Archive | Commentary

  The momentous decision to reject any public option by the Senate Finance Committee today underscores how completely private insurance companies dominate Congressional activity.  The author of the bill for the committee, Liz Fowler, is herself a former VP of WellPoint, the nation’s largest private health insurer.  This highlights the importance of the single payer, […]

Washington, D.C. – The Honduran de facto regime suspended constitutional guarantees to civil liberties, including freedom of assembly and freedom of the press, for 45 days on the eve of mass protests planned to mark the three-month anniversary since the coup d’etat against President Manuel Zelaya took place.  The regime has also shut down Radio […]

“Medvedev-watching” graduated from pure science to applied science during the four-day visit by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to New York and Pittsburgh last week. The Western perception that the famous Prime Minister Vladimir Putin-Medvedev “tandem” in Moscow would inevitably transform and the Russian president would incrementally create his own power center in the Kremlin received […]

In the current recession, state and local governments are struggling.  As economic activity slumps and tax revenue dwindles, governments have fewer resources at their disposal.  At the same time, there is growing demand for government services during hard economic times.  As more people lose their jobs, there is a greater demand for unemployment benefits.  As […]

Much of the media complained that the German election campaign was dull; after all, the two main opponents had worked together in a coalition for four years and generally agreed or compromised on most issues.  Dull or not, however, it had three important results. Angela Merkel of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) will remain in […]

RELATIONS WITH THE US 1. Diplomatic Ties Six in ten Iranians favor restoring diplomatic relations with the US.  An equal number favor unconditional negotiations between the countries.  Many favor cooperation on dealing with the Taliban. Thirty years after the United States and Iran broke diplomatic relations, Iranians overwhelmingly support repairing that longstanding breach.  Both governments […]

  In my video work, entitled Give ‘Em Hell (2008), I abruptly reveal today’s situation regarding migration in the UK.  During the course of several days in the summer of 2008, I positioned protest banners on the streets of London and secretly recorded the unfolding scene with a hidden camera from the opposite side of […]

On the Web site of Die Linke (The Left): A Great Success: The Left Is a Social Force — in the Bundestag, in the State Parliaments, in Society Die Linke has won double-digit representation in the new Bundestag.  For the first time since 1945, a party to the left of the SPD has succeeded.  We […]

Faced with the growing impact of the global economic crisis, Washington’s intentions to establish seven military bases in Colombia, and growing challenges in solving structural problems, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez reaffirmed the need to build a new state. Chavez explained: “We have inherited a capitalist state that serves the interests of the bourgeoisie and is […]

On Friday, September 25, 2009, activists from environmental, youth, labor, church, poverty advocacy, single payer, and various anti-capitalist organizations carried out a march on the G20 Summit in downtown Pittsburgh.  The protest was estimated to be 5,000 strong. Filmed and edited by Jeb Sprague, for the Inter Press Service (IPS).  See, also, Sprague’s video commentary […]

“Solidarity” is the name of the poem written by a University of California Berkeley student and read on 24 September 2009 at a mass rally of over 5,000 workers, faculty, staff, and community supporters in Berkeley, California. Produced by the Labor Video Project (P.O. Box 720027, San Francisco 94172; 415-282-1908; ; ).

“We need jobs, we need health care, we need education, we need housing.  We don’t need the United Police States of America.” — Cindy Sheehan

University of California faculty, students, and workers rallied against state budget cuts and unfair labor practices at 10 campuses and five medical centers from San Diego to Davis on September 24. As a boycott of classes to protest teachers’ unpaid days off (furloughs) and students’ double-digit fee increases unfolded across the state, members of the […]

NYT Fails to Include Advocates among ‘Diverse’ Experts The New York Times devoted some rare space on September 20 to discussing single-payer (or Medicare-for-all) health reform.  The result?  A one-sided account of why such a system couldn’t work. With a headline like “Medicare for All?  ‘Crazy,’ ‘Socialized’ and Unlikely,” readers probably had a sense of […]

Can Iran beat gasoline sanctions?  The answer seems to be yes. On the front page of the Financial Times on 23 September 2009 (Javier Blas and Carola Hoyos, “Chinese Begin Petrol Supplies to Iran”): Chinese state companies this month began supplying petrol to Iran and now provide up to one-third of its imports in a […]

The 2009 G20 Summit in Pittsburgh will be held September 24th and 25th, attended by leaders from the most powerful countries.  This footage — of activists in Pittsburgh organizing against the G20 Summit, including labor, fair trade, living wage, community, and socialist organizers  — was filmed on September 23rd, 2009 at the teach-in at the […]

Rights Group Critical of New DOJ Policy Promises September 23, 2009, New York — In response to news the Attorney General is establishing new policy on the question of the use of the state secrets privilege, the Center for Constitutional Rights issues the following statement: While CCR welcomes greater accountability in the Executive’s invocation of […]

  Anastasia Pinto is executive director of the Center for Organizing, Research and Education in India.

22 September 2009 Honduran President Manuel Zelaya returned to Honduras yesterday; President Zelaya is under the protection of the Brazilian Embassy in Tegucigalpa.  The coup regime immediately declared a curfew; Honduran military and police have surrounded the embassy, violently dispersing President Zelaya’s supporters. As Secretary of State Clinton has noted, the question of whether President […]