Archive | Commentary

The worldwide media attention surrounding our massive grassweb efforts for gay rights has been tremendous.  Join the Impact was a HUGE success and will continue to thrive because of our efforts. We’ve reacted to anti-gay ballot initiatives in California, Arizona, Florida, and Arkansas with anger, with resolve, and with courage.  NOW, it’s time to show […]

Play now: Doug Henwood: What’s the likelihood that GM, Ford, Chrysler — all running low on cash, they’re talking about having only a couple of months of money left to keep going — they could enter bankruptcy, wipe out a bunch of their debts, and break those contracts?  It could be the effective end of […]

The American Empire, like other empires in the past, relies on two myths.  The first is that, internally, the American system is a meritocracy.  “Hard work and enterprise can overcome a disadvantage at birth whereas rich good-for-nothings soon lose their wealth.”  The second is that American foreign policy is principled and essentially just.  “It is […]

An Open Letter to Those Seeking to Build a World from Below, in Which Many Worlds Are Possible We call on all anarchists, horizontalists, autonomists, anti-capitalists, anti-authoritarians, and others organizing a world from below to bring our best creative spirits to the project of a “Celebrate People’s History and Build Popular Power” bloc on January […]

It is estimated that foreigners poach $300 million from Somali fisheries each year.  Somalia’s armed sailors extort about one-third that amount — $100 million — from the owners of captured ships.  So, who are the real pirates? Play now: Glen Ford is Executive Editor of Black Agenda Report.  Ford’s commentary was broadcast by Black Agenda […]

I did not want to talk a lot, but he obliged me to expand on things; I asked some questions and, basically, listened to him. His words recounted the feats of the Chinese people in the last 10 months.  Heavy and unseasonal snowfall, an earthquake that devastated surface areas equivalent to three times the size […]

In the face of mass protests to roll back the recent anti-gay marriage election ballot measures, especially California’s Proposition 8, some leftists are a bit queasy.  Why, they ask, should radicals be so adamant about defending the right of gays and lesbians to enter into an institution that is decidedly mainstream and tied to the […]

The overall consumer price index fell by 1.0 percent in October, driven by an 8.6 percent drop in energy prices.  The core CPI also fell in October, declining 0.1 percent primarily as a result of a 1.0 percent drop in apparel prices.  Over the last quarter, the CPI has fallen at a 4.4 percent annual […]

The middle-of-the-night eviction last week of an elderly Palestinian couple from their home in East Jerusalem to make way for Jewish settlers is a demonstration of Israeli intent towards a future peace deal with the Palestinians. Abu Dhabi TV, 10 November 2008 Mohammed and Fawziya Kurd are now on the street, living in a tent, […]

The Honorable Henry Reid Senate Majority Leader Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House Washington, DC 20515 The Honorable Mitch McConnell Senate Minority Leader Washington, DC 20510 The Honorable John Boehner House Minority Leader Washington, DC 20515 Dear Sen. Reid, Sen. McConnell, Speaker Pelosi, and Rep. Boehner: We, the undersigned economists, […]

  The events that have been happening during the last one week in the adivasi (tribal) belt of West Midnapur district in West Bengal are so unprecedented that the authorities do not know how to respond to them, and the media doesn’t understand their significance. Even the political parties and civil society are at a […]

Introduction The Venezuelan economy has grown more than 94 percent since the current expansion began in the second quarter of 2003.1  The overwhelming bulk of this growth has been in the non-oil sector.2  Throughout most of these five and a half years of unprecedented growth, the economy has often been characterized as an “oil boom […]

The U.S. Congress will vote this week on what to do about the America’s Big Three automakers — Chrysler, Ford, and GM.  GM teeters on the brink of bankruptcy and is screaming for help.  The Bush administration does not want to give more than the$25 billion it has already promised to develop more fuel-efficient cars.  […]

The latest tightening of Israel’s chokehold on Gaza — ending all supplies into the Strip for more than a week — has produced immediate and shocking consequences for Gaza’s 1.5 million inhabitants. The refusal to allow in fuel has forced the shutting down of Gaza’s only power station, creating a blackout that pushed Palestinians bearing […]

Can South America escape the wrath of the economic and financial storms that have their epicenter in the United States?  Since the financial meltdown began in mid-September, the bond markets of most of the region (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Venezuela) have been hit, as well as most of their stock markets and a number of currencies.  […]

With Barack Obama, the US could improve its position in the Middle East.  Lebanon’s Hezbollah believes that an attack on Iran is unlikely. Nawaf al-Moussawi is Deputy Secretary and a member of the Politburo of Hezbollah in Lebanon.  Al-Moussawi, a Doctor of Philosophy, is Hezbollah’s spokesman for international relations. Mr. al-Moussawi, does the election of […]

  In October 2008, I was invited by the World Forum for the Alternatives to a conference in Caracas, Venezuela.  This provided me with an opportunity to learn more about a country that has embarked on a path of redistribution under a programme that Venezuela’s President Hugo Cavez Frias now calls “Socialism of the 21st […]

  Same-Sex Marriage: Part 1, “It’s Amazing” Slide presentation on all the things the LGBT community has achieved and will surely get. Same-Sex Marriage: Part 2, “Oh, My God!” Slide presentation on biblical arguments to support same-sex marriage. Same-Sex Marriage: Part 3, “What It Is All About” Slide presentation on the reasons why full marriage […]

Last month, the New Delhi-based human rights group Anhad, along with some 90 other organizations, held a two-day national convention on the theme, ‘Countering Fascism: Defending the Idea of India’.   It was attended by scores of social activists from various parts of the country.  Predictably, it received hardly any mention in the so-called ‘mainstream’ […]

  Keith David Watenpaugh.   Being Modern in the Middle East: Revolution, Nationalism, Colonialism, and the Arab Middle Class.   Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006.  xi + 325 pp. $37.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-691-12169-7. One of the great modern landmarks of the city of Aleppo is the Baron Hotel.  The Mazloumians, a wealthy Armenian family of […]