Archive | Commentary

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

  On the eve of the meeting intended to restart negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians at Annapolis, Maryland, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced that Israel will build no new West Bank settlements, but will not “strangle” existing Israel settlements.  This means that construction in the 149 existing Israeli settlements throughout the West Bank […]

  This week in Annapolis, Maryland, the United States government will host a conference between Palestinian and Israeli leaders to launch peace talks on a permanent agreement.  A vital component of the peace proposals to be discussed involves exchanges of territory that would allow Israel to keep its West Bank “settlement blocs” while compensating Palestinians […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

  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 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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 . | […]

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 […]