Archive | Commentary

The global recession is still very much with us, despite the recent attempts by media and some policy makers especially in the North to dismiss it as almost over, and to find some indications of the “green shoots” of recovery in almost each item of economic and financial news.  But even as the downturn continues […]

In my reflection written last Thursday night, June 25, I said: “We do not know what will happen tonight or tomorrow in Honduras, but the brave conduct of Zelaya will go down in history.” Two paragraphs before I noted: “What is happening there will be a test for the OAS and for the current United […]

The Ministry of Popular Power for Foreign Affairs issued a communiqué condemning the coup d’état that the Honduran oligarchy seeks to impose, against the constitutional government of President Manuel Zelaya Rosales and against the people of Honduras. Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Ministry of Popular Power for Foreign Affairs Communiqué The government of the Bolivarian Republic […]

With mass rallies for government accountability dominating the news from Iran since June 12, Western audiences are missing the underlying controversy that polarizes the country’s electorate.  We hear much about the boastful social conservatism of president Ahmadinejad, whose contested re-election on June 12 fueled days of bloody protests led by his moderate challengers.  But the […]

Iran does not just have an authoritarian system of government, it has a totalitarian one.  It is powerful, highly centralised, with sophisticated administrative and control systems, and it applies an ideology that claims to have answers for everything and that seeks to permeate all aspects of life.  Instead of a political party and youth organisations, […]

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in Persian, Arabic, English, French or your own language: calling on the authorities to ensure that security forces exercise restraint in the policing of any further demonstrations in connection with the election result, and that firearms are not used except as a last resort […]

Nations that chart a self-defining course, seeking to use their land, labor, natural resources, and markets as they see fit, free from the smothering embrace of the US corporate global order, frequently become a target of defamation.  Their leaders often have their moral sanity called into question by US officials and US media, as has […]

Inspired by a song by Bhaghwan Maaji, leader of the adivasi struggle against bauxite mining in Kashipur. Lyrics: Meghnath.  Singer: Madhu Mansuri Hasmukh.  Chorus: Jayanth and Amruta.

This documentary film was brought online at YouTube on 22 June 2009.

Protesters clashed with the Iranian riot police in the streets around Baharestan Square, Tehran, today.

Political power is never good or bad, never really just or unjust; political power is arbitrary, discriminatory, and most of the time violent.  In Iran, the ongoing demonstrations sparked by the election results in favor of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad indicate that such power can never really be monopolized by the state.  Iran’s civil society is fighting; […]

Dear Political Lady, Although I grew up in a community of leftwing activists who respected people of all colors and creeds, I never felt like I “fit in.” Maybe it was my wacky behavior and big red nose.  Or my garish whiteface, purple eyebrows, and bright orange hair.  Maybe it was because I shunned normal […]

“Our young generation particularly showed that it still possesses the same political enthusiasm, awareness, and commitment that we saw in the first generation of the revolution.  However, with one difference: the hot furnace of the revolution created emotions in the hearts of people, later during the war in a different manner, but today the same […]

The five senators voting against $106 billion for Obama’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were three reactionaries — Coburn (R-OK), DeMint (R-SC), and Enzi (R-WY) — and only two progressives Feingold (D-WI) and Sanders (I-VT). Not voting were two sick senators, Byrd (D-WV) and Kennedy (D-MA), and one just disgraced one — Ensign (R-NV). A […]

(This missive is directed at the non-Iranian “peace organizations” who are presently issuing “statements” on the Iran events for whatever organizational purposes they have in mind.  It is not at all intended to be critical of most of the excellent analysis and information exchange occurring, particularly within the Iranian communities.) We Americans love to shoot […]

Mir Hossein Mousavi, the reformist candidate challenging Iran’s authorities on the result of last week’s presidential elections, is a masterful tactician who wants to overturn the re-election of his rival, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad, with allegations of a massive conspiracy that he claims cheated him and millions of his supporters. These supporters, identifiable by the color […]

What a change from three years ago.  Then Mexico’s left was on the march, from the resistance of the teachers and people in Oaxaca City to the mass demonstrations in Mexico City for Andrés Manuel López Obrador, candidate of the Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).  In 2006, Local 22 of the Mexican Teachers Union […]

Imam Khomeini Square, Tehran, 18 June 2009

  A fact-finding team of nine students from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) recently visited Lalgarh, to probe into the reality of the ongoing movement of the people in the area.  Here we are enclosing the preliminary details of what we saw.  We would like to appeal to your daily news channel to also highlight certain […]

  BBC Brasil Special Correspondent, Geneva President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said this Monday in Geneva that there is “no evidence” that there has been a fraud in the Iranian elections and affirmed that he wants to set a date to visit the country next year. “Look, the (Iranian) president (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) received a […]