Human Rights
Category archives for Human Rights
Taking a Bite from the Poisoned Apple
Posted by Jeff on July 27, 2012 This post was co-authored by Natasha Bahrami, a foreign policy researcher, and Ali Arab, Ph.D., an assistant professor of statistics at Georgetown University. Last month, a young American woman was blocked from purchasing an Apple product at a local store in Alpharetta, Georgia. After overhearing her speaking Farsi, the second generation Iranian-American was informed that…
Five Dinners with President Ahmadinejad
Posted by Jeff on May 29, 2012 Dr. Jim Walsh The imagination reels. Five dinners with Iran’s President Ahmadinejad. What would you discuss? What would be your top questions? MIT alumnus Dr. Jim Walsh did just that, and will report to us via an interview on Monday, June 4 via a live chat. From the announcement: My Five Dinners with…
Global Hunger Games
Posted by Jeff on April 3, 2012 Hunger Games – World Food Programme. Hunger Games portrays a grim future in which the “bottom 99%” must ration their food to reduce the chance that their children will be sent as “tributes” to compete in a game to the death. But – What if, together, we can identify thousands of new paths out of…
Mindful Elephants Don’t Stomp on Grass
Posted by Jeff on March 25, 2012 Photo source. “There’s an African saying: When the elephants fight, the grass suffers.” Dartmouth College President Jim Yong Kim on the greatest challenge in global health, in a recent interview with Charlie Rose, pointing out that the “poorest of poor suffer the most.”
What ever happened to Ndugu?
Posted by Jeff on February 23, 2012 To me, Ndugu, the little Tanzanian boy, embodies potential. Now he would be a teenager. What ever happened to Ndugu?
New Anthrax Scare in Pakistan
Posted by Jeff on February 1, 2012 Color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph shows splenic tissue from a monkey with inhalational anthrax; featured are rod-shaped bacilli (yellow) and an erythrocyte (red) Credit: Arthur Friedlander A university professor has allegedly mailed anthrax to the Pakistani prime minister’s office in October, accoding to today’s The New York Times. Could this be the beginning of a new…
An Intellectual Threat in Bahrain?
Posted by Jeff on December 21, 2011 Photo source. Earlier I wrote a post about Prof. Al-Singace, a Bahraini engineer sentenced to life in prison, forced to appeal on September 11. Sadly, another example has emerged of the denial of due process to a scholar, in a region where intellectuals are viewed as a potential threat.
Social Movements’ Friend and Foe, From Wall Street to Tahrir Square
Posted by Jeff on December 9, 2011 Tahrir Square, February 9, 2011. Photo source. This article was co-authored with Jessica Wyndham, a human rights lawyer. As we mark Human Rights Day 2011 on December 10, it is impossible to ignore a clear theme that has emerged during the year — the use, misuse and abuse of technology in support and in violation…
Egyptian 2011 Revolution: Euphoria, Then Reality
Posted by Jeff on November 29, 2011 This article was co-authored with Dr. Morad Abou-Sabe’, President of the Arab American League of Voters of New Jersey. CNN’s Ivan Watson talks to John King from Cairo about his exclusive interview with Egyptian activist Wael Ghonim. {February 9, 2011} The Egyptian revolution of January 25th, 2011 created widespread euphoria of the kind only wide-eyed…
Can Netanyahu and Abbas Reveal The “Hidden Country”?
Posted by Jeff on September 26, 2011 Israel Prime Minister Netanyahu and Palestine’s President Abbas gave back to back speeches last Friday at the United Nations General Assembly, a highly controversial event with Palestine’s bid for formal recognition. As a scientist, such matters are far too complex for me, as they are embedded with layers of subtlety and inscrutable politics. I am…