Archive | Commentary

Caracas, 5 July 2009, ABN — The legitimate president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, said this Sunday from El Salvador that the repression that the de facto government of Honduras carried out against demonstrators, who were peacefully calling for the return of the constitutional president, is a criminal act. “The acts of violence committed on Sunday […]

Perhaps the most significant feature of the recent Indian election is the loss suffered by the Left.  The BJP’s defeat was more or less anticipated, except by the psephologists, as was some loss by the Left; but the actual extent of the Left’s loss has been quite staggering.  True, its vote share has fallen only […]

A recent article by Anne Applebaum, published under two separate titles in the Washington Post (“Morocco, an Alternative to Iran”) and Slate (“Morocco Makes Peace with Its Past”), has caused quite a stir amongst Moroccan bloggers, as well as on Twitter and in forums.  The article, which suggests Morocco as a model for democracy coexisting […]

Questionnaire/Methodology (PDF) When President Obama arrives in Russia for the Moscow summit he may face a cool reception.  A new poll of Russians, conducted by the Levada Center as part of a larger WorldPublicOpinion.org poll, finds that just 23 percent of Russians have confidence in Obama to do the right thing in international affairs, while […]

To judge by the next day’s headlines, Benjamin Netanyahu’s policy speech last month was a great success.  “Israeli Premier Backs State for Palestinians,” declared the New York Times.  “Israel Endorses Two-State Goal,” said the Washington Post.  “Netanyahu Backs Palestinian State,” announced the Guardian. He did no such thing, of course, unless by “state” one understands […]

  Iranian Documentary Filmmakers’ Declaration Déclaration des documentaristes du cinéma iranien بیانیه جمعی از مستندسازان سینمای ایران درباره ایران امروز We say this as a warning: depriving citizens of peaceful and respectful communication in the midst of the tense circumstances of the present time can lead to a violent reaction on the part of society, […]

Manuel “Mel” Zelaya is a rancher and business owner who wears large cowboy hats and, in November 2005, was elected president of Honduras, an impoverished Central American country with a population of 7.5 million.  On June 28 of this year the Honduran military, backed by the country’s elite, removed Zelaya from power.  He instantly became […]

Unemployment among men is near its all-time high on record. The economy shed another 467,000 jobs in June, as the unemployment rate edged up to 9.5 percent.  The rise in unemployment would have been higher except 155,000 people left the workforce, pushing down the employed percentage of the population (EPOP) by 0.2 percentage points to […]

Thursday, July 2, 2009 DAY 5: MASS PROTESTS IN HONDURAS AGAINST COUP; TENS OF THOUSANDS MARCHING ON THE CAPITAL TO AWAIT PRESIDENT ZELAYA’S RETURN Despite the suspension of constitutional rights in place as of yesterday, per a decree by the Honduran congress in support of the coup government, tens of thousands of Hondurans are mobilizing […]

Tegucigalpa, 3 July 2009, ABN — Thousands of Hondurans who marched this Friday from the Francisco Morazán National Pedagogical University, at the heart of the city of Tegucigalpa, to the headquarters of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the Central American nation of Honduras are waiting for the meeting of José Miguel Insulza and […]

  “The Desert Is Covered with Fog,” based on Ahmad Shamlou’s poem “Fog,” performed by Mohsen Namjoo: vimeo.com/5429764. This video clip is a work of Mostafa Heravi in collaboration with Radio Zamaneh.  It is dedicated by Mohsen Namjoo, Mostafa Heravi, Kaveh Modiri, Sina Karim Khani, Sohrab Bayat, and Aboozar Amini to all the Iranians who […]

There is a difference between the outlook of a secular generation of Iranian youth, yearning for a life in which religion (in the form of a clergy directing a theological state) refrains from meddling in their personal lives and individual fates as citizens, and the foreign and domestic policy considerations of the reformist trend.  A […]

The director of “Llaguno Bridge, Keys to a Massacre,” Angel Palacios, is in Tegucigalpa, from where he sent this video. Angel Palacios, the director of “Llaguno Bridge, Keys to a Massacre,” is in Honduras, recording repression during the coup d’état.  Uploaded to YouTube on 30 June 2009.  Published by Radio Nacional de Venezuela and YVKE […]

Honduran women and men were called upon by President Manuel Zelaya Rosales to participate in a popular referendum on 28 June 2009 in order to convene a National Constituent Assembly. In the morning of the day of the referendum, the president was abducted and removed from the country by a coup d’état. Diverse Hondurans headed […]

“About 4 kilometers behind me, there is a square in Tehran called Enqelab Square, which means revolution.  A couple of hundreds of meters that way is the famous monument of Azadi Square, which means freedom.  The road between Revolution and Freedom Squares has been the scene of some of the greatest rallies in Iran.  Freedom […]

Tegucigalpa, 1 July, ABN — The mobilization of Hondurans against the coup d’état, which started this morning from the vicinity of the government palace, overflowed Plaza Morazán, in the central park of Tegucigalpa, where on Tuesday a small number of coup supporters rallied. The demonstration in which the principal social groupings of Honduras participated traveled […]

  Analytical Monthly Review, published in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, is a sister edition of Monthly Review.  Its June 2009 issue features the following editorial. — Ed. The dire consequences of human induced climate change are now most often presented as facing us in the near future.  We suggest that the future, as far as […]

June 29, 2009 The military coup d’état in Honduras is a dangerous step backward for Honduras and threatens democracy across Central America. Democracies thrive only when democratic institutions operate peacefully and under the rule of law.  The military coup against Honduran President Manuel Zelaya brings back terrible memories of the 1980s when the Honduran military […]

Ya Hossein, Mir-Hossein Karrubi Present in Protest in front of Ghoba Mosque Long Live Karrubi, Long Live Mousavi Cf. Farid Marjai, “Green, But Not Velvet” (CounterPunch, 26-28 June 2009).

Since the Iranian presidential election of June 12, allegations that the announced winner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s victory was stolen have played an important role in the demonstrations, political conflict, and media reporting on events there.  Some say that it does not matter whether the elections were stolen or not, since the government has responded to peaceful […]