{"id":828,"date":"2013-03-30T10:27:32","date_gmt":"2013-03-30T10:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/?p=828"},"modified":"2013-03-30T10:27:32","modified_gmt":"2013-03-30T10:27:32","slug":"2013-3-30-the-arab-left-at-the-world-social-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/?p=828","title":{"rendered":"The Arab Left at the World Social Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"

The WSF is talking place in Tunis<\/a> this year \u2014 and apparently features a strong anti-Islamist sentiment, as well as strong sentiment against the perceived backers of Islamism \u2014 Qatar and\u2026 the United States:<\/p>\n

\n

With strong Arab participation, the forum\u2019s opening day witnessed slogans calling for \u201cbread, freedom and social justice,\u201d which echoed the demands and ambitions of the now two-year-old popular uprisings across the region. <\/p>\n

Flags of Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Syria, Palestine, Morocco and Algeria dominated the scene, waved by participating groups as they converged on 14 Janvier (January) Square, named to commemorate the Tunisian revolution, where tens of thousands gathered to start the opening march. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe people of Tunisia are free people \u2026 No to America, No to Qatar,\u201d was one of the chants voiced by Tunisian groups in reference to the countries believed to be allies of the ruling Islamist Nahda Party.<\/p>\n

Pictures of slain leftist figure Shokry Belaid, who was killed \u2014 allegedly by Salafists \u2014 in February, were seen throughout the forum. Young children wore his image on their jackets, while many wore pins with his picture.<\/p>\n

The famous, \u201cThe people want the fall of the regime\u201d slogan was also repeatedly chanted. <\/p>\n

Barbed wire, police guards, and armored vehicles surrounded the Ministry of Interior located only metres away from the central square where the forum was launched, forcing the marches to redirect their path.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe interior ministry are thugs,\u201d Tunisian and Egyptian activists \u2014 whose struggle was largely directed against police brutality \u2014 jointly chanted when passing by security forces. <\/p>\n

Other common chants condemned the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, whose parties now dominate parliaments in Egypt and Tunisia and from which the Egyptian president hails.<\/p>\n

\u201cDown with the rule of the Supreme Guide,\u201d the Egyptians chanted.<\/p>\n

\u201cEl-Ghanoushi is a murderer,\u201d chanted Tunisian activists, holding the head of the Nahda Party accountable for Beleid\u2019s death. <\/p>\n

Street cafes and restaurants were crowded with the masses who came to participate. Political side chats could be heard coming from all different corners. Arab activists were sharing experiences.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I guess the new themes in Arab leftism are anti-Brotherhood \u2014 as a tool of Western neoliberalism. If someone had told me that in 2010 I would have thought them crazy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The WSF is talking place in Tunis this year \u2014 and apparently features a strong anti-Islamist sentiment, as well as strong sentiment against the perceived backers of Islamism \u2014 Qatar and\u2026 the United States: With strong Arab participation, the forum\u2019s opening day witnessed slogans calling for \u201cbread, freedom and social justice,\u201d which echoed the demands … Continue reading The Arab Left at the World Social Forum<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[168],"tags":[153,219],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amrani.cc\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}