Archive | September, 2009

  Michael Moore Presents Capitalism: A Love Story at the 66th Venice Film Festival Michael Moore: “It’s Not Possible to Believe in Capitalism and Democracy at the Same Time” Trailer For more information about Michael Moore’s new film, go to <www.michaelmoore.com> and <www.capitalismalovestory.com>.

On September 2, 2009, the members of a nationwide alliance in Bangladesh — the National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports — were brutalized by the state police in Dhaka, Bangladesh. More than fifty members were injured. The national committee was conducting a peaceful demonstration and march as part of an […]

  Analytical Monthly Review, published in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, is a sister edition of Monthly Review.  Its September 2009 issue features the following editorial. — Ed. We now face the immediate need of a qualitative change in our most fundamental economic relationship — delivery of food supply. The problem is not the variability of […]

25 August 2009 To the Editor The Economist Dear Sir, This is with regard to the review of my book Listening to Grasshoppers that appeared in The Economist. If this letter is long, ironically it is because the factual errors in the review are so many. In an attempt to highlight my “flawed reporting and […]

The United States owns the most patents in the world. It has stolen scientists from every country, developed or developing, who are undertaking research in a myriad of spheres, from the production of weapons of mass destruction to medicines and medical equipment. For that reason, the economic and technological blockade is not something that merely serves as a pretext for blaming the empire for our own difficulties.

The IMF is undergoing an unprecedented expansion of its access to resources, possibly reaching a trillion dollars. This week the European Union committed $175 billion, $67 billion more than even the $108 billion that Washington agreed to fork over after a tense standoff between the U.S. Congress and the Obama administration earlier this summer. The […]

On 1 September 2009, dozens for students, faculty, and staff from San Francisco State joined together to protest draconian budget cuts that are threatening their right to an education. Produced by the Labor Video Project (P.O. Box 720027, San Francisco 94172; 415-282-1908; ; ).

The unemployment rate hit 9.7 percent in August, up from 9.4 percent in July. According to the establishment survey, the economy shed 216,000 jobs in August. In addition, the job loss numbers for June and July were revised up by 49,000. This puts the average rate of job loss over the last three months at […]

The frequently imbibing comedian W. C. Fields once proudly declared: “Everything I do is either illegal, immoral, or fattening.”  The adjectives used by Fields perfectly characterize the role of the private health insurance industry in the debate about health care reform.  As the debate intensifies more and more private health care profits are being recycled […]

The election of Obama raised expectations for sweeping health reform sky high.  But in spite of several self-imposed deadlines, Senate and House health reform bills were not ready by the time of the August Congressional recess, when passionate local debate erupted at Congressional home district town hall meetings.  The Onion pierced the din with truth: […]

  The Arab and Muslim world is indeed in crisis.  This crisis, however, may give us a new opportunity to reclaim our fate from foreign powers, local autocrats, and religious fanatics.  To do so, we can benefit from recuperating the best elements from our great tradition of Arab nationalism. Under the banner of “Arab nationalism,” […]

On occasions direct news coming from the United States prompts indignation and sometimes repugnance.

The Higher Arab Monitoring Committee in Israel announced yesterday (Wednesday, September 2) that it will hold a general strike next month (Thursday, October 1) in protest of the racist government’s policies. In the meeting, held in Nazareth, it was decided that the strike will take place on the same day that the events of October […]

  Shaun Joseph of the International Socialist Organization and Providence City Councilman Miguel Luna report back on the resistance to the coup in Honduras. Honduras video and photos by Shaun Joseph.  Filmed by Paul Hubbard at the Open Table of Christ Church in Providence, RI, on 19 August 2009.

  Beirut has been labelled the Paris, sometimes the Switzerland, of the Middle East.  According to one recent New York Times article, it is now the region’s Provincetown (the Cape Cod resort favoured by gay visitors).  This ever-changing city seems to have become a mirror where people project their own fantasies. Comparing Beirut with another […]

NEITHER CAMPAIGN NOR ELECTIONS LEGITIMATE IN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE COUP The general elections without the restitution of the constitutional order would be the legalization of the military violence against the State and, as such, unacceptable.  In light of this, the National Front of Resistance against the Coup d’Etat declares: 1. We do not recognize […]

  A Comrade’s Paper Blanket New books, old books, the leaves all piled together. A paper blanket is better than no blanket. You who sleep like princes, sheltered from the cold, Do you know how many men in prison cannot sleep all night? Autumn Night Before the gate, a guard with a rifle on his […]

  When I decided to teach Joseph Conrad‘s Heart of Darkness at Berkeley High School, it had been out of favor as an appropriate text because it was considered too controversial.  I wanted to do a whole unit on Africa and the Congo, including African authors, journalism, and history, and I figured we could start […]

“For the time being, it’s only 7 bases, but, if it were up to me, I would sell them the whole country.” Alfredo Martirena Hernández was born in 1965 in Santa Clara, Cuba.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com).

Bholar Basti, a water-logged slum in Dhaka city, accommodates more than 30,000 people, most of them victims of river erosion, floods, and other natural disasters.  ©Shamsuddin Ahmed/IRIN DAKAR, 1 September 2009 (IRIN) – Current UN cost estimates for climate change adaptation are too low and this could thwart climate treaty negotiations set for December in […]