Word: firebrands
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...farm boy from the state of Uttar Pradesh in northeast India who grew up to be Prime Minister. Chandra Shekhar was known by both supporters and detractors as a political firebrand, an idealistic, secular nationalist who could be blunt to a fault. Indira Gandhi jailed him, along with many other of her outspoken political opponents, during a tumultuous period in the mid-1970s. Shekhar became Prime Minister in 1990, but holding only a slim majority in a fractious coalition, he served just seven months before resigning amid charges that his government was spying on political rival Rajiv Gandhi. Shekhar died...
With both Evita and Isabel Peron still in its living memory, Argentina is not unused to the idea of conjugal succession to the presidency. Still, it is a startling political development that the current First Lady, a left-leaning firebrand senator named Cristina Kirchner, will run for the presidency in the country's upcoming October elections. Her husband, incumbent Peronist President Nestor Kirchner, who remains more popular than his wife in the polls, will step aside from seeking reelection after four successful years in office...
...firebrand Shi'ite leader conducted Friday prayers at the historic mosque in Kufa, near Najaf, his first public appearance in more than six months. Predictably, his speech was laden with anti-American rhetoric, and he demanded a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Sadr has not been seen in public since last fall; in January, U.S. officials said he had fled to Tehran. His supporters said he was still in Najaf, but keeping a low profile because of threats to his life...
...Latin America's resurgent left has been a firebrand when it comes to battling poverty, promoting indigenous rights or bashing the U.S. But on one traditionally liberal cause - legalizing abortion - it has been remarkably meek...
...most troubling sign of gathering clouds was a statement from firebrand Shi'a leader Moqtada al-Sadr that was read at Kufa mosque south of Baghdad. Al-Sadr, still believed to be in Iran waiting out the troop surge, renewed his demand that the "occupier leave our land." He criticized "evil" President Bush for invading Iraq in the name of keeping America safe without thinking of the cost in Iraqi blood. Four years after the U.S. came to Iraq, he said, the country's leaders are "fighting over offices" while Iraq is "still without water, has no electricity, no fuel...