Tahrir Square democracy

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Egypt was home to an ancient civilizations that flourished along the banks of river Nile with the remains of the great Pyramids offering a glimpse into its magnitude and highlighting how Pharaohs were larger than life figures in that society. It is indeed fascinating to rationalize the massive resources and man power spent constructing burial sites for a few godlike figures at the expense of the masses. Days of worshipping pharaohs are long gone and Egyptians are instead challenging the fabric of what we have come to know as western democracy. The distinction between the conduct of the government and the expectation of an empowered populace has been as stark as the sands of the Sahara desert meeting the fertile soils of the Nile river valley. Continue Reading

“Dirty Wars” star Jeremy Scahill: “It shouldn’t be just military families that have to think about the implications of our policies”

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Opening this Friday, June 21 at the Edina Cinema (and currently available via video-on-demand) is director Richard Rowley’s captivating documentary Dirty Wars, one of the most talked-about documentary films at the halfway point of 2013. Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill, who also serves as producer, co-writer, and the subject of Dirty Wars, is a National Security Correspondent for The Nation magazine and is the author of two books, Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army in 2007 and more recently, Dirty Wars, which was released in April, 2013.In Dirty Wars, Scahill follows the beginnings of American night raids and drone attacks that were happening in Afghanistan, which then led him to the discovery of the Joint Special Operations Command or “JSOC,” our country’s most secret fighting force, comprising men who are virtually unknown in the government and will never appear before Congress. In the production notes, Scahill says, “When we started working on this film, almost no one had heard of JSOC or the now-famous SEAL Team 6. After the bin Laden raid, their names were everywhere,” said Scahill. “Looking back at everything Rick and I witnessed over the years of filming this movie, it is amazing how much of the actual story of JSOC—and the covert wars they fight, in secret, across the globe—remains totally hidden from the public.”Dirty Wars premiered at the 2013 Sundance film festival in January, winning an award for best cinematography, before opening two weeks ago in New York and Washington D.C. to sell-out crowds. Continue Reading

The Museum of Russian Art to exhibit photographs from Jewish life in the Russian Empire

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The vast majority of you reading this article today, like me, had grandparents or great-grandparents who came to America during the Great Migration from Eastern Europe between 1880 and 1920. The vast majority of them came from what was designated “the Pale of Settlement,” a swath of the western part of Catherine the Great’s Russian Empire, established in the late 18th century.

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Dr. Hawa Abdi, Somalia’s ‘Mother Theresa,’ keeps hope alive

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Nobel Peace Prize nominee and author Dr. Hawa Abdi was in Minneapolis at the beginning of April as part of her national book tour for Keeping Hope Alive– a memoir about her life and work in Somalia. Named the Mother Theresa of Somalia, she has offered shelter and aid to thousands in her country since civil war began in Somalia in 1991. KFAI’s Christina Cerruti has this report. [Audio below]

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Our military-backed exceptionalism

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One would be hard-pressed not to see the enormous fetishizing of the U.S. Military since the attacks of 9/11/01. Whether it is at professional sports events, airports, political rallies, or even at local restaurants, it seems almost impossible to avoid signs, speeches, discounts for, symbols, or outright worship of those now labeled “heroes” – the backbone of our national identity – our warriors. Continue Reading