Archive | Commentary

  The recently concluded Congress of COSATU among other things declared to the world that COSATU will campaign for PUDEMO to be recognised as the genuine representative of the oppressed people of Swaziland. Further, that PUDEMO must be given diplomatic status accorded all liberation movements in various countries. This is a bold and very revolutionary […]

  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, […]

The five Senate finance committee Dems who embraced all 10 Repubs in voting down Rockefeller’s (WV) public option amendment 15-8 were Baucus (MT), Conrad (ND), Carper (DE), Lincoln (AR), and Nelson (FL). Baucus and Conrad also voted against Schumer’s (NY) much more modest amendment that went down 13-10. Michael Munk is the author of The […]

  We would like to bring to your attention the decision of the High Follow-up Committee for the Arab Citizens of Israel, the National Committee of Local Authorities, all parties, movements and institutions of civil society of the Palestinian minority in Israel, to declare a general strike on October 1, 2009 to mark the 9th […]

The following report on the 2009 AFL-CIO Convention in Pittsburgh is posted by Jerry Tucker, special correspondent to the Monthly Review and MRZine.  Tucker is a former International Executive Board Member of the UAW and a founder of the New Directions Movement within that union.  He is also a co-founder of the Center for Labor […]

This political crisis has more to do with manufactured “diplomatics” ahead of Thursday’s meeting in Geneva than with the facts.  The revelation by President Barack Obama that Iran is constructing a “secret” nuclear fuel facility, a few days after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) received a letter from the Iranians declaring that a new […]

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 […]

“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

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 […]

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 […]