Arab images of the United States and the Soviet Union before and after the June War of 1967
The images of America as held by foreigners have been of great interest to social scientists in the last two decades (Buchanan, 1954; Beals, 1954; Washington, 1956; Bell, 1960). Such interest bearing on the cold war and global rivalries needs no elaboration. Of particular importance are images held by elites in developing nations. Their views are crucial in determining the nature and extent of commitments that their countries will make to the Eastern or the Western centers of power. In this article the images of the United States and the Soviet Union as held by Arab students will be analyzed before and after the June War of 1967. The students in question were studying in this country, and over half of them are in graduate schools. The group as a whole has been ideologically oriented and politically active. Like their counterpart in Europe the Arab students in the United States not only have a powerful organization (the OAS with 10,000 members in 130 chapters) but also have been vocal and influential in affecting decision-making in their homelands. Scores of the alumni of the Organization of Arab Students in recent years have occupied strategic positions in their countries ranging from heads of states to cabinet members, from members of revolutionary councils to ambassadors, and from opposition leaders to high bureaucrats.
Media, politics and the threats to journalists in Pakistan
This article examines how the fundamental right of freedom of expression for news media in Pakistan continues to be threatened both by the government and conflicting parties, an issue that is compounded by the threat to the journalists’ safety and survival. Giving examples of three Pakistani journalists who lost their lives after their investigations during the America’s so called ‘War on Terror’, the article gives an account of the nature of the dangers and threats that are faced by the journalists in Pakistan who report on armed political conflicts. Drawing on the experiences of five other journalists, who were interviewed during research visits to Pakistan in 2012 and 2014, the author also reflects on the role of journalists in the light of the social responsibility theory and explores some of the factors that contribute towards making conflict reporting a dangerous business in Pakistan. Pictured: Figure 1: The Press in Stress report in 2012. Shown in the cover image is a curbside radio-seller in Quetta. FM radio is hugely popular in Balochistan. Image: Aurangzazib Khan
The Plural Framework of Jamaican Society
ONTEMPORARY JAMAICA is relatively complex and { internally diverse. Although four-fifths of its population are black, and nine-tenths of the remainder are coloured persons of mixed ancestry, there are structurally significant groups of Chinese, Syrian, Jewish, Portuguese and British descent, and in several cases these ethnic groups are also diffierentiated by special statuses, organizations and occupational interests. Apart from this racial complexity, Jamaica includes a number of significantly diffierent ecological areas: the expanding urban area around Kingston; the sugar belts with their large plantations and landless labour force; the rural highlands settled by smallholders; and the tourist coast along the north shore. Community types and organization in each ecological area tend to be somewhat distinct. So do community interests, which now compete for influence on the island government. Of the Is6 million persons who live in Jamaica, perhaps one-quarter are to be found in Kingston and the other main towns, and nearly onehalf live in the hilly interior. The plainsfolk dependent on sugar probably exceed 400,000. Rural-urban diffierences are important already and will tend to become more so. The rate of population growth is very high. Jamaica's racial diversity strikes the visitor immediately; but local 'nationalism' has developed a convenient mythology of 'progress' according to which race differences are held to be irrelevant in personal relations. While it is difficult to state the precise significance of racial diffierence in a few words, it can be said categorically that race and its symbol colour do play a very important part in structuring relations between individuals within Jamaica, and the study of this aspect of local life can throw a great deal of light on the island-society.l Nonetheless, race concepts are cultural facts and their significance varies with social conditions.2 To understand the local attitude to race, we must therefore begin with the society and its culture. Accordingly, in the following summary ofJamaican social structure, I shall avoid direct reference to ecological or racial diffierences as far as possible, while