Archive | Commentary

Speaking at the National Assembly, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said that the military could stop the Taliban and that the country’s nuclear weapons were safe. “Does this parliament not have moral courage to stop them?” he asked. Pakistan is on a precipice.  The Swat Valley, once called the Switzerland of Pakistan for […]

  Laila Hotait Salas is a Spanish-Lebanese filmmaker.  She holds a bachelor’s degree in Arabic Studies from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and is currently a San Francisco State University MFA Cinema candidate.  With Nadia Hotait, she has co-directed two documentary films: Beirut . . . Coming Back to You Is Not Painful (2004); and […]

POINTE-A-PITRE, 1 May 2009 (AFP) — The leader of the New Anti-Capitalist Party Olivier Besancenot marched on Friday in Guadeloupe, joining the procession organized by 13 trade unions of the LKP, which started the recent general strike in the island.  Besancenot characterized his presence as “hats off” to the movement. Several thousands of people (30,000 […]

Zainah Anwar, ed., Wanted — Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family, Kuala Lumpur: Musawah/Sisters in Islam (www.musawah.org/[email protected]), 2009, pp. 261, ISBN: 978-983-2622-26-0, 28 Malaysian Ringgit. Muslim family laws have for long been — and continue to be — a hugely controversial subject.  Critics contend that these laws seriously militate against basic human rights, especially […]

  Kamal abu Eita. Photo by Hossam el-Hamalawy. The first time I participated in a discussion about independent unions, and about the idea of pluralism, was at a conference organized by the Al-Tagammu party — back in the days when Al-Tagammu was really “united” — when one of the veteran unionists, Atiyah Al-Sirafi, explained the […]

ALBUQUERQUE, NM — An Albuquerque-based billboard company pulled ten billboards on April 28, 2009 that had featured a political message. The contract between a local grassroots group, the Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel, and Lamar Outdoor Advertising was supposed to be for eight weeks; the billboards were taken down after only three weeks. […]

In Mexico, May Day, the international labor holiday, has been cancelled for the first time in the country’s history. All of the major federations — the government-backed, conservative, and often corrupt “official” unions of the Congress of Labor (CT) as well as the independent National Union of Workers (UNT) and Mexican Union Front (FSM) — […]

Introduction Vaclav Smil’s Energy in World History (1994) provides an overview of global changes in human energy use from before the Neolithic Revolution to modern times.  In various places in the book, Smil discusses the relationship between energy use and the rise of centers of economic and political power in world history.  In explaining what […]

Ronald Aronson, Living without God: New Directions for Atheists, Agnostics, Secularists, and the Undecided, Counterpoint Press, 2008. Something unprecedented happened in American publishing in the last four years.  Books explicitly advocating atheism became bestsellers.  It happened despite (or because of) the theocratic drift in our politics.  In 2005, Wayne State University professor Ronald Aronson called […]

The religious struggle in Berlin which ended Sunday with joy for some and great disappointment for others was primarily a political battle, even though it dealt with schools and religious lessons.  Many Berliners never did understand the complicated issue.  For an outsider to even try, a few German peculiarities need explaining. First of all, church […]

  Remarks delivered at the Thomas Foley Institute, Washington State University,, Pullman, Washington, April 18, 2009 Recently appointed Attorney General Eric Holder, whose parents hail from the Barbados, aroused instant ire when he remarked last February 18 that the U.S. remains a “nation of cowards” for not talking enough about things racial.  But is this […]

The National Immigration Law Center (NILC) is disappointed at the so-called new directive on worksite enforcement issued by Sec. Napolitano today and announced by a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) press release.  The directive itself has not been made public. The press release announces a new emphasis on criminal prosecutions of employers and expanding coverage […]

A talk given at a Left Forum panel, April 2009. It’s spring and I’ve been thinking a lot lately about reincarnation.  If I’m a good adjunct can I come back as a tenured professor?  If I stay a loyal Cub fan, can I come back as a Yankee fan?  Actually, it’s political reincarnation that I’ve […]

GAZA CITY, 30 April 2009 (IRIN) — Unexploded ordnance (UXO) and the uncontrolled dumping of rubbish pose the greatest environmental and public health risks to residents of the Gaza Strip, according to the UN Development Programme (UNDP).  A further study is planned by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP). Increased discharges of raw sewage, the contamination […]

  Q.: Iran is urging President Obama not to comment on Roxana Saberi’s case.  How should the Obama administration proceed at this point? “To be honest with you, as of right now, I think the best thing is just to wait.  President Ahmadinejad announced that they’re gonna give her a fair shot, and I think […]

  Earlier this month, the jury in Ward Churchill‘s civil trial against the University of Colorado found, in his favor, that the university had fired him because of critical remarks he made after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.  While Churchill awaits a hearing on his ongoing employment at the university, this victory is […]

Testimony of David U. Himmelstein, M.D. before the Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee, at the hearing on “Ways to Reduce the Cost of Health Insurance for Employers, Employees, and Their Families,” 23 April 2009 Mr. Chairman, members of the Committee.  My name is David Himmelstein.  I am a primary care doctor in Cambridge, Massachusetts […]

  The media consensus is that union auto workers escaped the government-imposed restructuring of their industry basically unharmed, exchanging a few dings for control of the companies.  Nothing could be further from the truth. Chrysler retirees — like me — were assured in 2007 that our retiree health care benefits, funded through the Voluntary Employee […]

Kate’s is a local bar in a far northeast corner of the Bronx.  During the day, elderly patrons wash away their remaining years in a sea of booze-inspired camaraderie.  I peek in sometimes as much from curiosity as to remind myself of a future I hope to avoid.  A few years back someone changed the […]

I thought I should share some of the more amusing efforts at promoting public awareness (in America) about human rights issues.  This was sparked by the ‘Save Darfur petfood bowl’ which has the slogan, ‘If we don’t speak up we become accomplices.’  Are dogs and cats part of the caring public?  And what, one wonders, […]