlikely.
Working Class Tory
Talking of him, I'm going to add him to the blogroll, for posts like these: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.
The degeneration of the Egyptian revolution
In Egypt, the Mubarak regime has gone, but the new military junta has closed down much of the democratic spirit which burst forth in the revolution. Islamism is on the rise, as exemplified by the harassment of the secularist ElBaradei when he went to vote against the inadequate constitutional proposal in last week's referendum. The yes vote was endorsed by the Muslim Brotherhood and Mubarak's National Democratic Party. The yes vote was of course endorsed by the US State Department, hopeful it will mean a swift return to business as normal - the business of doing business that is. The gloomier scenario is electoral advance for the well-organised Muslim Brotherhood, and some kind of Pakistani style outcome seems to me the increasingly likely outcome in Egypt: military/Islamist co-operation with the light veneer of democracy and funding from the USA to bolster it. The military junta is also trying to outlaw trade union dissent, while the army has used virginity tests against women protestors. More from Amr Ezzat.
Libya
I recommend this essay by Roland Dodds on Evolving Norms in Intervention and State-building. Also read: James B on Libya and the peace movement; Bernard Kouchner on the morality of intervention; Dave Semple weighs in; Sean Matgamna refuses to denounce; Gilbert Achcar on anti-imperialism; Jim opposing intervention.
Nir Rosen at LSE
The London School of Economics, who gave us hits like the Gaddafi International Charity and Development Foundation, a PhD thesis written by Monitor Consultants, the concept of the Third Way, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Sameh Habeeb, and Abdel Bari Atwan, have hired Nir Rosen, whose scoffing at sexual violence we encountered here.
March 26
For family reasons, I was not able to go to Saturday's big TUC march against the cuts, and am still digesting the reportage. Among the things I've read, from a variety of perspectives, are by Flesh, Martin, Paul, Nick Cohen, Nick again, Christopher Phelps, Ben Lear, Harpy. More links from Jim.
Also
Essential reading: Marko on Anti-Semitism, racism and Srebrenica genocide denial. Other things: Ross Wolfe's radical critique of the green movement; What's going on in Morrocco? David Cesarani on The Promise. And more links from Mod.
Comments
I have been reading your blog for over a year now, and always save these link round-ups for a good spell of reading time.
By the way, could I just ask how many hits you got from me? You call me a "big hitter", but my wikio rankings are waaaaaaaaay below about 850 other blogs!
I've added you to my blogroll, and finally, I've started following you on Twitter. If you should wish to subject yourself to my right-wing thoughts, I am: http://twitter.com/mathiasbarrett
Thank you!
"Tory MPs do not share platforms with BNP supporters, but Labour MPs associate [with] George Galloway, the SWP and the Muslim Brotherhood."
Is this the same Nick Cohen?
and this one off it:
The real point though is not Cohen's inconsistency, it's that the claim he's making is a disgusting one.
The first piece seemed like a textbook example of how to stretch out one inelegantly bad point into a cobweb of bad writing.
Along with writing this I also purged from my facebook those of a similar bent. Both were intensely satisfying.
Don't call me a fucking imperialist :)