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Bahaa Saber holds up a loaf of bread Hossam el-Hamalawy is an Egyptian socialist, journalist, and photographer.  Visit his blog: .  The photographs above were first published on his blog on 3 May 2010 under a Creative Commons license.  Note: the minimum wage in Egypt has not been raised since 1984. | | Print

See, also, . | | Print

As we follow the NPT Review Conference in New York and the enormous salience of the Iranian nuclear issue there, it is useful to consider some recent observations about the Iranian case by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s former Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei.  Baradei was in the Boston area last week, where, among other things, […]

Under Egyptian law, people found guilty of inciting or organizing demonstrations without permission face jail terms of up to one year and hefty fines.  However, hundreds have gathered in downtown Cairo to protest against Egypt’s high unemployment rate and the government’s failure to increase the national minimum wage.  Workers’ groups say the government’s eagerness to […]

Excerpt: Three nations in the Middle East dominate any present-day discussion of nuclear weapons, yet only one is subjected to an unprecedented degree of international scrutiny.  Two have nuclear weapons; the third does not.  Yet it is the third nation that is widely considered the threat to world peace and the target of ever increasing […]

  Maged Abdel-Fattah is Egypt’s Ambassador to the United Nations. Ezzat Ibrahim: Egypt is president of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) and New Agenda Coalition (NAC).  What kind of contribution are NAM and NAC expected to offer during the NPT revision conference? Maged Abdel-Fattah: First of all, NAM (118 member states) is a major player in […]

On April 25, the Washington Post had another piece on Iran, this time on the front page, that could easily have been run about Iraq back in 2002.  We have recently criticized the Post for relying on Green Movement partisans for ostensibly objective “analysis” about Iranian politics.  This front page article relies almost entirely on […]

Yet again, the Washington Post has published another highly inflammatory article on Iranian nuclear developments, “Iran’s Advances in Nuclear Technology Spark New Concerns about Weapons,” by Joby Warrick.  As we wrote, Warrick co-authored another recent story for the Washington Post on Iran’s nuclear program that “could easily have been run about Iraq back in 2002.” […]

Eneko Las Heras, born in Caracas in 1963, is a cartoonist.  This cartoon was published on his blog . . . Y sin embargo se mueve on 3 May 2010.  See, also, “Gulf Oil Spill — New Spill Calculation — Exxon Valdez Surpassed Today” (SkyTruth, 1 May 2010). | | Print

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit trumpeted that he was making an important initiative today to “solve” the political crisis.  He offered to dissolve parliament in September and hold elections on 14th November 2010.  Previously he had said that he would not dissolve parliament until December.  Yet even this offer was conditional on there being “peace in […]

Los Angeles New York City Washington, D.C. Chicago Houston Dallas Oakland Milwaukee Boston Tucson Phoenix, Etc. El 1° de mayo en EE.UU., jornada contra reforma de Arizona | | Print

Sheep 1: “I’m middle class!” Sheep 2: “Me, too!” Wolf: “Sometimes I almost feel sorry for them.” This cartoon was first published by Rebelión on 19 November 2009.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). | | Print

  The antiwar movement everywhere should be extremely alarmed about the Obama Administration’s declaration in April that Washington can target Iran with nuclear weapons.  Although vague “all options are on the table” warnings were also issued under George W. Bush, now the threat of a pre-emptive nuclear strike on Iran is enshrined in the revised […]

To believe the boulevard rags, it would be a day of revolutionary riot, bloody battles with the police, and violent standoffs between extremists of the left and right. Of course, being May Day, there were the usual union rallies in most major cities, including Berlin, where union leaders spoke rather more militantly than on the […]

Midtown Manhattan, 25 April 2010 Dov Hikind, NY State Assemblyman (D-Brooklyn): “From day one, this president proved that he was not Barack Obama, but Barack Hussein Obama.” Audience (carrying signs reading “Racism.  Sexism.  Apartheid.  Stop Shariah Islam” among other signs): “Boo!” Demonstrator: “He’s a Nazi!” * * * Demonstrator: “This government is pressuring Israel right […]

  Speech by Salvador Valdés Mesa, General Secretary of the Central Organization of Cuban Workers (CTC) and member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Cuba General Raúl Castro Ruz, President of the Councils of State and Ministers, Compañeros of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba, […]

IAPA: I am at service of any unjust cause . . . provided that I get paid, of course. Tomás Rafael Rodríguez Zayas (Tomy) is a Cuban cartoonist. This cartoon was published by Cambios en Cuba on 22 December 2009.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com).  | | Print

Eneko Las Heras, born in Caracas in 1963, is a cartoonist.  This cartoon was published on his blog . . . Y sin embargo se mueve on 30 April 2010.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). | | Print

Today, Zenroren held the first May Day rallies after the demise of the Liberal Democratic Party regime, 32,000 workers participating in the rally in Yoyogi Park.  “The newly established two-party system is already bankrupt,” said Senator Ichida Tadayoshi, Secretary General of the Communist Party, at the Yoyogi rally.  Over the last ten years, wages in […]

Turkish workers celebrate May Day in Taksim Square today, 33 years after the bloody May Day of 1977,* when gunmen, believed to be linked to the intelligence services, fired on workers demonstrating in Taksim, killing 36 and wounding hundreds in the ensuing chaos.  Since then, workers were prohibited from holding May Day rallies in the […]