Harry's Place

Just when you thought the question of President Obama’s birthplace had been settled last April with the release of his famous long-form birth certificate, Texas Governor and Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry has decided to give a wink and a nod to his party’s hardcore birthers.
In an interview published published by Parade magazine last Sunday, [...]

The support of Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma for gay rights in his keynote address at the Commonwealth People’s Forum is a welcome move. Peter Tatchell explains its significance:
“His speech is a tacit rebuke to the more than 40 Commonwealth member states that continue to criminalise homosexuality, with penalties ranging up to life [...]

Steve Hedley is the London Transport Regional Organiser of the National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers (“RMT”).
Yesterday, the RMT “initiated” a rally in support of “Boycott Divestiture and Sanctions” at SOAS.  That rally was “supported” by SOAS Unison and UCU.
At that rally Steve Hedley explained that his support for boycotting Israel was motivated [...]

This is a cross-post from The Huffington Post UK
Compared to previous years, the number of hate preachers invited by University Islamic Societies this year has been relatively low. However, an upcoming guest of the UCL Medical School Islamic Society has dampened our hopes.
On October 28th of this month, the UCL Medical School (a branch of the University [...]

Let the Guardian explain.
How do we explain the anti-Palestinian, prejudiced sentiments of many Indian people?
Once a bastion of pro-Palestinian sentiment, India recently appeared at the bottom in a worldwide poll of countries sympathetic to Palestinian statehood. Throw a stone in Panaji and it is likely to land on an Israeli backpacking through India after his post-mandatory service.
How [...]

Earlier this month, we covered the story of Laura Stuart, the PSC speaker who says she is suspicious of people “in the Finchley area” – i.e. Jews she thinks might also be working in the IDF.
Here is Yvonne Ridley on IDF reservists, addressing a “Gaza conference” meeting in 2009. The event was organised by the Ramadhan Foundation, [...]

Last week, University College London provost Malcolm Grant claimed that there is no problem with extremism on Britain’s campuses. He said:
“Talk to our Muslim and Jewish students and they will tell you that it is a non-issue: it just doesn’t exist,
Last Friday, Imperial College ISOC held its first “Friday Night Live” event of the term. [...]

Cross-Post by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi from the Assyrian International News Agency
As U.S. troops continue to pull out from Iraq, it is worth visiting the question of what future there is, if any, for the country’s Assyrians. Since the 2003 American-led invasion, the Christian population has declined from some 1.2-1.5 million to 400-800,000 today, and it [...]

Cross-Post by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi from the Kurdish Globe (an English-language newspaper based in Arbil, Iraqi Kurdistan):
Since Nouri al-Maliki first became prime minister of Iraq in April 2006, a recurring talking point about his time in office has been that his days are numbered. Indeed, in a paper I wrote for the Middle East Review [...]

Yes, really. Not the party leaders who whine about President Obama’s “class warfare,” but the majority who– contrary to popular belief– have sensible positions on a number of economic and fiscal matters.
Timothy Noah writes at The New Republic:
I’m liking rank-and-file Republicans better and better. Earlier this month we learned that they favor Obama’s plan to [...]