Archive | Commentary

A deepening crisis pervades Pax Americana and with it a rising interest in fascism and the fear that it may be coming or is already here. While some observers are alarmed at the prospects of fascism, others dismiss the topic as conspiracy theory or just plain rubbish. In the most absurd recent use of the term, George W. Bush has declared America at war “with Islamic fascists seeking to destroy freedom loving societies.” It is hard here not to invoke Huey Long’s famous idea that fascism would come to America clothed as anti-fascism

The left does not address public education often enough.  When it does, the focus is on financial inequities, racial segregation, or the testing fetish.  These are critical issues, but there is another of even greater significance.  If tomorrow we were to abolish the tests, remove the inequities, and integrate the schools, the educational system itself […]

The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason by Sam Harris.  Norton, New York, 2004.  ISBN 0-393-03515-8. 336 pp.  Cloth $24.95. Sam Harris’ The End of Faith: Religion, Terror and the Future of Reason is unusual among books recently issued by mainline publishers in that it begins by rejecting all religious faiths […]

Pauline Kael, the American film critic, once said that Gillo Pontecorvo was the most dangerous kind of Marxist: a Marxist poet.  When the Italian film director died last week at the age of 86, he had not made a full-length feature in over twenty-five years.  Yet the potency of Pontecorvo’s firebrand poetry can still be […]

For much of the period from the 70s through the 80s, I was quite concerned with the way in which Third World movements for national liberation were sidelining women’s issues and relegating these to the background.  In this piece I centerstage the Philippines which I believe may serve as an illustrative case.  Let me try […]

In case you’ve been too stunned by other newsworthy disasters to pay proper attention, the Military Commissions Act of 2006 was just signed into law.  This law gives the U.S. government legal permission to do things they’ve been doing sub-legally for years, such as: designate people as “unlawful enemy combatants”; deny these people the right […]

What’s the wave of the future for the United States in the 21st century?  You couldn’t go far wrong by answering, “Wal-Mart.”  In the case of the giant chain store, it might be fair to say “tsunami of the future.” The United Food and Commercial Workers Union, together with the Teamsters Union, has lately been […]

  Analytical Monthly Review, published in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, is a sister edition of Monthly Review.  Its October 2006 issue features the following editorial.  — Ed. The recent successful peoples struggle at Phulbari in Dinajpur district of Bangladesh against a rapacious Foreign Direct Investment (“FDI”) open-pit coal mining project is of great importance, and […]

  CHEAP MOTELS AND A HOTPLATE: An Economist’s Travelogue by Michael D. Yates ORDER THIS BOOK This essay complements my forthcoming book: Cheap Motels and a Hot Plate: an Economist’s Travelogue (Monthly Review Press). We Meet an Economist Karen and I were hiking in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on the Atalaya Mountain Trail, which begins […]

Olmert and Lieberman Just what we needed.  The government is running hard in order to avoid the appointment of an authentic Judicial Investigative Committee, i.e., one with wide powers.  Our Prime Minister is busy preparing himself for investigations into his all “too-successful” real estate deals.  His popularity rating hovers at a magnificent 7%.  But Ehud […]

The instant messaging antics that claimed the career of Florida Republican Representative Mark Foley have also served to remind the national Democratic Party that we are but a few weeks away from our national elections.  Declining Republican electoral fortunes were hobbled further by the Foley fiasco, adding to the growing list of reasons why voters […]

“Philosophy always comes on the scene too late.” — G.W.F. Hegel1 “They say we don’t stand for anything.  We do stand for anything.”  — Sen. Barack Obama2 For years it’s been a political commonplace to observe that the Republicans represent the party of ideas while the Democrats are the stupid party.  Even Bush-phobic Democrats like […]

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 […]