Wednesday, February 25, 2009

New Orleans intifada


Jordan Flaherty, The Electronic Intifada, 24 February 2009

"In neighborhoods around New Orleans, there's a buzz of excitement gathering among this city's Arab population. A new wave of organizing has brought energy and inspiration to a community that is usually content to stay in the background. The movement is youth-led, with student groups rising up on college campuses across the city, but also broad-based, with mass protests that have included more than a thousand persons marching through downtown's French Quarter. Activists say that their goal is to fight against what they see as a combination of silence and bias from local media, and -- more broadly -- for a change in US policy towards the Middle East. They take inspiration from other movements in the city -- joining in the struggle against the continued displacement of much of the city as well as the slow pace of recovery -- while also following activism across the US and around the world...."

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