Archive | Commentary

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) wants its members to believe that their union is just like the alluring but ultimately nightmarish hostelry immortalized by The Eagles.   It’s a place of permanent imprisonment only “programmed to receive” workers and their dues money, not let either go elsewhere when the rhetoric of “progressive unionism” wears thin […]

Want to hear something weird about the Left?  It’s chock-full of human nature.  For example: Some communist, in the dead of winter, stole my girlfriend’s coat. I take you back a few months.  A cold December.  My girlfriend and I are invited to a “holiday party,” as the Americans say.  Note how the festive noun […]

Lotteries, now run by most of our 50 states, are disguised forms of taxation that fall most heavily on those least able to pay.  In today’s economic crisis, state leaders face rising resistance to taxation from everyone.  Therefore, many of them plan to expand lotteries even more, hoping that no one realizes they represent a […]

  Roy Chaderton, Venezuela’s Ambassador to the Organization of American States, speaks of numerous members of the Jewish community who have supported the struggles of peoples against imperialism and Zionism, and he rejects any attack against the Jewish people. Watching television footage of one of the necessary and legitimate protests against the Israeli Embassy in […]

  Despite Promises to Facilitate Humanitarian Aid, Policy of Deliberate Obstruction Continues Even after the Ceasefire: The amount of industrial diesel Israel has permitted to enter Gaza is just 64% of the total needed to operate the power station. Since the fighting ended, Israel has totally obstructed the transfer of vital spare parts needed to […]

The Geir Haarde government of Iceland became the first in the world to fall in the wake of the financial meltdown.  Now, Iceland has a provisional coalition government, headed by the world’s first lesbian prime minister, Johanna Sigurdardottit of the Social Democratic Alliance.  Left-Green Movement Chairman Steingrimur J. Sigfusson is reportedly now appointed Minister of […]

The World Social Forum (WSF) in Belem isn’t just another forum.  It’s the first WSF since the outbreak of the 2008 economic crisis, held at a moment when the total failure of neo-liberalism and the destructive character of global capitalism are exposed in all their harsh reality.  Besides, the Brazilian Amazon is a privileged place […]

On the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, Al Jazeera is running a special series of programs on Iran. Rageh Omaar, “I Knew the Shah,” Part 1 (Al Jazeera, 17 January 2009) Rageh Omaar, “I Knew the Shah,” Part 2 (Al Jazeera, 17 January 2009) Rageh Omaar, “I Knew Khomeini,” Part 1 […]

  His face the color of the Turkish flag, his right arm pinning the panel moderator to his seat, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan preferred not to listen to any more Israeli bullshit about Gaza.  With finger-wagging Israeli president Peres regurgitating the usual self-serving argument of self-defense to justify the criminal acts of his state, […]

An exhibition of Iason Athanasiadis’s photographs of Iran, “Exploring the Other: Contemporary Iran,” opened on 25 January 2009, at the Craft and Folk Art Museum (co-produced by the Society of Cinema and Arts) in Los Angeles.  “Exploring the Other” offers an alternative narrative of the country famously included in the “Axis of Evil” by George […]

New Orleans — Hurricane Katrina was a catastrophic event that forced many people in New Orleans to start over.  Since then, several hurricanes, such as Ivan and Gustav, continued to damage some of the oldest and most significant historical sites in the United States.  One of the sites in jeopardy is the Wesley United Methodist […]

Early speculation on the motive behind Israel’s slaughter in Gaza that began on 27 December 2008 and continued till 18 January 2009 centered on the upcoming elections in Israel.  The jockeying for votes was no doubt a factor in this Sparta-like society consumed by “revenge and the thirst for blood,”1 where killing Arabs is a […]

  In 1997, the AFL-CIO established the American Center for International Labor Solidarity by merging its four regional institutions that had operated around the world.  Solidarity Center stated its mission: “to help build a global labor movement by strengthening the economic and political power of workers around the world through effective, independent and democratic unions.” […]

The Gaza massacre, at least for the moment, is over — ended just before Barack Obama’s inauguration, so as not to cast an unwelcome cloud over his first hours as U.S. President.  The initial Palestinian death toll is 1,300 . . . and expected to rise.  (Four times that number were injured, and more wounded […]

Following close on the United Socialist Party of Venezuela’s (PSUV) electoral victory in the November 23 regional elections, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez re-proposed a constitutional reform that would allow indefinite re-election.  The first attempt, bundled with various constitutional amendments that would have accelerated economic restructuring, was defeated 51 to 49 percent in December 2007. Predictably, […]

Thursday, 29 January 2009 On 29 January, the united mobilization organized by the initiative of all trade unions resulted in very broad participation in the strikes in many sectors and demonstrations of rare magnitude.  It’s a resounding rejection of the “gravediggers” of unionism. Several million workers in the private and public sectors, the unemployed, the […]

Liberals swooning over President Barack Obama’s recent speechmaking are also much impressed by his rhetorical overtures to Arabs and Muslims, first articulated during his inaugural address and reiterated on a major Arabic-language news channel. The sharp divergence in tone and tenor from Bush’s rhetoric is certainly welcome after eight years of hubris and arrogance. Quoting […]

The UGTG Appeal to the International Democratic Movement of Workers Dear comrades and friends, The French colonial authority is getting ready to suppress the workers, youth, and people of Guadeloupe as well as their organizations. In response to the call of 47 trade unions, political organizations, consumer associations, popular organizations, and cultural associations, a general […]

The torture of prisoners in US custody is not only found in military prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo.  If President Obama is serious about ending US support for torture, he can start here in Louisiana. The Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola is already notorious for a range of offenses, including keeping former Black Panthers […]

After Bolivia’s new constitution was passed in a national referendum on Sunday, thousands gathered in La Paz to celebrate.  Standing on the balcony of the presidential palace, President Evo Morales addressed a raucous crowd: “Here begins a new Bolivia.  Here we begin to reach true equality.” Polls conducted by Televisión Boliviana announced that the document […]