The government of Egypt is taking a spectacularly hard line against international solidarity efforts in support of civilians in Gaza on the one-year anniversary of the Israeli invasion, blocking peace marchers from the U.S., Canada, and Europe from even approaching the Egyptian border with Gaza and blocking an aid convoy that has the support of […]
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Monthly Review Magazine
In Solidarity with the Real Anti-Racist Movement in Cuba
Within weeks of the triumph of the Cuban Revolution in January 1959, its leadership, with the enthusiastic support of black and mestizo Cubans, took steps to dismantle the most visible forms of racial discrimination on the island. Within a couple of years the Revolution dismantled the economic underpinnings of racial oppression that had its roots […]
Building the Struggle in 2010 to Free the Cuban Five
Dear Supporters of the Cuban Five, The year 2009 is coming to an end — it was a difficult one for the Cuban Five and their families. On June 15, the U.S. Supreme Court, without any explanation, ignored the international call of 10 Nobel Prize winners, parliaments, members of the religious community, intellectuals, human rights […]
To Shoot an Elephant
“This is an embedded film. We decided to be ’embedded within the ambulances’ opening an imaginary dialogue with those journalists who embed themselves within armies.” — Alberto Arce
And the Drums Get Louder . . .
I noted a couple of weeks ago the urgency of the condemnations being levelled at Iran (what The Nation’s Robert Dreyfuss called the beginning of “the stupid season”). The hysteria appears to be mounting. Just a few of the latest incidents: We’ve been leaked the news that Barack Obama is almost powerless to stop Israel […]
Egyptian Security Forces Detain Internationals in el-Arish, Break Up Memorial Actions in Cairo
Sunday, December 27 — The Egyptian security forces detained a group of 30 internationals in their hotel in el-Arish and another group of 8 at the bus station. They also broke up a memorial action commemorating the Cast Lead massacre at the Kasr al Nil Bridge. At noon on 27 December, Egyptian security forces detained […]
Gaza Aid Convoy Members on Hunger Strike
Sunday 28 December 10.35am. Aqaba, Jordan The compound where our convoy members gather during the day, here in Aqaba, is full of activity. In exactly an hour, more than 30 of us will begin a hunger strike in protest at Egypt’s refusal to allow the convoy entry onto its soil. Everyone else is making […]
The Left against Progress?
Because it traces its origins to the Enlightenment tradition, the left has tended to conceive of itself as a “progressive” force, steering the course of History toward a more or less inevitable higher stage of development as the right tries to conserve traditional society from the onslaught of modernity. Today, the term “progressive” is applied […]
Questioning Capitalist Realism: An Interview with Mark Fisher
Mark Fisher is the author of Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? out recently from Zer0 Books. As a blogger he writes K-Punk. Capitalist Realism is one of the most acute diagnoses of contemporary politics as it is played out in one small island off the coast of Europe. After skewering the marketisation of […]
Dennis Vincent Brutus, 1924-2009
World-renowned political organizer and one of Africa’s most celebrated poets, Dennis Brutus, died early on December 26 in Cape Town, in his sleep, aged 85. Even in his last days, Brutus was fully engaged, advocating social protest against those responsible for climate change, and promoting reparations to black South Africans from corporations that benefited from […]
History of US Rule in Latin America: Resistance to the Coup in Honduras
The United States has had four presidents who received the Nobel Peace Prize. I haven’t checked, but I presume that’s a record for heads of state. All four have left their imprint on Latin America, “our little region over here that has never bothered anybody.” That’s how Secretary of War Henry Stimson described the hemisphere […]
Open Letter to President Mubarak from the Gaza Freedom March
We are making a public entreaty to Mubarak to let the Gaza Freedom March into Gaza. Text below. — Max Ajl OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT MUBARAK FROM THE GAZA FREEDOM MARCH December 26, 2009 Dear President Mubarak; We, representing 1,362 individuals from 43 countries arriving in Cairo to participate in the Gaza Freedom March, are […]
Slouching Toward D.C., Trailing Bags of Tea
In The Taming of the American Crowd: From Stamp Riots to Shopping Sprees, I argue that unlike the kind of crowds that have surged across the pages of American history and unlike crowds in certain other parts of the world, today’s American crowds seldom even figure in the news. We have crowds of shoppers, spectators, […]
Iran’s Independence and the Nuclear Dispute
The nuclear dispute between Iran and the United States is heating up. Iran made its proposal on December 12, having been in negotiation with the US and other powers since October 1. Iran proposed exchanging 400 kilograms of its 3.5 percent enriched uranium for an equivalent amount of 20 percent enriched uranium to be used […]
New York Times Op-Ed Calls for War on Iran
The New York Times published an op-ed today that calls for war against Iran. Alan J. Kuperman, director of the Nuclear Proliferation Prevention Program at the University of Texas at Austin, argues that the unraveling of the uranium enrichment agreement proves that the United States must conduct air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities to prevent […]
Disturbing the Peace of the Graveyard
In Colombia there is an expression: la paz del cementerio — the peace of the graveyard. This is the kind of peace that powerful forces enjoy when everyone who resists them is dead and buried. Colombia’s government and its military and paramilitary forces have spent decades working diligently for this kind of peace. They’re so […]
Shambles in Copenhagen
The United Nations conference to address climate change in Copenhagen over the last week has illustrated several crucial features of contemporary politics, as Obama completes a year in power, the NATO plots a military surge into the war spanning from Palestine to Afghanistan, and an economic recovery staggers along. Three Features of Political Climate First, […]
What Was Really Decided in Copenhagen?
Detailed accounts from participants in the recent Copenhagen climate summit are still coming in, but a few things are already quite clear, even as countries step up the blame game in response to the summit’s disappointing conclusion. First, the 2 1/2 pages of diplomatic blather that the participating countries ultimately consented to “take note” […]
Is War the Answer to a Depression?
Paul Jay: One of the big issues about the stimulus and government expenditure is the debate over military expenditure. People say that World War 2 helped to get America out of the 1930s depression. So, forget the kind of moral issues, ethical issues, or issues of international law — this expansion into Afghanistan may […]
No Military Solution to Conflicts in West Asia
The nature of the current wars in the wider western Asian area reveals a disturbing trend: next to sources of conflict between states there are an increasing number of conflicts within them. In Yemen, the civil war has had a ripple effect throughout the Persian Gulf region provoking the military intervention of Saudi Arabia and […]
