Iranian director Soudabeh Moradian films the daily life of her country, as she sees it, as she lives it, without comment. A new episode of her chronicles of Iran is broadcast on ARTE.tv each week. Watch five episodes — “The Bus Driver,” “In Front of the University of Tehran,” “To Be 24 Years Old […]
Archive | Commentary
Monthly Review Magazine
G20 Meltdown in the City
The system isn’t in crisis, the system is crisis! Manifesto Can we oust the bankers from power? Can we get rid of the corrupt politicians in their pay? Can we guarantee everyone a job, a home, a future? Can we establish government by the people, for the people, of the people? Can we abolish all […]
Sofie from Norway Has Questions for Sara in Iran
Sofie from Norway Asks What Iranians Would Think about Her Art Project of Having a Woman Pose in Burqa in the Red Light District of Amsterdam Sara in Iran Compares Her Project with Sofie’s Sofie Asks Iranian Women: “Are You Protected in a Burqa?” Sara Answers Sofie’s Question Couscous Global makes and broadcasts movies of […]
Action Boycott Israel
This video was first released by EuroPalestine on 11 March 2009.
Genocide by Force of Habit?
John Maynard Keynes was once irritated by a half-witted critic: “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?” In 2004 I wrote in the London Review of Books, “this is not the genocidal campaign of a government at the height of its ideological hubris, as occurred with the 1992 jihad […]
Young Iranians Answer Questions from Young Americans and Europeans
Questions to Young Iranians Young Iranians Discuss Iran’s Government Young Iranians Debate Israel, America, and Iran’s Nuclear Program Young Iranians Debate Obama and Ahmadinejad Couscous Global makes and broadcasts movies of young people in debate all over the world. The project originated in the audience’s responses to Couscous and Cola, a documentary TV series about […]
The State of Iraq: An Interview with Patrick Cockburn
Patrick Cockburn is the Baghdad correspondent of the Independent and the author of The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq and Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr, the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq. How do you interpret the latest election results in Iraq? Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister, has obviously done well and so has his […]
On the Idea of Communism
On the Idea of Communism, Birkbeck Institute, 13-15 March 2009, £100 / £45 (!) Videos by Big Casino Slavoj Žižek Alain Badiou Jacques Rancière Slavoj Žižek Program bibliobs.nouvelobs.com/files/communism-programme.pdf Alternative Program cinestatic.com/infinitethought/2009/03/alternative-schedule.asp Reports on the “On the Idea of Communism” Conference David Broder, “Report of Conference ‘On the Idea of Communism’” (The Commune, 15 March 2009) […]
In Graphics: The Minimum Wage in Venezuela Will Double That in the Rest of South America
The Venezuelan minimum wage, including the value of food vouchers, will reach $636 in September this year, when the process of raising it by 20% gets completed; the second highest minimum wage in South America is Argentina’s $310 per month. The anti-crisis measures announced by the Bolivarian government last Saturday, although affecting Venezuelans negatively […]
Turkey’s Falling-out with Israel Deals Blow to Settlers: Ottoman Archives Show Land Deeds Forged
A legal battle being waged by Palestinian families to stop the takeover of their neighborhood in East Jerusalem by Jewish settlers has received a major fillip from the recent souring of relations between Israel and Turkey. After the Israeli army’s assault on the Gaza Strip in January, lawyers for the families were given access to […]
Being Gay in Iran
Couscous Global: Tell me — how is gay life in Iran? Depends on your situation. As all the people know, it’s not easy here, but it depends on your situation, too. Which kind of family you are, what’s your religion, yes, it depends on your situation. – – – – – – – – – […]
Media Crisis and Grassroots Response
The media landscape in the US is changing rapidly. As all forms of journalists face massive layoffs, analysts fear that journalism’s role as a counterforce against the powerful is in jeopardy. For progressives and radicals working in media, it’s important to not only question what format news will come in, but also how to approach […]
Why More of the Same Will Not Work
A visit to Western Europe in early March provided some slightly different — if unsettling — insights into global economic arrangements and their socio-cultural co-ordinates. As the crisis unfolds, people everywhere are questioning current economic institutions and processes, and naturally enough their fears, insecurities and concerns also affect their visions for the future. The fundamental […]
Yugoslavia
The dark Danube is covered with White flowers, white flowers, white flowers. And the melody asks for memory Of the past, the past, the past. But like a flock of birds Our songs’ simple words vanish. You are walking into the fire, Yugoslavia Without me, without me, without me. For that night under a […]
On the Tenth Anniversary of the NATO Bombing of Yugoslavia
On March 24, 1999, NATO began an aerial bombing campaign against what was then the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. For 78 days, bombs rained down on military targets and civilian infrastructure under the guise of ‘humanitarian intervention.’ Operation Allied Force precipitated the displacement of over one million people and directly resulted in the deaths […]
From Guangzhou to Gaza — Underground
GAZA CITY, 19 March 2009 (IRIN) — The main kitchenware supplier in Gaza, Al-Dahshan Company, last received a shipment from Israel over two years ago through the Karni crossing. Karni, the only commercial crossing with the facilities to allow large numbers of trucks to enter Gaza, has been closed since June 2007 except for the […]
Did Iran Reject Obama’s Overture?
Iran’s response to a supposedly conciliatory address March 20 by U.S. President Barack Obama has been met with a torrent of “we-told-you-sos” by the U.S. media. The Los Angeles Times reported that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had simply “dismissed President Obama’s extraordinary Persian New Year greeting. . . .” The Christian Science Monitor […]
Osvaldo Martínez: “The Crisis Is Not an Abnormality in Capitalism”
2009 started off badly. The international economic crisis is the top priority of governments, companies, international organizations, and individuals preoccupied with having a roof to sleep under and food on the table. The situation has surprised almost everybody, albeit Cuba to a lesser degree. Almost a decade ago, Comandante Fidel Castro warned that the […]
Jihad against the Abuse of Jihad
In light of the rampant extremism and militarism around the world, nothing is more dangerous than the manipulative alteration of truth to reach certain political ends. In the final analysis, it is this tactic that facilitates the demonization process that blurs ideologies and beliefs in the West and the Islamic world. And no concept is […]
How to Spend the Money
The ongoing financial and economic crisis has had at least one significant impact on the world of ideas: it has brought back to the forefront the recognition of the crucial role of government expenditure in stabilising economies and averting or mitigating recessions. It is true that the continued opposition of some leaders, such as Angela […]
