Hard to tell which is more upsetting: Hrant Dink’s “unsurprisingly shocking” murder, or the hypocrisies uttered by government officials in his wake. Once words of condolences and condemnation are quickly dispensed with — in a monotone reminiscent of a computerized voice telling a caller that “the number you have dialed is not in service” […]
Archive | Commentary
Monthly Review Magazine
Waste, Fraud, and Abuse: Another Day at the Pentagon
When I was a teenager apprenticing at being a trade unionist and a left winger both, two of my favorite books were Labor’s Untold Story and History of the Great American Fortunes. I recommend them to any readers desiring a review of our own history as working people here in the United States. Both are […]
“There’s a Need to Be Hopeful”: The Radical Beats of Radio 4
It’s a rare thing to find a group of musicians who are willing to stick to their guns like Radio 4 has. Independently minded, with an eclectic sound and lyrics that eloquently call for radical social change, they have spent the better part of a decade carving out a niche for themselves. Not an easy […]
Gordon v the Mahdi: From Fighting Slavery to Fighting Fanaticism
This year is the 130th anniversary of Britain’s Anti-Slavery Convention of 1877. In the second of two articles,1 James Heartfield discovers that “Anti-Slavery” turned out to be an excuse for colonisation in the struggle between Gordon of Khartoum and the Mahdi. Successful as the Anti-Slavery ethos of British policy was in rendering British domination as […]
Unions Mobilize Against WarWill Join Washington Rally
President Bush’s troop escalation, the anti-war sentiment of the new Democratic Congress, and the rising cost of the war are motivating thousands of union members to board buses bound for an anti-war protest Jan. 27 in Washington, D.C. A CALL TO ARMS AGAINST WAR: Edward Hysyk, a top District Council 37 official, said unions […]
Mass Movement to End the War Now
To endorse the statement below, please go to: www.petitiononline.com/NYCLAW2/petition.html. January 24, 2007 Despite overwhelming rejection of its policies in the November elections, the Bush administration has steadily escalated its war in the Middle East. This has meant not only ordering thousands more troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, but arming and financing Israel’s attacks on Lebanon […]
The Dark Side of Bolivia’s Half Moon
Evo Morales climbed into his presidential jeep, ducking a barrage of sticks, debris and insults thrown from members of right wing civic groups in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Cameramen and livid activists chased him until police filled the streets with tear gas. Bolivia’s first indigenous president, a former coca grower and self-described anti-imperialist, was not welcome […]
Voltaire and Islam [Voltaire y el islam]
En su vehemente proceso al islam y al estatus de inferioridad legal y de sumisión de la mujer que prevalece en la mayoría de países musulmanes, Telima Nesreen, Ayaam Hirsi Ali y otras emancipadas de su credo religioso han evocado y evocan repetidas veces el nombre del autor de Cándido: “Permitidnos un Voltaire . . […]
The “Special Economic Zone” Debacle of the Left Front in West Bengal
Analytical Monthly Review, published in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, is a sister edition of Monthly Review. Its January 2007 issue features the following editorial. — Ed. In an article entitled “Capital, Technology and Development,”1 Harry Magdoff, refuting the myth of bourgeois social science that capital and technology are the magic which will bring the […]
Bolivia’s Government Faces Right-Wing Offensive: Popular Forces Struggle for Unity against Attacks
A chain of events triggered by the passage of a new agrarian reform law, part of Bolivian president Evo Morales’ “agrarian revolution,” has brought to sharp relief the drive by the right-wing opposition to overthrow Morales’ government, even if it means pushing Bolivia into civil war. On November 28, in front of thousands of cheering […]
Lebanon Paralyzed by the Opposition [Le Liban paralysé par l’opposition]
Au moins 15 personnes ont été blessées par balles mardi au Liban, où des affrontements ont éclaté entre les partisans du gouvernement et ceux de l’opposition, qui bloquaient les axes routiers avec des pneus brûlés. Dans ce climat de vive tension, l’opposition a appelé à poursuivre le mouvement de grève générale entamé le jour même […]
Equal Care for All, or Roll-the-Dice Care for Most?
This year corporate employers are pushing government to take up “health reform,” largely because they see health care as a significant obstacle to profits. Will health reform happen, and will it be an advance or a take-away for most working people? Take a look at California. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed near-universal healthcare early in January. […]
Lebanon: The General Strike [Liban: La grève générale]
L’opposition libanaise qui cherche à intensifier sa campagne destinée à faire chuter le gouvernement de Fouad Siniora, a appelé samedi à la grève générale à compter de mardi 23 janvier 2007. “L’opposition en appelle à sa base populaire pour permettre une intensification de son mouvement de protestation pacifique et démocratique et appelle les Libanais à […]
A President’s White Hair [Los cabellos blancos de un presidente]
Recientemente, el presidente de Brasil, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva, fue homenajeado por la revista Istoé, que lo eligió Brasileiro do Ano. Significativamente, la revista entregó otras distinciones: IstoÉ Dinheiro e IstoÉ Gente, que puestos en su propio contexto podrían significar dos premios redundantes. El texto de AFP, repetido por una docena de diarios del […]
A Counter-Revolution in Military Affairs? Notes on US High-Tech Warfare
When Colonel Harry Summers told a North Vietnamese counterpart in 1975 that “[y]ou know you never defeated us on the battlefield,” the reply was: “That may be so, but it is also irrelevant.1 News stories surrounding the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq proclaimed the arrival of a long-promised “Revolution in Military Affairs” (RMA), a […]
The Limits of Abolitionism: British Imperial Policy in Egypt
“We cannot admit rivals in the East or even the central parts of Africa . . . to a considerable extent, if not entirely, we must be prepared to apply a sort of Munro [sic] doctrine to much of Africa.” — Lord Carnarvon1 The original Monroe Doctrine initiated in 1824 prevented European interference in the […]
Blood Diamond
With awards season now upon us, Leonardo DiCaprio seems poised for a walk down the red carpet at next month’s Academy Awards. Having already garnered two Golden Globes nominations for best actor (one for his performance in The Departed and the other in Blood Diamond), an Oscar nod is likely to follow. Many filmgoers who’ve […]
Of the People: A Conversation with Howard Zinn
G.M.S.: Here in Tucson, Arizona, 70 miles from the border, we are feeling the effects of President Bush’s deployment of National Guard troops at the U.S. border. The first hundreds arrived last summer, and 2,500 are expected to be in our “Tucson Sector” by August. Moreover, the Border Patrol is to grow from 12,400 […]
Somalia: A History of US Interventions
There’s a woman — some call her “Black Hawk Down” lady — who lives in a packed, squalid neighborhood in the middle of Mogadishu and runs a rather simple but grisly museum. For under a dollar, visitors can view her prized possession, the mangled, mud-splattered nose of a US Black Hawk helicopter that was […]
Dignity Returns
“Dignity Returns” is becoming a unique clothing label and logo in Thailand, a “workers’ brand” at a factory run and owned entirely by its 30 workers in Bangkok. The Solidarity Factory in western Bangkok is an example for garment workers anywhere in the world. Turning out T-shirts, headbands, kids’ clothes, in an operation without bosses, […]
