Saman Salour was born in Boroujerd, Iran in 1976. His last feature film Lonely Tune of Tehran was screened during the Directors’ Fortnight a the Cannes Film Festival last year. “The Final Match” was made as part of Art for the World’s “Stories on Human Rights” on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of […]
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Monthly Review Magazine
Capitalist Crisis, Socialist Renewal
This much is clear: not in a long time has capitalism been so critically questioned in the US and “socialism” so widely debated as a social alternative. The left can and should seize this moment. One part of doing that is to formulate a new program — including a new definition of socialism — that […]
Finance Capital and Fiscal Deficits
One of the central paradoxes in economic theory relates to the hostility that financial interests in a modern capitalist economy systematically display towards any policy of enlarged State expenditure financed by borrowing, even though such expenditure increases capitalists’ profits and wealth. Let us suppose that the government undertakes a larger borrowing-financed public expenditure programme, and […]
Sweet Crude
“For fifty years, crude oil has been flowing from under the feet of the people of the Niger Delta. For fifty years, they have been promised that this would mean a better life. This promise has never been kept. Now, the people have had enough.” Sandy Cioffi is a Seattle-based film and video artist. […]
From Sexual Objectification to Sexual Subjectification: The Resexualisation of Women’s Bodies in the Media
Fit Chick Unbelievable Knockers Earlier in 2003 this T-shirt (Fit Chick Unbelievable Knockers) became one of the best-selling items ever for the British high street fashion store French Connection. Like French Connection’s generic T-shirt ‘fcuk me’ and the World Cup inspired bestseller, ‘fcuk football’ it was a huge success. It could be seen everywhere, […]
Let CodePink Visit Gaza
Hello, friends — I’m writing you on behalf of Felice Gelman, who is now in Cairo. She is leading a group of 14 people who will try to get into Gaza. The group will arrive in Cairo on Sunday and then, hopefully, will get to the border of Egypt and Gaza at Al Arish […]
Interview with Ken Saro-Wiwa, Jr.
Part 1 Part 2 Ken Saro-Wiwa, Jr., the son of Ken Saro-Wiwa, is the author of In the Shadow of a Saint: A Son’s Journey to Understand His Father’s Legacy (2001). Omoyele Sowore is a Nigerian human rights activist and the publisher of Sahara Reporters. This interview was produced for Sahara Reporters and brought […]
The Left and Electoral Politics in India
In the recently concluded 2009 general elections to the lower house of the parliament, the Social Democratic Left (SDL henceforth) In India, composed of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPM), the Communist Party of India (CPI), and a bunch of smaller left-wing parties, has witnessed the severest electoral drubbing in a long time. This year, […]
Ecology, Capitalism, and Socialism
The keynote address at the “Climate Change, Social Change” conference (organized by Green Left Weekly), Sydney, Australia, 12 April 2008. This address became the basis for John Bellamy Foster, “Ecology and the Transition from Capitalism to Socialism” (Monthly Review, November 2008), which in turn became the last chapter of The Ecological Revolution: Making Peace with […]
The Resurrection of India’s Congress Party — A Worrying Road Ahead
On May 16th, some 60 percent of India’s 714 million-strong electorate delivered a definitive victory to the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), giving it a commanding 262 seats in India’s 543-member parliament. The UPA’s principal opponent, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), took a severe beating, dropping down […]
Ideas for the Struggle #1 Insurrections or Revolutions? The Role of the Political Instrument
This is the first in a series of articles on “Ideas for the Struggle” by Marta Harnecker. 1. The recent popular uprisings at the turn of the 21st century that have rocked numerous countries such as Argentina and Bolivia — and, more generally, the history of the multiple social explosions that have occurred in […]
Massive Casualties Feared in Nigerian Military Attack on Niger Delta Villages
Go to <www.democracynow.org/2009/5/21/nigeria> for the transcript of this program. ABUJA, 22 May 2009 (IRIN) — Thousands of civilians have fled their villages in Nigeria’s Delta state after government troops launched an offensive against militant groups in the state on 13 May. Villagers in Delta state’s Gbramatu kingdom reported Oporoza and Okerenkoko villages being attacked […]
Judith Butler — Ungrievable Lives
A discussion with Judith Butler on public mourning: Antigone, grieving, victimization, the production of certain populations as “ungrievable”, and the politics of public mourning as the expansion of our ideas of what constitutes a livable life, the expansion of our recognition of those lives that are worth protecting, worth valuing. Nelly Kambouri: In your […]
CCR Guantánamo Attorneys Comment after President’s Speech
May 21, 2009, New York — Center for Constitutional Rights President Michael Ratner and Managing Attorney for CCR’s Guantanamo project Shayana Kadidal responded with disappointment to President Obama’s speech this morning. CCR represents the detainees at Guantánamo and is part of the key FOIA lawsuit surrounding the torture photo disclosures. Ratner and Kadidal were disturbed […]
Freedom of Expression and Palestine Advocacy
Enormous resources have been marshaled by conservative and Zionist organizations in an attempt to silence criticism of the Canadian government’s unwavering support for Israel. The first few months of 2009 have seen a concerted campaign to shut down Palestine advocacy in Canada. Such examples include: cutting funding to the Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) due […]
Interview with Nadine Rosa-Rosso: Debating the Question of Removing Hamas from the List of Terrorist Organizations
Elkalam.com talks with Nadine Rosa-Rosso, former secretary general of the Parti du Travail (Workers’ Party) of Belgium, who has launched a Europe-wide campaign to remove Hamas from the list of terrorist organizations. She explains the reasons for this initiative today. Why did you decide to launch an appeal for the removal of Hamas from […]
Patent Fundamentalists Threaten the Future of the Planet
The battle over “intellectual property rights” is likely to be one of the most important of this century. It has enormous economic, social, and political implications in a wide range of areas, from medicine to the arts and culture — anything where the public interest in the widespread dissemination of knowledge runs up against those […]
Anti-racist Struggle Continues in Powhatan, Va.
The chant “No Justice, No Peace!” rang out once again in Virginia’s rural Powhatan County, as some 250 people marched May 17 on the county courthouse. The protesters, almost all African-Americans and including a large number of uniformed motorcycle club members, were denouncing what they charged was a racist court decision in the shooting death […]
International Day against Homophobia in Cuba
Havana, 16 May (Prensa Latina) — The International Day against Homophobia was observed here today, with the participation of a diverse, largely youthful public. In the early hours of the morning, the day’s activities began at the headquarters of the Union of Writers and Artists (UNEAC) and the Pabellón Cuba, in the central district of […]
Jasad, the Body Unveiled
“Fetishism: the Key to Sensuality”; “Is Cannibalism a New Religion?”; “Syrian Lingerie”; “I Am Gay, Therefore I Do Not Exist.” . . . With such a table of contents, Jasad (“body” in Arabic), a Lebanese, Arabic-language, cultural quarterly “specializing in the art, literature, and science of the body,” might be mistaken for an unidentified […]
