Articles by Ramzy Baroud
We found 148 results.
Paris and the End to a Western-dominated Era in the Middle East
Ramzy Baroud | Politics for the People – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Jan 2017
25 Jan 2017 – No, it was not just ‘another Middle East peace conference,’ as a columnist in Israeli ‘Jerusalem Post’ attempted to depict the Paris Peace Conference held on January 15, with top official representations from 70 countries attending. No, it was an end of an era. The American era in the Middle East.
→ read full articlePalestine 2017: Time to Bid Farewell to Washington and Embrace the Globe
Ramzy Baroud | Politics for the People – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 Jan 2017
There is no doubt that the UN Security Council condemnation of Israel on Friday [23 Dec] was an important and noteworthy event. True, the UN’s main chambers (the UNSC and the GA) and its various institutions, ranging from the International Court of Justice to UNESCO, have repeatedly condemned the Israeli occupation, illegal Jewish settlements and mistreatment of Palestinians.
→ read full articleJerusalem and Its Walls: UNESCO Refuses to Bow to Israeli Pressure
Ramzy Baroud | Politics for the People – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Nov 2016
1 Nov 2016 – Despite all the threats and political grandstanding, UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee has approved, on October 26, a new resolution that reaffirms the status of occupied Jerusalem’s Old City on the list of endangered world heritage sites.
→ read full articleThe Convoluted Discourse: Was the Women’s Boat to Gaza an Existential Threat?
Ramzy Baroud | Politics for the People – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Oct 2016
“We will not accept any (rocket) fire, any provocation, against the citizens of Israel by whoever it might be, or any attack on Israel’s sovereignty. Not rocket fire, and not a flotilla,” Lieberman said. The activists atop the boat included Nobel Peace Prize winner Mairead Maguire of Northern Ireland. In Lieberman’s logic, Maguire’s act to end a decade-long blockade on a poor region is equivalent to the firing of a rocket.
→ read full articleBan Ki-moon’s Legacy in Palestine: Failure in Words and Deeds
Ramzy Baroud | Politics for the People – TRANSCEND Media Service,
3 Oct 2016
When the UN chief is gone, he will be missed – but certainly not by Palestinians in Gaza or refugees in Syria, or war victims in Afghanistan. In his last visit to Palestine in June, Ban Ki-Moon told distraught Gazans that the “UN will always be with you.” As tens of thousands there still stand on the rubble of their own homes, denied freedom to move or rebuild, his statement is as forgettable as the man’s legacy at the UN.
→ read full articleThe Native American, the Palestinian: A Spirited Fight for Justice
Ramzy Baroud | Politics for the People – TRANSCEND Media Service,
19 Sep 2016
Palestinians are losing their lives, land and olive trees as they stand up to Israeli tanks and bulldozers. Their reality is a replay of similar experiences faced – and still being confronted – by Native Americans. Well into the 21st century, the Native American-Palestinian struggle remains one and the same.
→ read full articleLibya’s ‘Operation Odyssey Lightning’ – The Obama Doctrine is Ravaging the Middle East
Ramzy Baroud | Politics for the People – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Aug 2016
Now, wars are carried out as a matter of course. With multiple war fronts and conflicts fermenting all around, many are becoming desensitized. Americans particularly have, sadly, swallowed the serum of perpetual war, to the extent that they rarely mobilize in any serious way against it. In other words, a state of war has become the status quo.
→ read full articleDivide and Rule: How Factionalism in Palestine Is Killing Prospects for Freedom
Ramzy Baroud | Politics for the People – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Aug 2016
In Palestine, factions perceive democracy to be a form of control, power and hegemony, not a social contract aimed at fostering dialogue and defusing conflict. Thus, it is no wonder that supporters of two Fatah factions, one loyal to PA President Mahmoud Abbas and another to Mohammed Dahlan, recently clashed in Gaza. Several were hospitalized after sustaining injuries.
→ read full articlePalestine’s ‘Prayer for Rain’: How Israel Uses Water as a Weapon of War
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jun 2016
22 Jun 2016 – Entire communities in the West Bank either have no access to water or have had their water supply reduced almost by half. By shutting down the water supply at a time that Israeli officials are planning to export essentially Palestinian water, Israel is once more utilizing water as a form of collective punishment.
