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TOM FORÇADE: UNSUNG HERO OF THE COUNTER-CULTURE

How a Yippie conspiracist changed America, mainstreamed marijuana and was destroyed by his dream...

RAPE AND REFORM IN PAKISTAN

Real Change on Anti-Woman "Hudood" Laws?

by Abira Ashfaq, Peacework

In November 2006, women in Pakistan and around the world celebrated the passage of the Women's Protection Bill, a rare instance of positive legislative reform offering some relief from Pakistan's infamous "Hudood Ordinances"—a set of religious-based laws that includes extreme restrictions and punishments for women. While celebration is justified, the women's movement in Pakistan has a long way to go.

GAZA STRIP: STILL UNDER SIEGE

Israel and its Allies Instrument Social Disaster

by Jennifer Bing-Canar and Adam Horowitz, Peacework

SOMALIA: THE NEW RESISTANCE

Successor Factions to the Islamic Courts Union

by Osman Yusuf, WW4 REPORT

The downfall of the Islamic militants who had control over most of south and central Somalia until late last year has created a power vacuum that the transitional government is not at present able to fill.

In several parts of the war ravaged nation, real political authority has fallen to clan leaders and revived clan militias, often comprised of the same gunmen who had served under the Islamic Courts Union. In many areas they remain the primary source of power.

YEMEN: ON THE BRINK OF SECTARIAN WAR

Shi'ite Insurgency in Washington's Strategic Red Sea Ally

by Mohamed Al-Azaki, WW4 REPORT

He heard the military helicopters coming, Dr. Ali al-Wadiee told reporters in Al-Ruzamat, a small village situated amid the volcanic mountains of Yemen's remote north, near the border with Saudi Arabia.

"There were several loud explosions," he said, but the doctor wasn't aware of how many helicopters dropped their payloads in al-Naqa'ah, just on the Yemeni side of the border.

SUFISM: THE MIDWAY BETWEEN EXTREMISMS

Indigenous North Africa Between Jihad and Imperialism

by Toufik Amayas Mostefaou

My heart
Has become capable
Of taking all sorts of forms,
It is
Pastures
For gazelles
And Monastery for the monk,
Temple of idols
And
Kaaba for the pilgrim.
It is the tables of the Torah
And
The Book of the Koran.
It professes the religion of love
Whatever the place
Toward which
Its caravans wend.
And love
Is
My law
And love
Is
My faith.

—Ibn Arabi, of Andalusia and North Africa, 1165-1240 CE, Sufi

AUTOPSY OF A NARCO-GUERRILLERA

Justice Department Scores One Against the FARC

by Paul Wolf, WW4 REPORT

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