March 2011 was marked by the worst repression seen against the people of Honduras since the June 2009 military coup. The repression came in response to massive protests against an all-out final push by the Pepe Lobo regime to essentially privatize Honduras’ public education system while destroying teachers’ independence, politicizing schools, slashing salaries in half, […]
Geography Archives: Americas
South America, Central America, United States & Canada
Ohio House Bill 153: “Charter Universities” and Increasing Teaching Loads
Testimony of Sara Kaminski, Executive Director,Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors,before the House Finance Subcommittee on Higher Education, 7 April 2011 Chairman Gardner, Ranking Member Garland, and distinguished members of the Higher Education Subcommittee: my name is Sara Kaminski, and I am the Executive Director of the Ohio Conference of the […]
Collective Bargaining — Essential to Democracy
Recent events in Wisconsin have highlighted the necessity of collective bargaining. The governor of Wisconsin notwithstanding, collective bargaining is recognized internationally in numerous conventions, constitutions, and courts as a human right. Legal Background Our Constitution addresses the right of collective bargaining. The Thirteenth Amendment provides that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment […]
Socialist and/or Feminist?
This year, 8 March marked a century of the celebration of International Women’s Day. But aside from a few publications and websites of women’s movements, this event went largely unremarked in the mainstream press, and also in the public consciousness. The idea of International Women’s Day was born in the socialist movement in the first […]
On the Acquittal of Terrorist Luis Posada Carriles
In the afternoon of April 8, 2011, the farce that had begun thirteen weeks ago in El Paso, Texas, came to an end when terrorist Luis Posada Carriles was acquitted of all the charges pressed against him during a migration trial. To all those who have been following the sinister history behind this terrorist […]
I ♡ NATO
“Fortunately, they are our ‘allies.’” Victor Nieto is a cartoonist in Venezuela. His cartoons frequently appear in Aporrea and Rebelión. This cartoon was first published in his blog on 7 April 2011; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes. Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). Cf. Alan J. Kuperman, “5 Things […]
Address to the “We Are Ohio” Rally to Kick Off the Referendum Campaign to Repeal Senate Bill 5
I find it no coincidence that we gather on the week following the commemoration of the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, where he was meeting to speak on behalf of garbage workers who sought the ability to collectively bargain. They wanted, like you, […]
Taking Over the West
Hi, my name is Sukant Chandan. I’m 32 years old. I was born in Chandigarh in North India, in Punjab, in April 1978. I always say, teasingly to my parents, they brought me here, in the winter of 1981 without my consent, at the age of three and a half. . . . I remember […]
Egypt, Iran, and the Middle East’s Evolving Balance of Power
The full extent of the ramifications of the extraordinary developments in Egypt since the beginning of this year — for Egypt itself, for the Middle East, and for the world — will not be clear for some time. At this juncture, though, it seems virtually certain that post-Mubarak Egypt will have a much more balanced […]
100 Imams Call on Muslims to Rally for Peace and Jobs, against Wars and Terrorism, on April 9, 2011
We, 100 Imams from the Muslim community in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, stand together to thank our neighbors who have defended the Muslim community against Islamaphobia. Our neighbors have stood in opposition to Congressman Peter King’s hearings and against the efforts of the extremists to criminalize the practice of Islam in America. […]
The U.S. Government Response to the Nuclear Power Plant Incident in Japan
Testimony at a hearing entitled “The U.S. Government Response to the Nuclear Power Plant Incident in Japan,” held by the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the U.S. House of Representatives, 6 April 2011 Summary The crisis underway at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has revealed serious nuclear safety shortcomings […]
Gilbert Achcar’s Defense of Humanitarian Intervention
Gilbert Achcar defends the recently “UN-authorized” imperialist intervention in Libya on the ground that general principles may require exceptions in concrete cases. “Every general rule admits of exceptions. This includes the general rule that UN-authorized military interventions by imperialist powers are purely reactionary ones, and can never achieve a humanitarian or positive purpose.”1 This kind […]
Study Tour to Venezuela: Food Sovereignty, Social Movements, and Social Change
Food Sovereignty Tour + Agroecology Short Course in Venezuela, July 10-22 July 10 to 22, 2011 Please register ASAP! You are invited to participate in a study tour to study food sovereignty, social movements, and social change in Venezuela, July 10 to 22. The tour will examine issues of land reform, urbanization, rural development, […]
US Nuclear Power Plants: Internal NRC Documents Reveal Doubts about Safety Measures
In the weeks following the Fukushima accident, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and nuclear industry officials have been asserting that US nuclear plants are better prepared to withstand a catastrophic event like the March 11 earthquake and tsunami than Japanese plants because they have additional safety measures in place. According to internal NRC documents, however, there […]
Ecuador’s Expulsion of U.S. Ambassador
A declaration by the Ecuadorian government that U.S. Ambassador Heather Hodges is “persona non grata” and must leave Ecuador as soon as possible should not come as a surprise, Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said. Weisbrot noted that the expulsion follows recent troubling revelations in cables released by Wikileaks […]
Bring the War Dollars Home, Fund Local Needs!
Washington is broken — there has been no real debate on the $126 billion requested to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, yet $33 billion is being cut from vital programs — from heating oil for poor families to milk for infants to Pell grants for college students. We have a new opportunity to […]
The Everyday Violence of Urban Neoliberalism: An Interview with Nik Theodore
Nik Theodore is Director of the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a leading theorist of the urban dimensions of neoliberal restructuring. He has collaborated closely with the Right to the City Alliance, the National Day Laborers Organizing Network, and other groups that have been at the […]
Libya and the Laws of War: Interview with Michael Mandel
With respect to international law, in what ways does this intervention in Libya differ from those carried out in Afghanistan and Iraq? The intervention in Afghanistan, despite protestations to the contrary, was not authorized by the Security Council, whose relevant resolutions did not even mention Afghanistan, let alone authorize “all necessary means.” That was because […]
America’s Libyans
The Benghazi council chose as its leader the colorless former justice minister Mustafa Abdel Jalil. Jalil’s brain is Mahmoud Jibril, a former head of the National Economic Development Board (NEDB). A U.S. embassy cable from May 11, 2009 (09TRIPOLI386) describes Jibril as keen on a close relationship with the U.S. and eager “to create a […]
Syria: Banias Refinery Workers March for Syria and Bashar
Could it be that Syrian refinery workers thought it wise to warn imperialists not to descend on Syria to liberate their oil and jobs from them in the name of liberating them from Bashar? — Ed. Tartous, Syria, 29 March 2011 Cf. “Syria is the only significant crude oil producing country in the Eastern Mediterranean […]
