Archive | Commentary

National March on WashingtonSaturday, January 10 Assemble at the White House (north side) at 1:00 PM Sponsoring organizations and endorsers: ANSWER Coalition, Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, Free Palestine Alliance, American Muslim Task Force, National Council of Arab Americans, Al-Awda – International Palestine Right to Return Coalition, CAIR (Council on American Islamic Relations), American Muslims […]

Irrational War? As the massive bombardment of the Gaza Strip continues into its second week, onlookers may wonder about Israel’s short memory, i.e., how little Israeli leaders have learned from the 2006 war against the Hezbollah in Lebanon. Bewildered witnesses speculate as to what reason there could be for the massive destruction and widespread death […]

  I see you being dropped off.  I stop the movement of my scope and then I center the crosshairs on you . . . and on you waving the driver goodbye.  He drives away . . . leaving you behind at the place where three roads meet, behind the date grove on the other […]

The queers come; they go.  All kinds.  Tall, dark, fat, thin, manic, depressive, we get ’em.  Gay men in shaky relationships.  Bisexuals solidly celibate.  Lesbians with incest memories.  Lesbians sick of listening to incest memories.  Trannies sick of hearing from gay people, “I don’t understand. . . .”  They all been cutting slack, stepping back, […]

In my mind I’ve freed Palestine Envisioned a dream That just needs to be seen Olive trees and fields of figs Orange groves That lead to our roads No blocks filled with cops No ten-year-olds shot Freedom Is what I got I understand my grandmother’s plan To live on her bought and paid-for land And […]

Over 150,000 people demonstrated yesterday (Saturday, January 3, 2009) in Israel against Operation Cast Lead in the northern Arab town of Sakhnin and in Tel Aviv.  The demonstration in Sakhnin was by far the biggest such protest in Israel.  According to organizers, it was the largest protest held by the Palestinians in Israel in many […]

The whole world — including Hamas and Iran — support a two-state solution, but Israel rejects it. Press TV: In a week of violence in the Gaza Strip we’re witnessing, what do you make of the situation? Norman G. Finkelstein: It’s hard to make any definite judgments about the military situation.  The goals of the […]

I have no place I have no country I have no homeland With my finger I make fire and with my heart I sing for you my heartstrings weep I was born in Palestine I was born in Palestine I have no place I have no country I have no homeland Amel Mathlouthi, born in […]

Palestinian citizens of Israel held a massive protest today in Sakhnin, an Arab city in the North District of Israel, against Israel’s war on the Palestinian people in Gaza.  Estimates range from 100,000 to 150,000 protesters.  Meanwhile, Israel began its ground invasion of Gaza.  Can the invasion provoke mass uprisings in Gaza, the West Bank, […]

  Mariela Castro is Director of the National Center for Sex Education in Cuba. Anastasia Haydulina: One day your uncle Fidel Castro . . . is going to die.  Do you think his death will change the status quo of your Cuba? Mariela Castro: First of all, the death of Fidel will bring great suffering […]

Absent from Israeli and most other TV networks are the ongoing activism and protest inside Israel against Israel’s siege and, now, war on Gaza.  Immediately below is a video report on two of many such actions.  In Hebrew and Arabic, they nevertheless offer glimpses of current activism in Israel.  The first segment documents a demonstration […]

Amid the economic crisis in Zimbabwe, the agricultural sector continues to struggle.  Although the plunge in agricultural output over the last few years has often been commented on in the Western media, little or no attention is paid to the complex factors contributing to that decline.  Instead, matters are reduced to a simple generalization.  It […]

RICHMOND, VA , Jan. 2 — More than 60 people turned out today in Virginia’s capital city to protest the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip.  The spirited protest, held during rush hour in front of Richmond City Hall, was initiated by longtime Richmond African-American activist Umar Kenyatta and sponsored […]

Tomorrow (Saturday, January 3, 2009), two big protests will be held in Israel The killing in Gaza continues.  Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, thousands injured, air strikes have caused utter devastation, and entire families are left homeless.  Civilians in the south of Israel are being held captive by a government which lies to them […]

  The reactions of outrage against the massacre of Gaza are timidly making way in the world.  Even here in Israel, some warn against the government’s propaganda and call on people to come out into the square.  In my own small way, I myself witnessed a small demonstration, which I came across yesterday as I […]

On January 2, 2009, some 4,000 supporters of the people of Gaza rallied at Tribune Plaza on Chicago’s Michigan Avenue and then marched across the Michigan Ave. Bridge to hold a protest in front of the Israeli Consulate on E. Wacker Drive.  They could not fit everyone into the cleared street on the block in […]

Carlos Latuff, born in Rio de Janeiro on 30 November 1968, is a political cartoonist.  This cartoon arrived at MRZine via Salim Vally.

Hamas cannot be defeated, so it must be brought to heel. Ever since Hamas triumphed in the Palestinian elections nearly three years ago, the story in Israel has been that a full-scale ground invasion of the Gaza Strip was imminent.  But even when public pressure mounted for a decisive blow against Hamas, the government backed […]

December 31, 2008 New York City Labor Against the War joins millions around the world in condemning Israel’s ongoing murder and maiming of hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza. WHO ARE THE REAL TERRORISTS? Israel claims that it is fighting “terrorism” — the same hollow excuse with which the U.S. tries to justify wars in Afghanistan […]

Introduction The sirens of oppression I referred to in my first collection (1963) were still present in South Africa in 1989, as they seem to be as well in Gaza in 2009 thanks to Israel’s bombing spree.                                     […]