Click on the image to watch excerpts from Bassidji. In 2000, 16 years after my arrival in France, I decided to go back to live in Iran for a while to gain a better understanding of my country. In 2002, a combination of circumstances gave me an opportunity to attend a ceremony of national […]
Archive | Commentary
Monthly Review Magazine
On the Dollar’s Decline
If time lags matter, news of the dollar’s demise as the world’s principal reserve currency is grossly exaggerated. That prediction has been periodically heard at least since the early 1970s when the United States brought the Bretton Woods arrangement to an end by breaking the link between dollar and gold. As is obvious, whatever else […]
Cesar
Author’s Note: This story was recently posted on CounterPunch. Here I have corrected a couple of errors pointed out by readers. The essay is taken from my book, In and Out of the Working Class. I worked for the United Farm Workers Union during a sabbatical leave in the winter of 1977. I […]
Death Squads and Democracy
Why would Philippine judges hamper a human rights investigation into a killing field where many human remains are found in Davao, victims allegedly of the infamous death squad? Why would the members of the Commission on Human Rights be charged themselves? Human Rights Watch says local authorities are obstructing the course of justice and […]
Troy Labor Council Resolution for a National March on Washington for Peace, Jobs and Healthcare Justice
Whereas: The wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, attacks on Pakistan, military aid to Colombia, Israel and many of the countries that use US aid for repression of indigenous and popular movements, are making the people of the US and the world less safe. And Whereas: These wars and military aid are bankrupting the people of the […]
Palestinian Authority against Palestinian Liberation and International Solidarity
The decision to behave in Geneva like the made-in-Oslo Palestinian Authority (PA) was but an extension of the Israeli occupation was the final nail in the coffin of international solidarity with the Palestinian cause in its customary sense. Those who took this decision knew this. International solidarity was confounded by the questions stirred by the […]
An Alternative Vision of Healthcare:The People Before Profit Community Healthcare Project Visit to Venezuela: An Interview with Netfa Freeman
In June, the People Before Profit Community Healthcare Project visited Venezuela in order to assess the state of its healthcare system. The People Before Profit Community Healthcare Project models itself on the Cuban community-based approach to healthcare, and has established a project along those lines in a small neighborhood in Washington, DC. The visit was […]
Brazil, at Organization of American States, Accuses Honduran Coup Regime of “Torture”
Washington, D.C. — The Brazilian government’s Ambassador to the Organization of American States, Ruy de Lima Casaes e Silva, accused the Honduran coup regime of “torture” in its ongoing attacks on Brazil’s embassy in Honduras. Ambassador Lima Casaes described an elaborate series of measures taken by the Honduran security forces surrounding the Embassy to cause […]
The Iran Versus U.S.-Israeli-NATO Threats
It is spell-binding to see how the U.S. establishment can inflate the threat of a target, no matter how tiny, remote, and (most often) non-existent that threat may be, and pretend that the real threat posed by its own behavior and policies is somehow defensive and related to that wondrously elastic thing called “national security.” […]
Jewish Appeal to Support the Goldstone Report
The following open letter (Jewish Appeal to Support the Goldstone Report) was initiated by Jews Say No! and signed by hundreds of individuals and organizations worldwide. The letter was also sent to Justice Goldstone. Click here to sign onto the letter. Jewish Appeal to Support the Goldstone Report The primary author of the recently released […]
You Need to Watch Lou Dobbs: Or the Dobbsian Economy of Racism
I can barely watch Lou Dobbs. His attacks on Latino immigrants continue to escalate, and there is increasing evidence that there is a correlation between anti-Latino media like that of Dobbs and hate crimes against the Latino population. But we need to watch him, and in this instance I am using “watch” in the sense […]
Vernacular Politics in Africa
1 The republication of Jean-François Bayart’s classic book-length essay, The State in Africa: The Politics of the Belly, is an opportunity to reflect on the hypotheses he raises and their application to Sudan and especially Darfur. Bayart’s book mentions Sudan only in passing but the scope of his ambition is certainly relevant to Sudan […]
State Department Officials Signal Moves towards Recognizing November Elections in Honduras
Washington, D.C. — Although the official policy of the Obama administration is that it will not recognize next month’s elections in Honduras if democracy is not restored first, it became clear last week that some State Department officials are undermining this position and signaling that the U.S. could accept the results of the November 29 […]
Naxalites for Dummies
Dear Indian Reader, Not that I would ever, ever consider you to be a dummy — heaven forbid! After all, you are no US citizen of the (George Dubya) Bush years now, are you? 🙂 You are no placid ignoramus, incapable of pointing to ‘Eye-rack’ on a map, utterly untouched by any knowledge of […]
Mexican Electrical Workers Union Fights for Its Life
The Mexican Electrical Workers Union (SME), made up of approximately 43,000 active and 22,000 retired workers in Mexico City and surrounding states, is fighting for its life. The union’s struggle has rallied allies in the labor movement and on the left in Mexico and solidarity from throughout the country and around the world, but, if […]
Terminal Stage
“Would it not be better to administer euthanasia?” Enrique Lacoste Prince is a Cuban cartoonist based in Havana. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). | | Print
Malalai Joya: “The Bravest Woman in Afghanistan”
“Now, my people are squashed between two powerful enemies. From the sky, the occupation forces are dropping bombs, even using cluster bombs and white phosphorus and killing innocent civilians in the name of combating the Taliban. On the ground, the Taliban and also Northern Alliance fundamentalists continue their fascism against men and women of […]
Work More, Earn Less
WORK MORE, EARN LESSA reputable company, a leader in the global market, seeks a docile unemployed individual without a source of income, to work for nothing without rights. Job Description: Combat Crisis Juan Kalvellido, born in Cádiz, Andalucía, Spain in 1968, is a working-class cartoonist who has never stopped believing in revolution. He currently lives […]
No Way Through
“Around Jerusalem the average ambulance journey time for a Palestinian is now almost 2 hours, compared to 10 minutes in 2001. In the West Bank alone there are more than 600 internal military checkpoints and road blocks. At these checkpoints, Palestinians in need of immediate medical attention are routinely refused passage, denied medical help, forced […]
New Immigration Enforcement Agreements Will Make a Bad Problem Worse
Signed Agreements between Local Law Enforcement and Department of Homeland Security Threaten Public Safety and Harm Immigrant Communities October 16, 2009, WASHINGTON — Today the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) delegated its federal immigration enforcement authority to 55 local law enforcement jurisdictions, including localities that have a history of targeting Latinos and other immigrant groups. […]
