A letter to the leaders of Iran, the UK and the US, spearheaded by the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII) and the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and signed by numerous other Iranian-American organizations, urges these countries to give diplomacy a chance. The text of the letter can be found below: […]
Geography Archives: Middle East
Botero’s Abu Ghraib Series and the American Consciousness
In October 2006, internationally renowned Columbian artist Fernando Botero exhibited an important and jarring collection of new work at Manhattan’s Marlborough Gallery. A visible departure from his whimsical robust figures popular in the international art market, Botero’s Abu Ghraib series (2004-05) of paintings and drawings are overtly political, haunting and difficult to confront. The series […]
Dissenting at Your Own Risk
Last year, I agreed to speak to a Jewish youth group about my organization, Jewish Voice for Peace, and our opposition to Israel’s occupation. My talk was to follow one from a member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which calls itself “America’s pro-Israel Lobby.” A week before, a shaken program leader said the […]
Committee for an Open Discussion of Zionism
A Message from Howard Zinn on behalf of the Committee for an Open Discussion of Zionism Dear Friend: As you may have heard, in late August of this year, The University of Michigan Press, after receiving a series of complaining and threatening emails and letters from an ultra-Zionist group called StandWithUs, an offshoot of Campus […]
Hands off Iran: Why Iranian Women Don’t Need Rescuing by the US
The Democrats and Republicans are united in the belief that Iran poses a risk to US interests in the Middle East and must therefore be reined in. Iran is too irrational to be trusted with nuclear weapons, cry the warmongers who only half a century ago dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Iran is […]
Should Al Qaeda Reconstruct the WTC?
In debates about whether or not the United States should withdraw all troops from Iraq, a frequently mentioned factor is the need to prevent civil war and genocide. That denies the realities on the ground: we have already ensured a civil war and committed genocide. The time for “prevention” has passed. But there is another […]
The University in Chains
THE UNIVERSITY IN CHAINS by Henry A. GirouxBUY THIS BOOK Henry Giroux’s The University in Chains is a crisp, powerful book about the crisis in American higher education. Basically, the university has been buffeted by the three forces that have defined the US under the Bush administration (and, for that matter, for some time before): […]
Empire’s Contradictions, Our Weaknesses: The Empire Stumbles On
Today’s two most conspicuous global flashpoints — the Middle East and Latin America — have widely exposed the fact of US imperialism and highlighted some of its limitations. Adding the apparent cracks in US economic hegemony seems to indicate an empire in decline. Yet a more cautious assessment would recall that the earlier defeat in […]
Open Letter to Progressive Opponents of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
As Columbia only very recently announced, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be speaking in Roone Arledge auditorium this Monday. A number of students and student organizations have already announced plans for a protest rally the same day. We are not among them. We do not endorse Ahmadinejad or his views, many of which are […]
Honey, I Shrank the Military (Or, Who Put the “Pet” in “Petraeus”?)
Congratulations, peace-lover! You have just purchased your first three-inch-high Top U.S. Military Commander! These little Commanders make delightful pets — provided they are no more than three inches tall. Otherwise, these unruly pests can attack sovereign countries, overrun entire populations, and get hold of fissionable material, possibly blowing up the world. We don’t think it’s […]
Support the Fresenius Workers on Strike in Antalya, Turkey
12th September 2007 CALL FOR SOLIDARITY Dear sisters, You may have heard about the strike in Novamed in Turkey/Antalya. Novamed is one of the factories of Fresenius Medical Care located in Germany. All the workers who have gone on strike are female workers. Their working conditions are very bad and male-dominated (patriarchal). For example: female […]
Gaza: A Call for Urgent Action
The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) deplores the unanimous decision by the Israeli cabinet to impose sanctions on supplies of electricity, fuel, and other basic goods and services to the civilian population of Gaza and calls upon the international community to prevent this crime against humanity from being carried out. Indeed, the very legal […]
Why the US Is Losing in Iraq
Legitimacy is a central yet understudied concept in world politics. Let me give you an example of how it works in our everyday lives. If I were to wield a stick menacingly and run around the SOAS campus in London proclaiming that I am an academic, very few people would be persuaded. What I need […]
Virginity Regained: Born Again Innocent
“The unanimity of the sanctimonious, reality-concealing rhetoric spouted by American officials and media commentators in recent days seems, well, unworthy of a mature democracy. . . . Politics, the politics of a democracy which entails disagreement, which promotes candor — has been replaced by psychotherapy. . . .” — Susan Sontag, 9/24/01 Another anniversary […]
Questions That the Movement Will Answer: A Conversation with an Anti-Imperialist Organizer
In recent days, the US public has been satiated with a variety of press reports about numerous “new” plans aimed at addressing the US occupation and war in Iraq. Some of these plans are rumored to include recommendations for an eventual withdrawal of all US forces from that country while some urge the Pentagon and […]
It Didn’t Start with Iraq: A Review of the Film War Made Easy
When George Bush began trying to justify the occupation of Iraq by invoking the “lessons” of Vietnam, I had the urge to send him a copy of the new documentary War Made Easy featuring Norman Solomon. That’s hardly surprising — no doubt we’ve all had the occasional desire to try to educate our president. Then […]
Foreign Threat to American Business?
Foreign countries are awash in dollars because they sell so much more to the US than they buy. Increasingly, their governments use some of those dollars to establish and operate investment funds. The funds buy shares in companies around the world. Sometimes they buy companies directly. Called “sovereign investment funds,” the IMF estimates that they […]
9-11: The Illusion of a Historic Coup in the Course of Imperialism
The Fairmont Conference In late September 1995, five hundred of the world’s economic and political leaders met in San Francisco’s prestigious Fairmont Hotel upon the invitation of an institution headed by Mikhail Gorbachev. The conference was financed by some American super-rich, possibly in gratitude to Gorbachev’s “services rendered” in the ex-Soviet Union. The task required […]
U.S. Intentions and Options in Iran: A Response to Stephen Zunes
In a recent assessment, Stephen Zunes affirms the misconceptions of a segment of the progressive community about Iran’s internal politics, the range of U.S. options in that country, and the frequency with which Western powers invent and/or corrupt civil society movements. After a review of past American interference, he enumerates and rejects Washington’s hostile choices […]
I Will Salute No More Forever
St. Louis — His government broke his heart but it could not break Air Force veteran Charles Powell’s spirit. Fighting back tears, the 64 year-old vet stood tall and resolute in front of 400 of his comrades, describing in verse the final steps of a painful disillusionment. Each summer during the national convention of Veterans […]
