Archive | Commentary

  It is no surprise that the imminent ninetieth anniversary of the October Revolution in Russia has become the object of widespread attention.  The events of October 1917 were, indeed, an earthquake that shook the world, altering its economic, social and cultural foundations. Many media sources depict this world-historic phenomenon as a mere coup d’état, […]

  Preamble Dear Friends, it is a great privilege to be with you again since 2002.  As you know, my address then has recently been in the news because on the basis of a distortion of what I said, President Dease of St Thomas University decided I shouldn’t visit his campus.  It is good that […]

Over the weekend of October 27-28th, 2007, 54 delegates from Palestinian community organizations across Canada participated in a two-day convention in Hamilton, entitled the Palestine National Voice Preparatory Conference.  The convention was the third in a series of preparatory meetings toward the founding of a national organization representing the Palestinian community in Canada.  Previous meetings […]

The recent UAW ratification of the Chrysler contract that contains many of the same provisions that were adopted in the labor agreement signed with GM last month is another major blow to the jobs and welfare of US autoworkers.  Globalization, the Big Three’s grand strategy of pitting the workers of North America against one another […]

  International Campaign against Zionist and American Occupation Cairo International Conference and Liberation Forum, 27-30 March 2008 Declaration of Principles For National and Individual Liberation In Support of Resistance to the Zionist/American Project Against Zionism and Imperialism Against Despotism and Oppression Against Exploitation and Corruption The political forces, popular committees, civil society organizations, and independent […]

On one of those beautiful, fall Sunday mornings that can make you feel all is right with the world, filmmakers Molly Bingham and Steve Connors discussed their new documentary about Iraqis fighting the U.S. occupation, Meeting Resistance, 84 minutes of unflinching wallop destined to unhinge the way millions of Americans see their country’s role in […]

“Business unionism” is by far the predominant trend in the United States labor movement, and it has held this dominant position for at least the past 50 years.  It is a form of labor unionism which essentially sees as its basic mission the sale of the labor power of its members to employers on (sometimes) […]

The Internal Revenue Service tracks the incomes of Americans as recorded in their tax returns each year.  The latest numbers, covering 1986 to 2005, summarize one basic feature of this country’s evolving economy and politics: the sharply widening gap between haves and have-nots.  Consider the richest 1 per cent of Americans.  They filed 1.3 million […]

  In J.R.R. Tolkien‘s Lord of the Rings trilogy (1955-56) the ring is at the center of an epochal ecological struggle over the fate of Middle Earth.  Received as fantasy, in its own way this tale nevertheless encapsulates nearly a century of geological, biological, and botanical lore that followed Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859).  […]

  Should the United States, seeking to recalibrate the balance between security and liberty in the “war on terror,” emulate Israel in its treatment of Palestinian detainees? That is the position that Guantanamo detainee lawyers Avi Stadler and John Chandler of Atlanta, and some others, have advocated.  That people in U.S. custody could be held […]

Dans son chef-d’oeuvre Les Lettres persanes, publié en 1721, le grand philosophe français Charles-Louis de Montesquieu s’interroge sur les comportements surprenants des Français : lorsque Rica, son voyageur iranien arrivé à Paris, décide de s’habiller à la française, il constate avec étonnement que ses amis français ne le traitent plus avec l’admiration qu’ils lui portaient […]

When the Russian Revolution of October 1917 took place, it raised the hopes of the working class worldwide that a socialist state was possible.  The civil war that followed plus the intervention of foreign powers devastated the economy, necessitating a postponement in the transition to socialist relations of production.  The New Economic Policy was a […]

In a recent interview with the Qatari daily al-Raya, the Jordanian Marxist writer and activist Hisham Bustani analyses current issues: the situation in the Arab region; threats against Iran; the “Broader Middle East Initiative”; the U.S., Arab regimes, and Islamists; and prospects of the Arab liberation project.  This interview, conducted by the journalist As’ad al-Azzouni, […]

Everything went well during the summer of 2007.  The economy was in an upswing and stock-market prices rose even faster.  Then the end of the housing boom in the United States triggered an international financial crisis.  Up to now it has been contained by heavy central-bank intervention; but the euphoria is gone.  The world of […]

From Dictatorship Watch, via Al Musawwir. | | Print

La déclaration de Bernard Kouchner appelant à se préparer à la possibilité d’une guerre avec l’Iran est inquiétante.  Cette déclaration venant après le discours de Nicolas Sarkozy sur une alternative entre « la bombe iranienne ou le bombardement de l’Iran », simplifiant à l’outrance le problème du dossier nucléaire iranien, vise en réalité à préparer […]

A savage war is being waged against the majority of the people on Earth by the governments of the North on behalf of their multinational companies.  This war is not being fought with bombs or bullets; it is being fought through neo-liberal economic policies.  Its weapons are not being delivered by stealth bombers; they are […]

  (Mainly regarding Urban Development Themes) If we had to give a brief definition of the city under socialism, we might say that it is a sustainable human settlement with a life project planned and carried out collectively. If we wanted to flesh out this definition with some descriptive characteristics, we might add that it […]

City of Troy Rensselaer County New York My county clerk, Frank Merola, has been making a name for himself lately.  Reacting to NY State Governor Eliot Spitzer’s change in the requirements for a NY State Driver’s license, which would drop the need for a social security number, Merola told the press “As long as I […]

In the neoconservative Canada of the late 1990s, the labour movement needs to become more militant, less accommodating to the demands of corporations and governments.  If this sounds like a return to the days of the 1930s or 1950s, so be it.  It’s either that or watch decades of hard-won gains disappear.  This resistance will […]