Geography Archives: Americas

Someone left a copy of the May 17 Wall Street Journal on a break table at work.  I picked up a section and flipped through it.  Familiar corporate names popped from the headlines — then, a common thread emerged from the journalist’s prose. Wal-Mart: “The retailer said its second-quarter results could be weighed down by […]

“Green-minded activists failed to move the broader public not because they were wrong about the problems, but because the solutions they offered were unappealing to most people.” — Alex Steffen, “The Next Green Revolution,” Wired Magazine, May 2006 — It’s about time you woke up to the good news, Jimmy!  If we can just unleash the […]

  The first international working-class film and video festival titled “Against Neo-Liberalism, 20 Countries and 40 Films” was held in Turkey in early May 2006 — a resounding success.  Over 8,000 attended the various film screenings, and, for the first time, working people in Turkey had an opportunity to see the global struggle of other […]

So Bush and company want to put thousands of armed troops on the border between the United States and Mexico.  The supposed reason for this move is to stem the flow of immigrants coming into the US from the south.  I have a feeling that this move will be probably popular in Congress and amongst […]

Consecuencias de largo alcance tras la nacionalización en Bolivia: FMI La manera de negociar con los afectados será el factor clave, según el organismo financiero Evidente, el fracaso del modelo neoliberal impuesto por EU, sostiene el Nobel de Economía Imagen de la planta de gas San Alberto, que operaba la brasileña Petrobras, el pasado 1º […]

“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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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, […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

[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 […]