Archive | Commentary

German Chancellor Angela Merkel recently claimed at a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Germany has always called for transparency and cooperation with Iran, but unfortunately Iran has not responded.  Merkel also made it clear that her government will pursue unilateral economic sanctions in case China blocks an otherwise unanimous Security […]

  In march 2010, the spring summit of the heads of state and governments of the European union will mark the 10 years of the Lisbon strategy, which frames the policies currently engaged in the Member States so as to “modernise” the national research and education system (primary, secondary and higher education, lifelong learning). The […]

The U.S.-led international operation to distribute food, water, and medical supplies in Port-au-Prince after earthquake of January 12 has drawn a good deal of criticism. In contrast, for the past 10 years the Ste. Claire parish in the Petite Place Cazeau (Ti Plas Kazo) neighborhood at the city’s northern edge has operated a very successful food program, started by the late Father Gérard Jean-Juste. This week I asked Margaret Trost, founder and director of the California-based What If? Foundation, to describe by email her experiences with this program in the past and in the current crisis. — DLW

The following message, published on Rod’s Blog / El Blog de Roderick Navarro on 7 January 2010, has been posted on numerous Web sites (especially in Persian translation) supporting the Green Wave in Iran, such as , , , .  Are Green Wave supporters who have welcomed this message aware of the character of the […]

In 1983, the strategy of overthrowing inconvenient governments and calling it “democracy promotion” was born. Through the creation of a series of quasi-private “foundations”, such as Albert Einstein Institute (AEI), National Endowment for Democracy (NED), International Republican Institute (IRI), National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House and later the International Center for Non-Violent Conflict (ICNC), Washington […]

Be part of history!  Celebrate Earth Day and attend the Peoples’ World Conference on Climate Change and Mother Earth’s Rights in Cochabamba, Bolivia.  World scientists, academics, lawyers, and representatives of governments that want to work with their citizens to save our planet will be in attendance.  (Conference is scheduled for April 20-22, 2010.) Before and […]

  Christos Kassimeris.  European Football in Black and White: Tackling Racism in Football.  Lanham: Lexington Books, 2008.  viii + 267 pp.  $75.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-7391-1959-4; $29.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-7391-1960-0. Soccer fans held in thrall by the European Championships have no doubt observed the significant display of anti-racist statements and activities before, during, and after the […]

  Labor Activist and Author Steve Early to Speak on: Contract Bargaining in Tough Times: Lessons from the Recent Past Wednesday, February 24, 5pm Costanzo’s Riverside Restaurant 405 Hudson River Road Waterford, NY Several important labor battles have developed in the last year in the Capital District of New York.  A strike for union recognition […]

  In a time of crisis apocalyptic desires and fantasies become pressing and real.1  Norman Cohn’s The Pursuit of the Millennium (1957) offers a secret history of the periodic emergence of a ‘revolutionary eschatology’ in the Middle Ages in response to a collapsing social order, immiseration, disease and war.  Responding to crisis these dreamers dared […]

The unemployment rate fell to 9.7 percent in January, driven by a 0.4 percentage-point drop in the unemployment rate for women to 8.4 percent.  The unemployment rate for men fell 0.2 percentage points to 10.8 percent.  This drop came in spite of a reported loss of 20,000 jobs in the establishment survey. The improved employment […]

  The essential point of M. Shahid Alam‘s book, Israeli Exceptionalism: The Destabilizing Logic of Zionism, comes clear upon opening the book to the inscription in the frontispiece.  From the Persian poet and philosopher Rumi, the quote reads, “You have the light, but you have no humanity.  Seek humanity, for that is the goal.”  Alam, […]

  Tens of thousands of people used their right not to work for one day and supported the struggle of the Tekel workers in a general strike.  For Türk-İş President Kumlu it was a successful protest action withstanding the pressure of officials and employers. Turkish Confederation of Labour Unions (Türk-İş) President Mustafa Kumlu reckoned the […]

Binayak Sen: . . .  [A body mass index] below 18.5 is regarded as chronic subnutrition.  33% of our adult population, one third of the country, have a body mass index below 18.5.  For me this is a shocking figure. . . .  We find that, in the scheduled tribes, more than 50% of the […]

UAW 2244 workers at the Fremont, California NUMMI Toyota GM plant speak out about the closure of the plant, the bankruptcy of GM, and the strategy of the UAW international and local union officials. Union meetings have been cancelled, violating the union’s bylaws, and members are angry about the failure of the union to represent […]

  If you want to be reminded of the myriad of ways in which markets fail, you will welcome the new and timely book by John Cassidy titled simply How Markets Fail.  Cassidy is not only an economist but a rare one who can write. Indeed, he writes so well that he is a regular […]

  Statement of Haitian Organizations and Platforms To all our partners On January 12th, 2010 an earthquake of unprecedented force struck our country with dramatic consequences for the people of many areas in the west and south east, and for the country as a whole.  The tremor registered 7.3 on the Richter scale, and the […]

Le Figaro caricatured my words regarding the candidacy of Ilham Moussaïd, who is on our list in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur regional elections.  After a serious and complex debate, the Vaucluse chapter of the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA) made a choice to include on its feminist, anti-capitalist, and internationalist lists an NPA member who believes in […]

3 February 2010 — As is custom at the beginning of each year, the different US agencies publish their famous annual reports on topics ranging from human rights, trafficking in persons, terrorism, threats, drug-trafficking, and other issues that indicate who will be this year’s target of US aggression.  Yesterday, it was the intelligence community’s turn. […]

Millions of members of six union confederations join the general strike to support Tekel workers in their struggle for job security and take action against the pressure imposed to the workers.  Türk-İş President Kumlu repeated the request to protect the workers’ employee personal rights. According to a joint decision taken by six union confederations, millions […]

Over the past four decades Israel has defrauded Palestinians working inside Israel of more than $2 billion by deducting from their salaries contributions for welfare benefits to which they were never entitled, Israeli economists have revealed. A new report, “State Robbery,” to be published later this month, says the “theft” continued even after the Palestinian […]