Archive | May, 2010

  Mixing Different Things “Perestroika,” Graphic and Video Installation, 11th International Istanbul Biennial, 2009 The editorial and exhibition policy of Chto Delat is often accused of inconsistency, of lacking a clear “party line.”  What is important for us today is to arrive at a method that would enable us to mix quite different things — […]

  Prabir Purkayastha: The BRIC and IBSA Summits seem to have been indicating that G20 is the solution to the problems of the world, and they are happy that they have come out of the grip of G7 as it were.  Do you really think that this is something that is going to happen? Jayati […]

Bomber Pilot: “From here they look like ants.” Newspaper Reader: “And from here, too.” Eneko Las Heras, born in Caracas in 1963, is a cartoonist.  This cartoon was published on his blog . . . Y sin embargo se mueve on 8 May 2009.   Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). | […]

“We’ve come to tell the story of hopes that didn’t come true, of promises that weren’t made good.  Here are five heroes of perestroika. . . .  An idealistic democrat.  A noble businessman.  A heroic revolutionary.  A bitter nationalist.  And a woman who has found her own voice. . . .  How the Democrat and […]

THE HATEFUL TYRANNY IMPOSED ON THE WORLD The painful reality should not come as a surprise to anyone. It could be seen rapidly advancing in the past few decades, at such a pace as it is hard to imagine. Does it mean that Obama is the promoter of this threat or that he is responsible […]

Wunmi is a London-born, Lagos-raised artist who has always stood strong for social justice, with songs such as “Greedy Body,” “The Time is Now” (against police brutality), and her version of Fela Kuti’s call against militarism, “Zombie.”  Her song “Crossover” is her take on the money-music-machine: Wunmi will be doing a short tour of California, […]

Turhan Selçuk, an eminent Turkish cartoonist, died in Istanbul on 11 March 2010, at the age of 88.  Some of his other works may be viewed at the Virtual Museum. | | Print

President Morales exhorted workers to rethink, because the latest wage increase of 5 percent is superior to what previous governments offered and, moreover, over the four years under his administration, the wages have risen 40 percent.  He called on workers’ unions to compare this wage increase with the current inflation rate of 0.26 percent in […]

4 May 2010 For more information, visit . | | Print

With Venezuela’s economy having contracted last year (as did the vast majority of economies in the Western Hemisphere), the economy suffering from electricity shortages, and the value of domestic currency having recently fallen sharply in the parallel market, stories of Venezuela’s economic ruin are again making headlines. The Washington Post, in a news article that […]

Uncle Sam: If I hear that you are processing nuclear fuel, I’m gonna go upside your head, with three atomic bombs. Tomás Rafael Rodríguez Zayas (Tomy) is a Cuban cartoonist. This cartoon was published by Cambios en Cuba on 6 May 2010.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com).  | | Print

  In support of the students of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) on strike against the $100 million budget cuts, elimination of tuition wavers, privatization, etc. . . . ¡Que vivan los estudiantes! Note: The indefinite strike declared on the Río Piedras campus is on its 15th day today.  The one declared in the Mayagüez […]

  “So today we’re announcing the expansion of offshore oil and gas exploration. . . . We’ll protect areas that are vital to tourism, the environment, and our national security.” — Barack Obama, 31 March 2010 “It turns out, by the way, that oil rigs today generally don’t cause spills.  They are technologically very advanced.  […]

The Rachel Corrie Foundation andBreak the Silence Mural Project co‐presentThe Mural Speaks Come celebrate the completion of this dynamic, interactive mural at a free event at 6:00 p.m., Saturday, May 8 at the Labor Temple building, corner of State and Capitol, downtown Olympia.  The Mural Speaks event is more than a mural commemoration; it’s a […]

Brazil’s President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, will travel to Iran this weekend, ostensibly to attend the G-15 summit meeting that opens in Tehran on Monday.  But Lula’s trip is attracting enormous international attention because the Brazilian leader will use his visit to try, in collaboration with Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, to broker […]

Author and analyst Hooman Majd traveled to Iran last month and has published an initial report from his travels, “Postcard from Tehran,” in ForeignPolicy.com.  Hooman makes a number of important points in his article, which largely reinforce our analysis of Iranian politics since the Islamic Republic’s June 12, 2009 presidential election and of U.S/Western policy […]

Eneko Las Heras, born in Caracas in 1963, is a cartoonist.  This cartoon was published on his blog . . . Y sin embargo se mueve on 7 May 2010.   Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). | | Print

Nominal wage growth has averaged just 1.1 percent over the last quarter. The Labor Department reported that the unemployment rate rose to 9.9 percent in April as 805,000 people entered the labor force.  Even with the economy generating 290,000 new jobs according to the establishment survey, this was not sufficient to keep the unemployment rate […]

  BP is a London-based oil company with the worst safety and environmental record of any oil company operating in America.  In just the last few years, BP has pled guilty to two crimes and paid over $730 million in fines and settlements to the US government, state governments, and civil lawsuit judgments for environmental […]

  Wages: the president calls for rationality while workers foresee an indefinite strike. President Evo Morales stuck to the 5% wage increase, ruling out a possibility of revision.  Meanwhile, the Bolivian Workers’ Center (COB) and manufacturing workers will discuss today the possibility of launching an indefinite general strike and street blockade to demand a higher […]