Archive | Commentary

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 . | […]

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, […]

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 […]

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.  […]

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 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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

  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 […]

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, […]

Tallulah is a small town in Northeastern Louisiana, one of the poorest regions in the US.   It is about 90 miles from the now-legendary town of Jena, and like Jena it is a town with a large youth prison that was closed after allegations of abuse and brutality.  Also like Jena, residents of Tallulah are […]

Introduction On the 17th and 18th of November 2007, the finance ministers and reserve bank governors of the G20 countries, along with leading International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank officials, will be gathering in the seaside village of Kleinmond, South Africa.1  During this meeting — which will be hosted by the current Chair of […]

  For the last 20 years, the U.S. government has accused me of being a terrorist.  Along with six other Palestinians and a Kenyan, we were dubbed the “Los Angeles Eight” by the media.  Our case even made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Oct. 30 — 20 grueling years after the early morning […]

Upcoming New York Area Events on Immigration with Jane Guskin & David Wilson authors of The Politics of Immigration: Questions & Answers For information:Website: thepoliticsofimmigration.org/ Blog:thepoliticsofimmigration.blogspot.com/ Email: thepoliticsofimmigration@gmail.com NOVEMBER  2007 Thursday, Nov. 15, between Noon and 1 pm Interview on “Lakou New York,” hosted by Dahoud André and Ernest Banatte (“Mèt Bano”) For listeners in […]

The Los Angeles Times reports that Disneyland is retooling its boats-on-water rides because of the raging obesity epidemic in the United States, “to deal with the delicate problem of bottoming-out boats.” People are simply getting too fat for the existing rides, including the now satirically named “It’s a Small World”: “Forty-one years after the whimsical […]

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is on the mark in organizing the growing army of service workers in the US, and is on the move in sharp contrast to the industrial unions that have been stalled and subverted by anti-union legislation and massive offshoring (see “The Fight of Our Lives: The War of Attrition […]

On November 5th, retired general Raúl Baduel shocked many in Venezuela and abroad by delivering a prepared statement condemning the proposed constitutional reform and urging a “NO” vote on December 2nd.  The shock felt by many and the outrage by some is no doubt the result of such a high-level defection: until July, Baduel had […]

Poppin’ Fresh, chubby little standard-bearer for the mass marketing of lip-smacking glutens, interrupted regularly scheduled TV programming today at 8:46 a.m. to announce the imposition of martial law across the continental United States. “Now, don’t you folks go out of your homes, and don’t you try to stop those roundups in the streets — we’ve […]

  INTRODUCTION Five years into the US-UK illegal invasion of Iraq and its consequent catastrophe for Iraqi people, peace loving people throughout the world are appalled by the current Iran-US standoff and its resemblance to the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.  The hawks, headed by Dick Cheney in Washington, are now shamelessly calling for […]