Geography Archives: France

  • Interview with Ken Loach: “Now, More Than Ever, We Need Parties of the Principled Left”

    I think in these dark times it’s very important that we have parties of the left that stand on the principled opposition to capitalism, that explain why what is happening to our economies, what is happening internationally, comes from the capitalist system.  It isn’t something independent, it isn’t an act of god, it comes from […]

  • Cuba: Economic Restructuring, Recent Trends and Major Challenges*

    Abstract The collapse of the European socialist block at the end of the 1980s caused a deep crisis in the Cuban economy.  One of the distinctive features of the process of adjustment and reform of the Cuban economy carried out by the government was that even during the worst period of the crisis, the Revolution’s […]

  • Deconstructing Labor: What Is “New” in Contemporary Capitalism and Economic Policies: a Marxian-Kaleckian Perspective

    Paper presented at the Congrès Marx International V, Paris-Sorbonne et Nanterre, October 2007 1.  Introduction About a decade ago the radical left, both in Italy and elsewhere in Europe, had been gripped by an understanding of contemporary capitalism as based on a three-pronged tendency: ‘globalization’ as an already accomplished state, the ‘end of labor’ due […]

  • G20 and Inter-capitalist Conflicts

    In the Financial Times of March 31st, Martin Wolf set down a straightforward criterion to evaluate the outcomes of the G20 meeting in London.  Will they decide, he asked, to put forward a plan to shift world demand from the countries with a balance of payments deficit to those with a surplus?  The underlying reasoning […]

  • France: Anti-NATO Protesters Clash with Police, 300 Arrested, 105 Detained

    The clashes between police and anti-NATO demonstrators in Strasbourg on Thursday, 2 April resulted in 300 people arrested and 105 detained, according to the figures released by the police on Friday.  DDP, a Germany news agency, reported that its photographer was injured by a rubber bullet during the clashes. The Résistance des Deux Rives collective […]

  • FTA — Now More Than Ever

    FTA (Dir. Francine Parker, 1972). Preamble: “This film was made in association with the servicewomen and men stationed on the United States bases of the Pacific Rim, together with their friends whose lands they presently occupy.” Accepting his Oscar for Best Actor, Sean Penn jokingly referred to the Academy as lovers of “commies and homos.”  […]

  • France: Impressive Strikes and Demonstrations on 19 March 2009

    Thursday, 19 March 2009 The new day of united action is incontestably a great success.  On the 19th of March, there were more strikes, more demonstrations, and many more demonstrators than there were on the 29th of January, which was an exceptional mobilization itself. 3 Million Demonstrators at 219 Demos1 For employment, purchasing power, and […]

  • The Reasons for Mobilization in Réunion

      Jean-Hugues Ratenon is President of the “Agir Pou Nou Tout” [Act for All of Us] Association, which is part of the Collective of Trade Unions, Political Organizations, and Community Associations of Réunion (COSPAR), the organizer of the social movement. The prefect of Réunion announced, on Thursday, 5 March, a decrease in the price of […]

  • Elie Domota: “The Movement Is Not about to Quit”

      HRIS: Are you satisfied with the results last night? Elie Domota: Overall, yes.  This applies only to the employees of the member companies of the employers’ organizations.  We will set up a procedure to extend the agreement to all employees in Guadeloupe in the coming days. Julien: The agreement shows that your demand for […]

  • Békés: A Matter of Inheritance

      Sitting in the shadow of an elegant carbet, feeling the trade wind, Roger de Jaham, age 60, lets his Creole accent lilt, talking about the blow that he recently suffered: “For the first time in my life, a man whom I greeted told me: ‘I don’t shake the hand of a béké.”  The man […]

  • Global Crisis Fuels Protests

    As economists in the US warn against the potential for double-digit unemployment, much of the world is already experiencing that reality.  In Spain, 200,000 workers lost their jobs in January alone, the most for a single month on record, pushing that country’s unemployment rate to over 14%.  Over 9% of workers in the Republic of […]

  • France: LCR Dissolves Itself to Form NPA

    The Revolutionary Communist League (LCR) will soon be no more.  On Thursday, 5 February, its activists will vote for its self-dissolution to create the New Anti-Capitalist Party (NPA).  Some seven hundred delegates are expected at a four-day conference, 5-8 February, in la Plaine-Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis), to launch the new party of Olivier Besancenot. The death certificate […]

  • Chavismo: Christian, Anti-Nazi, Pro-Muslim, and Pro-Jewish

      Roy Chaderton, Venezuela’s Ambassador to the Organization of American States, speaks of numerous members of the Jewish community who have supported the struggles of peoples against imperialism and Zionism, and he rejects any attack against the Jewish people. Watching television footage of one of the necessary and legitimate protests against the Israeli Embassy in […]

  • 29 January 2009: Eyes of All Europe on Strikes and Demos in France!

    Thursday, 29 January 2009 On 29 January, the united mobilization organized by the initiative of all trade unions resulted in very broad participation in the strikes in many sectors and demonstrations of rare magnitude.  It’s a resounding rejection of the “gravediggers” of unionism. Several million workers in the private and public sectors, the unemployed, the […]

  • France: Thursday, 29 January — A Red Letter Day

      The mobilization for the day of action on Thursday promises to be impressive, with the unions’ call for refusal to pay for the crisis.  On Thursday, France will confront the crisis, perhaps with anxiety, no doubt with anger, but also with ideas. Ooh la la!  It’s hard to row against the current.  Budget Minister […]

  • Continuing Gaza Protests, as Seen on Al Jazeera

    and unseen on American TV. . . . Demos Call for Closure of US Embassy — Police and Protesters Clash, Awkar (North of Beirut), Lebanon, 19.01.09 Demos in Solidarity with Gaza in Cities of Australia — Sydney Demo, the Largest, Draws 20,000, 19.01.09 Tens of Thousands Protests in Solidarity with People of Gaza, Karachi, Pakistan, […]

  • Gaza Protests, as Seen on Al Jazeera

    . . . and unseen on American TV More Than 100,000 Protest in Paris, France, 11.01.09 USA, 11.01.09 Algeria, 11.01.09 Kenitra, Morocco, 11.01.09 Los Angeles, USA, 11.01.09 Journalists Protest the Israeli Army’s Targeting of Journalists, 10.01.09 Chicago and D.C., USA, 10.01.09 Tokyo, Japan, 10.01.09 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 10.01.09 Rabat, Morocco, 10.01.09 Manama, Bahrain, 10.01.09 Algiers, […]

  • Africom: From Bush to Obama

    “Our community is expanding: MRZine viewers have increased in number, as have the readers of our editions published outside the United States and in languages other than English.  We sense a sharp increase in interest in our perspective and its history.   Many in our community have made use of the MR archive we put […]

  • Indigenous Peoples Rising in Bolivia and Ecuador

    Introduction Indigenous peoples in Indo-Afro-Latin America, especially Bolivia and Ecuador, are rising up to take control of their own lives and act in solidarity with others to save the planet.  They are calling for new, yet ancient, practices of plurinational, participatory, and intercultural democracy.  They champion ecologically sustainable development; community-based autonomies; and solidarity with other […]

  • Cats, Dogs, and Creationism: On Intelligent Design and the Left

    “The criticism of religion is the prerequisite of all criticism.” — Karl Marx, Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right With all due respect to cats and dogs, I don’t expect them to ever understand the laws that govern planetary motion.  Does this prove the existence of God?  Of course […]