Is talking about homosexuality still a taboo? In the Arab world, specifically Lebanon, the answer to this question is yes and no. Sure, you can have an actual discussion about homosexuality. People can freely discuss homosexuality being a disease, unnatural, and even disgusting. The Arab world doesn’t seem to have an issue with such discussions. […]
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Statement of Binyam Mohamed
23.02.2009 I hope you will understand that after everything I have been through I am neither physically nor mentally capable of facing the media on the moment of my arrival back to Britain. Please forgive me if I make a simple statement through my lawyer. I hope to be able to do better in days […]
Dignified Rage, Internally Displaced People, and “Buying Consciences”
A delightful surprise awaited us as the 3rd phase of Digna Rabia (Dignified Rage) began on January 2nd. Philosophers, writers, activist organizations, journalists, musicians, and the EZLN participated in panels, all addressing the general theme of Otro Mundo, otra política (Another world, another politics). Several thousand packed the CIDECI auditorium to overflowing and managed to […]
Peaceful Rally in Beirut for Gay Rights
Nearly two hundred people gathered yesterday afternoon at the crossroads of Sodeco in Beirut to protest against violations of the rights of social minorities in Lebanon. The defense of the homosexual community was clearly the dominant theme of the demonstration, organized at the initiative of the Helem association, which has been fighting for the […]
Resisting a Police State: The Importance of Dr. Binayak Sen
Analytical Monthly Review, published in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, is a sister edition of Monthly Review. Its February 2009 issue features the following editorial. — Ed. We have lost twice over from the late November terror attacks in Mumbai. We must add to the anguish of the loved ones of the poor people who […]
New Orleans Intifada: A Grassroots Movement Rises in New Orleans’ Arab Community
In neighborhoods around New Orleans, there’s a buzz of excitement gathering among this city’s Arab population. A new wave of organizing has brought energy and inspiration to a community that is usually content to stay in the background. The movement is youth-led, with student groups rising up on college campuses across the city, but also […]
Insuring against Private Capital Flows: Is It Worth the Premium? What Are the Alternatives?
The text below is composed of short excerpts (abstract, introduction, conclusion) from Jörg Bibow, “Insuring Against Private Capital Flows: Is It Worth the Premium? What Are the Alternatives?” published online by the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College in December 2008. The full text of “Insuring against Private Capital Flows” is available (in PDF) at […]
Those Alternative Socialist “Stimulus” Plans
There are, of course, other ways to “support and stimulate” the declining US economy: those that congressional debaters, presidential advisors, and the dutiful media never discuss. All the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury ever do is justify their functions as lenders and spenders “of last resort” (when the private sector will not). Neither ever […]
X-Plain: Israeli Hasbara
“Look on us, Look on them. Who looks more like you? Us! We have McDonald’s and soon H&M. They don’t even have a Subway-type chain.” “Support US! Hate THEM!” Eretz Nehederet (A Wonderful Country) is a satirical Israeli television program. H/T to Norman G. Finkelstein.
A Jewish Glasnost
Winning the “hearts and minds” of the civilian population, according to counterinsurgency field manuals, is key to defeating the resistance. It is a lesson that imperialists learned a long time ago, but one that they seldom put into practice, let alone successfully impart to their clients. Israel’s attack on Gaza is a case in point. […]
Who’s Telling the Truth About Iran’s Nuclear Program?
Since February 2003, Iran’s nuclear program has undergone what the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) itself admits to be the most intrusive inspection in its entire history. After thousands of hours of inspections by some of the most experienced IAEA experts, the Agency has verified time and again that (1) there is no evidence […]
April Delegation to Venezuela: Human Rights, Food Sovereignty, and Social Change
The Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of New York invites you to join us in April for a 10-day trip to Venezuela examining advances in food sovereignty and other initiatives for social change. Start off in the capital city of Caracas, then travel to four additional states, including visits to newly formed cooperative farms and rural […]
Back to the Future: Latin America’s Current Development Strategy
The text below is composed of short excerpts (abstract, introduction, conclusion) from Esteban Pérez Caldentey and Matías Vernengo, “Back to the Future: Latin America’s Current Development Strategy,” International Development Economics Associates Working Paper No. 07/2008. The full text of “Back to the Future” is available (in PDF) at <networkideas.org/working/dec2008/07_2008.pdf>. — Ed.
Sharia in Pakistan’s Swat
Part 1 Part 2 Cf. Kamran Rehmat, “Swat: Pakistan’s Lost Paradise” (Al Jazeera, 27 January 2009); “‘Peace March’ in Pakistan’s Swat” (Al Jazeera, 19 January 2009); Sanjeev Miglani, “Pakistan Islamists in a Deal with China Communists: a Sign of the Times?” (Pakistan: Now or Never? 19 February 2009); Patrick Goodenough, “Turn to China, Islamists […]
Tehran Has No More Pomegranates
Directed by Massoud Bakhshi, Tehran Has No More Pomegranates, a feature-length experimental documentary made over the span of five years, tells the story of Iran’s encounter with modernity and its social and political changes through a comic and ironic narrative about the transformation of its capital, Tehran, from a small village to a huge […]
Finland: Students Defend Universities from Capitalism
Over 1,500 students demonstrated in Helsinki on 19 February 2009 against the proposed reform of higher education. After the demonstration, the students proceeded to occupy the administration building of the University of Helsinki. Students in Tampere, Turku, Joensuu, Rovaniemi, and Oulu also organized walkouts. The new Universities Act proposed by the Finnish government, if enacted, […]
The Global Collapse: a Non-orthodox View
This is the longer version of an essay by the author released by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) on 6 February 2009. Week after week, we see the global economy contracting at a pace worse than predicted by the gloomiest analysts. We are now, it is clear, in no ordinary recession but are headed for […]
NYU Administration Thuggishly Breaks Occupation
Continuous updates on Twitter: twitter.com/takebacknyu Today New York University has shown its true face more than ever. Claiming to be a “private university in the public service,” it is clearly not even in the service of those students whose tuitions allow it to exist. Earlier today, NYU cut power to all outlets in the occupied […]
We Will Eat
Baldwin-Wallace is a well-heeled liberal arts college in Berea, Ohio. Students in dorms there are being driven to pilfer food in the cafeteria because their $12.00 per day food allowances are totally inadequate for the prices. I’m told by a firsthand witness that students of color were the first to be punished for pilfering. To […]
Sri Lanka: An Unfolding Catastrophe
Few people in the U.S. have paid attention to the island nation of Sri Lanka and to the decades-long struggle for self-determination by the Tamil-speaking minority community. As the conflict has begun to intensify and make headlines in recent weeks, the Sri Lankan government has done its utmost to control the story being told by […]
