Archive | November, 2007

Here are two songs in support of YES to Venezuela’s constitutional reform, whose fate is to be determined by the referendum of 2 December 2007. ¡Ahora Sí! by El Jekke y su Banda Click here to download “¡Ahora Sí!” in MP3. Ahora Vamos por el Sí by Lloviznando Cantos Click here to download “Ahora Vamos […]

In the case of Hugo Chavez and the Venezuelan Bolivarian Revolution, the mainstream media and politicians in the United States have elevated their game of demonizing all who oppose US foreign policy and business interests to a higher level of absurdity than usual.  According to the mainstream media, the only newsworthy stories in Venezuela are […]

Venezuela, whose people are heirs to Bolivar’s ideas which transcend his era, is today facing a world tyranny a thousand times more powerful than that of Spain’s colonial strength added to that of the recently born United States which, through Monroe, proclaimed their right to the natural wealth of the continent and to the sweat of its people.

  En tant que féministes antiracistes et anticoloniales, nous avons d’importantes réserves à l’égard de la Commission de consultation sur les pratiques d’accommodement reliées aux différences culturelles.  Par ailleurs, le Conseil du statut de la femme du Québec (CSF) a suggéré des modifications à la Charte québécoise afin de réclamer la priorité relative du droit […]

Ecology is often seen as a recent invention.  But the idea that capitalism degrades the environment in a way that disproportionately affects the poor and the colonized was already expressed in the nineteenth century in the work of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels.  Writing in Capital in 1867 on England’s ecological imperialism toward Ireland, Marx […]

  This week in Annapolis, Maryland, the United States government will host a conference between Palestinian and Israeli leaders to launch peace talks on a permanent agreement.  A vital component of the peace proposals to be discussed involves exchanges of territory that would allow Israel to keep its West Bank “settlement blocs” while compensating Palestinians […]

  On the eve of the meeting intended to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians at Annapolis, Maryland, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced that Israel will build no new West Bank settlements, but will not “strangle” existing Israel settlements.  This means that construction in the 149 existing Israeli settlements throughout the West Bank […]

The corporate media is abuzz with the notion that there is a Palestine-Israel peace conference now happening in Maryland.  That this claim is being taken seriously six years into the Cheney Administration is another remarkable proof that, in this bought-and-paid-for corporate capitalist society, journalism is doornail-dead. The real truth, as reported (as a low-paragraph aside, […]

Tall black-shadowed cypresses slender beside arcaded cloisters: thus were monastic enterprises: now with our new doctrines secular-consumerist we bend with similar devoutness in service to our modern pantheon — Bretton Woods, its cohort deities — World Bank, IMF, WTO — diligently we recite “We have loved, o lord, the beauty of your house and the […]

Melbourne, Australia — Four years ago, some experienced social and political organizers sat down with young people in Auckland, New Zealand to map out a plan for a novel trade union, one that would potentially represent the thousands of workers who toil in poorly paid and mostly part-time jobs in the fast food and other […]

NYC, Friday, November 30, 7 pm Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center 310 W. 43rd Street (between 8th & 9th Ave.), NYC Speakers Include: Gil Noble, respected producer and host of ABC-TV’s Like It Is SF-8 defendants Francisco Torres, Harold Taylor, Ray Boudreaux and Hank Jones Soffiyah Elijah, Esq., lawyer on the SF-8 case Special […]

We read with growing dismay the statement signed by Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and others advising those opposing the CPI(M)’s pro-capitalist policies in West Bengal not to “split the Left” in the face of American imperialism.  We believe that for some of the signatories, their distance from events in India has resulted in their falling […]

On November 16, 2007, Victor Rabinowitz, one of the giants of the legal profession and a tireless fighter for social justice, died at the age of 96.  One of the founders of the National Lawyers Guild 70 years ago, Victor defended unpopular clients when other lawyers were afraid to touch them.  During the McCarthy period, […]

  One extremely positive aspect of the recent Istanbul Al-Quds International Forum is that it took place at all, despite Israeli pressures.  It had been known from the beginning that Israel was not happy about any activity that might disrupt the music of the Annapolis orchestra. Despite the Erdogan government’s relative strength in resisting the […]

The November 24th Australian election has resulted in a sharp defeat of the neoliberal pro-US John Howard government, and a victory for the slightly less neoliberal and pro-US Kevin Rudd of the Australian Labor Party.  But what has not been much noticed in global commentary on the result is the intense class struggle atmosphere in […]

Not only did conservative Australian Prime Minister John Howard lose the election last Saturday in a landslide, he may have lost his seat as well. The Australian Labor Party now controls all nine Australian governments: State, Territory and federal. Industrial relations was the key issue in the election. Years of campaigning against the anti-Aboriginal and […]

Watch the highlights from the Toronto launch of SR 2008. Introduction by Leo Panitch Aijaz Ahmad, “Imperialism, Political Islam, and Iraq” Sabah Alnasseri, “Imperialism, Political Islam, and Iraq” Q+A with Sabah Alnasseri and Aijaz Ahmad You can buy your copy of the 2008 Socialist Register at your local bookstore or order online at . | […]

Sodexho food-service workers at University California Davis and social justice groups such as Students Organizing for Change have been busy mobilizing for improved labor conditions.  Their goal is for the company’s 500 contracted-out workers to become university employees, represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299. The university and Sodexho, […]

For the first time, just before the UN discusses Cuba’s proposed resolution condemning the blockade, as it does every year, the president of the United States has announced that he is to adopt new measures to accelerate the “transition period” in our country, equivalent to a new conquest of Cuba by force.

Gorgeous George, and Ugly Rumours To the bemusement of many observers, the British radical left-wing coalition, Respect, has undergone a bitter crisis after a period of remarkable successes.  This crystallised on 17 November with two separate gatherings — one the scheduled national conference with 350 elected delegates and observers from branches across the country held […]