Geography Archives: Americas

  THE BIG RED SONGBOOK Archie Green, David Roediger, Franklin Rosemont, Salvatore Salerno (eds.) BUY THIS BOOK The 2007 publication of The Big Red Songbook is long overdue.  Folklorist Archie Green has been in possession of 29 editions of the legendary Little Red Songbook of the IWW since Wobbly folklorist John Neuhaus entrusted them to […]

Our elections are the antithesis of those held in the United States, not on Sundays but on the first Tuesday of November. Being very rich or having the support of lot of money is what matters the most there. Huge amounts are later on invested in publicity, specialized in brain washing and the creation of conditioned reflexes.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 Tehran, 16 October: A joint statement has been signed following today’s talks in Tehran between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinezhad.  Here is its full text. On 16 October 2007, which corresponds to 24 Mehr 1386 in the Iranian calendar, Russian President Vladimir Putin, at the head of […]

Interview with IRNA Information Agency and Iranian State Television and Radio ABBAS ALI HADJI PARVANE: In the name of Allah!  Mr President, we are very grateful to you for finding the time to give us this interview in spite of your busy schedule and to answer our questions on Russia’s international position and bilateral relations […]

Listen to the recordings of the “In Defense of Academic Freedom” conference (University of Chicago, 12 October 2007).   Click on the links to download them in MP3 format. Introduction — Tariq Ali, Editor of the New Left Review and Verso Books Dr. Noam Chomsky, Institute Professor & Professor of Linguistics (Emeritus), Massachusetts Institute of […]

Understanding globalization, the main trend of capitalism at the beginning of the 21st century, is critical because of the many ways that it is undermining the lives and communities of working people in North America and around the world.  Few industries in the developed nations that are not specifically location-bound have been able to resist […]

The U.S. corporate media have been widely criticized for their refusal to question the Bush administration’s motives and assertions during the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.  Armed with one-sided experts and pundits, the media fanned the passions of the American public, acting as a kind of perverse cheerleader for war with slick TV […]

An Anishnabe blockade in 1996.  Photo by Macdonald Stainsby John Cutfeet outside the Legislature in June 2007.  Members of Grassy Narrows and Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug First Nations protested mining on their land.  Photo Adrian Wyld Opposition to uranium mining has once again become a major topic of coverage by the media.  From Australia to Canada, people […]

In the fuss about Iranian president Ahmadinejad’s visit to New York, a finer point was lost.  Columbia University and its current president, Lee Bollinger, have for some time each been a leader in the fields of foreign policy opportunism and service to global oppressors. In 1955, a mere two years after the CIA reinstated the Shah […]

In the last years before his historically catastrophic assassination, Martin Luther King used to lament to his closest comrades that he was “afraid we’re integrating ourselves into a burning house.”  How apt that fear turned out to be is still under-appreciated.  Among the burning rooms that have yet to be discussed is this one: corporate […]

A letter to the leaders of Iran, the UK and the US, spearheaded by the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII) and the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and signed by numerous other Iranian-American organizations, urges these countries to give diplomacy a chance.  The text of the letter can be found below: […]

In October 2006, internationally renowned Columbian artist Fernando Botero exhibited an important and jarring collection of new work at Manhattan’s Marlborough Gallery.  A visible departure from his whimsical robust figures popular in the international art market, Botero’s Abu Ghraib series (2004-05) of paintings and drawings are overtly political, haunting and difficult to confront.  The series […]

I make a halt in my daily struggle to bow my head in respect and gratitude to the exceptional combatant who fell on October 8th, forty years ago; for the example he passed on to us as leader of his Rebel Army Column, which crossed the swampy grounds of the former provinces of Oriente and Camagüey while being chased by enemy troops. He was the liberator of the city of Santa Clara, and the creator of voluntary work; he accomplished honorable political missions abroad and served as a messenger of militant internationalism in eastern Congo and Bolivia; he built a new awareness in our America and the world.

AN UNBROKEN AGONY: Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a President by Randall RobinsonBUY THIS BOOK Randall Robinson has written the story of a great tragedy of recent times — the violent overthrow of Haiti’s elected president and government on February 29, 2004.  An Unbroken Agony: Haiti, From Revolution to the Kidnapping of a […]

Last year, I agreed to speak to a Jewish youth group about my organization, Jewish Voice for Peace, and our opposition to Israel’s occupation.  My talk was to follow one from a member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which calls itself “America’s pro-Israel Lobby.” A week before, a shaken program leader said the […]

On Sunday, the 30th of September, yet another blow was struck against the advocates and beneficiaries of neo-liberalism in Ecuador and Latin America when Rafael Correa‘s coalition won the majority of seats in the Constituent Assembly.  With this, Correa and his allies have secured the driving seat in the process of rewriting Ecuador’s constitution, which […]

The Democrats and Republicans are united in the belief that Iran poses a risk to US interests in the Middle East and must therefore be reined in.  Iran is too irrational to be trusted with nuclear weapons, cry the warmongers who only half a century ago dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  Iran is […]

In debates about whether or not the United States should withdraw all troops from Iraq, a frequently mentioned factor is the need to prevent civil war and genocide.  That denies the realities on the ground: we have already ensured a civil war and committed genocide.  The time for “prevention” has passed.  But there is another […]

  The Future Is Unwritten A Film directed by Julien Temple, Vertigo Films, in association with Film4, Parallel Films, and Nitrate Films. Cinema Release May 2007, DVD due September 2007. One night a movie saved my life.  How?  By reminding me of what’s important, by re-kindling the excitement and motivation of a time I thought […]

THE UNIVERSITY IN CHAINS by Henry A. GirouxBUY THIS BOOK Henry Giroux’s The University in Chains is a crisp, powerful book about the crisis in American higher education.  Basically, the university has been buffeted by the three forces that have defined the US under the Bush administration (and, for that matter, for some time before): […]