→ read full articleThe Paris Peace Gambit: Everyone Gains Except the Palestinians
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
13 Jun 2016
8 Jun 2016 – In their defense, the Israelis seem to have figured out the whole thing and opted out. But the hapless Palestinian leadership, along with their Arab League partners, joined by the French, EU and UN representatives, and even US Secretary of State, John Kerry, decided to play along. However, the French peace initiative-turned-conference in Paris on June 3 is nothing but a charade, and they all know it, Palestinians included.
→ read full articleThe Spirit of Nelson Mandela in Palestine: Is His Real Legacy Being Upheld?
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 May 2016
When Nelson Mandela said, “We know all too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians,” he was not trying to be cordial or diplomatic. He meant every word. Someday, we hope that a statue of Mandela, one that represents the spirit of Resistance in Palestine, will stand tall amid the people who championed his cause and loved him most.
→ read full articleNonviolent BDS Should Be Welcomed, Not Condemned
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
11 Apr 2016
6 Apr 20126 – A thousand Israelis and their supporters gathered in Jerusalem’s International Convention Center on March 28 at a conference aimed at combating the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS). The conference was a display of “fear, paranoia, anger and determination,” as described by Antony Loewenstein,
→ read full articleWhy BDS Cannot Lose: A Moral Threshold to Combat Racism in Israel
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
21 Mar 2016
16 Mar 2016 – A foray of condemnations of the boycott of Israel seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Calls from Western governments, originating from the UK, the US, Canada and others, to criminalize the boycott of Israel have hardly slowed down the momentum of the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS). On the contrary, it has accelerated.
→ read full article‘Plan B’ – Not an Enigma: Why the West Is Keen on Dividing the Arabs
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
7 Mar 2016
The Arab world has always been seen in western eyes as a place of conquest, to be exploited, controlled and tamed. That mindset continues to define the relationship. While Arab unity is to be dreaded, further divisions often appear as ‘Plan B’, when the current status quo, call it ‘Plan A’, seems impossible to sustain.
→ read full articleWhy Is Trauma Missing from Syria Refugee Debate?
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
15 Feb 2016
The president of the German Chamber of Psychotherapists, which carried out the research, said that more than 70 per cent of the refugees had witnessed violence and more than 50 per cent were themselves victims of violence. Nearly half of them have nightmares and flashbacks as if their terrible ordeals “were happening all over again”.
→ read full articleForget Daesh: Humanity Is at Stake
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
30 Nov 2015
When the Americans and their allies claimed that they had left the region [M.E.], they left behind bleeding, impoverished nations, licking their wounds and searching for bodies under rubble in diverse and macabre landscapes. Yet, the Americans, the British, the French and the Israelis, continue to stage their democratic elections around the debate of who will hit us [Arabs] the hardest, humiliate us the most, teach the most unforgettable lesson and, in their late night comedies, they mock our pain.
→ read full articleRohingya vs the Generals: How To Forge a Democracy and Get Away with It
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
23 Nov 2015
With Myanmar climbing to the world top five countries of proven oil and gas reserves, terms such as genocides, military juntas and human rights are omitted from the new discourse. A whole new narrative is being written jointly by the Myanmar army, nationalist parties, Suu Kyi’s NLD, western investors and anyone else who stands to benefit from the treasures of one of the world’s worst human rights violators.
→ read full articleSorry, JK Rowling, You’re Wrong over the Israel Boycott
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
9 Nov 2015
What is appropriate for South Africa should be appropriate for Palestine, too, even if J K Rowling and her respected peers find that too objectionable.
→ read full articleWar Begets War Refugees: The Moral Bankruptcy of Italy and NATO
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
24 Aug 2015
17 Aug 2015 – On April 26, 2011, a meeting that can only be described as sinister took place between the then Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. The most pressing issue discussed at the meeting in Rome was how to deal with African immigrants.
