Geography Archives: Mexico

  • Freedom from Religion: An Interview with Alexander Saxton

    RELIGION AND THE HUMAN PROSPECT by Alexander SaxtonBUY THIS BOOK I first met Alexander Saxton in 1997 at a conference on the “problem of whiteness,” held at the University of California, Berkeley, at which we were both speakers.  Although we had never met, I considered him a mentor, particular his book, The Rise and Fall […]

  • Post-American Geopolitics

    I. Three Metropoles, Four Peripheries Many of us on the Left have pondered what would replace the Cold War division of the planet into the First, Second, and Third World.  Though the three worlds thesis was arbitrary at best — the social divisions within nation-states are often more significant than the distinctions between nation-states — […]

  • López Obrador: We Will Continue to Speak Out Until the Powers That Be in Oaxaca Are Ousted [Vamos a seguir convocando hasta que desaparezcan los poderes en Oaxaca, asegura López Obrador]

    Discurso de Andrés Manuel López Obrador en el mítin de apoyo al pueblo de Oaxaca, realizado en el Hemiciclo a Juárez de esta ciudad México, Distrito Federal Martes, 31 de octubre de 2006 Amigas y amigos: Nos hemos reunido el día de hoy para expresar nuestro apoyo al pueblo de Oaxaca, que ha sido agredido […]

  • Hell Is Rising in Oaxaca: An Interview with an Oaxacan Rebel

    When I lived in Washington state, some of my closest friends were from the Mexican state of Oaxaca.  I have kept in touch with a few of them, and they have kept me in touch with the rebellion unfolding in the streets of Oaxaca over the past few months.  After the escalation of the situation […]

  • A New World of Work

      Cornell Global Labor Institute Honors Oscar Olivera On October 5, 2006, the Cornell Global Labor Institute held a reception to celebrate its second anniversary.  The guest of honor was Oscar Olivera, the Executive Secretary of the Federation of Factory Workers from Cochabamba , Bolivia.  The Federation was key in the formation of the Coordinator […]

  • All the Economics You Need to Know in One Lesson

      CHEAP MOTELS AND A HOTPLATE: An Economist’s Travelogue by Michael D. Yates ORDER THIS BOOK This essay complements my forthcoming book: Cheap Motels and a Hot Plate: an Economist’s Travelogue (Monthly Review Press). We Meet an Economist Karen and I were hiking in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on the Atalaya Mountain Trail, which begins […]

  • Latin America: The Empty Continent

      The Spanish and Portuguese colonization of America is still a kind of theoretical no-man’s land and a political taboo.  One can easily understand why Spanish and Portuguese intellectuals avoid any discussion of the topic.  Remember the magnificent Centennials of both the Spanish discovery of the Caribbean and the Portuguese discovery of Brazil.  Any critical […]

  • To End the Israeli-Arab Conflict [En finir avec le conflit israélo-arabe]

    Nous appelons, alors que le Moyen-Orient est plongé dans sa crise la plus grave depuis des années, à une action urgente de la part de la communauté internationale en vue d’un règlement global au conflit israélo-arabe. Nous sommes tous perdants dans ce conflit, à l’exception des extrémistes, qui prospèrent à travers le monde en exploitant […]

  • It’s Not Race or Class — It’s Race and Class: An Interview with Roderick Bush

    WE ARE NOT WHAT WE SEEM: Black Nationalism and Class Struggle in the American Century by Roderick D. BushBUY THIS BOOK Roderick Bush is an Associate Professor in the Sociology Department at St. John’s University in New York.  He is the author of We Are Not What We Seem: Black Nationalism and Class Struggle in […]

  • Same-Sex Love in India: Open Letters against Section 377

    To the Government of India, Members of the Judiciary, and All Citizens, To build a truly democratic and plural India, we must collectively fight against laws and policies that abuse human rights and limit fundamental freedoms. This is why we, concerned Indian citizens and people of Indian origin, support the overturning of Section 377 of […]

  • Mexico at the Edge:Toward a Declaration of Dual Power

    Mexico stands at the brink of a social upheaval of major proportions after the Electoral Tribunal threw out most challenges by presidential candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador, leading him to call for the creation of a new government.  (See “Election Decision Favors Felipe Calderon of the Pan.”)  In the face of what he calls a […]

  • The Irish Soldiers of Mexico

    One of the least-known stories of the Irish who came to America in the 1840s is that of the Irish battalion that fought on the Mexican side in the U.S.-Mexico War of 1846-1848.  They came to Mexico and died, some gloriously in combat, others ignominiously on the gallows.  United under a green banner, they participated […]

  • Preface to the Turkish Edition of Naming the System

      I am honored to write this preface to the Turkish edition of my book, Naming the System: Inequality and Work in the Global Economy.  I thank Neset Kutlug and everyone else who helped bring this edition to fruition.  I wrote the book with an international audience in mind, so it is gratifying to see […]

  • Railroading Economics: Michael Perelman’s Call for “the End of Economics”

      Michael Perelman, Railroading Economics: The Creation of the Free Market Mythology, Monthly Review Press, 2006, 238 pages, $20.00 RAILROADING ECONOMICS: The Creation of the Free Market Mythology by Michael Perelman BUY THIS BOOK Railroading Economics by Michael Perelman is an indictment of economists.  But the indictment is not, thankfully, the familiar rehearsal of untenable […]

  • “The Immigrants’ Rights Movement Is in Good Hands”: An Interview with Nativo Lopez

    I was at a conference titled Build the Left, Fight the Right this past June.  The speakers and workshops at the conference ranged from the war in Iraq to the immigrant rights movement in the United States.  One of the most interesting (and there were many) and hopeful (in terms of a brighter future for […]

  • News from the Back of the Front

    POST-9/11 SCIENCE: AMERICANS ARE WORLD’S ONLY HUMANS (PU) Just in time for the 5th anniversary of the World Trade Center disaster, scientists have discovered that United States citizens — alone out of every other people on planet Earth — possess qualities identifying them as homo sapiens. The finding was announced today at the Center for […]

  • On Soccer and Suffering

    Like millions of other Italian Americans, I rejoiced in Italy‘s dramatic penalty-kick World Cup victory over France.  For a country that has given us little to cheer about recently, it was a welcome and much-needed celebration, a festival combining benign patriotism, wistful nostalgia, and a release for long-suffering fans. In fact, both the country and […]

  • Ten Questions for Movement Building

      For five weeks in the late spring of 2006, we toured the eastern half of the United States to promote two books — Letters From Young Activists: Today’s Rebels Speak Out (Nation Books, 2005) and Outlaws of America: The Weather Underground and the Politics of Solidarity (AK Press, 2006) — and to get at […]

  • Global Oil Market Dangers

    International intrigues and eventually war — with all its now daily horrors — flow partly from the highly unstable economics of global oil.  Not only has this been true for a long time, it promises to continue that way unless and until some mass movement ends it.  The report of US planning to bomb Iran […]

  • Obrador Will Contest Elections before the Electoral Tribunal [Impugnará AMLO elecciones ante el TEPJF]

    México. Andrés Manuel López Obrador, candidato presidencial de la coalición Por el bien de todos, anunció que acudirá — en tiempo y forma conforme a la ley — al Tribunal Electoral para impugnar los comicios presidenciales, tanto en la jornada electoral como en el escrutinio. Convocó asimismo a sus simpatizantes y seguidores a una asamblea […]