As central India’s forest belts are swept into an ever-intensifying state offensive and resulting civil war, there has been a strong convergence of left, liberal and progressive arguments on Operation Green Hunt. This note argues that this ‘basic line’ is problematic. The line can be summarised as: The conflict is rooted in resource grabbing by […]
Archive | Commentary
Monthly Review Magazine
Israel, Turkey, and the United States
An act of piracy, war crime, blatant violation of international law, murder of unarmed civilians — each and every definition used by the international media is true, and altogether beside the point. The murderous Israeli operation is, in fact, the expression of the new Israeli modus operandi. And as such it is frightening. All over […]
Economic Crisis, Greek Theater, Our Drama
Political theater now grips Greece. As with ancient Greek plays, today’s drama also reaches and touches everyone else. We sense Greece’s dilemmas becoming our own. Her rulers declare that a crisis now threatens Greece. They blame it on the masses. To overcome it, they must impose great suffering on the masses. The rulers’ chorus intones […]
India’s War on People at Home
Gautam Navlakha: How many of us have dared raise fundamental issues about what the state has been doing since 1947, since the transfer of power? There’s not a single year in the last 63 that we have had since the transfer of power when the state has not been engaged in a war in one […]
The True Flag of the State of Israel
Designed by Ciudad Futura, inspired by Antonio Pérez, “Piratas sionistas contra pistolas de pintura” (Rebelión, 1 June 2010) and Robert Booth, Kate Connolly, Tom Philips, and Helena Smith, “Gaza Flotilla Raid: ‘We Heard Gunfire — Then Our Ship Turned into Lake of Blood’” (Guardian, 2 June 2010). | Print
Constructive Position
United States of America (clutching weapons of mass destruction): We are here to negotiate from a constructive position. Tomás Rafael Rodríguez Zayas (Tomy) is a Cuban cartoonist. This cartoon was published in Cambios en Cuba on 30 May 2010. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). | Print
Colonizers’ Hutzpah
I am grateful to MRZine for inviting me to comment on “Israel in the current conjuncture, in the wake of the attack on the Freedom Flotilla and international reaction to it”. But in truth I have very little to add to the excellent comments and analyses that have been presented in various left-wing publications, […]
Images of Victims after the Israeli Attack on the Turkish Gaza Aid Ship, Published for the First Time
The videos below show images of the passengers on the Turkish Gaza aid ship Mavi Marmara immediately after the Israeli attack, published for the first time by TV Net today. The scenes on the Mavi Marmara were shot by Adem Özköse. | Print
Clearing Up Some Facts about the Depression of 1946
The Cato Institute wishes to erase away an entire recession: “You never heard of it because it never happened. However, the ‘Depression of 1946’ may be one of the most widely predicted events that never happened in American history.” But the facts are simply not on their side. If true, this would have been a […]
Terry Eagleton and Tragic Spirituality
Terry Eagleton. Reason, Faith, and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. pp. xii, 185. $25.00. Terry Eagleton in the 1970s stood at the cutting edge of Marxist literary criticism, but his recent book, Reason, Faith and Revolution: Reflections on the God Debate — an expansion of his 2008 Yale […]
Egypt’s Blockade on Gaza
In the wake of Israel’s raid three days ago on a civilian vessel attempting to deliver material goods to the residents of Gaza, Egypt announced on Tuesday the temporary opening of its border with Rafah to allow humanitarian and medical aid into the Gaza Strip, with restrictions on what kinds of supplies can enter. On […]
The Real Strategic Challenge That Turkey and Iran Pose to Israel
As the interlinked dramas of Israel’s attack on Turkish civilian ships on the high seas and the Obama Administration’s push for a new Iran sanctions resolution in the Security Council play out, some in the American foreign policy establishment are beginning to realize that the Middle East — and America’s place in it — are […]
Zionists Gone Wild
“We don’t have anything to be ashamed of. We are the majority and it doesn’t matter what lies they say about us.” — At a rally defending the Israeli attack on the Freedom Flotilla, Ben-Gurion University, 1 June 2010 Turkish Embassy, Tel Aviv, 3 June 2010 Tel Aviv University, 2 June 2010 Ben-Gurion University, 1 […]
Denis Halliday Urges Irish-Americans to Defend the Rachel Corrie
Former UN Assistant Secretary General Denis Halliday said it was imperative that the Obama administration supported Ireland’s call on the Israeli authorities to ensure safe passage for the Irish-flagged Rachel Corrie to carry humanitarian aid to Gaza, the Irish Times reports. Speaking by satellite phone from on board the Rachel Corrie, Halliday called on Irish-Americans […]
Egyptians Protest Israeli Raid
Ian Lee: Demonstrators demanded the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to Egypt. Today’s protest also landed on the same day as the Shoura Council election. Protesters and the political opposition were eager to tie the two events together.
Farewell, Robin Wood (1931-2009): The Relevance of a Radical Film Critic
“It is probably impossible today for anyone to make an even halfway commercial movie that shouts, in some positive sense, ‘Revolution!’ as loudly as its lungs can bear, so one must celebrate the films that seem (whether deliberately or not) to imply its necessity.” — Robin Wood1 At a time when comedy shows tell […]
Food Sovereignty Tour + Agroecology Short Course in Venezuela
STUDY TOUR TO VENEZUELA: Food Sovereignty, Social Movements and Social Change July 19 to August 2, 2010 Please register asap! You are invited to participate in a two-week study tour to study food sovereignty, social movements, and social change in Venezuela, 19 July to 2 August, 2010. The tour will examine issues of land […]
Nuclear Israel
“Iran is a threat to peace!” Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. See, also, Carlos Latuff, “Iran Is a THREAT to Peace”; and Carlos Latuff, “Israel: ‘Iran Is a Threat to Peace.’” | Print
The Attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and International Law
Excerpt: Did the human rights activists on board the ship have the right to repel the Israeli commanders on the basis of self-defence? Since the initial boarding of the ship was likely illegal, the civilian passengers did have the right to act in self-defence against the invading soldiers. However, lawful self-defence on the part […]
The Empire and War
Two days ago, I briefly commented that imperialism was unable to resolve the extremely serious problem of drug abuse, which is assaulting the world’s population. Today, I would like to tackle another subject that, in my opinion, is of great significance. The current danger of North Korea being attacked by the United States, following the […]
