Archive | Commentary

Railroading Economics: The Creation of the Free Market Mythology Monday, October 16, 2006, 7 PM Sierra 2 Center, Room 10 2791 24th Street, Sacramento Michael Perelman‘s new book, Railroading Economics: The Creation of the Free Market Mythology, examines the rhetoric of conventional economic theory, which assumes a “pure capitalism of perfect competition.”  He explores how […]

August 29, 1949 — Soviet Union.  October 16, 1964 — People’s Republic of China.  October 7, 2006, Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea.  Three dates.  Three first-time nuclear tests by three enemies (at their respective times) of Washington.  All three tests were preceded by threats from that same Washington that warned of dire consequences for the […]

  The Spanish and Portuguese colonization of America is still a kind of theoretical no-man’s land and a political taboo.  One can easily understand why Spanish and Portuguese intellectuals avoid any discussion of the topic.  Remember the magnificent Centennials of both the Spanish discovery of the Caribbean and the Portuguese discovery of Brazil.  Any critical […]

Thursday, October 19 Que(e)rying Islamophobia: Race, Sexuality and Imperialism Reza Abbasi, “Two Lovers” (ca. 1630) Discourses of race, gender and sexuality have always served an important ideological function within imperialist projects, and the current phase of American imperialism, characterized by the War on Terror, is no exception.  Given the contemporary geo-political context, this imperialist project […]

Nadie puede ser neutro, nadie puede ser equidistante, nadie puede ser indiferente Lo que está en juego en la segunda vuelta no es apenas si Petrobras va a ser privatizada — como afirmó el asesor de Alckmin, Mendonça de Barros a la revista Exame — y, si con ella, también el Banco de Brasil, la […]

  Millions of dollars worth of goods sat unmoved on the docks of the United States’ largest port, Los Angeles/Long Beach, as port truckers, mostly Latino immigrants, struck on May 1.  Despite being organized only informally in small networks, the truckers were able to use their position at a vital point in the economy to […]

“There’ve been times that I’ve thought I couldn’t last for long But now I think I’m able to carry on It’s been a long time coming But I know a change is gonna come” – Sam Cooke Dear family & friends, With Sam Cooke’s lyrics on my mind, I ran my “Marathon for Peace” Sunday […]

Industry experts from Wall Street to Washington are busy writing the obituary of the U.S. auto industry — but someone needs to tell the Motor City.  In sharp contrast to the current wave of buyouts at Ford, General Motors, and Delphi, new auto parts plants continue to spring up across Southeast Michigan. Conditions in these […]

Nous appelons, alors que le Moyen-Orient est plongé dans sa crise la plus grave depuis des années, à une action urgente de la part de la communauté internationale en vue d’un règlement global au conflit israélo-arabe. Nous sommes tous perdants dans ce conflit, à l’exception des extrémistes, qui prospèrent à travers le monde en exploitant […]

Under the star of a globalized capitalism the entire earth oozes blood.  What seems so smooth, so firm, so reliable and so supportive of our wishes — the glossy, pleasurable carnival of daily life — is the crust of a barely-healed scab; our steps must be swift and light, lest blood and pus seep through […]

EVIL HOUR IN COLOMBIA by Forrest HyltonBUY THIS BOOK There was a period in the 1990s when I honestly thought that Colombia would become Washington’s next Vietnam.  Instead, it turns out that the counterinsurgency assisted financially and militarily by Washington is more like the so-called low-intensity conflicts waged by Washington and its clients in Central […]

The sale prices of existing homes in the Midwest and Northeast are falling as overall sales across the country are declining, according to the National Association of Realtors.  In the West, home sales are also down but sale prices remain roughly the same. Recent Commerce Department data shows that new home sales was up in […]

General William Tecumseh Sherman declared that “War is hell,” but every grunt or swab that has ever served knows that, more than anything else, war is work.  Staging operations, killing people, breaking their things, and sometimes cleaning up the mess, all involve tremendous amounts of human labor. Current estimates are that there are at least […]

Oiseau terrorisé par l’enfer tombant du ciel, Muhammad se niche dans l’étreinte de son père : Protège-moi De l’envol, père, mon aile est encore Petite pour le vent . . . et la lumière est noire Muhammad Voudrait rentrer à la maison, Sans vélo . . . ou chemise neuve. Il voudrait retrouver le banc […]

On Friday the Senate is expected to vote on legislation passed Thursday by the House that would tighten U.S. sanctions on Iran and on our allies who trade with Iran.  This legislation would undermine the negotiations with Iran that are currently taking place in Europe.  Press reports have indicated that the talks in Europe could […]

The National Conference for Media Reform Memphis, Tennessee January 12-14, 2007 Media reform is coming to Memphis! Mark your calendar and make your reservations — registration for the 2007 National Conference for Media Reform is now open.  This one-of-a-kind event will take place on January 12-14, 2007, in the home of the blues and birthplace […]

« Qu’est-ce que cela peut faire que je lutte pour la mauvaise cause, puisque je suis de bonne foi ?  Et qu’est-ce que ça peut faire que je sois de mauvaise foi, puisque je lutte pour la bonne cause. » — Jacques Prévert A 84 ans, il reste un éternel jeune homme.  Ce Casamançais de […]

  Face à l’évènement, certains veulent faire supporter à la Résistance tout le poids de cette guerre.  C’est endosser l’erreur.  La grande majorité des analystes politiques internationaux savent que cette guerre était prévue à courte échéance, avec ou sans prétexte ; Israël ne manque pas d’en créer au besoin.  Souvenons-nous de l’invasion de 1982 : […]

Custom-made for the Consumer In the 17th century, Blaise Pascal, a genius of mathematics, wrote that men never do evil with greater pleasure than when they do it with religious conviction.  This idea — from a deeply religious man — has taken a variety of different forms since.  During the last century, the greatest crimes […]

Traveling to both Venezuela and South Africa this past summer, through my work as an academic sociologist, I was able to observe firsthand two radically different approaches to “third world” development: a “redistributive approach” in Venezuela, and a set of basically neo-liberal economic policies in South Africa.  Although this was not a consciously designed research […]