The anti-war rally at the Statehouse in Columbus, Ohio on 18 March 2006 attracted a crowd of 800 (according to Associated Press) to 1,500 (according to WCMH). After the rally, a group of young activists marched on to the headquarters of the Ohio Democratic and Republican Parties, chanting, “We don’t need parties like these, we […]
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Monthly Review Magazine
Vancouver, Canada, 18 March 2006
Although the corporate media gave a lot more coverage than usual to this year’s Vancouver rally, what they did provide was as inaccurate as ever. A realistic crowd estimate for the Vancouver march and rally would be in the 3,000-4,000 range. Yet CBC Radio was running 500, The Province newspaper had 1000, and the TV […]
Perth, Australia, 18 March 2006
The demo in Perth on 18 March 2006 was attended by about a thousand people, down substantially from the size of demos before the beginnng of the Iraq War. The majority of people out in downtown Perth on Saturday were shopping. They weren’t hostile — rather, openly indifferent or mildly curious about the people who […]
Portland, Oregon, USA, 19 March 2006
10,000 people, with a strong labor feeder march and speakers from Venezuela! Quite encouraging! Click on the image for a larger view. Michael Dawson works for pay as a paralegal and sociology teacher in Portland, Oregon. He is presently writing a book, Automobiles Ueber Alles: Corporate Capitalism and Transportation in America, forthcoming from Monthly Review […]
More than 1.5 Million Demonstrators: Monsieur Prime Minister, Revoke Your CPE! [Plus d’ 1,5 Millions de manifestants: Monsieur le Premier Ministre, retirez votre CPE!]
Monsieur le Premier Ministre, retirez votre CPE !Une fois de plus les manifestations contre le CPE ont été un énorme succès. Ce sont plus d’un million et demi de personnes qui sont descendus dans les rues pour faire comprendre au Premier Ministre qu’ils ne veulent que le retrait pur et simple du CPE. Beaucoup de […]
Ottawa, Canada, 18 March 2006
1,000 Canadians braved the cold weather (-20 C with wind chill) to demonstrate at the U.S. Embassy, calling for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan (Canada has 2,000 troops in Afghanistan, currently heading up the NATO occupation force there [with U.S. air cover]). Richard Fidler with his friend Marvin Gandall Richard Fidler is […]
Revisiting “Another Country”
No wonder capitalist societies are coming apart at the seams. Trust is supposed to be the bond that holds a society together, and trust is based on truth. But so often have government leaders asserted their “right” to lie, to manage the news, and to contrive to deceive the public that large numbers of people […]
Whose Domain? Private Power, Public Policy, and Local Politics
Susette Kelo (Photo by Isaac Reese, 2004 / © Institute for Justice) “Justices OK land grabs!” “Property rights under attack!” “No homeowner safe from government!” “The sky is falling!” So argued critics from across the political spectrum in response to a 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding a municipality’s use of eminent domain power to […]
In Venezuela, Oil Sows Emancipation [Venezuela: Petróleo sembrando emancipación]
Los datos divulgados recientemente por el Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV) confirman que la economía venezolana exhibió un crecimiento de 10,2% en el cuarto trimestre de 2005 en relación con el mismo período del año anterior, acumulando la novena alza consecutiva a partir del último trimestre de 2003. El resultado final del PIB en 2005 […]
Does Pace University Support Free Speech?
On Monday, March 13, students from the Campus Antiwar Network (CAN) and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) — joined by other students, professors, original SDSers, and CAN members from CCNY — launched one of the largest demonstrations Pace University’s campus had seen, against Pace’s denial of our free speech rights. The university, […]
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine Condemns the Arrest of Its General Secretary and Calls on All to Shoulder Their Responsibilities
Ramallah: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine condemns all those who directly or indirectly caused the criminal arrest of its General Secretary, his comrades, Brother Fu’ad ash-Shawbaki, and numerous other militants of various patriotic and Islamic forces who were subject to arbitrary political imprisonment based on American-Zionist dictates. The PFLP declares that the […]
I Live in a Ghetto
Some social analysts argue that those who live in ghettoes may be unable to effectively organize for change because a self-destructive “ghetto mentality” obstructs such efforts. I live in a ghetto, with all its attendant social pathologies: isolation from the outside world; customs, language, and behavior alien to the larger society; inability to act collectively […]
The Challenge of Revolutionary Democracy in the Life and Thought of Rosa Luxemburg
“Rosa Luxemburg, imprisoned in the Breslau penitentiary, is able to continue working on her herbarium. Her secretary Mathilde Jacob, the only one able to visit her in prison, brings along the plants. ‘I can botanize once again, this is my favourite occupation and best way to relax. Since May 1913 I have pasted in about […]
An Interview with Yan Yuanzhang
On February 22nd, the Chinese government shut down the China Workers’ Website and Discussion Lists because, according to the order of closure, the owner of such a website must make a 10,000,000 Yuan (US $1.2 million) deposit to register it as a legal one. The editorial collective responded that they would not be able to […]
Day Laborers Fight for Their Rights
“It is with great pride that I announce Gov. Blagojevich has signed House Bill 3471, the Day Labor Services Act today,” said Illinois Deputy Chief of Staff of Labor, Esther Lopez. “We think today is a historic day. It is a law that is the most aggressive protection for day laborers in the country.” With […]
Veteran Torturer: “No Mercy, No Regrets”
The debates about the U.S. use of torture in its ongoing military campaigns against the people of the Middle East often ring hollow. Listening to many of the impassioned legal and moralistic arguments against the practice, one is reminded of General Paul Aussaresses‘s observation: “Only too often today condemning others means acquiring a certificate of […]
“A Long Struggle” against Iran
Although the strategy is older than the mean sheriff and his less sadistic deputy in the Old West, we need to only go back a few years here. If one recalls, prior to the US/UK invasion on Iraq in 2003, there were several initiatives to “promote democracy” in that country. Usually it was the State […]
Anne Braden, 1927-2006
Click on the image to watch video interviews with Anne Braden. The 6 March 2006 issue of the Louisville Courier-Journal reports the death at 81 of Anne Braden, the veteran Southern white civil rights leader and organizer of the fight for black integration and equality, and an American radical of untameable commitment who — […]
Open Letter to Iran’s Nobel Laureate: Part 2
Dear Ms. Ebadi: Rostam Pourzal, “Open Letter to Iran’s Nobel Laureate: Part 1 “ (27 February 2006) Poet Khosro Naaqed, a prominent promoter of your reformist coalition, demonstrated in a published commentary last summer why a majority in Iran is now disillusioned with your “democracy” project. As you know, he speaks for almost all Iranian […]
Antiwar Activists Arrested at House Appropriations Committee Hearing
Jeff Leys and Mike Ferner
Washington, D.C., March 9 — Two peace activists were arrested on March 8 for disrupting the House Appropriations Committee hearing on additional funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Mike Ferner and Ed Kinane of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, interrupted the hearing called to consider the $67 billion “supplemental” appropriation which was ultimately approved […]
