“The Senate fence measure was embodied in an amendment offered by Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, who borrowed from the poet Robert Frost. ‘Good fences make good neighbors,’ he said. ‘Fences don’t make bad neighbors.’” — New York Times, 17 May 2006 What Senator Sessions knows is of no interest to me. It must […]
Geography Archives: Americas
South America, Central America, United States & Canada
The Sewing Factory in Gaza, the Administration in Tel-Aviv, and the Owners in New York: Israeli Industrialists’ Strategy in the Global Supply Chain
The aim of this paper is to try to understand the Israeli industrialists’ strategy in the globalization process in the course of the recent years. The new strategy was implemented in the days of the first Intifada (the Palestinian uprising) in the late 80s. At that time voices were heard in the Association of Israeli […]
Quiet Gestures, Heroic Acts: A Conversation with Robert Ellsberg
Robert Ellsberg is a well-known activist and author of numerous books, but most importantly, a tireless advocate for social justice and a witness to the lives of others whose integrity and purpose provide useful models. His most recent book is Blessed Among All Women: Women Saints, Prophets and Witnesses for Our Times. One of my […]
Amnesty Now!
When a gun-touting cowboy, who calls for 6,000 National Guard troops to be stationed along the US-Mexico border, is presented as having taken the “middle ground” in the immigration debate, you know how far to the right mainstream politics are in the US. Bush’s address on May 15 calls not only for strict border control […]
The Nakba: Then and Now
On the 58th anniversary of the Nakba, or the “Catastrophe,” prominent Palestinians share their thoughts on the day when more than 700,000 of their brethren became refugees. The Institute for Middle East Understanding asked the panel, ranging from business leaders to comedians, what comes to mind on the 58th anniversary of the Nakba and why […]
Haunted House
Maryla Husyt Finkelstein, the author’s mother, after the war in Austria. She was in a Displaced People camp. Every night as we watched the news on television my mother would avert her eyes and raise her hand to block the screen when scenes from Vietnam flashed across it. After a few moments the question would […]
Immigration and Class
Migration between countries occurs if and when it “resolves” social and especially class contradictions inside both of them. One set of contradictions pushes people out of a country just as another set of contradictions in other countries pulls them in. Finally, while migration “resolves” some social contradictions, it likewise engenders or aggravates others. These days, […]
You And I, We’ve Been through That: Dylan and Haggard Take the Stage
Warnings, war, and apocalypse. Two riders approached. The wind began to howl. Electric guitars — and voices — sliced the night, like double-edged swords. Yep. Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard pulled into town Saturday night. The guy playing sax in the street out in front of the civic center put it this way: These guys […]
Before Muhammad Ali Became “Muhammad Ali™”
The man who shocked the nation by changing his name has sold that name for cash. Last month, Muhammad Ali™ was paid $50 million by CKX, an entertainment and licensing firm, in return for an 80 percent interest in his name and likeness. So, before Muhammad Ali™ becomes a corporate logo, let’s pause to recall […]
Union Mines, Safer Mines
A union presence at the Sago mine might well have prevented the disaster. Training at a union mine is strictly enforced. Workers, in rotation, walk the three alternate escape routes monthly and train on priorities in case of an emergency. Barricading as was done at Sago is the fourth and final resort. There were no […]
“Nuestro Himno”: Overcoming an Anthem to the Empire
A Review of “Nuestro Himno,” in Somos Americanos, Urban Box Office (www.ubo.com) $10 ($1 goes to support the immigrant rights movement). Release date May 16, 2006 A Spanish-language version of the US national anthem was distributed to radio stations Friday, April 29th, in time to be played over the air to build the May 1st […]
“Hispanic Quebec” Makes Its Entrance [L’entrée en scène du «Québec hispanophone»]
En ce Premier Mai 2006, des milliers et des milliers de Latinos se sont absentés du travail et de l’école, ont manifesté dans les rues des principales villes américaines et ont fait grève de consommation pour protester contre le projet de loi HR 4437 sur le contrôle de l’immigration illégale et faire reconnaître leur apport […]
Chechnya, Darfur, and Jewish Activism
The Sudan Liberation Army signed a peace agreement with Khartoum. Now, only the Justice and Equality Movement is left (Lydia Polgreen and Joel Brinkley, “Biggest Rebel Faction in Darfur Poised to Sign Peace Deal,” New York Times, 4 May 2006). Will the “30 Days for Darfur” campaign, “inspired by a meeting between Rabbi [David] Saperstein […]
What’s in a Name? Of West Point, War, and Pizza
When is a “West Point” graduate no longer a “West Point” graduate? That’s easy, according to the legal experts at the United States Military Academy. Any time you have an organization using the term, West Point, of which they do not approve. In fact, according to a letter received by us from these authorities, any […]
Stolen Birthright: The U. S. Conquest and Exploitation of the Mexican People [El patrimonio robado: La conquista estadounidense y la explotación de los mexicanos]
[This essay is the second installment of “Stolen Birthright: The U. S. Conquest and Exploitation of the Mexican People” by Richard D. Vogel. Read the first installment here.] La guerra de Estados Unidos en México La guerra de Estados Unidos en México de 1846-1848 fue la primera guerra estadounidense de agresión en contra de una […]
May Day in Asheville, North Carolina
May Day in North Carolina, USA. The weather is perfect. A march for immigrant rights begins this afternoon — part of the nationwide movement to prevent the passage of a legislation that would make it a felony offense to be in the US without papers or to help anyone that is here without said papers. […]
Seymour Hersh and the American Brain
Dear New Yorker Magazine: You’ve got your nerve, printing Seymour Hersh’s article, “The Iran Plans: Would President Bush Go to War to Stop Tehran from Getting the Bomb?” I have just thrown my April 17 issue of your so-called publication across the room, breaking the little shepherdess in my Hummel collection — so you owe […]
Stolen Birthright: The U.S. Conquest and Exploitation of the Mexican People [El patrimonio robado: La conquista estadounidense y la explotación de los mexicanos]
Un espíritu del pasado está penando en América. Pero ese espíritu no es un fantasma — es la emergencia de millones de mexicanos y méxicoamericanos, descendientes de los desterrados, a quienes se les negaron sus patrimonio en el suroeste de los Estados Unidos, y quienes están creciendo en poder y tienen hambre de justicia. La […]
The Lobby: It’s Not Either-Or
[John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt’s essay “The Israel Lobby” (London Review of Books 28.6, 23 March 2006) rekindled the smoldering controversy over the relations among US foreign policy, Israel, and the Israel lobby in the United States. Norman G. Finkelstein‘s comment on the controversy below provides a very useful analytical perspective on the subject. — […]
Whither Nepal?
Faced with an explosion of pro-democracy strikes and mass demonstrations, Nepal’s King Gyanendra was forced to reinstate parliament last week. Gyanendra had abolished parliament in October 2002 and seized absolute control in February 2005, but his attempts to regain his grip through repression last month only sparked further rebellion. On April 28, the Seven-Party Alliance […]
