Bolivian President Evo Morales repealed on Friday night the decree issued five days ago to raise gasoline prices, after a meeting with his cabinet, trade unions, and social organizations in La Paz.
Geography Archives: Americas
South America, Central America, United States & Canada
Haiti: Recount and Review of Election Tally Shows Massive Irregularities
An independent recount and review of 11,171 tally sheets from Haiti’s November 28 election shows that the outcome of the election is indeterminate. The review, conducted by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), found massive irregularities and errors in the tally. A report detailing the recount’s findings, and methodology, will be made available […]
The Battle against Cholera
I am taking a second, between various important analyses that are currently taking up my time, to refer to two issues that should be known to our people. The United Nations, at the instigation of the United States, the creator of poverty and chaos in the Haitian Republic, decided to send into Haiti its forces […]
IAMC Deplores Dr Binayak Sen’s Conviction
December 27, 2010 Indian American Muslim Council deplores the verdict of life imprisonment handed to Dr. Binayak Sen and expresses alarm at the judicial process which resulted in his conviction. Dr. Sen, considered as one of the most prominent Human Rights activist in India, was falsely implicated on the basis of evidence allegedly planted […]
A More Effective Imperial CEO
“We are here because some of us and our friends voted for change. What did we get? What we got was a more effective imperial CEO.” — Bruce A. Dixon of Black Agenda Report, Chicago, 16 October 2010 Video by Labor Beat (27 November 2010). For more information: <mail@laborbeat.org>; <laborbeat.org>; 312-226-3330. | Print
Obama’s Cuba Policy
The historic election of Barak Obama brought with it high expectations for a new direction in American foreign policy towards Cuba. Unfortunately, hope has turned into disappointment halfway through his first term: the President continues to miss opportunities to alter the dynamics of the consistently contentious US-Cuba relationship. While the recent discharge of political […]
Expanding US Raids in Pakistan: Interviews with Mike Ferner, Kathy Kelly, Michael Marceau, and Ann Wright
On 20 December 2010, the New York Times reported (Mark Mazzetti and Dexter Filkins, “U.S. Military Seeks to Expand Raids in Pakistan”): “Senior American military commanders in Afghanistan are pushing for an expanded campaign of Special Operations ground raids across the border into Pakistan’s tribal areas. . . . Now, American military officers appear confident […]
Bolivia Raises Fuel Prices to Protect Economy and Stop Subsidizing Smugglers
The Bolivian government approved on Sunday a decree to bring fuel prices in line with regional prices, “to protect the economy and stop subsidizing smugglers,” which adjusts gasoline and diesel prices while keeping frozen the prices of liquefied petroleum gas and vehicular natural gas. At a press conference, Vice President Álvaro García Linera, temporarily […]
“Dear Afghanistan”: A New Year’s Call for Peace
While the US may be the world’s single superpower in military terms, it faces another superpower: the voices of war-weary millions who detest violence and killing. In Afghanistan, in the United States, and among the populations of countries whose governments have joined the NATO coalition, millions of people are calling for an end to war […]
President Chávez Sends Christmas Message of Hope and Faith
Caracas, 24 Dec. AVN — The president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez Frías, sent a message of hope and faith to the people as part of Christmas festivities, with a handwritten card that he showed at an event held in the Miraflores Palace in Caracas: Below is the Christmas message from the […]
Christmas Eve, 1913
This is a Christmas story you probably won’t hear retold during those sleek holiday shopping advertisements or around the flush tables of Don Blankenship or other mining company executives. Because this is the supposed season of joy, you may never have heard about Christmas eve in Calumet, Michigan in 1913. Perhaps it’s best to let […]
Decoding Economic Ideology
Introduction Molière’s 1670 his play, The Bourgeois Gentleman, presented before the court of Louis XIV, mocked a foolish, social-climbing merchant. In his effort to remake himself, the merchant takes lessons to help him pass as an aristocrat. In a basic lesson on language, he is both surprised and delighted to learn he had been speaking […]
The President and the Climate: Reflections on Progressive Obama Delusion and a Curious Line in Bill McKibben’s Eaarth
Just what did Barack Obama and his spinners do to the critical faculties of so many leading American progressives? Some of my regular readers might be surprised to know that I often bring a significant measure of disinclination to my recurrent radical criticism of President Barack Obama and his “progressive” defenders. The reluctance stems […]
Bradley Manning Suffering in Solitary Confinement
While the founder of WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, fights his legal battles in front of the cameras (or from the palatial estate in Britain where he is under “house arrest”) the American soldier accused of releasing secret US government documents to him remains hidden from public view. Army Private Bradley Manning has spent seven months […]
Chile Joins Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Bolivia in Recognizing Palestinian State
Chilean government spokeswoman Ena Von Baer declared on Tuesday that her country “supports the establishment of a Palestinian state.” With this declaration Chile joins Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, and Bolivia, which in past weeks have recognized Palestine as a free and independent state. Von Baer explained that Chile’s support is offered in the context of the […]
Georgia Prisoners’ Demands Delivered to Sonny Perdue’s Offices in Washington, DC
On December 20, dozens of people crowded the office of Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue and the National Governors Association offices in Washington, DC, to present the governor with the demands set by prisoners in his state who had been on strike since December 9: a living wage for work, educational opportunities, decent health care, […]
Europe in the World
Navid Kermani: Europe is in fact cementing its ideological borders. . . . Radical openness is an essential feature of the European project. . . . You can’t draw the borders of Europe just as you would draw the borders of a country. Europe isn’t a country — it is an idea. . . . […]
Pseudo-Privatization in the Islamic Republic: Beyond the Headlines on Iran’s Economic Transformation
When discussing the current state of Iran’s economy, commentators, activists, politicians, and the U.S. government all seem to agree on the massive role played by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Stanford University Professor Abbas Milani told an audience at the Carnegie Endowment in Washington, D.C. in June 2010 that this “military junta” controls “minimally […]
A Land Called Paradise
In December 2007, over 2,000 American Muslims were asked what they wished they could say to the world. This is what they said. Lena Khan is an independent filmmaker. Music by Kareem Salama. You can vote for this film at the Web site of Women’s Voices Now, “a not-for-profit social enterprise,” which is holding […]
Fintan O’Toole’s Own Cultural Revolution
Fintan O’Toole. Enough Is Enough: How to Build a New Republic. Faber. £12.99. Suppose you were swept to power on the back of a massive popular vote — say something like 80%, the kind of number that usually has the USA and its client states jumping up and down and calling you a leftist narco-terrorist. […]
