Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. | Print
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Monthly Review Magazine
Police on Playback — Copwatch in New York City
Stories of police brutality are often told in a way that casts victims as helpless bystanders of cops run amok. We met with Sean Pagan, a recent victim of police violence, and found that his story changes how we think about policing in New York. Sean’s story shows that communities are finding new and […]
The Gift of the True Organizer
In 2003 when I was researching work to rule — a process by which workers slow down production, drive up costs, and thereby leverage negotiations — I called Dave Yettaw. Dave, a retired auto worker and former president of Flint UAW Local 599, was an old hand and a trusted advisor. Dave told me that […]
Remembering Jerry Tucker, Labor Leader and Educator
My friend and colleague of more than 25 years died today from pancreatic cancer. If you never had the privilege of meeting and working with Jerry Tucker, it is truly a shame. Rarely do we cross paths with someone who makes such a difference in our lives. Jerry was such a man. I first heard […]
Morsi and Peres: A Love Story
Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. Cf. Raphael Ahren, “Morsi’s Warm Letter to Peres Sparks Anger and Denial in Egypt” (Times of Israel, 18 October 2012); “‘I came with a message of peace and I came to confirm that we are working for mutual trust and transparency and we are committed to all the agreements […]
“Collectivized Torture”: Drone Warfare and the Dark Side of Counterinsurgency
The recent Stanford University report on drone strikes in Pakistan, Living Under Drones, raises the possibility that the US is intentionally using drones, not merely as hi-tech assassination devices, but also as weapons of state terror intended to subdue unruly regions and populations. The appalling reality of drone warfare along the Afghanistan border closely resembles […]
The Threat of Barbarism: US Imperialism Unleashed
With signs of a global economic downturn mounting, US aggression across the Middle East and North Africa ratchets up. Once again, US imperialism stands poised to open the gates of Hell. According to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook report released last week, the “risks for a serious global slowdown are alarmingly high.” The report projects […]
On Eric Hobsbawm’s Passing
Eric Hobsbawm (1917-2012), regarded by many as the top 20th century British historian, passed away October 1st, at the age of 95. Hobsbawm joined the British Communist Party in 1936, the year he entered Cambridge University, and remained a life-long member. In a life dedicated to historical scholarship and to draw attention to injustice […]
Candlelit Vigil to Honor Martyrs of the Maspero Massacre
Candlelit Vigil to Honor Martyrs of the Maspero Massacre Friday, 12th October 2012, 7:00 PM Union Square, Manhattan October 9, 2012 marked the one year anniversary of what has come to be known as the Maspero massacre, one of the numerous bloody attacks deliberately orchestrated and executed by counterrevolutionary forces under the direction of […]
The Sargasso Manuscript: Some Observations on Susan Sontag’s As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980
Susan Sontag. As Consciousness Is Harnessed to Flesh: Journals and Notebooks, 1964-1980. Edited by David Rieff. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2012. I. David Rieff has played the last of Susan Sontag’s jokes upon the reader: to remain austerely cool, distant, and unsympathetic toward us even in “journals and notebooks.” The barbed wire of […]
Regarding “Creative Time Summit”: No Time for Creativity With Apartheid Israel
It has recently come to our attention that the Creative Time Summit has listed the Israeli Center for Digital Art (ICDA) as a major partner for this year’s summit. After discovering this, we cannot in good faith participate in the 2012 Creative Time Summit in adherence to the call for Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) […]
German Politics and Vitamin B
What has Vitamin B to do with politics? For the answer you must learn a little German, at least one key word. “Beziehungen” — with a capital “B” — means connections, especially good connections. It’s smart to have lots of “Vitamin B,” and not just the pharmacy kind! Now here’s a man whose pockets seem […]
Capitalism and “Human Nature”: A Rebuttal
In the celebrated section of The Wealth of Nations in which he discusses the advantages of the division of labor, Adam Smith advances the thesis that “common to all men” is a “propensity to truck, barter, and exchange one thing for another.” Smith hedges on whether this “propensity” is a matter of original human nature […]
Savaşa Hayır! No War!
For more information, follow the hashtags #savasahayir and #savaşahayir. | Print
Can Syria Avoid the Fate of Libya and Iraq? Interview with Issa Chaer
Dr Issa Chaer is a member of the Syrian Social Club (based in England). Carlos Martinez: Thanks very much for agreeing to be interviewed. You have been very active in spreading information about the Syria conflict. Can you explain why you have chosen to give so much time and energy to this cause? Issa Chaer: […]
Some Memories of Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy
In 1949, Paul Sweezy and Leo Huberman created Monthly Review. In the same year, Paul Baran and I began to teach in the San Francisco Bay Area: Baran at Stanford, myself at UC Berkeley. As the years unfolded, we worked together politically in the area with the same social aims and values. Meanwhile, the two […]
The Audacity of an Imperial President
After Judge Katherine Forrest, on Sept 12th, ruled part of the National Defense Authorization Act unconstitutional on its face in the case brought by Chris Hedges, Noam Chomsky, and Daniel Ellsberg, the Obama Department of Justice sought an end run around the ruling and proceeded directly to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Although Judge […]
Can Caring Capitalists or Progressive Policies Save the American Economy?
The Occupy movement forced the issue of economic inequality into American political discourse. The most common diagnosis, which comes from mainstream economics, is that inequality has risen over the last 40 years because technical change, notably computers and the Internet, has favored highly-educated workers and left lower-skilled workers behind. The cure is to increase education […]
Furor in France: Mission Civilisatrice and “Muslim Rage” in the Motherland
As Muslims around the world protest their contemptuous treatment by the West, catalyzed by the provocative, racist American film Innocence of Muslims, the French media added fuel to the fire of by publishing offensive cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. Left-wing alt-weekly Charlie Hebdo ran cartoons that depicted a naked, turbaned Muhammad in profoundly racist and […]
Colombian Prisoners Demand Justice
Popular momentum is building to ensure that any settlement coming out of upcoming Colombian government peace negotiations with insurgents promotes social justice. New prisoner resistance and recent documentation of abuses in Colombian prisons serve as reminders that, ideally, a peaceful and just Colombian society should promote prisoner rights. Indeed, “Our people and a bit of […]
