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 […]
Geography Archives: Iraq
Remembering Bhagat Singh on the 75th Anniversary of His Martyrdom
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 […]
The “New” National Security Strategy, the Same Old Nonsense
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 […]
Find Me Guilty
Of all the types and genres of film that exist, the rarest of all may be the autumnal masterpiece. What explains the infrequent sightings of this cinematic marvel? It is not that filmmakers somehow lose their talent at a particular age, but rather that, the industry being a slave of fashion, they lose the ability […]
Vancouver, Canada, 18 March 2006
Although the corporate media gave a lot more coverage than usual to this year’s Vancouver rally, what they did provide was as inaccurate as ever. A realistic crowd estimate for the Vancouver march and rally would be in the 3,000-4,000 range. Yet CBC Radio was running 500, The Province newspaper had 1000, and the TV […]
Perth, Australia, 18 March 2006
The demo in Perth on 18 March 2006 was attended by about a thousand people, down substantially from the size of demos before the beginnng of the Iraq War. The majority of people out in downtown Perth on Saturday were shopping. They weren’t hostile — rather, openly indifferent or mildly curious about the people who […]
Revisiting “Another Country”
No wonder capitalist societies are coming apart at the seams. Trust is supposed to be the bond that holds a society together, and trust is based on truth. But so often have government leaders asserted their “right” to lie, to manage the news, and to contrive to deceive the public that large numbers of people […]
Ottawa, Canada, 18 March 2006
1,000 Canadians braved the cold weather (-20 C with wind chill) to demonstrate at the U.S. Embassy, calling for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan (Canada has 2,000 troops in Afghanistan, currently heading up the NATO occupation force there [with U.S. air cover]). Richard Fidler with his friend Marvin Gandall Richard Fidler is […]
Does Pace University Support Free Speech?
On Monday, March 13, students from the Campus Antiwar Network (CAN) and the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) — joined by other students, professors, original SDSers, and CAN members from CCNY — launched one of the largest demonstrations Pace University’s campus had seen, against Pace’s denial of our free speech rights. The university, […]
I Live in a Ghetto
Some social analysts argue that those who live in ghettoes may be unable to effectively organize for change because a self-destructive “ghetto mentality” obstructs such efforts. I live in a ghetto, with all its attendant social pathologies: isolation from the outside world; customs, language, and behavior alien to the larger society; inability to act collectively […]
Veteran Torturer: “No Mercy, No Regrets”
The debates about the U.S. use of torture in its ongoing military campaigns against the people of the Middle East often ring hollow. Listening to many of the impassioned legal and moralistic arguments against the practice, one is reminded of General Paul Aussaresses‘s observation: “Only too often today condemning others means acquiring a certificate of […]
“A Long Struggle” against Iran
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 […]
Open Letter to Iran’s Nobel Laureate: Part 2
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 […]
Concessions: First Time Defeat, Second Revival?
[On February 4, 2006, the Socialist Project organized a labor forum in Windsor to get an update on the struggle at Delphi and to consider its implications for Canada. Speakers at the forum included Dennis Delling, a Delphi worker and activist in mobilizing the resistance against the corporation; Jerry Tucker, former head of New Directions […]
Antiwar Activists Arrested at House Appropriations Committee Hearing
Jeff Leys and Mike Ferner
Washington, D.C., March 9 — Two peace activists were arrested on March 8 for disrupting the House Appropriations Committee hearing on additional funding for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Mike Ferner and Ed Kinane of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, interrupted the hearing called to consider the $67 billion “supplemental” appropriation which was ultimately approved […]
Savior Self
Hello, Gloria? Oh. Well, is Gloria there? Me? Oh, I’m nobody important; I just have important business with Gloria. When will Gloria be — No, I know you’re not her secretary — ohmygod ohmygod, you’re Gloria’s girlfriend! You are SO lucky! Hello? Gloria! I knew you were there the whole time! How are you, my […]
Philippines: State of Emergency for the U.S. Empire
On the morning of February 24, 2006, President Gloria Arroyo issued Proclamation 1017 (PP 1017), which declared a State of Emergency throughout the Philippines. Using identical words as those of Ferdinand Marcos when he declared martial law in 1972, Arroyo ordered the armed forces to suppress “any act of insurrection or rebellion.” Arroyo claimed there […]
Witness against Torture
Washington – Fifteen people were arrested on March 1 in front of the White House after winding their way for two hours through the streets of the nation’s capital, demanding the U.S. stop torturing detainees in military prisons. Members of Witness Against Torture began their protest at the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, continuing […]
Cartoon-Krieg: Politics as War by Other Means
Jyllands-Posten stood Clausewitz on his head. Its now infamous cartoons of Mohammed are not so much speech as acts. Acts of provocation and belligerence. They are the latest round of politics as war by other means. Make no mistake. Jyllands-Posten is not in the business of promoting the freedom of speech. Nor are the European […]
Open Letter to Iran’s Nobel Laureate
Dear Ms. Shirin Ebadi: The appeal you and Mohammad Sahimi addressed to “Western democracies” in the International Herald Tribune on January 19 disappointed this former admirer of yours. Your invitation to the current and previous imperial powers to intervene for human rights in Iran fails precisely on grounds of the noble principles you invoked to […]
