ONE OF THE most frequently asked questions I’ve fielded since you-know-what has concerned resources—where interested readers can find more news directly from the Islamic world, without its being filtered by the White House, the Pentagon, or their stenographers at the major networks.
With the Internet, the interested reader anywhere in the world—unlike in past wars—can circumvent domestic propaganda to find out more on a subject or connect to the rest of the planet directly with minimal effort. The news and opinions you’ll read will be much different than what you’re getting from our local TV and radio stations and daily newspapers. Here are some suggestions:
FROM THE ISLAMIC WORLD English language versions of Islamic newspapers:
*Al-Ahram, Cairo (state-owned): www.ahram.org.eg/weekly
*Daily Jang, Pakistan (excellent reporting on Afghan war): www.jang.com.pk/thenews
*Daily Star, Lebanon: www.dailystar. com.lb
*Gulf Times, Qatar: www.gulf-times.com Other sources for regional news:
*Al-Jazeera (the now-notorious Pan- Islamic Qatar TV station; in Arabic, but the pictures alone can tell lots about both the news stories and Islamic news priorities): www.al-jazeera.net
*The Islamic Republic News Association (based in Tehran, IRNA tends to offer a fundamentalist viewpoint): www.irna.com
*Afghan Network (based in California, but excellent news from the home country): www.afghan-network.net
*AfghanWeb (numerous links and Afghan news): www.afghanweb.com
*AllAfrica Global Media (good news coverage of Islamic Africa): www.allafrica.com
*IslamOnline.net (an impressive Pan- Islamic site—in Arabic and English—of news, opinion, and culture): www.islamonline. net/English
*Middle East Media and Research Institute (translates articles from Farsi and Arabic media): www.memri.org
*Payam-e-Mujahid (online weekly from Afghanistan, available in multiple languages): www.payamemujahid.com
*Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan: www.rawasongs. fancymarketing.net
EUROPEAN SOURCES
Daily newspapers and TV:
*Daily Telegraph: www.dailytelegraph. co.uk
*Guardian Unlimited (has been consistently excellent): www.guardian.co.uk
*Irish Times: www.ireland.com
*London Times: www.londontimes.com
*BBC: www.bbc.co.uk
*Independent.co.uk (home of Robert Fisk, the single best English-language Middle East reporter in the world): www.independent. co.uk Other Western voices:
*DebkaFile (an excellent Web site devoted to Middle East intelligence, run by a former Economist foreign affairs writer): www.debka.com
*EurasiaNews (scores of links to sites on Afghanistan and similar lists for other countries in the region): www.eurasianews.com
*Institute for War and Peace Reporting (a British outfit that ranges from the Balkans throughout Asia, but especially valuable for the former Soviet republics): www.iwpr.net
*Media Workers Against War (disgruntled BBC and Guardian employees scrutinizing British media coverage of the war): www. mwaw.org
*Wombat International News (a Japanese site with a stunning number of links to news coverage around the world; heavy coverage of the U.S. war): www.wombatnews.com
ALTERNATIVE U.S. MEDIA
*Eat the State! (local activist paper): www.eatthestate.org
*In These Times: www.inthesetimes.com
*The Nation: www.thenation.com
*The Progressive: www.theprogressive.org
*Z Magazine: www.zmag.org
*AlterNet: www.alternet.org
*Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting: www.fair.org
*Independent Media Center: www.indymedia.org
*Tom Paine: www.tompaine.com
*Working Assets (I have a daily column at this site): www.workingforchange.com
ANTI-WAR, HUNGER, AND CIVIL LIBERTIES ACTIVISM Anti-War:
*Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors: www.objector.org
*National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee: www.nwtrcc.org
*Nonviolent Action Community of Cascadia: www.nacc.info
*Peace and Justice Alliance (formerly Peace Action of Washington): www.peaceaction.gen.wa.us/
*War Resister League: www.warresisters.org
*Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility: www.wpsr.org
*Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation: www.scn.org/activism/wwfor
*www.antiwar.com (a very good independent, libertarian-oriented site)
*www.scn.org/activism/calendar (local peace calendar) Hunger:
*American Council for Voluntary International Action (coalition site with links to 160-plus relief agencies): www.interaction.org
*Bread for the World: www.bread.org
*Christian Aid: www.christian-aid.org.uk
*Oxfam: www.oxfam.org.uk
*United Nation’s World Food Program: www.wfp.org Civil Liberties:
*American Civil Liberties Union of Washington: www.aclu-wa.org
*Center for Constitutional Rights: www.ccr-ny.org.
