Archive | Commentary

Americans wonder who will be president next January; Germans are still uncertain who will live in Berlin’s presidential mansion this February.  Its current resident, Christian Wulff, has been under strong pressure to do just the same as his predecessor did — and resign! For weeks the media have attacked Wulff with angry charges of corruption […]

A young veteran was just arrested for murdering homeless people in Los Angeles.  Regardless whether he is actually guilty, a large number of terrible acts have been committed by returning veterans traumatized from the war.  None of the studies of which I’m aware accounts for such costs (including the cost of imprisoning them) in the […]

Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. | Print

Experience firsthand the change sweeping through Latin America in the areas of food sovereignty, indigenous resistance, climate justice, and human rights through a trip to Bolivia or Venezuela this summer. Delegation to Bolivia: Food Sovereignty, Indigenous Resistance, and Climate Justice (May 29-June 9, 2012) We will be celebrating indigenous resistance and exploring food sovereignty issues […]

At yesterday’s meeting I saw the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, absolutely calm and composed, completely indifferent to Yankee threats, confident in his people’s capacity to confront any aggression and in the efficacy of Iran’s arms, which are in large part produced by Iranians themselves, for the purpose of imposing on aggressors an impossibly high cost. […]

The Great Depression of the 1930s saw the outbreak of a multitude of radical social movements on the Left and on the Right — or ones that were simply sui generis like the “Share Our Wealth” campaign launched by the fiery Louisiana populist politician Huey P. Long, Jr.  Long came from a poor pinewoods parish […]

  The International Longshore and Warehouse Union is waging a battle against union-busting.  ILWU Local 21 in Longview, Washington is under attack by a giant consortium, EGT, which has built a $200 million grain terminal and is running it as a scab operation.  This directly violates the port agreement with ILWU which has had jurisdiction […]

With the war in Iraq now officially over and the Occupy Wall Street movement less visible, life in New York was expected to return to normal.  Instead, several recent passersby in Manhattan’s financial district have reported seeing thousands of deceased Iraqi civilians taking up residence at Zuccotti Park.  The park served for two months in […]

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

Communiqué The president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Comandante Hugo Chávez, in the name of the Venezuelan people and government, condemns the terrorist attack perpetrated today in Damascus, the capital of the brother Syrian Arab Republic, in the strongest and most unequivocal terms, and stands in solidarity with the brave Syrian people, in sending […]

  The policy of cuts to public health applied in Catalonia has caused the closure of referral hospitals, like the Bellvitge hospital, and the closure of Primary Medical Centers (CAPs), making the quality of medical care deteriorate.  One of the closed CAPs is the Rambla Marina CAP, leaving a barrio of nearly 30,000 residents (10,000 […]

Ibrahim Jaza is a Syrian cartoonist.  Note: “Ghalioun” means “pipe” in Arabic.  See, also: “Now, irresponsible people have taken over the leadership of the Syrian revolt. . . .  From the beginning the SNC was marching toward the UN Security Council.  The SNC wanted to exclude Syria from the Arab League and get the Arab […]

Ibrahim Jaza is a Syrian cartoonist.  See, also: “To those of you who don’t believe that the #Syria-n rebels have israeli arms, take a look.  Nothing’s hidden anymore.  pic.twitter.com/mOTfVyT4” (Joud, 25 December 2011); “الهيئة ” و “المجلس” يوقعان اتفاقا “مفخخا” يسمح ضمنا بتدخل عسكري عربي في سوريا لإسقاط النظام  (SyriaTruth.org, 31 December 2011). | Print

  Tunisian Prime Minister (and Ennahdha Secretary General) Hamadi Jebali: “Democracy is just a question of organization.” On the prime minister’s well-organized desk: “Discourse for ‘My Base’”; “Discourse for the ‘Others’*“; “Disclaimers for the Press” * I.e. Dirty bastards of miscreants. Nadia Khiari, aka Willis from Tunis, is a Tunisian painter and cartoonist.  Translation by […]

  Clarence Thomas is a former officer and long-time labor activist with ILWU Local 10.  I spoke with him about the prospect of a shutdown of the Port of Oakland this evening — a goal of Occupy Oakland demonstrators who called a general strike today. Clarence Thomas: “One of the reasons why they are doing […]

  This is my will.  I, Muammar bin Mohammad bin Abdussalam bi Humayd bin Abu Manyar bin Humayd bin Nayil al Fuhsi Gaddafi, do swear that there is no god but God and that Mohammad is God’s Prophet, peace be upon him.  I pledge that I will die as Muslim. Should I be killed, I […]

  The Irish-owned ship, the MV Saoirse, that was meant to take part in Freedom Flotilla 2 has been sabotaged in a dangerous manner in the Turkish coastal town of Göcek, where it had been at berth for the past few weeks.  Visual evidence of the undership sabotage, which was carried out by divers, will […]

  “Yes, Mr. Prime Minister, it’s my fault.  Israel’s PR failure is on my account.  But after you forbid us from protesting, after you pass the law, everything will be different here.  The entire world would know that Israel is a magnificent democracy.  Tourism and trade will flourish.  Anywhere Israelis go, everybody will know that […]

Samir Amin is director of the Third World Forum in Dakar, Senegal and author of The Liberal Virus (Monthly Review Press, 2004), The World We Wish to See (Monthly Review Press, 2008), and most recently The Law of Worldwide Value (Monthly Review Press, 2010). This article was translated by Shane Henry Mage. The year 2011 […]

  To Tea Partiers and supporters of the Far Right, Madison, Wisconsin has become the latest “Shining City Upon a Hill,” where one of their courageous leaders, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, is waging a heroic battle to tame big government and balance the state’s budget.  American Exceptionalism has always defined liberty as keeping government off […]