Archive | Commentary

Terror, political persecution, arbitrary detention, and militarization have long dominated Colombia.  State-mediated killings now run into the tens of thousands.  More than four million rural inhabitants have been displaced from sustenance-providing land.  In the face of seemingly endless suffering, however, there is now a better chance for peace in Colombia. Having recently announced that its […]

The 66-day hunger strike of Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan brought overdue attention to Israel’s practice of detaining Palestinians for lengthy periods without criminal charges.  It also brought attention to the same practice in other countries, including the United States, where, as Salon.com columnist Glenn Greenwald pointed out, indefinite detention is “now firmly in place” for […]

  We are calling for massive protests in Frankfurt this May against the crisis regime of the European Union.  We are activists representing a multitude of movements and struggles from different European countries and elsewhere, who have risen up in the past months and years to protest the assaults on our freedoms, jobs, and livelihoods […]

In recent weeks, there has been a notable shuffle in the positions of key external players in the Syrian crisis.  Momentum has quite suddenly shifted from an all-out onslaught against the Assad government to a quiet investigation of exit strategies. The clashes between government forces and opposition militias in Baba Amr were a clear tipping […]

On March 11, hundreds of thousands of Salvadorans headed to the polls in the first major contest between parties of the right and left since the leader of the latter, Mauricio Funes, was elected president three years ago. Like mid-term congressional elections in the U.S., voting for municipal officials and national legislators in El Salvador […]

Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. | Print

  Zahera Shalabi is the sister of Hana Shalabi, a 29-year-old woman from the village of Burqin in the Jenin district in Palestine.  On February 16, the Shalabis’ home was raided and Hana was arrested.  She has since been in Israeli prison under what is called Administrative Detention, held without charge or trial, like over […]

“Yugoslavia was in debt to the IMF. . . .  There was a conflict in the six republics of Yugoslavia: who is going to pay the debt?  Who is going to pay the debt was also a conflict between developed parts and undeveloped parts of Yugoslavia. . . . [In] this huge debate about who’s […]

  “We have staged a perfect war.  We’ve got everyone fighting, but very few now know exactly who is the enemy.” Juan Ramón Mora is a cartoonist in Barcelona.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). | Print  

On the evening of February 7, Michelle Rhee, former chancellor of DC public schools and the public face of the opaquely funded StudentsFirst, addressed an audience of some four thousand people at the Paramount Theater in Oakland.  The lecture was divided in three parts.  First, Rhee introduced herself and described her leadership of the DC […]

Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. | Print

After 37 days of the strike, the Bticino-Legrand workers’ demands were partially met and they returned to work.  But Islam and his co-workers still haven’t received fixed contracts.  And the management remains the same.  And the laws remain the same — in favor of investors.  Let us realize our right to work with honor.  Let […]

“I’m digging this freestyle frm @MistahFAB at Invisible Children, #Kony & US media Hype designed to steal nat resources.” — Davey D Mistah F.A.B. is an American rapper.  Follow him at .  Cf. “Do I have a better answer?  No, I don’t, but that doesn’t mean that you should support KONY 2012 just because it’s […]

A shameful witch hunt against teachers is underway, a full-blown hysteria being fanned by the media working hand in hand with politicians.  In one of the crudest efforts to manipulate public opinion, as Juan Gonzalez reported, Mayor Bloomberg solicited local media to obtain the teachers’ ratings under Freedom of Information laws and publicize them. As […]

Email-ID 1671459 Date 2011-12-07 00:49:18 From bhalla@stratfor.com To secure@stratfor.com A few points I wanted to highlight from meetings today — I spent most of the afternoon at the Pentagon with the USAF strategic studies group — guys who spend their time trying to understand and explain to the USAF chief the big picture in areas […]

  See, also, <chtodelat.wordpress.com>; <seansrussiablog.org>; and <www.sublimeoblivion.com>. | Print  

I recently wrote an article about my personal experiences in dealing with the medical system while undergoing surgery (“Free Market Medicine: A Personal Account”).  In response, a number of readers sent me accounts of their own experiences trying to get well in America. Health care in this country is hailed by conservative boosters as “the […]

“No genuine democratic nationalist movement in the world has ever asked for any imperialist intervention.” — Aijaz Ahmad Aijaz Ahmad is a Marxist critic in India.  Prabir Purkayastha is a member of the Delhi Science Forum.  Video by NewsClick (15 February 2012).  See, also, Prabir Purkayastha, “Why Syria Matters: Interview with Aijaz Ahmad” (27 November […]

Eneko Las Heras, born in Caracas in 1963, is a cartoonist based in Spain. | Print

“Perception is 100 percent of politics,” the old adage goes.  Say something three, five, seven times, and you start to believe it in the same way you “know” aspirin is good for the heart. Sometimes, though, perception is a dangerous thing.  In the dirty game of politics, it is the perception — not the facts […]