US Added to International Watchlist for Rapid Decline in Civic Freedoms

THE GUARDIAN: Civicus, an international non-profit, puts country alongside Democratic Republic of Congo, Italy, Pakistan and Serbia

The United States has been added to the Civicus Monitor Watchlist, which identifies countries that the global civil rights watchdog believes are currently experiencing a rapid decline in civic freedoms.

Civicus, an international non-profit organization dedicated to “strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world”, announced the inclusion of the US on the non-profit’s first watchlist of 2025 on Monday, alongside the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Italy, Pakistan and Serbia.

The watchlist is part of the Civicus Monitor, which tracks developments in civic freedoms across 198 countries. Other countries that have previously been featured on the watchlist in recent years include Zimbabwe, Argentina, El Salvador and the United Arab Emirates.

Mandeep Tiwana, co-secretary general of Civicus, said that the watchlist “looks at countries where we remain concerned about deteriorating civic space conditions, in relation to freedoms of peaceful assembly, association and expression”. » | Anna Betts | Monday, March 10, 2025

Should we be surprised? Trump and his band of criminals want to turn the USA into an authoritarian state with Trump as the all-powerful autocrat. In fact, the process is already well underway. Trump can’t wait to join his buddies in the exclusive club of world autocrats. Putin awaits him. – © Mark Alexander

America Should Defy Islamic Supremacism
ENERGY PUBLISHER: Failure to defeat Islamic supremacism may cost Americans their freedom, and their identity.

Our generation shares the responsibility to challenge Islamic supremacism in America and around the world. Our responsibility is based on our nation and our leaders' accountability in defending our inalienable human rights of equality and liberty – which demands that we reject all supremacism, including Islamic supremacism. Such accountability on human rights also requires that we challenge those in denial on this threat who seek our surrender to Islamic supremacism abroad and at home.

Failure to defy Islamic supremacism will not only cost us our freedoms – it will also cost us our identity, as those who appease and support such supremacism will seek to use our nation's influence and power as a weapon against freedom – as we have recently seen in other nations.

To effectively defy Islamic supremacism, we must use our existing consensus in equality and liberty as a tool to ensure that Islamic supremacism is treated like any other supremacist ideology that would seek to threaten our freedoms. We know that outrage against supremacism is not enough; we are responsible to act to defy such supremacist ideologies that threaten our freedoms and take a public stand against them. >>> By Jeffrey Imm | Tuesday, February 17, 2009

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Til It’s Gone
Or, as the old saying goes, ‘You never miss the water 'til the well runs dry.’ - Mark
FAMILY SECURITY MATTERS: "The people shall not be deprived or abridged of their right to speak, or to publish their sentiments; and the freedom of the press, as one of the great bulwarks of liberty, shall be inviolable." James Madison

My mother used to say that it’s better to go from being poor to being rich than from having been rich and become poor because you don’t yearn for what you’ve lost. However, my experience has been that if you’ve always been free from want, you might not ever gain an appreciation for what was taken for granted. In any event, it wasn’t until I reached middle age that I began to understand what for me truly constitutes being rich and it wasn’t until 9/11 that I really gave much thought to how quickly it could be taken away.

During World War II, when peace and stability were shattered by acts of physical aggression initiated by the axis powers, Franklin Roosevelt gave a speech on what he referred to as the four freedoms.

“In the future days which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms. The first is freedom of speech and expression...The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own...The third is freedom from want, which...means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants...The fourth is freedom from fear, which...means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor.” You Don’t Know What You’ve Got ‘Til It’s Gone >>> By Nancy Silvato | September 24, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>

Spreading Freedom and Democracy the Best Way to Defeat Radicalism – Bush
BBC: US President George W Bush has warned of the dangers he says are posed by Iran, in a speech in its Gulf neighbour, the United Arab Emirates.

Mr Bush said Iran threatened the security of all nations and should be confronted "before it's too late".

In a speech in Abu Dhabi on the latest leg of a Middle Eastern tour, he also urged the region to embrace democracy.

Meanwhile the UN's atomic watchdog said Iran had agreed to clear up questions about its past nuclear activities.

The statement by the IAEA said Tehran would provide details in the next four weeks.

'Human capital'

Mr Bush's address in Abu Dhabi was described by his aides as the keynote speech of his regional tour.

He told delegates at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) that more open societies would foster the Middle East's immense "human capital".

He said there had been advances in the region, but also setbacks.

Without fair elections and freedom of speech, "you cannot expect people to believe in the promise of a better future", he added.

Mr Bush said spreading freedom and democracy was the best way to defeat radicalism. Confront Iran danger early – Bush >>>

WATCH BBC VIDEO:
Bush says Iran sponsors terror

Mark Alexander (Paperback)
Mark Alexander (Hardback)