In even the most exploitative African sites of repression and capital accumulation, sometimes corporations take a hit, and victims sometimes unite on continental lines instead of being divided-and-conquered. Turns in the class struggle might have surprised Walter Rodney, the political economist whose 1972 classic How Europe Underdeveloped Africa provided detailed critiques of corporate looting. […]
Geography Archives: Asia
Countries in the continent of Asia
Obama’s Missteps
On his first day as the presumptive Democratic candidate for president earlier this month, Barack Obama committed a serious foreign policy blunder. Reciting a litany of pro-Israeli positions at the annual meeting of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), he avowed: “Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided.” In […]
The Indian Judiciary, the Salwa Judum Criminal Vigilantes, and Political Prisoner Dr. Binayak Sen
Analytical Monthly Review, published in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, is a sister edition of Monthly Review. Its June 2008 issue features the following editorial. — Ed. When the issue is class struggle, everyone knows that today’s judiciary in India exhibits no qualitative difference from that of the British colonial regime. When workers try to […]
A Region in Chaos: An Interview with Dr. Mohssen Massarrat
Mohssen Massarrat, born in Tehran in 1942, is Professor of Political Economy and International Relations at Universität Osnabrück. Deutsche Militärzeitung: Professor Massarrat, William Fallon, US Commander responsible for the Middle East, unexpectedly resigned after just one year. A cause for his resignation is obviously the US policy toward Iran. Admiral Fallon criticized the US […]
Che Guevara’s Final Verdict on the Soviet Economy
One of the most important developments in Cuban Marxism in recent years has been increased attention to the writings of Ernesto Che Guevara on the economics and politics of the transition to socialism. A milestone in this process was the publication in 2006 by Ocean Press and Cuba’s Centro de Estudios Che Guevara of Apuntes […]
Can Sudan Survive?
Lecture to Royal African Society, 21 May 2008 The modern history of Sudan is riddled with bloodshed, destruction and squandered chances for peace and democracy. Consistently, the worst case scenario comes to pass and, just when it seems as though things could get no worse, they do precisely that. But occasionally, the Sudanese succeed in […]
Is “Made in China” Good for the Chinese? Three Questions Answered
Q1: Why are nearly all of your material possessions (clothes, kitchen appliances, computers, sneakers, electronics, etc.) made in developing countries? Obviously, it’s cheaper. And for many commodities, China is cheapest. But is 57 cents an hour a decent wage in China? No, according to Judith Banister (November, 2005) at the U.S. Department of Labor, on the […]
Support Indian Guestworkers in Their Historic Hunger Strike
From the New Orleans Workers’ Center for Racial Justice. Many of you know about this courageous group of workers, who have won incredible victories already for guestworkers and gained the support of labor, immigrant rights, and civil rights communities as well of a number of elected officials. Your contribution would go a long way in […]
Their Crisis or Ours? The Battle over the World’s Food Supply Relocates to Rome
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization is currently holding an emergency summit in Rome that will be focusing on the ongoing global food crisis, but rejuvenating and protecting agriculturalists does not seem to be on the agenda. In the past couple of months, the attention of the world has been directed at the issue […]
Decision Looms: Escalate, or Retreat and Retrench?
Across the Middle East, the Bush-Neocon post-9/11 project faces failure. In the last month alone, Washington has had to endure one humiliation after another: In Lebanon, the pro-U.S. government (prodded by Israel and/or Washington) announced a set of steps aimed at Hezbollah. Hezbollah and the broader Lebanese opposition movement — which together represent the majority […]
The Delusion of the “Clash of Civilizations” and the “War on Islam”
The rhetoric about a “clash of civilizations” and a “war on Islam” has found its way easily into Arab intellectual discourse, where it has taken solid root, along with other similar “concepts” (or what I’d rather call “non-concepts” — like the term “terrorism” — since they are extremely vague and yet ideologically loaded) that were […]
On The Eve of Republic in Nepal: An Exclusive Interview for MRZine with CPN(Maoist) Leader Prachanda
It is 14th Jeth, 2065, [Tuesday, May 27th, 2008] in Nepal, the day before the Constituent Assembly is to convene and declare Nepal a full Republic. The king remains in his palace. The form of the new government, who will lead it, whether the old parliamentary parties will join in a Maoist-led government or, as […]
South Africa: A Drive through a Xenophobic Landscape
19 May 2008: Friends, this is simply an account of what I saw and experienced in a twenty four period. It might be incomplete. It is not an analytical piece as such, but I hope a small step towards trying to understand what had taken place in this city, in this country that I […]
India’s Emerging Food Security Crisis: The Consequences of the Neoliberal Assault on the Public Distribution System
Analytical Monthly Review, published in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, is a sister edition of Monthly Review. Its May 2008 issue features the following editorial. — Ed. Today, but few can recall memories of the Bengal famine of 1943 and 1944. Most disturbingly, after almost two decades of “reform” and a full decade or more […]
Mumbai’s Rebels: Those Who Couldn’t Remain Unmoved
The risks of a militant struggle for an alternative path of development that is radically different from the one followed by India’s ruling classes seem to most dissidents far too dangerous. Yet there are some who stand firm in their conviction: what should be, can be. An outline of a few of Mumbai’s rebels […]
The “China Syndrome”: An Apology for Economic Injustice
As a red Toyota pickup made its daily delivery, masses of people gathered outside the brand-new blue and white subsidized bread kiosk near my building. A rusty and dented Fiat also delivered unsubsidized bread to the small grocery store across the street at the same time. Last Thursday, Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilization and […]
The CAW and Panic Bargaining: Early Opening at the Big Three
In the face of a deteriorating economic climate and concerns about the ‘investment competitiveness’ of Canadian plants, the CAW leadership made a startling move this spring. It had an air of panic about it: it quietly asked the Big Three — GM, Ford and Chrysler — to open their collective agreements early, offering a new […]
Iraq Debacle: Ending It Tied to Engagement with Iran
This time the message was delivered by the Pentagon’s own premier educational institute. The opening line of a report released April 17 by the National Institute for Strategic Studies read: “Measured in blood and treasure, the war in Iraq has achieved the status of a major war and a major debacle.” The document goes on […]
China Still a Small Player in Africa
“What I find a bit reprehensible is the tendency of certain Western voices to . . . raising concerns about China’s attempt to get into the African market because it is a bit hypocritical for Western states to be concerned about how China is approaching Africa when they have had centuries of relations with Africa, […]
Making a Killing from Hunger: We Need to Overturn Food Policy, Now!
For some time now the rising cost of food all over the world has taken households, governments and the media by storm. The price of wheat has gone up by 130% over the last year.1 Rice has doubled in price in Asia in the first three months of 2008 alone,2 and just last week it […]
