Archive | December, 2010

  • European Fires

    Directed by João Fazenda; Script by Spam Cartoon; Animation by Estrela Lourenço; Sound Design by José Condeixa; Produced by João Paulo Cotrim and André Carrilho.   Cf. Yanis Varoufakis, “The ECB’s Expensive Folly: A New Maginot Line” (1 December 2010); Simon Johnson, “Imminent Eurozone Default: How Likely?” (The Baseline Scenario, 2 December 2010); Tracy Alloway, […]

  • Weak Job Growth Pushes Employment Rate Back to Downturn Low Point

    The establishment survey showed the economy adding just 39,000 jobs in November.  As a result of slow job growth, the unemployment rate rose to 9.8 percent.  The employment-to-population ratio (EPOP) fell to 58.2 percent, the low hit in December of last year.  The EPOP for white men and white women both dropped below their prior […]

  • Hamdulillah

      In eyes that hate your hunger It’s like a jungle sometimes It makes you wonder. . . . The Narcicyst, Yassin Alsalman, is an Iraqi rapper (born in Basra, raised in Dubai, and now living in Montreal, Canada).  Shadia Mansour is a British-born Palestinian singer.  Directed and edited by Ridwan Adhami (Ridzdesign).  Written by […]

  • Block(ad)ed

    “Now it’s you who are being block(ad)ed all over the place.” Pedro Méndez Suárez is a Cuban cartoonist.  This cartoon was published in Rebelión on 2 December 2010.   Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). | Print

  • Military Operation in Favelas

    Seen from the middle-class spectator’s POV Seen from the favela resident’s POV Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com).  Cf. “A year ago I was there to interview a woman who had lost her daughter in a police shootout, a stray bullet having ripped through the tin […]

  • If China Wants to Pay for Our Vacations, Should We Let Them?

    Trade disputes with China have been heating up lately, but there really is no reason for the hostility.  Essentially the dispute boils down to the fact that China wants to subsidize the consumption of people in the United States and elsewhere, by propping up the value of the dollar. This is raising objections from the […]

  • WikiLeaks and Iran, Take 2: Former State Department Official Confirms Obama Was Never Serious about Engaging Iran

    We were struck by a piece published by Reza Marashi — former State Department desk officer for Iran who now works as the National Iranian American Council’s research director.  For us, the most striking passage is the following: It should now be clear that U.S. policy has never been a true engagement policy.  By definition, […]

  • The FBI and the Murder of a Black Panther: From COINTELPRO to Post 9/11 Repression

      It was cold in the tiny, windowless interview room at the Wood Street Police Station.  I looked across the wooden table at the large-boned woman with a short Afro who was shaking and sobbing. . . .  “Fred never really woke up,” she said.  “He was lying there when they pulled me out of […]

  • Trafficking

    The kind of trafficking shown on TV The kind of trafficking not shown on TV Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). | Print

  • Visualizing Social Movement Cultures: Movement as Producer

      Social movements redefine what it means to be an artist. Dara Greenwald is a media artist.  Her collaborative work often takes the form of video, writing, and cultural organizing.  Some of her works may be viewed at <daragreenwald.com>.  Josh MacPhee is an artist, curator, and activist.  He is a member of the art collective […]

  • Contrary to Media Spin on WikiLeaks Release, Iran Is Hugely Popular among Arabs

    The media spin on the latest batch of WikiLeaks revelations gives the impression that, next to Israel, it’s the Arab states that are most energetically pressuring the U.S. to attack Iran.  In terms of the real threat to Iran, that’s definitely putting the cart before the horse. In the first place, the Arab governments mentioned […]

  • Artistic Resistance — Just in Time for the Holidays!

    Beautiful and politically invigorating (qualities we could certainly use more of at this particular point in history), just out is Celebrate People’s History: The Poster Book of Resistance and Revolution, by Josh MacPhee of the rabble-rousing arts collective Just Seeds (justseeds.org), with a foreword by Rebecca Solnit (the author of many books including A Paradise […]