An excellent mini-doco of the battle between former US Marine Nick Popaditch and socialist San Diego Congressman Bob Filner in the 2010 elections.
I had soooo hoped Popaditch would win this race, but sadly it was not to be. I hope Mr Popaditch runs again in 2012. He would be a huge asset in Congress.
Huge crowds celebrated on the streets of Yemen on Sunday after president Ali Abdullah Saleh fled to Saudi Arabia—saying he needed medical treatment.
“The people have brought down the regime,” chanted the crowds in University Square at the heart of the capital, Sana’a. Protesters have renamed it Change Square and camped there since February.
Saleh, who has held power in the country for 33 years, was injured in an attack on the presidential compound on Friday of last week. Other leading members of his regime were also hurt.
Throughout Friday and Saturday, members of Saleh’s regime insisted that the injuries were minor.
However on Sunday morning it was announced that Saleh had left to have surgery.
Although Saleh’s supporters still say he will come back “in a few days”, that was looking increasingly unlikely.
“The squares have been filling up with people celebrating, and that in itself makes it harder for the dictator to return,” Abubakr Al-Shamahi, a Yemeni activist based in Britain, told the British Socialist Worker newspaper…
The real risk is that the Yemeni protest movement does not continue after Saleh resigns.
But Abubakr Al-Shamahi thinks it will.
“Yemenis are very stubborn people,” he said. “They’ve suffered 800 dead. People won’t let things go back to ‘normal’. People want change.”