As economists in the US warn against the potential for double-digit unemployment, much of the world is already experiencing that reality. In Spain, 200,000 workers lost their jobs in January alone, the most for a single month on record, pushing that country’s unemployment rate to over 14%. Over 9% of workers in the Republic of […]
Geography Archives: Americas
South America, Central America, United States & Canada
Ye Olde Pirates on the High Seas
First they rammed the Dignity. Then they harassed the Spirit of Humanity into turning back to its berth. Now 18 corsair ships from the Israeli Navy have surrounded the Al-Ikhwa (The Brotherhood) ship, out of Lebanon, and boarded it, ransacking the boat and assaulting its passengers. The ship was plainly up to no good: it […]
Israel: The Left vs. the New Left
Hadash released a great set of four election commercials today, which feature conversations between a supporter of Meretz and a supporter of Hadash, “The Left vs. the New Left.” You can see the clips here. My favorite is the one on the Gaza war, which you can watch here in Hebrew. The Leftie stutters […]
Prophetic Verse
please keep in mind as you prepare to pass sentence you may at some time be in need of a presidential pardon and I may, understandably, be reluctant to grant it. Dennis Brutus is a South African poet. Active against Apartheid, he was arrested in 1963 and imprisoned for 18 months on Robben Island. After […]
Free Palestine! Isolate Apartheid Israel!South African Dock Workers Refuse to Handle Israeli Goods
COSATU and PSC launch Week of Action for Palestine supported by YCL and other progressive organisations In a historic development for South Africa, South African dock workers have announced their determination not to offload a ship from Israel that is scheduled to dock in Durban on Sunday, 8 February 2009. This follows the decision by […]
Cries of Ghosts across Centuries
Babylon has fallen, has fallen Yea, Babylon has fallen Woe! Woe! Woe! Towers that soared into clear blue are at blocks of stone settled into earth all gone, all shattered ground into scattered dust Babylon has fallen, has fallen Yea, Babylon has fallen Woe! Woe! Woe! Now hordes of warring barbarians literate, skilled in killing […]
Pass the Stimulus — Then Help Shorten the Work Week
As job losses hemorrhage, the American economy is in desperate need of a stimulus. It is becoming increasingly clear that Congress must work rapidly to approve some version of President Obama’s plan. Then, Obama and the Congress should very quickly turn to taking a second, temporary step to create more jobs: creating incentives for companies […]
No Justice, No Coat
Want to hear something weird about the Left? It’s chock-full of human nature. For example: Some communist, in the dead of winter, stole my girlfriend’s coat. I take you back a few months. A cold December. My girlfriend and I are invited to a “holiday party,” as the Americans say. Note how the festive noun […]
Chavismo: Christian, Anti-Nazi, Pro-Muslim, and Pro-Jewish
Roy Chaderton, Venezuela’s Ambassador to the Organization of American States, speaks of numerous members of the Jewish community who have supported the struggles of peoples against imperialism and Zionism, and he rejects any attack against the Jewish people. Watching television footage of one of the necessary and legitimate protests against the Israeli Embassy in […]
Employee Free Choice at Work: Checking Out of Stern’s Hotel California
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) wants its members to believe that their union is just like the alluring but ultimately nightmarish hostelry immortalized by The Eagles. It’s a place of permanent imprisonment only “programmed to receive” workers and their dues money, not let either go elsewhere when the rhetoric of “progressive unionism” wears thin […]
Letter to President Barack H. Obama
Dear Mr. President, Your election as the President of the United States of America has opened a new and promising chapter in the history of the USA and created a strong wave of enthusiasm and hope across the world.
Erdoğan Does Davos: Turkish Nation Unified . . . for Now
His face the color of the Turkish flag, his right arm pinning the panel moderator to his seat, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan preferred not to listen to any more Israeli bullshit about Gaza. With finger-wagging Israeli president Peres regurgitating the usual self-serving argument of self-defense to justify the criminal acts of his state, […]
More Zionist Than Israel? German Policy and Media on Gaza
The Gaza massacre, at least for the moment, is over — ended just before Barack Obama’s inauguration, so as not to cast an unwelcome cloud over his first hours as U.S. President. The initial Palestinian death toll is 1,300 . . . and expected to rise. (Four times that number were injured, and more wounded […]
African American History in Jeopardy of Being Demolished: Historic New Orleans Church to Be Destroyed
New Orleans — Hurricane Katrina was a catastrophic event that forced many people in New Orleans to start over. Since then, several hurricanes, such as Ivan and Gustav, continued to damage some of the oldest and most significant historical sites in the United States. One of the sites in jeopardy is the Wesley United Methodist […]
Foiling Another Palestinian “Peace Offensive”: Behind the Bloodbath in Gaza
Early speculation on the motive behind Israel’s slaughter in Gaza that began on 27 December 2008 and continued till 18 January 2009 centered on the upcoming elections in Israel. The jockeying for votes was no doubt a factor in this Sparta-like society consumed by “revenge and the thirst for blood,”1 where killing Arabs is a […]
Venezuela: Local Reactions to the Re-Election Reform
Following close on the United Socialist Party of Venezuela’s (PSUV) electoral victory in the November 23 regional elections, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez re-proposed a constitutional reform that would allow indefinite re-election. The first attempt, bundled with various constitutional amendments that would have accelerated economic restructuring, was defeated 51 to 49 percent in December 2007. Predictably, […]
A Muslim’s Memo to Obama: Words Cannot Camouflage Cluster Bombs
Liberals swooning over President Barack Obama’s recent speechmaking are also much impressed by his rhetorical overtures to Arabs and Muslims, first articulated during his inaugural address and reiterated on a major Arabic-language news channel. The sharp divergence in tone and tenor from Bush’s rhetoric is certainly welcome after eight years of hubris and arrogance. Quoting […]
Bolivia Looking Forward: New Constitution Passed, Celebrations Hit the Streets
After Bolivia’s new constitution was passed in a national referendum on Sunday, thousands gathered in La Paz to celebrate. Standing on the balcony of the presidential palace, President Evo Morales addressed a raucous crowd: “Here begins a new Bolivia. Here we begin to reach true equality.” Polls conducted by Televisión Boliviana announced that the document […]
Why They Hate Immigrant Workers, and Why We Love Them
On Tuesday, December 9, the anti-immigrant lobbyists at the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) held a press conference in downtown Washington, DC to promote their “Immigration Reform Agenda for the 111th Congress.” The press conference followed the new line that groups like FAIR have adopted since the financial crisis broke out last September. Undocumented […]
From Bolivia’s Streets: What Voters Think about the New Constitution
25 January 2009 Today’s referendum on Bolivia’s new constitution took place on a rare sunny day for this time of year in La Paz. Since traffic is prohibited on voting day, families taking advantage of the abnormally quiet streets walked their dogs, ate ice cream, and strolled into the local schools to vote. Across the […]
