July 13, 2009 Things are getting worse each day inside Honduras. Over the weekend, two well-known social leaders were assassinated by the coup forces. Roger Bados leader of the Bloque Popular & the National Resistance Front against the coup d’etat, was killed in the northern city of San Pedro Sula. Approximately at 8pm on Saturday […]
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Monthly Review Magazine
On the Increasingly Complex Relationship between Immigration Policy and (Inter)national Security
Ariane Chebel d’Appollonia, Simon Reich, eds. Immigration, Integration, and Security: America and Europe in Comparative Perspective. The Security Continuum: Global Politics in the Modern Age. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2008. xi + 480 pp. $65.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8229-4344-0; $27.95 (paper), ISBN 978-0-8229-5984-7. Migration and security have always been linked, but, as Ariane Chebel […]
Artists in Resistance: For the Defense of Democracy in Honduras
Artists mobilize again to repudiate the coup d’état and the de facto government in Honduras, in what we shall call the Plaza of Resistance, where Isis Obed Murillo was murdered on the 5th of July. 11 July 2009 Red Lésbica Cattrachas is a lesbian feminist group. For more information, contact Cattrachas general coordinator Indyra M. […]
Against Tolerance: Islam, Sexuality, and the Politics of Belonging in the Netherlands
The Slovenian philosopher and sociologist Slavoj Zizek argues that tolerance constitutes a mystifying discourse veiling what is really at the heart of political and social struggle. There is good reason, Zizek argues, that someone like Martin Luther King didn’t make use of the concept. The struggle against racism is not a struggle for tolerance, […]
Recapturing the Middle Ground: “Reasonable Belief” in the European Enlightenment
David Jan Sorkin. The Religious Enlightenment: Protestants, Jews, and Catholics from London to Vienna. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2008. xv + 339 pp. $35.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-691-13502-1. On January 14, 1791, the Comte de Mirabeau delivered a speech to the National Assembly in defense of the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, the controversial project […]
U.S. Press Falsely Claims Honduran Plurality for Coup
Did a CID-Gallup poll last week indicate that a plurality of Hondurans support the military coup against democratically elected President Zelaya? Yes, according to the Washington Post (July 9), the Wall Street Journal (July 10), the Christian Science Monitor (July 11), and Reuters (July 9), which all reported that the poll showed 41% in favor […]
Iran, O House of Hope
ایران ای سرای امید On 17 June 2009, Mehr News reported that Mohammad Reza Shajarian wrote a letter to Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting Managing Director Ezzatollah Zarghami, objecting to the airing of his works on Iranian state TV and radio: “As you know, IRIB repeatedly airs my epic songs particularly ‘O Iran, O […]
“Iranian-Americans” Rally (with Tom Tancredo) in Front of White House to Demand “Complete Sanctions” on Iran
These protesters that the Associated Press chose to label just “Iranian-Americans” (see below) are the Mojahedin (one of whose front groups the “National Coalition of Pro-Democracy Advocates” is as you can plainly see from its Web site promoting the cause of “Iranian Opposition Members in Camp Ashraf, Iraq“), Republicans, and their “useful idiots” who have […]
Welfare Reform (the Wisconsin Plan) in Israel
Since 2005, Israel has implemented a “welfare to work” program (dubbed the Wisconsin Plan) that serves primarily to punish and further impoverish the country’s most vulnerable residents, particularly Palestinians, Mizrahis, and ultra-orthodox Jewish religious families. This video was brought online by the Alternative Information Center on 1 July 2009.
Interview with Argentine Economist Claudio Katz: “The Solution to the Crisis of Capitalism Has to Be Political”
The exit from the systemic crisis of capitalism needs to be political, and “a socialist project can mature in this turbulence.” So says the Argentine economist, philosopher, and sociologist Claudio Katz, who also warns that the “global economic situation is very serious and is going to have to hit bottom, and now we are […]
After the Iranian Uprising
Even before the crisis over the election outcome broke, the prognosis for Iran in the coming year was not good. Back in October oil prices had started to fall and the contractionary measures taken by the Central Bank several months earlier to rein in inflation had slowed the economy. Last year, Iran’s imports had soared […]
Anatomy of the Golpe in Honduras: Interview with Manuel Antonio Villa
On my last day in Tegucigalpa, I conducted an interview with writer/documentarian Manuel Antonio Villa, 37, who for the last seven years has traveled through his country studying the economic circumstances of the peasantry and the workers. For Villa, Honduras has entered a new, revolutionary era, while the golpe against Mel Zelaya has commenced a […]
Obama’s Silence Kills Palestinians
Let’s do a couple of thought experiments. The former U.S. representative and Green Party presidential candidate, Cynthia McKinney, leaves on a humanitarian mission to Iran alongside several other international activists. They are arrested, harassed, detained for several days, and their humanitarian aid, films, cameras, PCs taken away from them to leave no evidence behind. Can […]
Hondurans Resist Coup, Will Need Help from Other Countries
The military coup that overthrew President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras took a new turn when Zelaya attempted to return home on Sunday. The military closed the airport and blocked runways to prevent his plane from landing. They also shot several protesters, killing at least one and injuring others. The violence and the enormous crowd — […]
Crises in versus of Capitalism
Capitalism has generated recurring “crises” everywhere and throughout its history. It alternates bursts of growth and prosperity with crisis periods when many workers lose jobs and homes, bankruptcies close enterprises, production shrinks, and governments reduce public services. Growth periods almost always promote speculation, overproduction, inflation, and excess debts that crises then erase or even reverse. […]
Tehran, 18 Tir 1388 / 9 July 2009
Protests in support of Mir-Hossein Mousavi and in commemoration of the 18th of Tir (9 July 1999). Taleghani and Vali Asr, Tehran Amir Abad Street, Tehran Fatemi Street, Tehran Keshavarz Blvd., Tehran Kooye Daneshgah, Tehran Tohid Square, Tehran
Lalgarh and the Radicalisation of Resistance: From ‘Ordinary Civilians’ to Political Subjects?
One image stands out from the Lalgarh resistance. Chattradhar Mahato, the most visible leader of the People’s Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCAPA), distributing food to ordinary villagers — not as a high-up leader doing charity but as one among them. Is this the ‘new’ image of the Maoist? But maybe Mahato is not a Maoist […]
“In Honduras, Nothing Is Happening, All Is Calm”
Adagio in My Country In my country, how sad, poverty and animosity. My father says that another time will come from the depth of time, and he tells me that the sun will shine on a people who he dreams will be working their green land. In my country, how sad, poverty and animosity. You […]
Feminists in Resistance: For the Defense of Democracy in Honduras
28 June 2009 29 June 2009 30 June 2009 30 June 2009 1 July 2009 1 July 2009 4 July 2009 5 July 2009 6 July 2009 7 July 2009 Red Lésbica Cattrachas is a lesbian feminist group. For more information, contact Cattrachas general coordinator Indyra M. Aguilar: .
An Open Letter to the Anti-War Movement: How Should We React to the Events in Iran?
The “Iranian people” have not spoken. What’s happening in Iran today is a developing conflict between two forces that each represent millions of people. There are good people on both sides and the issues are complicated. So before U.S. progressives decide to weigh in, supporting one side and condemning the other, let’s take a little […]
