The AFL-CIO has just formally petitioned the Bush Administration to “take immediate action to stop exploitation by the Chinese government and multinational corporations of workers in China, who are paid as little as 15 cents per hour” (AFL-CIO, “AFL-CIO Files Workers’ Rights Case Against China ,” Press Release, June 8, 2006). It appears that the […]
Geography Archives: Americas
South America, Central America, United States & Canada
Why You Should Read Solidarity for Sale If You Care about Unions in the United States
I loved Bob Fitch’s new book, Solidarity for Sale. For someone like myself, who has been battered around a bit by a few union leaders, it was like a drink of cool water at the end of a long, hot run. I’m troubled by the tone of some critical reviews of Solidarity for Sale I’ve […]
When the Union Is the Boss
Editor’s Introduction It’s no secret that there exists (1) a high turnover rate among entry-level organizers, many of whom are (2) young college graduates, rather than people recruited out of the communities that are organizing targets — the interrelated problems that Kevin Funk’s essay below illustrates. Daisy Rooks’ qualitative study (based on interviews with […]
Reflections on the June 9-10, 2006 Hong Kong Conference: “The Fortieth Anniversary: Rethinking the Genealogy and Legacy of the Cultural Revolution”
Flying into Hong Kong with my wife, Amy Demarest, early in the morning of June 8, 2006 and jetlagged, I wasn’t sure I’d be up to the next two days of a fully packed conference on the Cultural Revolution. The conference was sponsored by the China Study Group, Monthly Review, and the Contemporary China […]
The Day Will Come When Koizumi’s US Visit Will Be Damned
Submissions
Gaza: Do the Palestinians Have the Right to Exist?
I am so tired of hearing Tel Aviv complain that certain Palestinian factions do not recognize Israel’s right to exist. Regardless of their opinion of Israel’s right, even Hamas leaders have stated that the fact is that Israel does exist. Meanwhile, Israel is once again waging a military campaign against the Palestinians that, in essence, […]
In Complicity with Europe and the United States, Israel Overthrows the Palestinian Authority
In an operation carried out throughout the West Bank and the Jerusalem area early on Thursday, Israeli forces kidnapped some 65 Hamas government ministers, parliament members, and activists in an effort to overthrow the democratically elected Palestinian government. Palestinians fear that the officials were kidnapped to serve as bargaining chips for negotiating the release of […]
Since There’s No Longer Any Israeli Settlement, Gaza Is Now a Free Fire Zone!
Click on an image for a larger view. Gaza: Free Fire Zone Does the Israeli Army Need Smart Bombs or Smart Soldiers? Accept the Existence of Israel Carlos Latuff, born in Rio de Janeiro on 30 November 1968, is a political cartoonist. He is the author of the famous “We Are All Palestinians” series, comparing […]
Cuba Condemns Israel’s Military Aggression against the Gaza Strip [Cuba condena agresión militar de Israel contra Franja de Gaza]
El Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores de la República de Cuba ha conocido con extrema preocupación de la operación militar a gran escala iniciada por Israel, desde horas tempranas de la madrugada del 28 de junio del 2006, en la Franja de Gaza, con la movilización de cerca de cinco mil soldados, cientos de tanques y […]
Should We Advocate an Election Boycott in the United States?
Here in the purported paragon of electoral democracy, the United States of America, we have now suffered through presidential elections in 2000 and 2004 that were widely regarded as questionable. I am referring of course to the fiasco’s of Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004. Even before the Supreme Court made Bush President by […]
Iran’s Western Behavior Deserves Criticism
If imitation is the highest form of flattery, Iran must really adore the American model of state conduct. Contrary to popular perceptions, the decision-makers in Tehran agree with their nemesis, Akbar Ganji, who recently told the Voice of America that the West was “the cradle of civilization.” Two recent moves by Iran are especially noteworthy […]
“You Can’t Forgive the Man You Rob”: America’s Willful Ignorance of Muslims
Against a bloody backdrop of massacres and lynchings aimed at blacks in early 20th century America, W.E.B. DuBois observed that the suffering of the nation’s darker-skinned sons and daughters gave many whites a feeling of “fierce, vindictive joy.” He further wrote, “A true and worthy ideal frees and uplifts a people; a false ideal imprisons […]
Mexican and Central American Labor: The Crux of the Immigration Issue in the U.S.
Capitalism’s demand for cheap labor is the thread that runs throughout the history of immigration in the U.S. and remains the central issue today. Currently, the crux of the immigration issue is the status of the undocumented Mexican and Central American labor force working in this country. Just how closely the U.S. economy is linked […]
On Neoliberalism: An Interview with David Harvey
A BRIEF HISTORY OF NEOLIBERALISM by David HarveyBUY THIS BOOK Neoliberalism has left an indelible, smoldering mark on our world for the last thirty years. Eminent Marxist geographer David Harvey, author of A Brief History of Neoliberalism (Oxford, 2005), spoke earlier this year to Sasha Lilley, of the radical radio program Against the Grain, about […]
Iraq: Everybody Out!
My father’s travels ended in 1980. We came back to live the Iran-Iraq war. Zinnah, my sister, was a child of ten when she attended the Dijla (Tigress) Primary School. One day she returned to ask my mother, “Are we Sunni or Shooyouii (Arabic for Communist)?” a word she had most probably picked up […]
Iran at the World Cup
I watched the World Cup match of Iran and Mexico — two peoples with whom Washington is at odds! — on 11 June, with my Iranian friends (mainly men). So I adopted Iran as my team for the day. Knowing little about Iranian footballers, before the match began, I told my friends to point out […]
Guantánamo: The Subject Was Linens
“Whoever battles monsters should take care not to become a monster too, for if you stare long enough into the Abyss, the Abyss stares also into you.” — Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche “Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us — and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state and local, […]
Liberalism’s Long Goodbye
Former Senator and 1972 Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern‘s recent commentary on labor “The End of ‘More’” (Los Angeles Times, 22 May 2006), albeit apologetically, confirms that liberal orthodoxy is on the side of telling U.S. workers and working-class communities to quit struggling against the tide of “a new competitive reality.” But whose reality is […]
State and Gender Violence in Atenco [Violencia de Estado, Violencia de Género en Atenco]
¿Qué mujer en México, sin importar sus ideas, puede honestamente quedarse callada? Los días 3 y 4 de mayo del 2006, quedarán en la memoria de los habitantes de San Salvador Atenco, como unos de los días más tristes y violentos de su historia contemporánea. Este pueblo, de unos 33 mil habitantes, dependientes aún de […]
Bolivian President Pays Homage to Che Guevara Today [Presidente boliviano rinde hoy homenaje a Che Guevara]
El presidente de Bolivia, Evo Morales, rendirá hoy homenaje al Comandante Ernesto Che Guevara, en el 78 aniversario de su natalicio y en la aldea de La Higuera, donde el guerrillero vivió sus últimas horas. Según confirmó la Presidencia de la República, el mandatario encabezará el tributo, consistente en la apertura de un centro […]
