Category Archives: Viva!

March For Our Lives | A Rally for Gun Control

Every elected official should be afraid of the inevitable landscape that is soon to change dramatically by the new generation of voters ahead. The 18-24 year old demographic will undoubtedly be the stakeholders in whom will assume office. Get right or get lost! #TimesUp!

Thousands of people all over the U.S. are expected to rally against gun violence Saturday alongside the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School for the “March for Our Lives” protest.

The student survivors of the Parkland, Florida massacre have been planning the March 24 rally since shortly after the shooting at their high school on Valentine’s Day that left 17 dead. Officials in Washington, D.C. — where the main March for Our Lives rally is taking place — are preparing for roughly 500,000 people to attend the march, according to the Washington Post. In addition to bolstering subway service throughout the day Saturday, there will be also be a heightened police presence.

“We will ensure that we have plenty of officers on hand to facilitate a peaceful and safe day for the rally,” Washington, D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham told Voice of America.

Satellite March for Our Lives protests are also happening from coast to coast Saturday, including in major cities like New York City, Los Angeles, Portland and Chicago.

Here’s everything we know about the upcoming March for Our Lives, including details about marches in various cities, how the march got started and which celebrities are planning on joining the students on March 24:

March for Our Lives is taking place on March 24, 2018. In Washington, D.C., the march will begin at 12 p.m. (E.T.).

March For Our Lives has a central march in Washington, D.C. that will begin at noon at Pennsylvania Avenue, between 3rd and 12th Street NW. There will be pedestrian entrances at Pennsylvania Avenue and 12th Street, NW; Constitution Avenue and 7th Street, NW; and Indiana Avenue and 7th Street, NW. There is a downloadable map at the March for Our Lives website.

Remembering Emily Nasrallah (1931-2018): In Her Words

ARABLIT & ARABLIT QUARTERLY

Earlier this month, Lebanese feminist writer Emily Nasrallah died at 86. Today, we remember some of her words:

Childhood and youth

“I never thought I would get beyond the third elementary,” Nasrallah told writer and journalist Olivia Snaije. “I repeated the last class for several years just to keep going to school — I desperately wanted something to read, and the only book around was the Arabic edition of the Bible whose stories were too complicated for children.”

Nasrallah, Snaije writes, convinced an uncle living in the US to fund her secondary education. Later, “My family put so much pressure on me that I really had to fight and then fight again to go to university. It was unheard of for a girl to leave the village.”

On the Lebanese Civil War

“[T]he war changed the social situation of women who were homemakers when from one day to the…

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ريم بنا..بشرية في حجم إنسان.

نادية حرحش

ريم بنا..بشرية في حجم إنسان.

 

إستيقظت على أحلام أقرب إلى الكوابيس. نظرت إلى السماء من شباك غرفتي، وظننت أن هناك خلل ما في ذاكرتي. فبالأمس كان الربيع مرحبا، مبتهجا، تتراقص الطيور فيه مع زرقة السماء الصافية.

إقفهرار عجيب في السماء. هدوء حزين. زخات مطر تنزل على استحياء. غراب يقف على حافة عامود الكهرباء.

رحلت ريم بنا …كان الخبر يتردد على شبكات التواصل المختلفة.

حزن مستحق….قلت في نفسي.

رافقت ريم بنا جمهورها، في رحلة مرضها القاسية، والتي تحولت فيها الى رمز للقوة، وقدمت تجربتها مع المرض بوعي، وساهمت في تسليط الضوء على معاناة مرضى السرطان من ناحية توعوية، عكست فيها الصلابة والإصرار والتحدي والمقاومة. قدمت ريم بمرضها الإنسان الفلسطيني المقاوم. كانت فرصة لتصرخ مرة أخرى هذه المرة، بجسدها، وشعرها الحليق،لتتحدى المرض الذي احتل جسدها بغتة،كما كان تحديها لحياة تحت الاحتلال تحاول المراوغة في العيش من خلاله.

خرجت من عالم الطفولة،بسنوات مراهقة كانت تشكل فيها ريم بنا انتفاضة من نوع آخر…

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Nerve agent was used in 1995 murder, claims former Soviet scientist

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Vladimir Uglev, developer of Soviet-era chemical weapons, contradicts Russian denials at existence of novichok nerve agents

A developer of Soviet-era nerve agents related to the one used against former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia has told the Guardian that a similar poison was used in the murder of a Russian businessman in the 1990s.

The remarks by Vladimir Uglev, a Soviet chemical weapons scientist, contradict official Russian denials that the country had any chemical weapons programme tied to the name novichok, with the formal codename foliant.

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Judge grants search warrant for Cambridge Analytica’s offices

lol

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Investigators seek access to records and data held by the London-based company amid claims it may have been illegally acquired

A judge has issued a warrant for the offices of Cambridge Analytica to be searched.

The information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, wants access to records and data in the hands of the London-based company amid claims that Facebook data may have been illegally acquired and used for political campaigns. Cambridge Analytica and Facebook both deny any wrongdoing.

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