Archive | Commentary

Thirty years ago, during the several months past, my generation was restructuring social life in Iran, breaking down government doors previously impervious to people’s demands, evicting a dictatorial bunch of idiots who had been imposed on us in 1953, in a coup inspired in the U.K. and carried out by the CIA. And so it […]

Binyam Mohamed, an Ethiopian residing in Britain, said he was tortured after being sent to Morocco and Afghanistan in 2002 by the U.S. government.  Mohamed was transferred to Guantánamo in 2004 and all terrorism charges against him were dismissed last year.  Mohamed was a victim of extraordinary rendition, in which a person is abducted without […]

The elections to the 18th Israeli Knesset were called due to multiple corruption cases connected to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.  However, the elections’ agenda was radically altered by the Israeli military offensive against Gaza in December 2008-January 2009. Israel’s military offensive against Gaza and the major protest demonstrations organized by Palestinian citizens of Israel focused […]

Emily Dickinson once advised: “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant.”  Evidently the New York Times‘ headline writers are taking advice from the enigmatic poet.  The headline on the story on how the Obama administration will be going easy on banks and bankers getting bailout money blamed it all on the Treasury Secretary: “Geithner […]

Featuring interviews with Abbas Abdi, Ervand Abrahamian, Dr. Farhad Aftar, Hussein Alaie, Ali Ansari, Nazanin Ansari, Reza Ansari, Assadolah Badamchian, Shaul Bakhash, Daniel Brumberg, Shirin Ebadi, Masoumeh Ebtekar, Zahra Eshraqi, Dr. Ahmed Etemad, Shideh Gourani, Ayatollah Mehdi Karoubi, Lowell Bruce Laingen, John Limbert, Abbas Milani, Mohsen Mirdamadi, Ata’ollah Mohajerani, Seyed Ali Akhbar Mohtashamipur, Hojatolislam Seyed […]

One of the greatest insights of Karl Marx was his perception of the capitalist system as a self-acting, self-driven and “spontaneous” order.  Far from being a malleable system, where intervention by the State could be used for bringing about basic changes in the mode of its functioning, in which case of course the need to […]

  After a decade of political polarization and international standoff, the debate on Zimbabwe has finally been opened up to a wider reading public, thanks to Mahmood Mamdani’s “Lessons of Zimbabwe,” appearing in the London Review of Books (04/12/2008).  Renowned scholars, within and without Africa, have broken their silence and have taken public positions.  The […]

  “Supporting the Palestinian people’s struggle for self-determination is a duty of Israeli communists.” The Communist Party of Israel (CPI) and its front Hadash (Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) were the only political forces in Israel that confronted the massacre perpetrated by the Tzahal (IDF), the Israeli armed forces, in Gaza last January.  Regrettably, […]

Fatah and Hamas The results of the public opinion poll conducted by the Jerusalem Media and Communications Center (JMCC) during the period 29-31 January 2009 show that the majority of respondents (46.7%) believed that Hamas came out of the war victorious compared with only 9.8% who said that Israel won the war.  Over one-third, 37.4%, […]

  CP: After twenty-five years of sporadic growth and extreme polarization of income and life conditions around the world, actually existing neoliberalism seems to be on the verge of collapse.  Where do you situate the current crisis in the history of the development of global capitalism? JBF: Neoliberalism has clearly collapsed.  But as Fred Magdoff […]

February 3, 2009 Dear All, Last week, with initial hesitation but finally strong conviction, I endorsed the Call for a U.S. Cultural and Academic Boycott of Israel.   I’d like to offer my reasons to friends, family and comrades.  I have tried in fullest conscience to think this through. My hesitation: I profoundly believe in […]

Fog covered El Alto, Bolivia on Saturday morning as social movements from around the country marched into the city to mark the official passage of Bolivia’s new constitution.  “This is the second independence, the true liberation of Bolivia,” Bolivian President Evo Morales said as he signed the new constitution. The new constitution was approved by […]

  The parliament broadened by the Djibouti peace process elected Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, chairman of the executive council of the Islamic Courts Union, as President of Somalia.  The Ethiopian occupation alone had failed to shore up the Transitional Federal Government, so Washington had to try a new tack.  Al Jazeera’s report, however, indicates trouble […]

  6 February 2009 The Congress of South African Trade Union is pleased to announce that its members, dock workers belonging to the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), achieved a victory last night when they stood firm by their decision not to offload the Johanna Russ, a ship that was carrying Israeli […]

34 year-old Kashif ul-Huda runs TwoCircles.net, the leading Indian Muslim news and features web site.  In this interview with Yoginder Sikand he talks about his work and reflects on Indian Muslims and the media. Q: What made you set up TwoCircles.net?  What was your source of inspiration? A: I come from a working class family […]

What is the story American Jews have been told about Israel and Zionism, and how does it differ from the reality of what happened in Palestine?  Like many American Jews, I was told by my teachers at Hebrew School and in the Jewish Day School I attended that the creation of Israel meant that Jews […]

Granted, the Somali political conundrum is multifaceted in nature.  And, one of these facets, indeed the most frequently cited element perpetuating Somalia’s violence and anarchy, is the lack of good leadership capable of ensuring good governance.  According to the official account, this very element is what toppled the Transitional Federal Government (TFG). The indicators of […]

Now, more then ever, Israeli activists need a powerful global movement to help us build a just peace in Israel/Palestine.  Looking for effective tools for ending the occupation, we have launched a new website WhoProfits.org listing companies directly involved in the occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights.  […]

As economists in the US warn against the potential for double-digit unemployment, much of the world is already experiencing that reality.  In Spain, 200,000 workers lost their jobs in January alone, the most for a single month on record, pushing that country’s unemployment rate to over 14%.  Over 9% of workers in the Republic of […]

TERMINÓ EL RECESO Y EL SABADO 7 DE FEBRERO VUELVE “LEÑA AL FUEGO” CON UN DEBATE “LEÑA AL FUEGO”: Programa semanal que desde hace nueve años y diez meses se viene emitiendo los sábados de 18 a 20 por Radio de la Ciudad, AM 1110, bajo la conducción del periodista HERMAN SCHILLER.  Este programa se […]