→ read full articleShifting Priorities: The Rise and Fall of Arab Revolutionary Discourse
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
17 Aug 2015
11 Aug 2015 – Intellectual discussion concerning the “Arab Spring” has almost entirely shifted from one concerning freedom, justice, democracy and rights in general, into a political wrangle between various antagonist camps. The people, who revolted across various Arab countries are now marginalized in this discussion, and are only used as fodders.
→ read full articleA Chance for Arab-Iranian Reconciliation: An Opportunity in the Iran Nuclear Deal
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
27 Jul 2015
Both Iran and its Arab foes could, in fact, see this as an opportunity. Instead of waiting for the cunning US to regroup and re-adapt to strike more division, Arabs and Iran should understand that it is, ultimately, their countries and peoples who will continue to suffer the consequences of war, sanctions, divisions and extremism.
→ read full articleNo Arab Bolivars: As Region Implodes, Arab Socialism Fizzles Out
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 May 2015
30 Apr 2015 – A student group recently asked me to address socialism in the Arab world, with the assumption that there is indeed such a movement that is capable of overhauling inherently incompetent and utterly corrupt regimes, across the region. No such group or configuration of socialist groups exists today.
→ read full articleMy Missing Family in Syria: Naming and Shaming in Yarmouk
Ramzy Baroud – Middle East Eye,
13 Apr 2015
10 Apr 2015 – We must remember that there are still 18,000 people trapped in Yarmouk, and even if it is untimely, we must do something – anything. The refugees of Yarmouk – whose population once exceeded 250,000 – is a microcosm of the story of a whole nation, whose perpetual pain shames us all, none excluded.
→ read full article‘Islamic State’ Mystery: The Anti-History of a Historic Phenomenon
Ramzy Baroud – Middle East Eye,
23 Feb 2015
The IS phenomenon is ahistorical and raises questions about its rapid geopolitical expansion despite lack of enthusiasm for its cause among ordinary people. Thanks to IS’ despicable act of burning the pilot, Jordan is no longer polarised about their country’s war in Syria. Egypt is following the same path of intervention, thanks to the butchering of the Egyptian workers.
→ read full articleFearing Political Islam: Why Arabs Betrayed Gaza
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
1 Sep 2014
Some Arab rulers continue to declare their strong support of Palestine and its cause. ‘Operation Protective Edge,’ however, has exposed beyond a doubt that such solidarity is just a mere show of words.
→ read full articleHashtag Genocide: Why Gaza Fought Back
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
18 Aug 2014
Since Israel besieged Gaza with Egypt’s help and coordination, life for Gazans has become largely about mere survival. Gazans were not allowed to venture out, fish, or farm, and those who got even close to some arbitrary “buffer zone,” determined by the Israeli army within Gaza’s own borders, were shot and often killed.
→ read full articleRecruiting to Kill – It Is Not Just an Israeli War on Gaza
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
4 Aug 2014
The list of participating countries is growing as is the number of war criminals killing in the name of Israel. There are reportedly over 1,000 US citizens fighting in the Israeli army. The French government imposed a ban on French society from showing solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. The British government is shamelessly on the Israeli side as Gaza is being pulverized by western weapons and military technology.
→ read full articleHope and Despair in the Beach Refugee Camp
Ramzy Baroud – Middle East Eye,
5 May 2014
Is it possible that following several failed attempts, Fatah and Hamas have finally found that elusive middle ground? And if they have done so, why, to what end, and at what cost?
→ read full articleOmar and the Israeli Checkpoint: The Essential Story That Is Rarely Told
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
3 Mar 2014
Omar is a 7-year-old boy from Gaza. His family managed to obtain the necessary permits that allowed him to cross the Erez checkpoint to Jerusalem, through the West Bank, in order to undergo surgery. On the way back, the boy and his father were stopped at the Qalanidya checkpoint, separating occupied East Jerusalem from the West Bank.
→ read full articleTen Principles to Guide the Young Activist
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
10 Feb 2014
They say people who live for a higher cause are happier than those who don’t. May you always find your happiness in alleviating the pain of others by standing up for what is right and honorable.
