Archive | Commentary

Ecocide–the destruction of the entire ecosystem–is a real prospect. Its possibility has been well known to scientists since the 1980s, if not earlier. Every projection of its pace has under estimated the actual rate of breakdown.

In 1947, thousands of youth brigade volunteers from around the world joined their Yugoslav comrades in the hills of Bosnia to build a railroad. As the most popular song from the construction sites put it, not only were these activists making a railroad, but the railroad made them.

Articles in this series: Commons and classes before capitalism ‘Systematic theft of communal property’ Against Enclosure: The Commonwealth Men Dispossessed: Origins of the Working Class Against Enclosure: The Commoners Fight Back  by Ian Angus In 1542, Henry VIII gave his friend and privy councilor Sir William Herbert a gift: the buildings and lands of a […]

The Need for Transparency and Accountability

The most scandalous fact of the current period is that 2.37 billion people are struggling to eat. Most of them are in developing countries, but many are in advanced industrial states.

How have K-12 schools been treated by the state-corporate complex since the start of the pandemic? An analysis of federal policies leads to the conclusion that U.S. schools must be kept open at any cost for two main reasons: maintain an adequate reserve army of labor and quell the idea that any alternative (e.g., less work and publicly compensated costs of living) is possible.

The consequences of the current U.S. sanctions regime, and collusion with the Venezuelan opposition, have been devastating for the Venezuelan people. Against a suffocating embargo and corrupt bureaucracy, the revolution will survive only if the grassroots reinvent it.

In North America, the European colonization started during the 17th century, mainly led by England and France, before undergoing a rapid expansion during the 18thcentury, an era also marked by massive importation of African slaves

Politicians and the media work hard to give the impression that millions of low-wage workers are constantly seeking entry into the U.S. Most U.S. news consumers would probably be astonished to learn that the undocumented population here actually declined during the years from 2008 to 2016. It continued to decline at least until 2019.

After the German elections on September 26th it took, as usual, weeks and weeks for the three coalition parties to agree on one program, full of compromises, pledges and promises (some of which may even been be kept) and to resolve quarrels over who gets which cabinet seat.

The persecution of Julian Assange is a fundamental assault on journalism, press freedom, and freedom of expression.

Deprived of land and common rights, the English poor were forced into wage-labor. CAPITAL VERSUS COMMONS, 4

The Western world lives in discontent. Progressive models have failed to maintain the levels of politicisation, mystique, capacity to question, transformative purpose, and possibilities of concrete changes for the masses.

Do not believe them when they tell you the left is divided. There is no division. The (anti-imperialist) Left is standing with the Sandinista victory in Nicaragua. The rest are either confused or advocating an imperialist political project.

In the week before the COP26 international summit, John Bellamy Foster analyzed the climate emergency and how we can achieve climate justice.

This long bloody madness has ended.

Can we learn to love peace at last?

To date, the Canadian government has acted as a reliable ally in the U.S.’s New Cold War against China. The need for Canada to change course is dire, but prospects are grim. Canada needs to break with this dangerous path and set course for peace and cooperation with China.

Professor Hudson talked about his formative years, and his turn to economics from music as he found his mentor Terence McCarthy’s speech about economics beautiful and asethetic.

John Bellamy Foster – Deutscher Memorial Lecture

Nicaragua’s electoral process far proceeds that of which the U.S. media has led the people of the United States to believe.