Introduction by Lincoln Shlensky Israeli historian Avi Shlaim, in an audio/video interview (also transcribed) with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!, breaks down the responsibility for the current war in Gaza and clarifies the definition of “terror” as a term that should be applied both to Hamas and Israel. Based on Israeli Ministry of Defense statistics […]
Archive | Commentary
Monthly Review Magazine
Under the Voices of Fire: Artists in Gaza
I am working under the voices of fire, Israeli warplanes. . . . I still breathe, take some pictures everyday. — artist Shareef Sarhan, January 12, 2009 As Israel’s vicious attack claims more lives, Gaza’s infrastructure now lies in shambles, including the handful of nonprofit venues that made cultural life possible. Even before the invasion, […]
South African Solidarity with Egyptian and Palestinian Peoples
Numerous protests against Israel’s apartheid and massacres in Gaza have been held in South Africa. One of the targets has been the Egyptian regime’s role in the siege of Gaza. — Ed. Memorandum To President Hosni Mubarak, president of the Arab Republic of Egypt 9 January 2009 We who have gathered today outside the Egyptian […]
Firing the Boss: An Interview with Mark Meinster, Organizer of the Chicago Factory Occupation
On December 5, 2008, over 200 recently-fired workers at the Republic Window and Doors factory in Chicago occupied their plant, demanding that they be paid their vacation and severance checks. The occupation ended victoriously six days later when the Bank of America and other lenders to Republic agreed to pay the workers the approximately $2 […]
Jews Shut Down Israeli Consulate for 3 Hours: 10 Jews Chain Together to Block Driveway and Entrance
Wednesday, January 14, 2009, Los Angeles Click to enlarge. Photos by Mel Melcon/Los Angeles Times Early this morning, Jewish activists, in a historic first in Los Angeles, chained themselves to the entrance of the Israeli Consulate and blocked the driveway to the parking structure, blocking all traffic in and out of the building. “We sent […]
Remembering Egypt
“Egypt is playing a tawdry role in the current agony of the Palestinians; but it is not new, sadly.” — Dennis Brutus Remembering Egypt Solitary I walked the sands beside the Pyramids hot soil beneath my feet: ageless the cloudless skies aeons above invisible stars: men laboured in dusty rags parched reeds wilted in shallows […]
Obama Visit Suggests No Big Changes in Relations to Mexico; Promise to “Upgrade” NAFTA’s Labor, Environmental Clauses
With only a few days left until his inauguration, President-elect Barack Obama met with President Felipe Calderón in the second week of January, the first meeting with a foreign leader since his election last November, indicating the importance of the U.S. relationship with its southern neighbor. Calderón’s National Action Party (PAN), Mexico’s most conservative major […]
British Jews Call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel
We the undersigned are all of Jewish origin. When we see the dead and bloodied bodies of young children, the cutting off of water, electricity and food, we are reminded of the siege of the Warsaw Ghetto. When Dov Weisglass, an adviser to the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, talked of putting Gazans “on a […]
UE: California Company Ready to Purchase Assets of Republic Windows, Put UE Members Back to Work
14 January 2009, Chicago UE Local 1110 announced today that the leading company in the green window business — Serious Materials, based in Sunnyvale, California — is in the final stages of working out an agreement to purchase the assets of Republic Windows and Doors. Members of UE Local 1110 staged a sit-in last month […]
Labor Unions Vow Stepped-up Pressure on Congress to Support “Medicare for All” Approach to Healthcare Reform
Over 150 labor leaders from across U.S. kick off coordinated grassroots campaign for single payer healthcare St. Louis – More than 150 union leaders from 31 states gathered in St. Louis last weekend to step up a grassroots campaign to enact comprehensive national healthcare reform. The group is promoting a single-payer plan, which would work […]
Bolivia Severs Ties with Israel in Protest of Gaza Massacres
Press TV CCTV TeleSur
El periodista Herman Schiller presentará al embajador palestino
El pròximo viernes, 16 de enero, a las 19.30, en el salón de actos del Partido Comunista, avenida Entre Ríos 1033, Ciudad de Buenos Aires, hablará el embajador palestino en la Argentina, doctor FARID SUWWAN. Tema: “LA MASACRE EN GAZA”. El diplomático será presentado por el periodista HERMAN SCHILLER. LA ENTRADA ES LIBRE
The Crisis of the Capitalist World
The current crisis of the capitalist world is commonly explained as resulting from “a lack of government regulation of the financial sector”, “insufficient supervision allowing reckless lending by financial institutions”, “the unbridled greed of the financiers”, in short a series of mistakes and aberrations. These have contributed to a “systems failure” in the words of […]
Sir Gerald Kaufman Asks “What the International Reaction Would Be If Hamas Had Slaughtered Nearly 900 Israelis and Subjected Nearly 1.5 million Israelis to Degradation and Deprivation?”
Sir Gerald Kaufman (Manchester, Gorton) (Lab): In congratulating my right hon. Friend [David Miliband] on steering resolution 1860 through the United Nations Security Council, may I ask him what the international reaction would be if Hamas had slaughtered nearly 900 Israelis and subjected nearly 1.5 million Israelis to degradation and deprivation? Is it not an […]
Greek Solidarity with Gaza in Response to PFLP Appeal
On 10 January 2009, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine* issued an “Urgent Call to Greek People: Block the Shipment of US Arms to Israel through Greek Ports.” It reported that the U.S. Navy was planning to ship 3,000 tons of ammunition by merchant ship from the Greek port Astakos to the […]
“Gaza Terrorists”
The photographs below were all taken inside the Gaza Strip during the Israeli invasion, from 26th December 2008 to now. Many of the photographs were taken by the Palestinian coordinator of the International Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza. She has titled her photographs: “Gaza Terrorists.” “In the end we will remember not the […]
Thousands of Israelis Protest against the War in Gaza
A headline on the front page of the New York Times today asserts: “Israelis United on Gaza War Even as Censure Rises Abroad” (Ethan Bronner, 13 January 2009). The article goes on to claim that “antiwar rallies here have struggled to draw 1,000 participants” (emphasis added). To be sure, the very first antiwar rally in […]
“Labor Boycott of Israel” Urged at Rally for Palestinians
On January 10, 2009, thousands of people in the Bay Area protested the US-supported attack by Israel on the people of Gaza at a rally and march in San Francisco. Trade unionists including leaders of the Oakland Education Association and ILWU Local 10 and a leader of the California Peace and Freedom party condemned the […]
Israeli Soldiers Refuse to Serve in Gaza
“Soldiers Refuse to Serve in Gaza, Tel-Aviv Protest, 8-1-2009,” Social TV, 11 January 2009 Social TV is an Israeli initiative for independent media and public education for social change.
Bomb a Ghetto, Raise a Cheer
Pro-Israel Rally for Attacking Gaza, New York City, 11.01.09 Cf. Max Blumenthal, “Pro-Israel Rally Attended by Big-Time NY Dems Descends into Calls for ‘Wiping Out’ Palestinians,” AlterNet, 13 January 2009. Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for The Daily Beast and contributor to The Nation, Al Jazeera English, Salon.com, AlterNet, the Huffington Post, and the […]