→ read full articleOn Leaks and Pseudo-Reality: The US’ Futile Search for ‘World Domination’
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
22 Jul 2013
Global surveillance is merely an indication that President Barack Obama – as a representation of the US ruling class – was never sincere as he attempted to woo the world with an image of a more gentle and peaceful American government.
→ read full articleDisaster Capitalism in the Maghreb: War, Refugees and Profit in West Africa
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
11 Feb 2013
From Libya to Mali a typical story is forming, coupled with lucrative contracts and massive opportunities of all sorts. When private security firms speak of an emerging market in Africa, one is to safely assume that the continent is once more falling prey to growing military ambitions and unfair business conduct.
→ read full articleThe Empire Trapped: The US’ Unpromising Role in the New Middle East
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
8 Oct 2012
Empires don’t crumble overnight, however. A fall of an empire can be as agonizingly long as its rise. Signs of that collapse are oftentimes subtle and might not be followed by a big boom of any sort, but can be unambiguous and definite.
→ read full articleAt Stake in Mali: Refugees at Every Border
Ramzy Baroud – TRANSCEND Media Service,
6 Aug 2012
The humanitarian crisis in Mali is developing at an alarmingly fast pace. Northern Mali promises to be the graveyard of scores of innocent people if African countries don’t collectively challenge Western influence in the region.
→ read full articleBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement: The Power of the People at Work
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
27 Feb 2012
The issue is not about hummus, chocolate bars or Dead Sea vacations. It is about civil society taking full responsibility for its own actions (or lack of). The issue is not exactly about Israeli products either, but rather about how even a seemingly innocent decision like buying Israeli dates may enable the continued subjugation of the Palestinian people.
→ read full articleOn Freedom and Imperialism: Arab Spring and the Intellectual Divide
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
5 Dec 2011
The so-called ‘Arab Spring’ is creating an intellectual divide that threatens any sensible understanding of the turmoil engulfing several Arab countries. Speaking truth to power is still possible, and is more urgent than ever. The fate of a nation, any nation, cannot be polarized to the terrible extent that the Arab uprisings have. On both sides of the divide, some are cheering for foreign intervention, while others are justifying the senseless murder of innocent people by dictators.
→ read full articleLibya’s Next Fight: Overcoming Western Designs
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
5 Sep 2011
The Libya that inspired the world is capable of overcoming NATO’s stratagems, if it becomes aware of NATO’s true intentions in Libya and the desperate attempt to thwart or hijack Arab revolts.
→ read full articleGround Your Warplanes, Save the Horn of Africa
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
1 Aug 2011
“When you are hungry, cold is a killer, and the people here are starving and helpless.”
→ read full articlePalestinian Unity and the New Middle East
Ramzy Baroud – Common Dreams,
9 May 2011
But frankly, at this juncture of Middle East history, Israel is almost negligible. It no longer has a transformative influence in the region. When the Arab people began revolting, a new dimension to the Arab-Israeli conflict emerged. As the chants in Cairo’s Tahrir Square began to adopt a pan-Arab and pro-Palestinian language, it became obvious that Egypt would soon venture outside the political confines of Washington’s patronizing labels, which divide the Arabs into moderates (good) and radicals (bad).
→ read full articleStaying Human: The Heroic Legacy of Vittorio Arrigoni
Ramzy Baroud – Global Research,
25 Apr 2011
“No matter how (we) will finish the mission…it will be a victory. For human rights, for freedom. If the siege will not (be) physically broken, it will break the siege of the indifference, the abandonment. And you know very well what this gesture is important for the people of Gaza. That said, obviously we are waiting at the port! With hundreds of Palestinians and ISM comrades we will come to meet you sailing, as was the first time, remember? All available boats will sail to Gaza to greet you. Sorry for my bad English…big hug…Stay Human. Yours, Vik”
→ read full articleThe Violence Debate: Teaching the Oppressed How to Fight Oppression
Ramzy Baroud – Global Research,
1 Nov 2010
These factors must be contemplated seriously and with humility, and their complexity should be taken into account before any judgments are made. No oppressed nation should be faced with the demands that Palestinians constantly face. There may well be a thousand Palestinian Gandhis. There may be none. Frankly, it shouldn’t matter. Only the unique experience of the Palestinian people and their genuine struggle for freedom could yield what Palestinians as a collective deem appropriate for their own. This is what happened with the people of India, France, Algeria and South Africa, and many others nations that sought and eventually attained their freedom.
