Month: February 2011

February 24, 2011 Michael Kaufman

Two, three or even four opposing things can co-exist.  It is possible that someone is, at the same time, a) a courageous, even heroic, advocate who says that citizens should know the truth and who is willing to take enormous personal risks to make that happen; b) an individual who may have committed a form…

February 18, 2011 Michael Kaufman

A million women hit the streets in 230 Italian cities on February 13.  400,000, alone, marched in Rome.   Media around the world played it up as a march against the sleezy, likely-Mafia-connected, Prime Minister Berlusconi who seems to have a thing for hair dye, plastic surgery, and buying sex from young women. I wondered if…

February 14, 2011 Michael Kaufman

For those of us in many countries, February 14 comes sugar-coated with images of flowers and chocolates, romance and love. Okay, it’s true: I’m a sucker for romance.  Romantic love can bring great delight.  Falling in love, itself, is a moment of such intensity that you simultaneously feel connected with every atom on the planet…

February 11, 2011 Michael Kaufman

Three young Egyptians have produced a wonderful music video, “The Sound of Freedom” (Sout al Horeya). Here’s the video. But first, a partial translation from Al-Jazeera: I went down and I said I am not going back, and I wrote on every street wall that I am not going back. All barriers have been broken…

February 5, 2011 Michael Kaufman

It has been captivating to watch the sudden and massive upheavals in Egypt sparked by the uprising in Tunisia and, in turn, speaking protest movements in Yemen, Jordan, Sudan and beyond. I do not wish to speculate on outcomes.  Perhaps countries will descend into bloodshed as those who desperately hope to preserve the status quo…

February 1, 2011 Michael Kaufman

A terrific new documentary by Marc de Guerre starts with the dramatic drop of full-time employment for men in the United States. Between December 2007 and March of 2010 the United States lost 8.2 million jobs. 80% of these jobs belonged to men. In 2008, the share of men in the United States with a…