On Jan. 28 Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) announced its new schedule for the long-delayed runoffs for the presidency and for many legislative seats. The CEP set Feb. 2 as the day when it would announce the results of the first round, held on Nov. 28; campaigning is to take place from Feb. 17 to March 18; and the actual vote is planned for Mar. 20, with the preliminary results to be announced on March 31. The second round was supposed to be held on Jan. 16 but was delayed by disputes over the results of the chaotic first round.

Even before a major earthquake hit Port-au-Prince in January 2010, the US embassy planned for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH)--an international force then numbering about 9,000 soldiers and police--to remain in the country through 2013, according to a confidential US diplomatic cable released by the WikiLeaks group and published by the Spanish daily El País on Jan. 28.

Thousands of angry protesters again filled Cairo's Tahrir Square in a seventh day of defiance of authorities Jan. 31, demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. "We will stay in the square, until the coward leaves," the crowd chanted. The newly formed National Coalition for Change brings together pro-democracy advocates and the left as well as the banned Muslim Brotherhood. In a nod to the movement's power—and a worrying sign for Mubarak—the army issued a statement saying Egyptians' demands are legitimate, and vowing not to fire on protesters. An indefinite general strike has been declared, and a "march of a million" called for the following day.

Palestinian security forces shut down a demonstration Jan. 30 in front of the Egyptian embassy in Ramallah, after calling in one of the organizers for questioning a day earlier, organizers of the rally said. A police commander said the demonstrators were in a "security area" and would have to disperse. Some 20 armed officers cleared the area, ordered journalists to turn off their cameras and microphones, and dragged one protester away when he shouted, "Long live Egypt!"

Ameer Makhoul—director of the Haifa-based Ittijah: the Union of Arab Community-Based Associations—was sentenced by an Israeli court to nine years in prison, and given an additional one-year suspended sentence on Jan. 30. The prosecution claimed that a Jordanian civil society activist who Makhoul was in contact with was a Hezbollah agent, and that he gave the contact information on the locations of a military base and General Security Services (Shabak, or Shin Bet) offices. Makhoul's "confession" was admitted as evidence, despite allegations that his statement was made under duress and that he was tortured during interrogation following his arrest in a pre-dawn raid on his home last May.

These news clips, as usual, make us feel very lonely. We are constantly being told by "leftists" that anti-Semitism doesn't really exist or is (at best) grossly exaggerated as a Zionist propaganda ploy—a demoralizing abdication of the supposed leftist value of opposing ethnic scapegoating as a distraction from class analysis. Exposing and denouncing anti-Semitism falls more and more to the pro-Zionist right (which does indeed seek to exploit it for propaganda purposes) and to the centrists, who increasingly seek to censor and even imprison those who espouse it—a demoralizing abdication of the supposed centrist value of "free speech." Here, alas, is the latest litany...

Speaking before a sea of angry protesters on Cairo's Tahrir Square Jan. 30, dissident leader Mohamed ElBaradei hailed "a new Egypt in which every Egyptian lives in freedom and dignity." Empowered by the newly formed National Coalition for Change—bringing together several opposition movements including the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood—to negotiate with the regime, ElBaradei said: "We are on the right path, our strength is in our numbers. I ask you to be patient, change is coming." Government warplanes flew low over the gathered multitudes in a show of force, as the crowd defiantly responded "Mubarak, go to Saudi Arabia!" President Hosni Mubarak meanwhile met with army brass.

Students clashed with police in Khartoum on Jan. 30 as youths answered calls to take to the streets for a day of anti-government protests—despite a heavy security deployment in the Sudanese capital. Hundreds gathered outside the presidential palace, calling for the resignation of President Omar al-Bashir before they were dispersed by riot police. Slogans included, "We want change! No to the high price of goods! and "Revolution against the dictatorship!"