by Mehdi Rafiq Over a year after the start of the largest political trial of Mohammed VI’s reign, and after a marathon of over 80 hearings, the criminal court in Casablanca handed out its ruthless verdict on 26 June: the activists of the popular movement in the Rif region of Morocco were sentenced to a…
Middle East Solidarity magazine is now available to buy from Bookmarks bookshop for £3 or can be downloaded as a pdf [MESM 8 FINAL_lowres]. Contact Bookmarks if you would like to make a bulk order for your trade union branch (discounts available). Cover story Jerusalem: whose capital? Miriam Scharf debunks claims of 3,000 years of “Jewish…
We’re delighted that Middle East Solidarity magazine is supporting the following teach-out organised by University of Cambridge UCU union members as part of the strike action across the country in defence of academics’ pensions Monday 5 March How UK policy fuels war and repression in the Middle East 2-3.30pm – CUSU lounge, Cambridge University Students…
Join editors and contributors to Middle East Solidarity magazine to help us launch issue number 7 (pdf below) with reports on workers’ struggles in Egypt including the mass strikes by textile workers over the summer and an eyewitness update from Morocco on building solidarity with the popular movement for social justice, the Hirak, which has been shaking…
Representatives of four British trade unions visited the Moroccan embassy in London on 16 October to hand in a petition with over 500 signatures from trade unionists and activists calling for the release of political prisoners detained during the crackdown on the Hirak popular movement in the Rif region. The delegation was timed to highlight…
Report by Majed Azaan from Aden (South Yemen) In Aden teachers taking strike action were threatened by visits from the Education Monitoring body, which weaken the teachers who are taking action and sending signals to prevent non-strikers from joining their colleagues. The teachers were employed at the last period of Saleh’s rule, he was trying…
Leaders of the popular movement, the Hirak, in Morocco’s Rif region and a well-known journalist whose reports on the protest movement have earned him the enmity of the authorities began a hunger strike in jail, family members told the media in September. Nasser Zefzafi and Mohamed Jelloul, two prominent figures from the Rif who have…
Originally posted on Egypt Solidarity:
A vicious homophobic campaign is underway in Egypt following the arrest of seven people alleged to have raised the rainbow flag during a concert in Cairo on 22 September. According to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) the crackdown has led to over 50 arrests of people across the…
Hundreds of trade unionists and activists from the UK have signed a petition demanding the release of the Rif movement prisoners in Morocco. Sally Hunt, general secretary of the UCU union has also backed the solidarity campaign, and sent a letter of solidarity to Morocco’s largest trade union federation, the UMT which has seen four of…
The sacking of Aden governor Aidarous al-Zubaidi by the Saudi-based Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi has triggered a mass mobilisation in the port city. Mirfat Sulaiman reports on how struggles for social justice are interwoven with the call for an independent South Yemen. On 21 May, Khormaksar Square in central Aden was packed with tens…
Middle East Solidarity magazine Issue 6 available from July 2017 Print copies £3 each or £20 for 10 (plus postage). Order direct from Bookmarks Bookshop A pdf version is available to download here: Middle East Solidarity issue 6 NB. Bookmarks bookshop is closed the week beginning 3 July, but print copies are available from Student Central.…
Event: North Africa at the Crossroads – 7pm Tues 11 July, SOAS – book online now Around 100,000 demonstrators took to the streets of the Moroccan capital Rabat on 11 June in solidarity with the mass movement in the Rif region, following a crackdown by the authorities and the arrest of movement leaders. The revival…
