The following comments were made at a panel on the topic “Sexual Taboos and the Law Today” May 19 at a conference titled “Which Way Forward for Psychoanalysis?” and sponsored by the Society for Psychoanalytic Inquiry at the University of Chicago. While Freud and psychoanalysis were a focus on the event, other themes running throughout […]
Geography Archives: Europe
Countries in the continent of Europe
Interdom at Eighty: Reflections in Russia, on Dreams Old and Renascent
Russia, as travelers have noted over the centuries, is immense. Most of it is far from large bodies of water. And yet, in a first visit after many years, I came upon some unusual islands right in the heart of the country. But they were not islands in the geographic sense. Some were children’s islands. […]
Economic Development and Rana Plaza
The official death toll from the April collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, which housed clothing factories, has now passed 1,100. How exactly will the staggering costs of that overwhelming tragedy be figured? Will they count as part of capitalism’s contribution to economic development across Asia, Africa, and Latin America? In capitalism’s […]
On a Long March: Sanjay Kak’s Red Ant Dream
Red Ant Dream / Maati Ke Laal (2013) 120 minutes; English version, with subtitles Direction: Sanjay Kak Photography: Ranjan Palit, Sanjay Kak and Setu Sound Design: Madhu Apsara Writers: Sanjay Kak and Tarun Bharatiya Editing: Tarun Bharatiya www.redantdream.com You are far away from the sterile atmosphere of much of academia with its politically correct […]
Interview with Francisco Louçã, Economist and Leading Member of Portugal’s Left Bloc
Francisco Louçã. Photo by Paulete Matos. Francisco Louçã is an economics professor at Lisbon’s Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão. He is the author of numerous books and essays including Ensaio para uma Revolução [Rehearsal of a Revolution]; As Time Goes By — From the Industrial Revolution to the Information Revolution, with Chris Freeman; Portugal […]
Reflections on Anti-Cuban Terror
Bombs set off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on April 15 killed three and wounded over 200 people. The metropolitan area became a virtual war zone. Officials at every level let loose with doomsday-style retaliatory proclamations. For some, however, the clamor served to resurrect memories of U.S. terrorism — against Cuba for […]
International Peace Delegation to Syria, May 2-10, 2013
Former U.S. Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire from Northern Ireland are two of twenty participants from seven countries that will participate in an international delegation to Syria, May 2-10, 2013. The purpose of the delegation is to meet with communities affected by the fighting, with a view towards facilitating peace and […]
Once Again on So-called “Extractivism”
Since Marx, we know that what characterizes and differentiates societies is the way in which they organize the production, distribution and use of the material and symbolic resources they possess. In other words, the mode of production1 is what defines the material content of the social life of the distinct human territorial collectivities (nations, peoples, […]
Stumble Stones in Germany
The late, late snow has finally disappeared from Berlin’s streets. Visible once again, here and there, are the “stumble stones” — Stolpersteine in German. Many Berlin tourists will enjoy the night life. They may also look upwards — at the giant TV tower, the Brandenburg Gate, at ancient and less ancient churches. There is a […]
Against Germany’s One-Party System
Resist CDU/CSU, SPD, FDP, and the Greens — the Left Party (Die Linke) can hold its own only if it refuses to become another wing of the German Unity Party. In the coming months a comedy will be staged in Germany. The piece is called “The Electoral Battle of the Two Camps.” The leading […]
Can Worker-Owners Run a Big Factory? How Mexican Tire Workers Won Ownership of Their Plant With a Three-Year Strike and Are Now Running It Themselves
Part 1: Mexican Workers Win Ownership of Tire Plant With Three-Year Strike “If the owners don’t want it, let’s run it ourselves.” When a factory closes, the idea of turning it into a worker-owned co-operative sometimes comes up — and usually dies. The hurdles to buying a plant, even a failing plant, are huge, and […]
Change of Epoch: Imperialism Counterattacks, But Chávez Lives, the Struggle Continues
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa‘s idea that we are not “living in an epoch of change” but rather “in a change of epoch” is very much to the point. There is an obvious worldwide decline of existing imperialisms and historic changes in the correlation of social, class, and nation-state forces. There have arisen popular movements of […]
For the Finance Minister of Germany, Crisis Is a “Necessity”
Angela Merkel’s face usually displays a rather plain, friendly, almost benign expression, matching her simple, benign words. But in rare unguarded moments, some claim, they glimpse a very hard visage, which is matched, equally rarely, by hardly benign words, like her annoyed statement that Cyprus was “exhausting the patience of its euro partners.” Yes, Angela […]
Portugal: Police Batons for Protesters and Rubber Bullets for the Kids of Bela Vista
Bela Vista, Setúbal.Photo by Público.pt. Tony’s Mural.Photo by Mark Bergfeld. Ruben Marques, 18, died at the hands of the police in the barrio of Bela Vista, Setúbal, Portugal, on Saturday, March 16. His crime: he crossed a red traffic light with his moped. The media blame the victim for not wearing a helmet, the Communist […]
The Relevance of Marxism Today: An Interview With Michael A. Lebowitz
Do you think Marxism is still relevant today? If so, which parts? I think that Marxism is completely relevant for understanding capitalism now. It’s an error to think that capitalism has changed and that therefore we have to change Marxism. Marx grasped the nature of capitalism; and, although capitalism has changed in some of […]
Chávez’s Leninism
In the many homages to Hugo Chávez in recent weeks, there is an important element that suffers almost complete neglect. For want of a better term we could call it “Leninism.” By this, of course, I do not mean the tired, formulaic (and basically anti-Leninist) doctrine that generally bears that name. It is precisely the […]
“Por Ahora”: A Few Words for Hugo Chávez
Caracas, March 6, 2013 Hugo Chávez, who died yesterday afternoon, was something of an Emersonian hero. “Speak your latent conviction,” said the sage of Concord, “and it shall be the universal sense.” Chávez said things that other people thought, or at least recognized that they thought after he said them. One could say that he […]
Portugal: “I Prefer the Horses in My Lasagne to the Donkeys in the Government”
Last Saturday’s “Que Se Lixe a Troika” (Fuck the Troika) demonstrations represent a qualitative as well as quantitative shift for the anti-austerity movement in Portugal. In more than 40 towns and cities across Portugal, 1.5 million people (800,000 in Lisbon) took it to the streets against the government’s slavish submission to the dictates of the […]
The Resistible Rise of a New One-Party System
Conversation in Germany these days, when not about soccer, dealt often with beef which was part horsemeat, high-priced organic “bio” eggs which weren’t all they claimed to be, or, in thrilling, moving detail, the last weeks, days, and hours of the one and only German Pope (since 1058 A.D.). Also under often heated debate was […]
Where Have All the Muslims Gone? The 2018 Hashmi Award
New York, N.Y., 2018 — Every year about this time, since way back in 2013, the City of New York has bestowed its prestigious Hashmi Award upon a worthy New York resident who lives openly as an observant Muslim. The Hashmi recipient — preferably of Asian, Middle Eastern, or African descent — must have paid […]
