Archive | News

  • Liberate Oakland, Shut Down the 1%: General Strike and Mass Day of Action, November 2

      Below is the proposal passed by the Occupy Oakland General Assembly on Wednesday October 26, 2011 in reclaimed Oscar Grant Plaza.  1607 people voted.  1484 voted in favor of the resolution, 77 abstained and 46 voted against it, passing the proposal at 96.9%.  The General Assembly operates on a modified consensus process that passes […]

  • A Requiem for Humanitarianism

    There is no history of a revolution which is not at the same time a history of barbarism.  (Inspired by Walter Benjamin) And the almost live pictures of Colonel Qaddafi’s freshly killed body, covered in human blood, dirt and mud, dragged on the streets of Sirte, followed by the footage of his rotting corpse on […]

  • San Francisco’s Teirisias

    Despite the cars, the cabs, the buses, despite the feet shuffled together on subways, the screaming on the sidewalks and the bar-music blaring out of doorways — this is also a city of silence — the silence of a woman with an outstretched hand, clasping onto the smooth round beads of a rosary tangled around […]

  • Obama Administration Escalates Confrontation with Iran: Why?

    The Obama Administration announced two weeks ago that a bumbling Iranian-American used car salesman had conspired with a U.S. government agent posing as a representative of Mexican drug cartels to assassinate the Saudi ambassador in Washington.  This brought highly skeptical reactions from experts here across the political spectrum. But even if some of this tale […]

  • Footage of Scott Olsen Being Shot by Police at Occupy Oakland

      This footage is proof that Scott Olsen was shot in the face by police without provocation during the Occupy Oakland march on Tuesday, October 25.  The moment leading up to the shooting, Olsen was standing completely still.  He was then hit in the head with a tear gas canister, which is potentially fatal.  Also, […]

  • Israel: Social Activists Gear Up for Mass Rally in Tel Aviv and Other Cities

    Protest leaders prepare for demonstrations next Saturday, October 29, across Israel, turning up the heat following the government announcement of an electricity price hike. After being put on the back burner for the past few weeks, the social protest is slowly turning up the heat following the recent electricity price hike announced by Israel’s neo-liberal […]

  • Interview with Salim Lamrani: “The Economic Sanctions against Cuba Constitute the Principal Obstacle to the Development of the Country”

      Salim Lamrani.  État de siège; les sanctions économiques des États-Unis contre Cuba(State of Siege: The United States’ economic sanctions against Cuba).  Prologue by Wayne S. Smith.  Preface by Paul Estrade.  Paris, Editions Estrella, 2011.  15 euros. CSF: You’ve just published a new book under the title État de siège.  What exactly do you cover […]

  • What Happened to VFP and IVAW Member Scott Olsen at Occupy Oakland

    October 26, 2011 Brothers and Sisters I just got off the phone with VFP Chapter 69 member, Josh Shepherd, who was at 14th and Broadway in Oakland early this morning and witnessed much of what happened. Josh said that after receiving several text messages with news of the Oakland PD taking down tents and arresting […]

  • Occupied Japan and Occupying Wall Street

    1) Not long ago I heard a writer claim that her publisher had demanded that the word “manifesto” be replaced in the title of her novel.  This is an Asian American woman who is feisty and strong-willed and political, who during readings calls out “blond boys” for flaunting the privileges of their maleness and their […]

  • Pessimism of the Reality, Optimism of the Ideal

      I. It seems to me that José Vasconcelos has found a formula on pessimism and optimism that not only defines the feeling of the new Ibero-American generation in the face of the contemporary crisis, but also corresponds to the absolute mentality and sensibility of an era in which, despite the thesis of José Ortega […]

  • Ravens and Vultures

    Did you notice that there are people who say they are of the Left but who seem to only criticize people of the Left?  Never against the Right, whatever it does.  They specialize in pouring gasoline on any little fire within the Left. They never recognize victories, conquests, advances.  They only make predictions of defeats, […]

  • 15O: Global Indignation

    The 15th of October (15O) was the first coordinated global response to the crisis, signifying the emergence of a new international movement.  Initially inspired by revolutions in North Africa, through emulation and imitation, protests began in the periphery of Europe.  The Mediterranean world thus found itself situated in the epicenter of a new wave of […]

  • Libya: NATO’s Champagne Moment

    NATO celebrating its victory. . . Eneko Las Heras, born in Caracas in 1963, is a cartoonist based in Spain.  The cartoons above were first published in his blog . . . Y sin embargo se mueve on 21 October 2011.  Cf. “Libya’s Interim Government Wants NATO to Stay” (Tripoli Post, 25 October 2011); Larry […]

  • The Vampire Squid Turns to Education

      In his Republic, Plato analogized elites to guard dogs who must be educated as to whom they must guard against and whom they must protect.  One of Plato’s nightmare scenarios was a ruling class that lost the ability to make this distinction and turned wholly predatory on its sustaining population.  Enter our present-day banking […]

  • I Woke Up One Morning and the War Was Over

    America’s war in Iraq is over.  The last U.S. troops will leave by year’s end, “with their heads held high, proud of their success and knowing that the American people stand united in our support for our troops.”  So sayeth President Obama. A “sham of a mockery of a sham” is what Groucho would call […]

  • Occupy Wall Street and the Celebrity Economists

      The Occupy Wall Street movement has transfixed the nation.  In just a few weeks, it has spread from Manhattan to hundreds of towns and cities, and it has now taken root in other countries.  It has focused the widespread anger that we feel toward a tiny group of extraordinarily rich individuals (the 1%) who […]

  • Celebrate a Victory and Support Political Prisoners: Freedom Dance 2011

    “For anyone who can’t be at the actual event, please note that you can support this effort to raise funds for political prisoners by purchasing a ticket online (only $20 at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/207355).  All support will be highly appreciated in the struggle to free political prisoners!  And please post on your Facebook page or whatever other […]

  • Occupy Wall St, Occupy Uruguay, Occupy Manila International Airport

    In my last posting on #OWS, I related a series of conversations I’d had with global trade union activists on their perceptions of #OccupyWallSt.  After the article appeared, several global labor activists contacted me with follow-up and feedback.  Steve Faulkner, an International Officer at the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU), wrote to say that […]

  • Venezuela Condemns Crime Committed against Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi

    The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela most energetically condemns the policy of barbarism executed by NATO and its allies in Libya, which has plunged that brother nation in war and subverted the institutional order of that country by force. The crime committed on 20 October 2011 against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is emblematic […]

  • NATO Has Assassinated Gaddafi — Now the Puppets Can Dance

      NATO has assassinated Gaddafi.  Now the puppets can dance.  This is not about democracy, as the “new” leaders are a combination of his ex-cabinet officials and ex-Mujahideen who took out the People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan in the 80s and installed the Taliban for the CIA. Pro-Gaddafi protests in Tripoli have been met with […]