Geography Archives: Europe

French philosopher Jean Baudrillard observed: Disneyland is a perfect model of all the entangled orders of simulation.  To begin with it is a play of illusions and phantasms: pirates, the frontier, future world, etc.  This imaginary world is supposed to be what makes the operation successful.  But, what draws the crowds is undoubtedly much more […]

“Filipino writers in the Philippines [and the United States] have a great task ahead of them, but also a great future.  The field is wide open.  They should rewrite everything written about the Philippines and the Filipino people from the materialist, dialectical point of view — this being, the only [way] to understand and interpret […]

Michael Lerner, The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right (HarperSanFrancisco, 2006). Jim Wallis, God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It (HarperSanFrancisco, 2005). Dearly beloved leftists and friends.  It’s 2006 and we’re gathered here together uncomfortably discussing why so few of us are […]

Those hoping for left-wing unity in Germany have been on an emotional roller-coaster ride in recent months, with many dramatic ups and downs. The Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) which has already renamed itself The Left (to which the letters PDS are usually added), has about 70,000 members, who are divided on many issues but […]

Since my essay on the Danish cartoons was published on 21 February 2006, I have received dozens of emails supportive of my argument that racism has no place on the left.  Additionally, comments on the article posted on MRZine show that there are people willing to stand up against anti-Muslim bigotry.  However, what is deeply […]

Ci-joint l’appel des résistants. On peut aussi trouver une vidéo en ligne de cet appel. http://www.alternatives- images.net/ Ces images ont été tournées en réaction au refus de la publication de ce texte par les médias dominants. Vous pouvez diffuser ce lien sans modération. L’appel des résistants Au moment où nous voyons remis en cause le […]

From Paris, March 2006 Students and workers in France have forged a powerful alliance against the government and its neo-liberal economic policies.  Mass organizations of high school and university students, all three federations of unions, and all left parties are coordinating actions together.  This alliance is shaking the French government in ways and to depths […]

  SOLIDARITY FOR SALE: How Corruption Destroyed the Labor Movement and Undermined America’s Promise by ROBERT FITCH AUTHOR’S NOTE READ EXCERPT BUY THIS BOOK Michael D. Yates: Robert, let’s start off with a question not directly connected to your book Solidarity for Sale.  Some commentators say that today labor unions and labor movements are irrelevant […]

Le succès des arrêts de travail, des grèves et la puissance des manifestations du 28 mars, leur caractère unitaire et intergénérationnel, tout comme la durée du mouvement et son ampleur dans les lycées et universités montrent une mobilisation historique, pour exiger le retrait du CPE et l’ouverture de négociations. II est urgent que les plus […]

Bernard Thibault a donné le ton au départ de la manifestation parisienne qui a rassemblé 700 000 personnes : «Nous sommes près de 3 millions aujourd’hui dans les rues, c’est historique.  Il est impensable que le Premier ministre reste arc-bouté sur sa position.  La prochaine étape, c’est à lui et au gouvernement de la fixer.  […]

  Click on an image to watch a slide show of the immigrant rights march in Milwaukee on 23 March 2006. SOURCE: Kristyna Wentz-Graff, “A Day without Latinos,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 23 March 2006 March 23, 2006 was a historic day for Milwaukee.  It was a day of Latinos in a city that still thinks […]

Men cannot be sacrificed to the machine.  The machine must serve mankind, yet the danger to the human race lurks, menacing, in the industrial region. — Scott Nearing, Poverty & Riches Scott Nearing was a frequent contributor to Monthly Review.   His column “World Events” ran in Monthly Review from 1953 to 1972. Bhagat Singh, 23 […]

How stupid do they think we are?  The administration has been on the road these past few days trying to package the war in Iraq as a success.  Bush insists that the war is going well and that the US will stay on until final victory and eternal democracy.  Dick Cheney told the world that […]

C’est ainsi que cela se passe Tu marches et tu décides de t’arrêter La foule est dense et indomptée Tu es en queue de manifestation Ton walkman sur les oreilles pour ne plus entendre Les mugissements des animaux sauvages Casqués, masqués, harnachés Matant et piégeant les graines de rébellion Tu t’assieds La fatigue t’assaille Trop […]

Los datos divulgados recientemente por el Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV) confirman que la economía venezolana exhibió un crecimiento de 10,2% en el cuarto trimestre de 2005 en relación con el mismo período del año anterior, acumulando la novena alza consecutiva a partir del último trimestre de 2003.  El resultado final del PIB en 2005 […]

“Rosa Luxemburg, imprisoned in the Breslau penitentiary, is able to continue working on her herbarium. Her secretary Mathilde Jacob, the only one able to visit her in prison, brings along the plants. ‘I can botanize once again, this is my favourite occupation and best way to relax. Since May 1913 I have pasted in about […]

Although the strategy is older than the mean sheriff and his less sadistic deputy in the Old West, we need to only go back a few years here.  If one recalls, prior to the US/UK invasion on Iraq in 2003, there were several initiatives to “promote democracy” in that country.  Usually it was the State […]

  Click on the image to watch video interviews with Anne Braden. The 6 March 2006 issue of the Louisville Courier-Journal reports the death at 81 of Anne Braden, the veteran Southern white civil rights leader and organizer of the fight for black integration and equality, and an American radical of untameable commitment who — […]

Dear Ms. Ebadi: Rostam Pourzal, “Open Letter to Iran’s Nobel Laureate: Part 1 “ (27 February 2006) Poet Khosro Naaqed, a prominent promoter of your reformist coalition, demonstrated in a published commentary last summer why a majority in Iran is now disillusioned with your “democracy” project.  As you know, he speaks for almost all Iranian […]

The more things change, the more they remain the same.  This commonplace contains more than a little truth of what liberal democracy has become in Canada today.  The daily political discourse might adopt a “compassionate conservatism,” a “social liberalism,” or even a social democratic “third way,” but all the parties agree that the benefits of […]