Archive | Commentary

  • Now (That the Dems Have Taken Back Congress) What?

    The November ’06 election presents socialists and progressives in the US with a (thankfully) new situation.  The next couple of years offer many opportunities, questions, and dilemmas . If we squarely face the many complications inherent in the current balance of class forces in America, maybe we can help to keep things moving away from […]

  • Picturing Reality

      A Sense of History? “Kahin building, kahin trame, kahin motor, kahin mil; sab milta hai yahan par bas milta nahin dil,”1 croons the late Johnny Walker to Sahir Ludhayanvi‘s immortal lyrics (CID, 1956) while ruing the difficulties one has to face in finding true love in a world of industry, automation, and speed.  In […]

  • Inconvenient Truths

    We humans are basically big furless animals who make tremendous demands on energy and materials for staying warm in cold places and cool in hot places.  It wouldn’t hurt any of us to recognize this biological fact.  Right now I’m burning big chunks of stove wood, to keep warm at zero F.  We possess, each […]

  • Ammunition against the Empire

      Need a crash course on the present state of the world?  Want to untangle the terminology, separate the victims from the victimizers, understand the dynamics of unilateralism, and deduce what can be done about it all?  I’d like to introduce you to a small literary arsenal. A good place to begin is the book […]

  • Uses of History: Rang De Basanti and Lage Raho Munnabhai

    The present being a product of the past, our attempt to understand history is a part of our endeavor to understand ourselves and shape our world today.  However, it is also true that often our understanding of the present determines the way we look at history.  So, when it is popular imagination that is involved […]

  • Soul-Shakers, Gone but Not Forgotten

    The period 2003-2006 saw the passing of some of the truly remarkable artists in pop music.  It’s Black History Month, so it’s only fitting to remember the mighty Black pioneers and creators of blues/soul/R&B who’ve left us physically, but never spiritually or creatively: Ray Charles, Hank Ballard, Lou Rawls, Wilson Pickett, Little Milton, Clarence “Gatemouth” […]

  • Remembering Where Flowers Come from on Valentine’s Day

    Every year on Valentine’s Day, millions of Americans head to their local florist shop or supermarket to buy flowers for a friend, spouse, or family member.  Some place their orders through NPR, which rewards contributors to public radio with a dozen roses sent to the person of their choice.  Especially if there’s a romantic relationship […]

  • Is the Big Ship America Sinking?Contradictions and Openings

    There’s something happeningWhat it is ain’t exactly clearBuffalo Springfield, 1966 Are we in the midst of a momentous turn in world politics?  Donald Rumsfeld has been shuffled out of the Pentagon.  Daniel Ortega, Washington’s nemesis from the Sandinista Revolution of the late 1970s, is back as President of Nicaragua.  Hugo Chavez has been triumphantly re-elected, […]

  • The South Also Exists [El Sur también existe]

    Con su ritual de acero sus grandes chimeneas sus sabios clandestinos su canto de sirena sus cielos de neón sus ventas navideñas su culto de Dios Padre y de las charreteras con sus llaves del reino el Norte es el que ordena pero aquí abajo, abajo el hambre disponible recurre al fruto amargo de lo […]

  • Rock Democracies, Paper Freedoms, Scissors Securities [Democracias de piedra, libertades de papel, seguridades de tijera]

    Hace diez años, en contradicción con la ola posmodernista, desarrollamos en Crítica de la pasión pura la idea de la moral como una forma de consciencia colectiva.  De la misma forma que un cardumen o un enjambre actúa y se desarrolla como un solo cuerpo, de la misma forma que James Lovelock entendía Gaia — […]

  • Abolish It!

    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. […]

  • Operation Ajax

    OPERATION AJAX (a game of skill and chance) FEBRUARY 14 THROUGH MARCH 10 Wednesdays through Saturdays 8:15 PMWHERE EAGLES DARE 347 WEST 36TH STREET (between 8th and 9th avenues) 1, 2, 3, A, C, E to 34th Street 13TH FLOOR BLACKBIRD THEATER $18 RESERVATIONS: (917) 916-1307 JAY SMITH as CIA Senior Officer KERMIT “Kim” Roosevelt […]

  • Dissent Is Not a Crime

    Puerto Rican activists Carlos Alberto Torres and Oscar López-Rivera were convicted of seditious conspiracy in the 1980s and have been incarcerated ever since.  Dissent Is Not a Crime, a new video directed by Greg Boozell and released this year, discusses the political nature of their sentences and why their release is long overdue. In addition […]

  • General Strike in Kashmir

    The Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front called a bandh, i.e., a general strike.  The strike began today, 6 February 2007.  The JKLF chairman Mohammed Yasin Malik said at a press conference in Srinagar: “Peace process and killing of innocent Kashmiris cannot go together, and the recent discoveries about the killings of innocent Kashmiris by Indian forces, […]

  • Consuming Karl

    Now that I have mastered the art of writing for social change, I have decided to become a famous literary agent!  Of course, before I open my own agency, I’ll need to practice editing.  Luckily, the right manuscript recently came to my attention, and I have just finished crafting this cutting-edge feedback. Dear Karl Marx […]

  • José Bové Declares Candidacy [La déclaration de candidature de José Bové]

    Voici le texte de la déclaration de candidature à la présidentielle de José Bové, prononcé jeudi 1er février à Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis). La France n’a jamais été aussi inégalitaire. Un grand patron gagne 300 fois ou plus qu’un smicard.  Les plus riches désertent leur devoir fiscal quand 100 000 personnes dorment dans la rue.  Les stocks-options […]

  • Lebanon: Women against Civil War and Sectarian Divisions [Liban : Les femmes contre la guerre civile et les divisions confessionnelles]

    Les derniers développements politiques au Liban, notamment les événements sanglants du jeudi 26 janvier, ont poussé les représentantes de 15 associations féminines libanaises (dont la « Ligue des droits de la femme libanaise », l’« Association « Wardé Boutros » des femmes communistes », « Kafa », « Les dames de Choueifat »…) ainsi que […]

  • Freedom Fight: An interview with Milenko Srećković

      Milenko Srećković is a spokesperson for the Balkan anarchist movement FreedomFight and is one of the editors of the webzine www.freedomfight.net. Q: Could you start by telling us a bit about the alternative media initiative you are involved with? A: FreedomFight is an anarchist, alter-globalist movement created in Serbia in 2003.  The FreedomFight movement […]

  • Israeli Left Archive

    Nostalgic?  Curious?  Historian? We would like to take this occasion to present to you and your friends our new Web site data base: ISRAELI-LEFT-ARCHIVE.ORG The Web site is built around collections of historical documents from various important sections of the Israeli left and peace forces: Women in Black and other sections of the women’s peace […]

  • Pledge to Abstain — Stop Funding the War

    View Current Signatures Sign the Petition To:  U.S. Congress Whereas: the U.S. military occupation of Iraq is a cruel and illegal occupation that has cost nearly 700,000 lives, shattered a viable society, and displaced more than a million people, and Whereas: the occupation itself is the single greatest causative agent of inter-Iraqi violence, and Whereas: […]