The biggest economic question facing Brazil, as for most developing countries, is when it will achieve its potential economic growth. For Brazil, there is a simple, most relevant comparison: its pre-1980 — or pre-neoliberal — past. From 1960-1980, income per person — the most basic measure that economists have of economic progress — in Brazil […]
Archive | Commentary
Monthly Review Magazine
Iran’s Nuclear Program
Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist. This cartoon was published in his blog on 5 January 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. | Print
Iran’s Proposal to Russia: Enrichment Is Still Key
August 26, 2010 Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said today that the Islamic Republic has proposed to Russia that the two countries create a joint consortium to fabricate fuel for the Bushehr reactor and other nuclear power plants that Iran plans to build in the future. Salehi reportedly […]
Pachamama and Progress: Conflicting Visions for Latin America’s Future
Miners in Potosí, Bolivia set off sticks of dynamite as cold winter winds zipped through the city, passing street barricades, protests, hunger strikers, and an occupied electrical plant. These actions took place from late July to mid-August against the perceived neglect of the Evo Morales administration toward the impoverished Potosí region. This showdown in Bolivia […]
Israel/Palestine and the Apartheid Analogy: Critics, Apologists and Strategic Lessons (Part 2)
I. Apartheid of a Special Type In the previous section I made a distinction between historical apartheid (unique to South Africa) and apartheid in its generic form — a structured system of political exclusion and social marginalization on the basis of origins (including but not restricted to race). I concluded that Israel is different from […]
Karzai and Zardari
Uncle Sam tries to batter down the door to the Taliban stronghold . . . by banging the heads of Karzai and Zardari, not his own, against it. Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist. This cartoon was published in his blog on 24 August 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. The text […]
The Greek Laboratory: Shock Doctrine and Popular Resistance
5 May 2010 “There is a shadow of something colossal and menacing that even now is beginning to fall across the land. Call it the shadow of an oligarchy, if you will; it is the nearest I dare approximate it. What its nature may be I refuse to imagine. But what I wanted to say […]
The Tower: A Songspiel
“Our city will be the Dubai of the North. Just think about it. We were the Venice of the North, but we’ll become the Dubai of the North. We have to keep in step with the times. The first step is the Gazprom Tower.” Film Concept: Dmitry Vilensky and Olga Egorova (Tsaplya). Director: Tsaplya. Screenplay: […]
Remittances, Migration, and Other Panaceas: The End of Outward-looking Development Strategies?
In a 1965 essay, the great development economist Albert Hirschman bemoaned the tendency of those in his profession to look for the next panacea. Unfortunately, various panaceas have come in and out of fashion since Hirschman wrote. During three decades of neo-liberalism, development economists and policymakers have celebrated three inter-related strategies: (1) free markets, […]
The Parent Company Trap
Fox News accuses the Kingdom Foundation, which has funded (State Department-approved) Imam Feisal “I-Am-a-Supporter-of-the-State-of-Israel” Abdul Rauf of the Cordoba Initiative (dubbed “Ground Zero Mosque” and even “Terror Mosque” by the nutty Right) in the past, of also funding “radical madrasas all over the world.” But it fails to mention that the Kingdom Foundation is a […]
Paltry Aid to Pakistan
Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist. This cartoon was published in his blog on 22 August 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. | Print
Mourning Glory
Rupert James is a co-founder of the Human Eye Corporation. | Print
Photos, Representation, and the “Banality of Oppression”
“The peace movement, sexist as it was, expressed disenchantment with violence, super-technology and imperialism.” — Adrienne Rich, Of Woman Born; Motherhood as Experience and Institution Pictures of former Israeli soldier Eden Abargil posing in front of blindfolded and handcuffed Palestinian prisoners have caused some controversies in the media. Abargil did not think she had done […]
Whose Recovery? What Double Dip?
Is there an economic recovery underway? Was there one that has now stopped? Will our current recession, partly recovered from, now tumble downward again in a second or “double” dip? Mainstream politicians, journalists, and academics are engaged in hot and heavy debates about recoveries and double dips. Yet the economic reality for most Americans is […]
Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit
Excerpt: Household Debt and Credit Developments in 2010Q21 Aggregate consumer debt continued to decline in the second quarter, continuing its trend of the previous six quarters. As of June 30, 2010, total consumer indebtedness was $11.7 trillion, a reduction of $812 billion (6.5%) from its peak level at the close of 2008Q3, and $178 […]
The Sacred Cow
The early years of the Left Front government in West Bengal in the late seventies had been marked by severe power cuts in Calcutta (as it then was) and elsewhere in the state. One evening as “load-shedding” began, a little urchin in a slum neighbouring a high-rise jumped up and down clapping his hands, shouting: […]
South African Public Sector Strike Highlights Society’s Contradictions
The two major civil service unions on strike against the South African government vow to intensify pressure in coming days, in a struggle pitting a million members of the middle and lower ranks of society against a confident government leadership fresh from hosting the World Cup. Along with smaller public sector unions, teachers from the […]
Just Like Bushehr, Iranian Enrichment Is No Threat
In recent days, a good deal of attention has been focused on Iran’s first nuclear power plant at Bushehr, still in its final stages of development. We believe that there are some important lessons to be learned from the Bushehr experiences that could help move U.S. policy on the Iranian nuclear issue in a much […]
Israel/Palestine and the Apartheid Analogy: Critics, Apologists and Strategic lessons (Part 1)
I. Introduction In the last decade, the notion that the Israeli system of political and military control bears strong resemblance to the apartheid system in South Africa has gained ground. It is invoked regularly by movements and activists opposed to the 1967 occupation and to various other aspects of Israeli policies vis-à-vis the Palestinian-Arab people. […]
Hormel Strike a Key Event in Nation’s Labor History
From the late summer of 1985 into the early spring of 1986, the small town of Austin, Minnesota, figured prominently in the national news. The dramatic themes and issues, twists and turns, of a labor conflict there captured the national imagination. This interest was not merely passive, as more than thirty support committees formed across […]
