Archive | Commentary

John Maynard Keynes, though bourgeois in his outlook, was a remarkably insightful economist, whose book Economic Consequences of the Peace was copiously quoted by Lenin at the Second Congress of the Communist International to argue that conditions had ripened for the world revolution.  But even Keynes’ insights could not fully comprehend the paradox that is […]

No to the retirement reform, yes to better work sharing. This cine-tract was created by art and film students at Lycée Gabriel-Guist’hau in Nantes, France, to support the social movement against Sarko’s retirement reform. | Print

“Two hundred auto workers picketed October 16 outside the locked gates of their union’s headquarters in Detroit, protesting an agreement to let General Motors pay half wages at a suburban assembly plant.  The ‘Tier 2’ workers, who make up 40 percent of employees at the plant, will make roughly $14.50.  They’ll be working alongside Tier […]

The demonstrations that have rocked France this past week highlight some of its differences from the United States.  This photo, for example, shows the difference between rioting in baseball-playing versus soccer-playing countries.  In the U.S., we would pick up the tear gas canister and THROW it — rather than kick it — back at the […]

‘The founder of German Communism’ is how Engels describes Wilhelm Weitling (Engels 1975 [1843], p. 402).1  It is not a name that comes immediately to mind when considering the origins of modern communism, but he, a diligent student of the Bible, was an early comrade of Marx and Engels and deserving of greater recognition for […]

When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad traveled to Lebanon last week, attracting huge crowds and what seemed like an overwhelmingly positive public response, many Western analysts dismissed the trip as a kind of cheap political trick, meant to distract attention from Ahmadinejad’s allegedly unpopular standing at home.  But, after returning from Lebanon, Ahmadinejad made a trip […]

The slanging match over currency and monetary policies at the annual Fund-Bank meetings, held over the second weekend of October, points to the disarray in global economic governance.  While the US sought to mobilise IMF support for an effort to realign exchange rates and ensure an appreciation of the renminbi in the wake of China’s […]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez Frías said on Wednesday that Venezuela, as a country fighting for and defending the independence of all nations, again reiterates its support for the respect for the sovereignty and self-determination of the people of the Islamic Republic of Iran. At a press conference held in Tehran, the capital of Iran, President […]

On one hand, a workers’ platform, backed by CUT, on the other hand, a neoliberal platform, which puts Brazil on sale. Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com).  See, also, João Pedro Stedile Interviewed by Nilton Viana, “Serra representa a burguesia e a volta do neoliberalismo” (Brasil […]

Blood’s a Rover is the third novel in a series by James Ellroy depicting the “secret history” of U.S. government action against the Cuban Revolution, global anti-colonial struggles, and domestic Black liberation struggles circa 1955-1974.  FBI agents, government officials, and mobsters find themselves on the same programmatic page and payroll: the bi-partisan COINTELPRO program.  Ellroy […]

The USA pushing for peace negotiations . . . just means shoving the Arab negotiators’ heads into the walls of Israeli settlements. Fahd Bahady is a Syrian cartoonist.  This cartoon was published in his blog on 5 October 2010; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.   The text above is an interpretation of the […]

Introduction Recently governments, economists, and international financial institutions have been debating the merits of further fiscal stimulus to combat the Great Recession versus fiscal austerity or “adjustment” — that is, higher taxes and/or lower government spending — to combat budget deficits.  Some supporters of austerity have gone as far as arguing that fiscal adjustment could […]

  Esteban: Hello, this Tuesday’s action is a symbolic last-ditch stand, isn’t it? Olivier Besancenot: No!  It’s another stage toward the general strike which is beginning to happen.  On Tuesday night, strikes will be renewed, and there will be new demonstrations, as well as numerous blockades.  The question posed now is about blocking the economy […]

Dietrich Wagner, 66, blinded by police, Stuttgart, 30.09.10 A retired engineer of 66 loses an eye, forced from its socket by water cannon at short range.  High school kids in an approved protest demonstration get beaten and excruciatingly blinded by pepper gas.  Over 400 people are injured in a major police attack, which failed completely […]

  Is the United States at long last getting serious about global imbalances, or are we risking currency wars that can end in unmitigated disaster for all?  No one knows, though tension is on the rise with China.  This much is certain: Any advantage from a lower currency is a zero-sum gain for the world […]

Some 8,000 people marched through Tel Aviv to the Ministry of Defense on 16 October 2010, in protest against the racist laws being promoted by the Israeli government and the Israeli security forces’ population transfer exercises. A long list of organizations, movements, and political parties participated in the demonstration, including the Hadash Party, Hithabrut-Tarabut, and […]

Doug Minkler is a poster maker in the San Francisco Bay Area.  Minkler’s Web site is .  For more information about the Sit/Lie ordinance in San Francisco, visit ; ; . | Print

When the Crash of 2008 hit Wall Street, European capitalism was thrown into disarray.  With the demise of the export-absorbing monster that was the US consumer market, what in 2003 Joseph Halevi and I called “The Global Minotaur” (see Monthly Review, Vol. 55), Europe not only lost a critical source of aggregate demand but also […]

After the Band TV debate on 10 October 2010. . . . Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com).  Cf. “Datafolha: Dilma lidera e vencerá o segundo turno” (9 October 2010); “Vox Populi: Dilma tem 54,5% dos votos válidos” (13 October 2010); “CNT/Sensus: Dilma vence com 52,3% […]

  Houses on the Moon Zombie Banker Blues Roscommon Death Trip Eamonn Crudden is an Irish filmmaker.  See, also, “A Curse on the Zombie Establishment: An Interview with Filmmaker Eamonn Crudden” (MediaBite, 23 September 2010). | Print