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J. R. R. Tolkien: Saving the Ecosystems of Middle Earth
In J.R.R. Tolkien‘s Lord of the Rings trilogy (1955-56) the ring is at the center of an epochal ecological struggle over the fate of Middle Earth. Received as fantasy, in its own way this tale nevertheless encapsulates nearly a century of geological, biological, and botanical lore that followed Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859). […]
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How Can Anybody Be Persian? [Comment peut-on être Persan ?]
Dans son chef-d’oeuvre Les Lettres persanes, publié en 1721, le grand philosophe français Charles-Louis de Montesquieu s’interroge sur les comportements surprenants des Français : lorsque Rica, son voyageur iranien arrivé à Paris, décide de s’habiller à la française, il constate avec étonnement que ses amis français ne le traitent plus avec l’admiration qu’ils lui portaient […]
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On the Ninetieth Anniversary of the Russian Revolution: Why Socialism Did Not Fail
When the Russian Revolution of October 1917 took place, it raised the hopes of the working class worldwide that a socialist state was possible. The civil war that followed plus the intervention of foreign powers devastated the economy, necessitating a postponement in the transition to socialist relations of production. The New Economic Policy was a […]
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Surmounting Sectarianism in the Middle East: An Interview with Hisham Bustani
In a recent interview with the Qatari daily al-Raya, the Jordanian Marxist writer and activist Hisham Bustani analyses current issues: the situation in the Arab region; threats against Iran; the “Broader Middle East Initiative”; the U.S., Arab regimes, and Islamists; and prospects of the Arab liberation project. This interview, conducted by the journalist As’ad al-Azzouni, […]
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Iran: Bernard Kouchner’s Declaration [Iran : Déclaration de Bernard Kouchner]
La déclaration de Bernard Kouchner appelant à se préparer à la possibilité d’une guerre avec l’Iran est inquiétante. Cette déclaration venant après le discours de Nicolas Sarkozy sur une alternative entre « la bombe iranienne ou le bombardement de l’Iran », simplifiant à l’outrance le problème du dossier nucléaire iranien, vise en réalité à préparer […]
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Russian and Iranian Presidents’ Joint Statement
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 […]
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The Majority Strike in Public Opinion [La grève majoritaire dans l’opinion]
Mouvement social . Selon un sondage CSA pour l’Humanité, 54 % des Français expriment leur soutien à la mobilisation du 18 octobre. Les diversions du gouvernement sont mises à mal. Et si la tendance s’inversait. . . Pour la première fois, une majorité de Français soutient la journée d’action du 18 octobre contre la réforme […]
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Putin in Iran: Interview with Vladimir Putin
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 […]
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Globalization Now: The North American Auto Industry Goes South
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 […]
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Unembedded, an American Journalist Keeps Focus on Iraqis
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 […]
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Much Ado about A Lot: Uranium Mining in Canada
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 […]
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Haiti: A Modern Tragedy
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 […]
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Committee for an Open Discussion of Zionism
A Message from Howard Zinn on behalf of the Committee for an Open Discussion of Zionism Dear Friend: As you may have heard, in late August of this year, The University of Michigan Press, after receiving a series of complaining and threatening emails and letters from an ultra-Zionist group called StandWithUs, an offshoot of Campus […]
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The Future Is Unwritten: Joe Strummer
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 […]
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Andre Gorz — RIP
Andre Gorz, philosopher of freedom, sociologist of work, ecologist and democratic socialist, trade union adviser, journalist and for a time editor of Nouvelle Observateur and Les Tempes Modernes, took his life at 84 on the 24th of September together with his wife Dorine, 83, who was suffering from a degenerative disease. On the 25th […]
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Empire’s Contradictions, Our Weaknesses: The Empire Stumbles On
Today’s two most conspicuous global flashpoints — the Middle East and Latin America — have widely exposed the fact of US imperialism and highlighted some of its limitations. Adding the apparent cracks in US economic hegemony seems to indicate an empire in decline. Yet a more cautious assessment would recall that the earlier defeat in […]
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Questions That the Movement Will Answer: A Conversation with an Anti-Imperialist Organizer
In recent days, the US public has been satiated with a variety of press reports about numerous “new” plans aimed at addressing the US occupation and war in Iraq. Some of these plans are rumored to include recommendations for an eventual withdrawal of all US forces from that country while some urge the Pentagon and […]
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Foreign Threat to American Business?
Foreign countries are awash in dollars because they sell so much more to the US than they buy. Increasingly, their governments use some of those dollars to establish and operate investment funds. The funds buy shares in companies around the world. Sometimes they buy companies directly. Called “sovereign investment funds,” the IMF estimates that they […]
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9-11: The Illusion of a Historic Coup in the Course of Imperialism
The Fairmont Conference In late September 1995, five hundred of the world’s economic and political leaders met in San Francisco’s prestigious Fairmont Hotel upon the invitation of an institution headed by Mikhail Gorbachev. The conference was financed by some American super-rich, possibly in gratitude to Gorbachev’s “services rendered” in the ex-Soviet Union. The task required […]
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We vs. Me in the Days of Lean and Mean
In early August I had the good fortune to attend the 2007 Postal Press Association National Editors’ Conference in Reno, Nevada. I presented a workshop on “Linking the Past to the Present,” a way to think about what we can learn from the labor movement of the past and how editors can incorporate such insight […]