Archive | Commentary

The Nazis in 1941, the EU and the IMF in 2010 Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.  This cartoon was originally produced for Dromos. | Print

Falling energy prices pushed down the consumer price index 0.1 percent in the month of April.  After rising 2.7 percent from January of 2009 to January of 2010, consumer prices were unchanged over the first three months of this year.  Core prices were unchanged in April.  Inflation in the core index has risen at a […]

May 19, 2010, TUCSON — Indigenous and American Indian studies scholars are condemning Arizona Senate Bill 1070 and related legislation. “Clearly, and bluntly, the state law is racist and discriminatory against so-called ‘illegal immigrants’ crossing the borders from the South, namely from Mexico,” said Simon Ortiz, a Native American studies professor at Arizona State University, […]

  In an age where only 7.2 percent of private-sector workers in the United States belong to unions, it may come as a surprise that 37.4 percent of all public-sector (i.e. government) workers are unionized.  Put another way, there are more public-sector workers in unions (7.9 million) than in the private-sector (7.4 million), despite the […]

The anger of the ordinary people has finally erupted into violence with numerous buildings being set on fire in Bangkok and the provinces.  People are also trying to use any means to fight the army.  There are reports that government buildings, banks, the stock exchange, luxury shopping malls, and pro-military media are all being set […]

Zapatero: Not to worry!  Conversely, if you workers provoke an economic crisis someday, we’ll make them pay for it. Bernardo Vergara is a Spanish cartoonist.  This cartoon was published in Territorio Vergara (a blog of Público) on 13 May 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi […]

Brazil’s Ascent under Lula’s Leadership Under the leadership of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Brazil has become a regional leader in Latin America with vibrant international foreign policy.  A look at the internal political dynamics of Brazil would be useful also.  During President Lula’s presidency, Brazil has had tremendous economic growth.  But in the coming […]

  Chronicling the Maoist general strike and the counter-revolutionary “peace rally” . . . . Photo Essay by Manasi Pingle and Suvrat Raju Manasi Pingle is an independent filmmaker.  She can be reached at <manac.p@gmail.com>. Suvrat Raju is a physicist and can be reached at <suvrat.raju@gmail.com>.  See, also, Suvrat Raju, “An Account of the General […]

Last week, the Obama Administration notified Israel that it would support the authorization and appropriation of $205 million of U.S. taxpayer money to Israel to purchase ten batteries of the “Iron Dome” missile defense system. If authorized and appropriated by Congress, this money would be above and beyond the Obama Administration’s record-breaking FY2011 budget request […]

As of today the idea that Greece might be better off leaving the Euro and renegotiating its debt is considered by many to be unthinkable.  Instead, the country is embarking upon a program of “internal devaluation” — in which it keeps the Euro and lowers its real exchange rate by creating enough unemployment to drive […]

  Our Purpose, Goals, Assumptions, and Expectations for the Assembly What Is Zionism? Zionism is a political movement that supports the ongoing project of colonizing Palestine for the purposes of building a state premised on Jewish nationalism.  Therefore, a central goal of the current Zionist movement is to ensure that Israel maintains the maximum area […]

A deal between Iran, Brazil and Turkey to ship some of Iran’s uranium out of the country to be enriched in Turkey and returned for use in an Iranian medical reactor has elicited some elite media panic.  An early New York Times Web headline read, “Iran Offers to Ship Uranium, Complicating Sanctions Talks.”  The Wall […]

  Manhattan/Brooklyn/Bronx — Early on Wednesday morning, the anniversary of Malcolm X‘s birth, Picture the Homeless carried out two banner drops.  Transgressing into vacant buildings in Brooklyn and El Barrio, they dropped banners from the top that read “Homes Not Shelters / Casas No Refugios,” and “Let Housing Bloom . . . berg.” For more […]

Anti-communist crows and vultures, and Social Democrat toucans — all clamored against the peaceful negotiation of the conflict over Iran, because it is Lula who led the negotiation, which would further bolster his image.  In the event of a failure, even if it leads to a new major military conflict, it could be exploited domestically […]

The student movement and the strike it has sustained for almost a month at the main campus of the state-run University of Puerto Rico (UPR), which has spread to 10 of the 11 UPR campuses, catalyzed a massive social movement convening a national strike today, May 18, 2010. As recent as October 15, 2009, a […]

The compromise agreement on refueling the Tehran Research Reactor (TRR) mediated by Brazil and Turkey is a truly big deal.  From a “macro” perspective, this is a watershed event: two rising economic powers from what we condescendingly used to call the “Third World” have asserted consequential political and strategic influence on a high-profile matter of […]

$O$ Will exchange lifetime socialist jacket for lifetime Popular Party jacket Juan Kalvellido, born in Cádiz, Andalucía, Spain in 1968, is a working-class cartoonist who has never stopped believing in revolution.  He currently lives in Fuengirola, Málaga, Spain.  This cartoon was published by Rebelión on 18 May 2010.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi […]

My support to students’ strike at Universidad de Puerto Rico against privatization + budget cuts.  They’re under siege by cops. Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.  | Print

Cindy Hickey, Laura Fattal, and Nora Shourd — the mothers of Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd, the three American hikers detained in Iran — spoke to the Associated Press on 17 May 2010: Laura Fattal, the mother of Josh Fattal, said: We had to maintain this great optimism throughout these nine and a […]

On April 29, Gerardo Hernández sent a postcard for Mother’s Day on behalf of the Cuban Five.  Due to a two-week delay in the prison, the postcard did not arrive on time for Mother’s Day.  Nevertheless, Gerardo wanted us to send it out to all the mothers who have been the strongest supporters in the […]