The corporate media is abuzz with the notion that there is a Palestine-Israel peace conference now happening in Maryland. That this claim is being taken seriously six years into the Cheney Administration is another remarkable proof that, in this bought-and-paid-for corporate capitalist society, journalism is doornail-dead. The real truth, as reported (as a low-paragraph aside, […]
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Monthly Review Magazine
New Zealand Union Campaigns to Organize Young Workers
Melbourne, Australia — Four years ago, some experienced social and political organizers sat down with young people in Auckland, New Zealand to map out a plan for a novel trade union, one that would potentially represent the thousands of workers who toil in poorly paid and mostly part-time jobs in the fast food and other […]
The New Monastics
Tall black-shadowed cypresses slender beside arcaded cloisters: thus were monastic enterprises: now with our new doctrines secular-consumerist we bend with similar devoutness in service to our modern pantheon — Bretton Woods, its cohort deities — World Bank, IMF, WTO — diligently we recite “We have loved, o lord, the beauty of your house and the […]
Remembering Victor Rabinowitz: Legal Giant of the Left
On November 16, 2007, Victor Rabinowitz, one of the giants of the legal profession and a tireless fighter for social justice, died at the age of 96. One of the founders of the National Lawyers Guild 70 years ago, Victor defended unpopular clients when other lawyers were afraid to touch them. During the McCarthy period, […]
Response to Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, et al. on Nandigram
We read with growing dismay the statement signed by Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and others advising those opposing the CPI(M)’s pro-capitalist policies in West Bengal not to “split the Left” in the face of American imperialism. We believe that for some of the signatories, their distance from events in India has resulted in their falling […]
Celebrate and Defend the Legacy of the Black Panther Party
NYC, Friday, November 30, 7 pm Martin Luther King Jr. Labor Center 310 W. 43rd Street (between 8th & 9th Ave.), NYC Speakers Include: Gil Noble, respected producer and host of ABC-TV’s Like It Is SF-8 defendants Francisco Torres, Harold Taylor, Ray Boudreaux and Hank Jones Soffiyah Elijah, Esq., lawyer on the SF-8 case Special […]
Class Warfare and the Australian Elections
The November 24th Australian election has resulted in a sharp defeat of the neoliberal pro-US John Howard government, and a victory for the slightly less neoliberal and pro-US Kevin Rudd of the Australian Labor Party. But what has not been much noticed in global commentary on the result is the intense class struggle atmosphere in […]
Notes on the Istanbul Al-Quds Conference
One extremely positive aspect of the recent Istanbul Al-Quds International Forum is that it took place at all, despite Israeli pressures. It had been known from the beginning that Israel was not happy about any activity that might disrupt the music of the Annapolis orchestra. Despite the Erdogan government’s relative strength in resisting the […]
The End of a Racist Union Basher: The 2007 Election in Australia
Not only did conservative Australian Prime Minister John Howard lose the election last Saturday in a landslide, he may have lost his seat as well. The Australian Labor Party now controls all nine Australian governments: State, Territory and federal. Industrial relations was the key issue in the election. Years of campaigning against the anti-Aboriginal and […]
Socialist Register 2008: “Global Flashpoints: Reactions to Imperialism and Neoliberalism”
Watch the highlights from the Toronto launch of SR 2008. Introduction by Leo Panitch Aijaz Ahmad, “Imperialism, Political Islam, and Iraq” Sabah Alnasseri, “Imperialism, Political Islam, and Iraq” Q+A with Sabah Alnasseri and Aijaz Ahmad You can buy your copy of the 2008 Socialist Register at your local bookstore or order online at . | […]
Battling Sodexho: The Struggle at UC Davis
Sodexho food-service workers at University California Davis and social justice groups such as Students Organizing for Change have been busy mobilizing for improved labor conditions. Their goal is for the company’s 500 contracted-out workers to become university employees, represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299. The university and Sodexho, […]
Witches and Russian Dolls:The Crisis in Respect
Gorgeous George, and Ugly Rumours To the bemusement of many observers, the British radical left-wing coalition, Respect, has undergone a bitter crisis after a period of remarkable successes. This crystallised on 17 November with two separate gatherings — one the scheduled national conference with 350 elected delegates and observers from branches across the country held […]
To Our Friends in Bengal
News travels to us that events in West Bengal have overtaken the optimism that some of us have experienced during trips to the state. We are concerned about the rancour that has divided the public space, created what appear to be unbridgeable gaps between people who share similar values. It is this that distresses us. […]
A Word about SCHIP
The recent proposal, vetoed by President Bush, to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) represents an important effort to defend working families with uninsured children from the grim cruelty of paying out of pocket for the care of sick children, which can too easily lead to financial ruin for the entire families and […]
Ashok Mitra on Nandigram
Ashok Mitra is a former Chairman of the Agricultural Prices Commission and Chief Economic Advisor of the Government of India. He was the first Finance Minister of the Left Front Government in West Bengal in 1977, and a former member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian Parliament. He has been a […]
Critique of the Arab Left: On Palestine and Arab Unity
The situation of the Arab Left is similar to “the phenomenon of the transformation of the Left” on the global scale and a reflection of it. The reason is simple: the Arab Left, as a general rule though with some exceptions, was never a “Left” in the dialectical materialist sense. It has always been a […]
El Pueblo, Unido!: Houstonians Protest the War in Iraq
Saturday, November 17. In the energy capital of the US and under a light drizzling rain, a couple of hundred Houstonians marched and rallied against the ongoing oil war against the people of Iraq. Neither the cloudy skies nor the small turnout dampened the spirit of the crowd or the tone of the message. The […]
German Rail Strike Hits Hard
Berlin — It’s the biggest labor struggle in years in Germany, and it’s not over yet! The locomotive engineers and other train personnel just closed down much of the railroad system for 62 hours for freight and 48 hours for passenger transportation and may do it again next week, possibly without the limited strike length […]
Michael D. Yates Visits Troy, New York
On Monday, November 12, we here in Troy, NY were lucky enough to have Michael Yates visit us on his book tour, his 52nd stop, to be exact. In addition to the talk at Troy’s “Sanctuary for Independent Media,” co-sponsored by the Troy Area Labor Council of the AFL-CIO, Yates gave several interviews on WRPI, […]
The Danger of War Grows: The Scenario Reminiscent of the Iraq War [Die Kriegsgefahr wächst: Das Szenario erinnert an den Irak-Krieg]
Die ständigen Mitglieder des UN-Sicherheitsrats hatten sich im Atomstreit mit dem Iran Anfang Oktober geeinigt: Die Entscheidung über verschärfte Sanktionen wird vertagt, bis die Internationale Atomenergiebehörde (IAEO) einen neuen Bericht über das Atomprogramm Irans vorgelegt hat. Aber so viel Geduld wollten die USA nicht aufbringen. Im Alleingang verschärften sie die Wirtschaftssanktionen, stuften die Revolutionsgarden […]
