Since early this morning, PAME members have symbolically occupied the Ministry of Economy and Finance, calling upon workers to rise up and stop the government’s barbaric anti-labor measures. All out for the demonstration today, Omonoia Square, 7 PM. General Strike! The All Workers Militant Front, PAME, is a coordination center of Greek trade unions, founded […]
Archive | News
News updates or analysis.
Congress Must Make President Obey Constitution and Remove US Armed Forces from Libya
June 2, 2011 Dear Colleague: Yesterday, NATO announced it would continue combat operations in Libya for at least another 90 days. NATO. The President went to NATO on Libya, not the U.S. Congress, as the Constitution requires. The U.S. has thus far provided 93% of the cruise missiles, 66% of the personnel, 50% of […]
Weak Job Growth Leads to Further Rise in Unemployment
The unemployment rate edged up again in May, reaching 9.1 percent, as the rate of private-sector job growth slowed to just 83,000. There were also downward revisions to the prior two months data, which lowered the average for the last three months to 160,000, approximately 70,000 more than what is needed to keep pace with […]
Obama on the Middle East
“As for US AID, we’re ready. A lot of US AID. The important thing: Don’t depend on yourself, and keep depending on us. Otherwise you won’t listen to us. Then, we’ll be angry. As for the topic of Palestine, we want to find a solution. We’ll recognize your country on the 67 borders.” “Mr. President, […]
At Long Last, House Debates and Votes on Libya War Powers
On Friday, more than two months after President Obama ordered U.S. forces into a war of choice in Libya without Congressional authorization, and more than two weeks after the expiration of the 60 day limit of the War Powers Resolution for the unauthorized use of force, the House finally debated and voted on the deployment […]
June 5: From Naksa (Setback) to Nasr (Victory)
This poster was produced to commemorate the “setback” (naksa): the 1967 war that Israel waged and that resulted in the loss of the Sinai, the Golan, East Jerusalem, and the West Bank. While a dark moment in history, it nonetheless planted the seeds that will lead to eventual victory (nasr) and a restoration of Palestine […]
Españistán: From the Housing Bubble to the Crisis
“It wasn’t our ability to create wealth that brought about growth. Instead, growth was driven by the creation of wealth itself. And this growth only existed thanks to the debt.” Aleix Saló is a cartoonist in Barcelona. Subtitles by Cristian Scott. For more information about Españistán, visit <estepaissevaalamierda.wordpress.com>. var idcomments_acct = ‘c90a61ed51fd7b64001f1361a7a71191’; var idcomments_post_id; var […]
Crossing Egyptian Military’s Red Line: Speaking Up against Military Tribunals
A few months ago, just walking too close to the Military Prosecution Complex in Cairo’s district of Nasr City could have landed you in jail. But on May 31, the area surrounding the complex was the stage for a demonstration in solidarity with OnTV’s presenter Reem Maged, socialist activist and blogger Hossam El Hamalawy, […]
Pity the Nation
“Pity the nation that wears a cloth it does not weave, eats a bread it does not harvest, and drinks a wine that flows not from its own wine-press.” — Khalil Gibran 3.5 million farmers produce food for the Egyptian people each year. 36% of the Egyptian population work in agriculture. “My ancestors used to […]
Why Washington Is Worried about Peru’s Election
In just a few days, on June 5th, an election will take place that will have a significant influence on the Western Hemisphere. At the moment it is too close to call. Most of official Washington has been relatively quiet, but there is no doubt that the Obama Administration has a big stake in the […]
Foreign Banks or Foreign Capital?
One less emphasised lesson from the global financial crisis was that developing countries that are successful in attracting foreign financial investors take a hit when such a crisis occurs because of a reverse flow of capital. Foreign financial firms needing to cover losses or meet commitments at home withdraw their capital, generating a credit crunch […]
The Reactionary Bloc in Egypt
Just as in past periods of rising struggle, the democratic social and anti-imperialist movement in Egypt is up against a powerful reactionary bloc. This bloc can perhaps be identified in terms of its social composition (its component classes, of course) but it is just as important to define it in terms of its means of […]
My Water’s on Fire Tonight (the Fracking Song)
“You better keep ’em far away from the water supply.”
Plunging Bottom-Tier Prices Push Case-Shiller Index to New Post-Bubble Low
The Case-Shiller 20-City index fell by 0.8 percent in March. This represents somewhat of a slowing from the prior six months in which the rate of monthly decline averaged more than 1.0 percent. Nonetheless, the drop pushed the index to a new post-bubble low. In nominal terms, the March number is 0.8 percent below the […]
Which Is the Tyrant?
Which is the tyrant? say you. Well, ’tis he That has the vine-leaf strewn among his hair And will deliver countries to the care Of courtesans — but I am vague, you see. Abu al-‘Ala’ al-Ma’arri (973-1057), born in Ma’arra in what is today Syria, was a poet and philosopher. This poem is from The […]
Syrian Kurdish Parties Boycott Syrian Opposition Conference in Antalya, Turkey
Syrian opposition groups will be meeting for three days in Antalya, Turkey in a conference organised by the Egypt-based National Organisation of Human Rights (NOHR). The conference, set to begin on Tuesday, 31 May, is to ‘support the revolt in Syria and claims of the Syrian people,’ said Ammar Qurabi, NOHR president. The conference […]
Should 15M Movement End Occupations of Sol and Other Plazas?
The movement of citizens that has occupied Puerta del Sol and other plazas in diverse cities of Spain since the 15th of May has brought back political debate to the streets and put the role of political parties into question. Should the movement now take down its encampments and look for other formulas to channel […]
Mother Nature, Make Me Rich
NBC recently aired a show called America’s Next Great Restaurant. Contestants, each of whom hoped to open a restaurant chain, were put through a series of tests to see whose idea had the best chance for success. A panel of judges eliminated one person at the end of each program, until the last one […]
When Push Comes to Shove? Exposing the Empty Threat to Kick Greece Out of the Eurozone
A sword of Damocles, we are told, is hanging over Greece. Even the Greek EU commissioner says that Greeks must accept that their country will be run, nay micromanaged, by a committee of foreign creditors, or else Greece will be kicked out of the eurozone. This threat is found upon a flagrant lie. Greece cannot […]
What the Left Front Did Wrong in West Bengal
The curiosum of a ‘red regime’ with a knack to get re-elected term after term for over more than three decades within the ambit of a full-fledged multi-party democracy has finally disappeared. The Left Front, led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has not merely lost the poll in West Bengal, it has been […]
