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Ideas for the Struggle #4 Should We Reject Bureaucratic Centralism and Use Only Consensus?
This is the fourth in a series of articles on “Ideas for the Struggle” by Marta Harnecker. 1. For a long time, left-wing parties were authoritarian. The usual practice was bureaucratic centralism, very much influenced by the experiences of Soviet socialism. All criteria, tasks, initiatives, and courses of political action were decided by the party […]
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The Envy of Goebbels
Yesterday I was listening to the Round Table TV program when it analyzed, among other topics, Operation Peter Pan, one of the most repugnant acts of moral aggression carried out against our country. Patria potestas is an extremely sensitive issue. That was a repugnant low trick. One of the novels by Mikhail Sholokhov that I read some years later included a reference to that kind of slander which had already been used against the Revolution of October 1917.
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Ahmadinejad Front Runner in Upcoming Presidential Elections; Iranians Continue to Back Compromise and Better Relations with US and West
Results of a New Nationwide Public Opinion Survey of Iran before the June 12, 2009 Presidential Elections Executive Summary: In a new public opinion poll across Iran before the critical upcoming June 12, 2009 Presidential elections, a plurality of Iranians said they would vote for incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iranians also continue overwhelmingly to favor […]
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Interview with Manushi Bhattarai, Nepali Student Leader
Below is an Interview with Manushi Bhattarai.* She is part of the Maoist Ticket that swept the student elections at Tribhuvan University — Nepal’s largest. She discusses the revolution, recent political developments, the international situation, and the role of youth. Ben Peterson: Thanks a lot for meeting with me. The All Nepal National Independent Student […]
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Statement by a Group of Iranian Anti-war Activists about Iran’s Presidential Elections
Monday 8 June 2009 We are a group of Iranian academic and antiwar activists in Europe and the United States who, in the past few years, have consistently defended Iran’s national interests in all areas including its right to develop peaceful nuclear technology. Our varied activities in the face of anti-Iran propaganda by the neoconservatives […]
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Obama’s Doublespeak on Iran
On the US-Iran relationship, President Obama seems to be talking from both sides of his mouth. From one side we hear promising messages of dialogue and a “new beginning” with Iran; from the other side provocative words that seems to be coming right out of the mouth of his predecessor, George W. Bush. For example, […]
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July Delegation to Venezuela: Human Rights, Food Sovereignty, and Social Change
A food sovereignty delegation from the Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of New York visits La Vela de Coro, Falcón, Venezuela. Video by Diego Gerena-Quiñones. The Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of New York invites you to join us in July for a 10-day trip to Venezuela examining advances in food sovereignty and other initiatives for social […]
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Peru’s Amazon Indigenous Peoples Need You to TAKE ACTION Now!
60 Die in Peru Rainforest Protest Send a Message to the President of Peru June 5, 2009 URGENT ACTION ALERT Peru’s Amazon Indigenous Peoples need you to TAKE ACTION now! Tell the Peruvian Government: Immediately suspend violent repression of indigenous protests and the State of Emergency Repeal the Free Trade Laws that allow oil, logging, […]
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Solidarity with the Indigenous Peoples of the Peruvian Amazon!
Washington DC, 8 June 2009 Washington DC, 8 June 2009 Washington DC, 8 June 2009 Washington DC, 8 June 2009 Washington, DC, 5 June 2009 Washington, DC, 5 June 2009 Lima, 5 June 2009 Lima, 27 May 2009 Los Angeles, 26 May 2009 Los Angeles, 26 May 2009 United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, […]
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Brazil: Revisited
“A modern city, warts and all.” — Dennis Brutus Dawnlight seeps slowly into Sao Paulo skies as if reluctant to rediscover old betrayals or disclose new ones in Lula’s disappointed lands (IMF/World Bank scoundrels have tenacious as well as rapacious ravening claws) but trees silhouetted against pale skies against malodorous ditches assert irrepressible growth, undeterrable […]
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Ideas for the Struggle #3 To Be at the Service of Popular Movements, Not to Displace Them
This is the third in a series of articles on “Ideas for the Struggle” by Marta Harnecker. 1. We have said before that politics is the art of constructing a social and political force capable of changing the balance of forces in order to make possible tomorrow what appears impossible today. But, to be able […]
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Obama’s Speech in Cairo
On Thursday the 4th of June, at the Islamic University of Al-Azhar in Cairo, Obama gave a speech of special interest to those of us who are closely following his political actions given the enormous might of the superpower he leads. I cite his very own words to indicate what I think are the basic ideas he expressed, thus summarizing his speech to save time. Not only do we have to know that he spoke but also what he said.
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Towards a Great German Oil Empire
Dietrich Eichholtz. Krieg um Öl: Ein Erdölimperium als deutsches Kriegsziel 1938-1943. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2006. 141 pp. ISBN 978-3-86583-119-4; EUR 19.90 (paper), ISBN 978-3-86583-119-4. Dietrich Eichholtz does not mince words. From the first page of this powerfully argued book, his underlying argument is clear: “The imperialist interest in oil played a role in the […]
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The Constantly Widening Gap between Words and Deeds
There are political circles and commentators who live from minute to minute. For them, every squeak from a world leader is a virtual earthquake, a real revolution. This is especially true now that we are dealing with a US president, who is handsome, articulate, and even eloquent. The present level of manipulated excitement stems from […]
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A Ridiculous Response to a Defeat
Yesterday in the afternoon, while thoroughly analyzing the speech delivered by Obama at the Muslim University of Cairo, I received some reports published by the news agencies with the weird information that two retired persons more than 70 years old had been arrested on charges of having been spying for the government of Cuba for 30 years. Almost all the important western press agencies – eight of them- disseminated the news.
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Cinema as a Democratic Emblem1
Philosophy only exists insofar as there are paradoxical relations, relations which fail to connect, or should not connect. When every connection is naturally legitimate, philosophy is impossible or in vain.
Philosophy is the violence done by thought to impossible relations.
Today, which is to say “after Deleuze,” there is a clear requisitioning of philosophy by cinema — or of cinema by philosophy. It is therefore certain that cinema offers us paradoxical relations, entirely improbable connections.
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Unemployment Climbs to 9.4 Percent, Rate of Job Loss Continues to Slow Moderately
Though employment losses have slowed in May, many sectors have already lost large numbers of jobs over this recession and therefore have fewer jobs left to lose. The economy lost another 345,000 jobs in May. For the first time in a year, there were upward revisions to the past months’ data, with March and April’s […]
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Obama Administration Seeks Supreme Court Review of Decision Declaring Patriot Act Provision Unconstitutional
Lower Courts Unanimously Declared Law Unconstitutionally Vague Washington, DC, June 4, 2009 — The Obama administration today sought Supreme Court review of a decision declaring a USA Patriot Act provision unconstitutional. The case, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, originally brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in 1998, challenges the constitutionality of the law […]
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“Welcome, Obama”
Ashraf Omar is a socialist cartoonist from Egypt. This cartoon was published by Revolutionary Socialism, an Egyptian Web site, under a Creative Commons license. The title given by Revolutionary Socialism reads: “Caricature: Welcome, Obama” (Caricature: Marhaba Obama).
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Chomsky on Obama Speech
June 4, 2009 Chomsky, whose recent books include Interventions and The Essential Chomsky, sent the following to the Institute for Public Accuracy this morning: “A CNN headline, reporting Obama’s plans for his June 4 Cairo address, reads ‘Obama looks to reach the soul of the Muslim world.’ Perhaps that captures his intent, but more […]