→ read full articleThe Tide Has Changed in Gaza: A Musical Lesson on Humanity
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
25 Oct 2010
If one tried to fit music compositions into an equivalent literary style, Gilad Atzmon & The Orient House Ensemble’s latest release would come across as a most engaging political essay: persuasive, argumentative, rational, original, imaginative and always unfailingly accessible. But unlike the rigid politicking of politicians and increasingly Machiavellian style of today’s political essayists – so brazen they no longer hide behind illusory moral façades – the band’s latest work is also unapologetically humanistic.
→ read full articleBeyond Violence and Nonviolence: Resistance as a Culture
Ramzy Baroud - Truthout,
9 Aug 2010
Even those who purport to sympathize with resisting nations often contribute to the confusion. Activists from Western countries tend to follow an academic comprehension of what is happening in Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan. Thus, certain ideas are perpetuated: suicide bombings bad, nonviolent resistance good; Hamas rockets bad, slingshots good; armed resistance bad, vigils in front of Red Cross offices good. Many activists will quote Martin Luther King Jr., but not Malcolm X. They will infuse a selective understanding of Gandhi, but never of Guevara. This supposedly “strategic” discourse has robbed many of what could be a precious understanding of resistance – as both concept and culture.
→ read full articleHow the Western Media Promotes a Mistaken View of the World
Ramzy Baroud – Global Research,
3 May 2010
Media channels – especially those dispatching their news from various Western capitals – focus not simply on sensational news, but they also intentionally sensationalize news, and purposely relay the news so as to be understood within Western contexts. Thus ‘democracy’, ‘elections’, ‘government restrictions’ and ‘terrorism’ are the usual buzzwords. Sadly, the south is also stereotyped in the south itself. Newspapers in non-Western societies depend on coverage provided by Western news agencies for their international news. An Indonesian friend recently commended on my ‘bravery’ for going to South Africa. For him, South Africa is just ‘Africa,’ where ‘primitive’ people, along with lions and other wild animals prey on innocent white tourists. Thank you, Hollywood, for perfecting the art of stereotype.
→ read full articleACTIVISM IS CHANGE: A VIEW FROM THE STRUGGLE IN GAZA
Ramzy Baroud – Toward Freedom,
18 Mar 2010
An activist is a person who feels strongly about a cause and who is also willing to dedicate time and energy towards advancing and realizing this cause. This might be my own limited interpretation of what activism means. I was born and raised in a Gaza refugee camp where the daily struggles of the community […]
→ read full articleCHALLENGING HISTORY: WHY THE OPPRESSED MUST TELL THEIR OWN STORY
Ramzy Baroud - ZNet,
27 Feb 2010
When American historian Howard Zinn passed away recently, he left behind a legacy that redefined our relationship to history altogether. Professor Zinn dared to challenge the way history was told and written. In fact he went as far as to defy the conventional construction of historical discourses through the pen of victor or of elites […]
→ read full articleIRAN AND LATIN AMERICA: THE MEDIA STATES ITS CASE
Ramzy Baroud – ZNet,
26 Jan 2010
Should the United States be concerned about Iran’s determined efforts to reach out to Latin America? Or, as was suggestively described in the Economist, by the Ayatollahs’ strategy of cozying up to Latin America? The US continues to see the world as its own business. It gives itself and its allies, most notably Israel, the […]
→ read full articlePERPETUAL GRIEF OVER SEPTEMBER 11TH
Ramzy Baroud,
17 Sep 2009
The anniversary of the infamous tragedy of 9/11, 2001, and the subsequent ramifications indeed induce, throughout the world, a plethora of feelings of sorrow.The 9/11 event should have never taken place. Regardless of the situation, targeting civilians is unconditionally reviled. No matter where we stand on war, and how do we wish to rationalize and […]
→ read full article