Archive | Commentary

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 […]

For more information, follow the hashtags #savasahayir and #savaşahayir. | Print

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: […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

Introductionby Philip Rizk On September 9th, 2012, thousands of Egyptian teachers from all over the country demonstrated at the Parliament, blocking one of Cairo’s main streets.  “I can’t even feed my kids — how can I teach my students?” one of them yelled into the camera.  “This was not simply a protest for higher wages […]

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 […]

Egypt’s march towards the future its millions demanded did not end with Mubarak leaving power — it only began. Mosireen, which is a play on the Arabic words for “Egypt” and “determined,” was founded in the wake of Mubarak’s fall by a group of film makers and activists who got together to create a collective […]

A small but moving episode marked the regular annual meeting of the German organization Fighters and Friends of the Spanish Republic 1936-1939 (Kämpfer und Freunde der Spanischen Republik 1936-1939).  It was the first such meeting without a single veteran; the last volunteer in Germany, Fritz Teppich, died last winter, and none of the tiny, decreasing […]

The first week of the historic September 2012 Chicago teachers strike. . . . Produced by Labor Beat (mail@laborbeat.org, www.laborbeat.org, 312-226-3330).  Click here to make a donation to Labor Beat (Committee for Labor Access) and help rank-and-file TV. | Print

Fronted by MC Rodstarz and MC/Producer G1, and backed by Producer/DJ Illanoiz, Rebel Diaz creates Hip Hop 4 the People. | Print

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — By now it is well know that Missouri Representative Todd Akin explained his opposition to abortion, even in cases of rape, by saying that women who experience “a legitimate rape” can avoid pregnancy by telling their bodies to “shut that whole thing down.”  It is also well known that a firestorm […]

On Saturday, August 18, several cars and a pickup truck with signs on top, in the windows or on bumpers, drove into the Whole Foods Market (WFM) parking lot in Brentwood, which borders St. Louis, Missouri.  Police approached as soon as they arrived. “Yes, officer, we will take the signs off of the cars if […]

In the wake of last year’s long overdue U.S. troop withdrawal, mainstream media coverage of Iraq has dwindled to near zero — except when there’s another suicide bombing (which usually merits just a paragraph or two in world news round-ups). The fate of costly U.S.-funded projects and institutions is little known or largely forgotten, $800 […]

My voice is a crime, My thoughts anarchy, Because I do not sing to their tunes, I do not carry them on my shoulders. — Cherabandaraju, who was the lead accused in a “conspiracy case” involving poets and their poetry. It’s been two decades and a year since India’s elite embraced neo-liberalism.  Money — the […]

An extraordinary mensch, an extraordinary filmmaker who made extraordinary films and lived to the extraordinary age of 101, Kurt Maetzig, who died last week, was virtually unknown in the United States, indeed, in the western world generally.  The reason: he lived and worked in East Germany, the German Democratic Republic, whose films — many mediocre […]

Howard Zinn.  The Historic Unfulfilled Promise.  Foreword by Matthew Rothschild.  San Francisco: City Lights, 2012.  256 pages. Howard Zinn was called a lot of different names: anarchist, socialist, and communist.  He called himself a lot of different names, too: anarchist, socialist, and communist.  No one ever seems to have called him Zen, but maybe it’s […]

Travel to Venezuela for the Elections!  October 1-9, 2012 This October, witness one of the most important elections in the history of Venezuela — and of the hemisphere.  On October 7, the people of Venezuela will exercise their right to vote and decide whether to carry forward the Bolivarian Revolution through the reelection of President […]