Archive | Commentary

The Cantellops Art Gallery at La Roche College will feature the first-ever exhibition of American artist George Brodsky (1901-1999) from Jan. 14-31.  “Beyond Abstract Art — Reflections of Life on Shell, Rock, Bark and Flat Surfaces: The Amazing World of George Brodsky” will be open to the public for viewing daily from 10 a.m. to […]

On October 21, 2007, after an ambush on a military outpost in an Eastern province of Turkey, eight soldiers of the Turkish army were captured by PKK (Kurdish Workers’ Party) militants and were taken across the border to Northern Iraq where they were held captive for two weeks before being released.  Release, however, didn’t bring […]

  Kenya appears to be on the brink of an ethnically charged civil war following a disputed election on December 27. President Kibaki was declared the winner of a second term after a vote that opposition candidate Mr Raila Odinga denounces as rigged and that European Union observers agree was seriously flawed. As tens of […]

DISPATCHES FOR THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE: Selected Journalism of Karl MarxBUY THIS BOOK Jim Ledbetter recently edited a volume of Marx’s journalism entitled Dispatches for the New York Tribune (published in Britain last year and available in February in the US).  I interviewed Jim via email about the content and significance of these writings. Q: […]

To the Editors: I am writing in response to Michael Barker’s commentary titled “Peace Activists, Criticism, and Nonviolent Imperialism” (MRZine, January, 2008).  I agree with all of his observations and would just like to add a few of my own. I have never heard of the International Center for Nonviolent Conflict, but the name implies […]

Iran’s release of the video taken on the morning of Sunday, January 6th in the Strait of Hormuz, clearly debunks Pentagon’s hype of depicting a routine patrolling operation by the Iranian Navy as an act of unfathomable aggression against the United States. The timing of this so-called “provocation” incident in the Persian Gulf just before […]

  PART ONE From the look of things, it would appear that we are still a long way from resolving the serious post-election crisis that is gripping and almost crippling Kenya. Even after Raila Odinga and the Orange Democratic Movement considerably softened their pre-conditions for internationally mediated talks with their opposite numbers by dropping their […]

“If we want to talk of socialism,” says Argenis Loreto, “we must first resolve the people’s most urgent needs: water in their homes, accessible health care, easy access to housing.” In the Venezuelan municipality of Libertador (state of Carabobo), of which Argenis is mayor, “we have 90% poverty.  Ending that is our first task.  I […]

Several hundred Hadash (Equality and Peace Front) and Communist Party of Israel activists participated in an anti-Bush demonstration in front of the American Consulate in West Jerusalem.  They reached the site on foot due to the checkpoints and massive streets closures in the city, designed to facilitate the movement of Bush’s convoy.  Hadash Chairman and […]

Today, two movements for the promotion of human rights in Sudan and Palestine seek to emulate the successful role played by boycotts, divestment, and sanctions in achieving democracy and equality in South Africa.  The two movements, however, have received radically different receptions on Capitol Hill.  This double standard testifies to official Washington’s selectivity when it […]

All peace activists want peace, but do activists want peace at any cost?  In Aldous Huxley’s classic book, Brave New World, peace came at a high price, but there was ‘peace’ nonetheless.  Arguably, ‘peace’ also exists within most Western citizens’ minds, mainly because their daily lives are neatly partitioned off from the multitude of ultra-violent […]

STRONG IN THE STRUGGLE: My Life as a Black Labor Activist by Lee Brown with Robert L. AllenBUY THIS BOOK Lee Brown’s memoir reads like a prizefighter’s.  And it’s right that it should.  The boxing talent he displayed in his hardscrabble youth served him well as an organizer, union leader and party militant.  Though the […]

Last December, New York Governor Eliot Spitzer and other state officials announced that the Indian Point nuclear power plant, 35 miles north of New York City, should be shut down. They almost spoiled your Christmas.  Giant blinking reindeer, strings of electric bulbs, and amplified Brenda Lee recordings could have been ripped from your power grid, […]

BIOLOGY UNDER THE INFLUENCE: Dialectical Essays on Ecology, Agriculture, and Health by Richard Lewontin and Richard LevinsBUY THIS BOOK Biology under the Influence: Dialectical Essays on Ecology, Agriculture, and Health by Richard Lewontin and Richard Levins is an exciting book.  The title suggests that biology is hampered by narrow theoretical constructs that block interchange between […]

Amidst her welcome critique of the biofuel mania, Vandana Shiva‘s ZNet commentary last month (December 13, 2007) also made this point: “The Kyoto Protocol totally avoided the material challenge of stopping activities that lead to higher emissions and the political challenge of regulation of the polluters and making the polluters pay in accordance with principles […]

“From the Ashes of the Old . . . ” The Center for Labor Renewal & the Solidarity Education Center in conjunction with Soldiers of Solidarity, Future of the Union, FactoryRat, Labor Notes, and numerous rank-and-file committees of resistance, . . . will sponsor a one-day meeting for all autoworker activists on the recent concessionary […]

  or what does the Internet have to do with you watching so many damned reruns The Writers Strike: Why We Fight Haskell Wexler Supports WGA UNITED HOLLYWOOD is an unofficial blog started by a group of Writers Guild of America West strike captains.  The contributors are both writers and non-writers.  If you’d like to […]

Many aspects of our “efficient” capitalism combined to produce the credit meltdown that now threatens ever more aspects of the global economy.  One was the private rating companies’ failure to accurately assess and honestly reveal the risks of securities based on a “bundle” of loans (securities that provide their owners with a portion of that […]

Perhaps this was a situation of two people and one coffin again. Pakistan’s current US-backed dictator, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, did not want to share the space with Benazir Bhutto, and so the latter had to go. This was certainly the case in 1977, when Brigadier General Zia ul-Haq seized power and removed Benazir’s father, Prime […]

Despite being the most impoverished country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti lags behind many countries in the Americas in obtaining debt relief through a program run by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. A hard-hitting paper published in December by the Washington D.C.-based Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) argues that […]