Archive | Commentary

This is the story of a Canadian woman who started to explore economic issues.  The difficulties she encountered along the way led her to the conclusion that there are certain questions that can’t be answered theoretically but only practically, by people like herself.  The same discovery could have been made by someone, male or female, […]

UE Local 1110 members — the workers who occupied Chicago’s Republic Windows and Doors Plant in December and won — are visiting with, and being hosted by, labor and community groups from Michigan to Vermont during the next several weeks. Join Jobs with Justice, UE, and other groups in celebrating the successful resistance at Republic […]

Evo Morales a días del referéndum por la nueva constitución en “Bolivia Decide” Dozens of marches and rallies in support of Bolivia’s new constitution, to be voted on this Sunday, have filled the streets of the La Paz in recent days.  On Tuesday, at a rally for the constitution and to celebrate Venezuela’s donation of […]

“This is one local aspect* of a problem which is actually global.” — Dennis Brutus Farewell the Nightingales Walking the streets of the Shah’s Tehran I was conscious of lurking Savak — cries of tortured victims hung in the dusk even as I lingered over buttered long-grain rice in a dim bistro’s magic cave: That […]

Here’s what the Histadrut had to say about Israel’s crimes against humanity in Gaza: . Excerpt: The Histadrut would have preferred that the current situation had not developed this way.  Israel embarked on operation “Cast Lead” after acting with great restraint for many years towards unbearable constant terror attacks from Gaza and making every diplomatic […]

What happens when 91 percent of eligible Service Employees International Union members refuse to vote, as the two options given to them exclude the option many of them say they want?  Just ask the international executive board of the SEIU.  After the embarrassing nine percent vote, the SEIU board voted January 9 to merge three […]

Human rights, including the right of workers to form trade unions, to strike, and to bargain collectively with employers, are universal and indivisible rights which inhere in all human beings by virtue of their humanity. The Liberal Party government of the Canadian province of Ontario, however, is challenging this notion by calling on the Supreme […]

Most mainstream accounts of the Palestinian Hamas organization present it as a bunch of rabid fanatics, bent on violence and motivated by an irrational hatred of Jews and the state of Israel.  This view is reflected both in the mainstream media and in many books published on the topic. When we separate propaganda from reality, […]

Academics, Intellectuals and Members of Parliament from around the World Call for Charges against Giles Ji Ungpakorn to be Dropped Academics from U.K, Canada, France, South Africa, Ireland, Australia, South Korea, Greece and the U.S.A., including those from Oxford University and SOAS London University, have signed an open letter calling for charges of lèse majesté, […]

Dear Friend: To become a listed (or unlisted) sponsor of this Saturday, Feb. 28 tribute to Ron Carey, please RSVP via the email address below and send a check for $100 (made out to “TRF“) to P.O. Box 10303, Detroit, Michigan, 48210.  See this flyer for list of tribute sponsors so far.  Event co-chairs are […]

Around the world hundreds of millions of people witnessed the inauguration of the 44th president of the United States (US), or rather the coronation of the new “emperor.”  Even at the bottom tip of Africa, it was difficult to escape the scenes of imperial grandeur that beamed across television sets.  As was the case with […]

On 20 January 2009, parliament in Iceland resumed after the holidays.  But no business as usual for the Icelandic politicians any more.  People began to besiege the parliament building, demanding early elections and not taking “No” for an answer.  Writing for the Guardian today, Eirikur Bergmann described the political atmosphere in Iceland thus: “While Barack […]

“After throwing a shoe at the US Consulate in Durban today to wish the Bush regime good riddance, I remind myself that this sentiment of disgust has occurred repeatedly.  In 1987, it was Reagan in the White House, tomorrow it will be Obama, but the problem is not the person, it is the system.” — […]

  Peter Linebaugh and Fabian Tompsett guided a tour around the City on 12 November 2008, taking in landmarks of capitalist crisis past and present. Mute is an online magazine dedicated to exploring culture and politics after the net.

Sunday’s special elections in the German state of Hesse were the first in a year jammed full of state and national votes.  The two main results: the right-wing incumbent Ronald Koch won again; and the young party, the Left, again overcame the 5 percent barrier to win six seats in the state legislature. In the […]

In the morning on Sunday, January 18, after a heavy rain fell on La Paz, Bolivia, the sun came out, drying the umbrellas of thousands of marchers winding through the city streets.  The mobilization was in support of a new constitution, which is to be voted on this January 25. Eddie Mamani, a resident of […]

and unseen on American TV. . . . Demos Call for Closure of US Embassy — Police and Protesters Clash, Awkar (North of Beirut), Lebanon, 19.01.09 Demos in Solidarity with Gaza in Cities of Australia — Sydney Demo, the Largest, Draws 20,000, 19.01.09 Tens of Thousands Protests in Solidarity with People of Gaza, Karachi, Pakistan, […]

Over 700 citizens and residents of Israel, mostly Arab-Palestinian, have been detained since Israel began its military attacks on the Gaza Strip on 27 December 2008.  Detentions were made in the wake of public demonstrations, held primarily in northern Israel, Tel-Aviv-Jaffa, and also in the southern city of Bee-Sheva, against Israel’s war crimes in the […]

Most US economists are professors in colleges and universities.  Their academic positions enable research and teaching that is supposed to be independent of corporate interests.  They could, at least hypothetically, provide the critical insights into economic problems needed for their solution.  Economists might help to propose, evaluate, and debate the wide range of possible solutions […]

  Analytical Monthly Review, published in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, is a sister edition of Monthly Review.  Its January 2009 issue features the following editorial. — Ed. Another spectacular hole in the torn fabric of the “success story” of the neoliberal “reform” has opened in recent days.  Though but a week has passed from the […]