Geography Archives: Colombia

  • “Labour for Palestine” Responds to U.S. Anti-Boycott Statement

    27 August 2007 In July 2007, a group of labour leaders from the U.S. issued a statement opposing the growing international campaign of boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. The statement was signed by a number of presidents from unions including the American Federation of Teachers, the American Postal Workers Union, the Communication Workers […]

  • “In Defense of Academic Freedom”: DePaul Students and Community Launch Website and Organize Lecture to Highlight Violations

    In Defense of Academic FreedomfeaturingTariq Ali, Akeel Bilgrami, Noam Chomsky, Tony Judt, and John Mearsheimer12 October 2007, 2:00 pm – 7:00 pmRockefeller Chapel, University of Chicago CHICAGO, IL — DePaul University students, concerned over the controversial tenure denials of Dr. Norman Finkelstein and Dr. Mehrene Larudee by its administration, have launched a website (www.academicfreedomchicago.org) and […]

  • Empire and Its Fixers

    Ayub Nuri, a Kurdish man from Halabja, was a fixer for the Western media in Iraq (he is now based in New York City, having received a scholarship from Columbia).1  A fixer, in the words of Nuri, is “a journalist’s interpreter, guide, source finder and occasional lifesaver.”2  Local fixers, more or less, shape what foreign […]

  • Darfur: Give Them a Megaphone Instead

    Harlem’s Canaan Baptist Church, long associated with human rights activism, hosted a fundraising rally for women in Darfur, on June 13.  Billed as “Voices for the Voiceless,” the program featured speeches and fund-pitches by the program’s emcee, business developer Judith Price, and main speaker, peace activist and church leader Dr. Thelma Adair, with proclamations by […]

  • Just Got Kicked in the Shins by an Israeli Soldier

      Frankly, the last time a boy kicked me in the shins was . . . well never, because even in grade school I think we were all taught not to do that.  I am, after all, a 5 ft 1 inch girl in flip-flops with her hands above her head, wearing a pink shirt, […]

  • The Monthly Review Story: 1949-1984

    I wrote this as a paper for a seminar in history during my first year of grad school at the University of Washington in 1984.  It was a labor of love for me because it gave me an opportunity to read every single issue of Monthly Review , all of which were carefully kept in […]

  • Imperial Sunset?

    For the first time since its rise as a superpower the United States is facing a serious threat to its hegemony across the globe. In February this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed a security conference in Munich that had 250 of the world’s top leaders and officials in attendance, including such luminaries as the […]

  • No War for Oil,  No Oil for War

    Part I Combine the strengths of the environmental and anti-war movements to defeat U.S. Middle East policy, end the Iraq War, and join the global community in the common struggle for a sustainable future. Communities Uniting for Climate Action Now! This April 14th, tens of thousands of Americans will gather all across the country at […]

  • Pledging Allegiance: The Politics of Patriotism in America’s Schools

    Teachers College Press and the Gottesman Libraries are pleased to invite you to aBook Signing & Discussion What does it mean to be “patriotic” in the U. S. after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001?  And how have the prevailing notions of patriotism — loudly trumpeted in the American media — affected education in […]

  • The Iraq War and America’s Economic Imperialism

    Several weeks ago, with much media fanfare, the James Baker-Lee Hamilton Committee submitted to President George W. Bush its long-awaited, bipartisan report on the U.S. war in Iraq.  On balance, the report provided Bush with a face-saving strategy for pulling out all U.S. combat forces by the beginning of 2008.  The Baker-Hamilton report favors an […]

  • The Movement for a Democratic Society: A Founding Conference

    February 17, 2007 New School New York City All welcome! SDSers at the New School, led by Patrick Korte, will be hosting and joining in the events of February 17, an all-day conference to confirm a sister organization for the revived Students for a Democratic Society: the Movement for a Democratic Society.  The program is […]

  • One Unified African People:An Interview with Obi Egbuna

    Annual Fundraising Appeal Friends of MRZine and Monthly Review! The continuing existence of MRZine and Monthly Review depends on the support of our readers.  Unlike many other publications, we make all new Monthly Review articles, as well as MRZine articles, available online, free of charge.  We do so without drawing any advertising money at all […]

  • Casino Royale

    As critics of Hollywood are fond of saying, the best way to identify a Hollywood movie is to check if it has all the usual accoutrements — among them, at least one car chase and a few cataclysmic explosions.  True to tradition, the latest James Bond film, Casino Royale recently released by Columbia Pictures, fulfills […]

  • Criminalizing Compassion in the War on Terror: Muslim Charities and the Case of Dr. Rafil A. Dhafir

      “The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was: ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’  But . . . the good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’” — Martin Luther King, Jr.1 “The truth […]

  • Iran’s Quiet Revolution

      The bus rumbled along a highway in southwest Iran, passing a series of anti-aircraft batteries and rickety guard towers before pulling in through a checkpoint to the Bushehr nuclear plant compound.  Having anticipated significant difficulties finding, much less nearing, the reactor, I stared in stunned silence at its dome.  So much for state secrets.  […]

  • Election Eve Daze — Hanging in There Together

    What a treacherous weekend! Campaigning in Greeley, Colorado on Saturday, the WAR PRESIDENT said (to tumultuous applause), “My decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right decision, and the world is better off for it.”  But perhaps not for the 655,000 Iraqis killed on the WAR PRESIDENT’s watch since he lied his way into this […]

  • Latin America: The Empty Continent

      The Spanish and Portuguese colonization of America is still a kind of theoretical no-man’s land and a political taboo.  One can easily understand why Spanish and Portuguese intellectuals avoid any discussion of the topic.  Remember the magnificent Centennials of both the Spanish discovery of the Caribbean and the Portuguese discovery of Brazil.  Any critical […]

  • Devil’s on the Loose: A Review of Forrest Hylton’s Evil Hour in Colombia

    EVIL HOUR IN COLOMBIA by Forrest HyltonBUY THIS BOOK There was a period in the 1990s when I honestly thought that Colombia would become Washington’s next Vietnam.  Instead, it turns out that the counterinsurgency assisted financially and militarily by Washington is more like the so-called low-intensity conflicts waged by Washington and its clients in Central […]

  • Same-Sex Love in India: Open Letters against Section 377

    To the Government of India, Members of the Judiciary, and All Citizens, To build a truly democratic and plural India, we must collectively fight against laws and policies that abuse human rights and limit fundamental freedoms. This is why we, concerned Indian citizens and people of Indian origin, support the overturning of Section 377 of […]

  • The Irish Soldiers of Mexico

    One of the least-known stories of the Irish who came to America in the 1840s is that of the Irish battalion that fought on the Mexican side in the U.S.-Mexico War of 1846-1848.  They came to Mexico and died, some gloriously in combat, others ignominiously on the gallows.  United under a green banner, they participated […]