Eric Mann. Playbook for Progressives: 16 Qualities of the Successful Organizer. Beacon Press, 2011. “Agonizer” was the term an old girlfriend of mine from my vanguard organization days used to describe the branch organizer for the party. An apt description for someone tasked to do the thankless job of running meetings, setting schedules, and seeing […]
Archive | News
News updates or analysis.
Indian ‘Republic Killing Its Own Children’ — Kishenji Fought for a Better World
India’s Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, West Bengal Chief Minister (also in charge of the province’s home affairs) Mamata Banerjee, Union Home Secretary R K Singh, and the top bosses of the security forces involved in the operation have all been bent on establishing one point: that the alleged encounter in the Burishol forest […]
No to Al-Ganzoury’s Cabinet Appointments . . . No to ‘Yellow’ Trade Unions
In the context of the Military Council’s continued counter-revolutionary campaign, and in particular its insistence that Al-Ganzoury must form a government, despite the demand by the revolutionaries of Tahrir Square for a national salvation government with full powers which we can hold to account, and in the light of rumours that Al-Ganzoury has been holding […]
Pulling on the Russian Leash
Victor Nieto is a cartoonist in Venezuela. Cf. Vitaly Churkin, “Russia Against Any Sanctions on Syria” (2 December 2011); “Done Deal: Russia Supplies Cruise Missiles to Syria” (RT, 2 December 2011). var idcomments_acct = ‘c90a61ed51fd7b64001f1361a7a71191’; var idcomments_post_id; var idcomments_post_url; | Print
Workers and Peasants Are the Voice of the Egyptian Revolution
The Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions and all its 139 affiliated unions, with their collective membership of 1,670,000, call on the Egyptian people (youth, workers and peasants) to block any attempts to prevent the implementation of the demands of the revolution through the recreation of the old regime by its criminal tools. Therefore the […]
Occupy Production
As the Occupy movement keeps developing, it seeks solutions for the economic and political dysfunctions it exposes and opposes. For many, the capitalist economic system itself is the basic problem. They want change to another system, but not to the traditional socialist alternative (e.g., USSR or China). That system too seems to require basic change. […]
Why Syria Matters: Interview with Aijaz Ahmad
Aijaz Ahmad: For one thing, Syria is the last remaining representative of Arab nationalism as it used to be understood historically. It still calls itself socialist. Even though it has implemented a great deal of neoliberal reform, the state sector is still dominant. It bans, literally bans, religion from politics. It will not recognize the […]
Deconstructing the Foundational Myths of Israel
Shlomo Sand. The Invention of the Jewish People. Verso, 2009. By this time already, after 60-plus years of heatedly arguing the topic back and forth, is there anything new and insightful to be said that might have a bearing on the Israel-Palestine conflict and help to bring some political and intellectual closure at long last […]
Sayed Mohsen Abdel-Ghani, 17 Years Old, Tortured by Egypt’s Army and CSF
On Sunday, 20 November, Sayed was arrested on Mohamed Mahmoud Street. For four days, the Central Security Forces and the army tortured him. For more information about Mosireen, visit <mosireen.org>. See, also, <against-torture.net>. var idcomments_acct = ‘c90a61ed51fd7b64001f1361a7a71191’; var idcomments_post_id; var idcomments_post_url; | Print
Free Elections in Egypt
Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist. Cf. “As with Morocco, with the outcome largely predictable, the most interesting aspect of the results will not be the allocation of seats but the turnout. SCAF will be hoping for a high participation rate as evidence of popular endorsement of its transitional role” (James Asfa, “Democrats Against Elections: […]
Scripting Erdoğan’s Syria Policy
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: “Syria is an internal affair for us!”Barack Obama: “What a smart little boy he’s become!” Barack Obama: “We have reached the end of our patience!”Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: “We have reached the end of our patience!” The top cartoon was first published by Gırgır; the bottom cartoon was first published by Çizgice. They […]
Who Controls Capital? What Does Capital Control?
Who controls capital, and what does capital control? The concept of “capital” in this context must be corporate enterprise. By this metric the commanding heights of capital in the United States would be the Fortune 500 or 1,000, perhaps a thousand or so more, with an array of satellite firms numbering in the tens of […]
Middle East Business Made Simple
US investments in the Arab nation ⇒ oil to the United States ⇒ US bombs and missiles against the Arab nation Mohamed Al-Zawawi, born in Benghazi, was a Libyan cartoonist. He died in Tripoli on 5 June 2011 at the age of 75. This cartoon was published, untitled, in Al-Thawra (The Revolution), date unknown, […]
The People’s Democratic Struggle and the Struggle for the Environment: An Interview with Fred Magdoff
“The people’ democratic struggle and the struggle for the environment should be intimately tied together.” — Fred Magdoff Fred Magdoff is professor emeritus of plant and soil science at the University of Vermont and adjunct professor of crop and soil science at Cornell University. He is a co-author of What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know […]
Will French Intelligence Agents Be Training Syrian Deserters?
According to Le Canard enchaîné, French agents are now in Lebanon and Turkey “for the mission to build the first contingents of the Free Syrian Army.” French intelligence agents have been sent to northern Lebanon and Turkey to build the first contingents of the Free Syrian Army out of the deserters who have fled Syria, […]
We Are the 1%: Occupy Iran, Occupy Venezuela!
Jorge Alaminos Fernández is a graphic artist and designer in Spain. | Print
The General Strike
General strikes were common in Europe and in the U.S. towards the end of the nineteenth century and in the first decades of the twentieth century. They provoked great debates within the labor movement and within the revolutionary parties and movements (anarchist, communist, socialist). Much discussed were the importance of the general strike in […]
Support Today’s Freedom Riders by Ending U.S. Support for Israeli Apartheid
Fifty years ago, Freedom Riders braved beatings and arson by supremacists intent on maintaining apartheid in the Jim Crow South. By challenging segregated transportation through nonviolent action, these African American and white activists set in motion a process that ultimately dismantled segregation. While the struggle for racial justice continues, at least this shameful chapter of […]
Urgent from Tahrir: Join Our Struggle for the Survival of the Revolution
We are in the midst of a decisive battle in the face of a potentially terminal crackdown. Over the past 72 hours the army has launched a ceaseless assault on revolutionaries in Tahrir Square and squares across Egypt. Over 2000 of us have been injured. More than 30 of us have been murdered. Just […]
#OWS and the Young Trade Unionists
Cory McCray, Founder of the Young Trade Unionists, and George Hendricks, Baltimore Teachers Union (BTU) Rep and Vice President of the Young Trade Unionists (YTU) If you head down to the IBEW Local 24 Union Hall Auditorium on W. Patapsco Avenue in Baltimore on the first Tuesday of any month, you’ll encounter a meeting of […]
