Local 2627, DC 37, AFSCME interviews labor leader Houzan Mahmoud. This interview was conducted on March 5, 2007, at an event sponsored by the Center for Study of Working Class Life and cosponsored by U.S. Labor Against the War (USLAW). Houzan Mahmoud is the international representative of the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions in […]
Geography Archives: Middle East
Confronting the War Machine in the Pacific Northwest
When people think of militant political action in the United States, their thoughts usually turn to cities like San Francisco, Chicago, and New York. The South and the Pacific Northwest probably don’t immediately spring to mind. This is despite the rich legacy of militant labor protest in the filed, woods, and apple orchards of the […]
Challenging Wal-Mart
Raising the minimum wage and increasing the level of social assistance is a component part of challenging the large, low-wage multinationals that make up the vast majority employers of the working poor. The largest of them all is Wal-Mart. For socialists, Wal-Mart is more than just a series of big retail stores that threaten our […]
Peter Pace Puts It in His Mouth
His foot, that is. After four years of conducting an illegal war in Iraq, which has killed almost one million people, maimed, wounded and dislocated millions more, tortured countless thousands, and in general brutalized and destroyed a once sovereign, secular country, wreaking havoc and disgrace in the world for his own country, the military’s top […]
Tell Congress to Prevent Administration from Attacking Iran
We DO have a chance to reverse this in committee, but we urgently need to make phone calls TODAY. The Supplemental Appropriations bill is scheduled to be marked up in full committee Thursday at 9 am. The list of Members of the full Appropriations committee is given below. If your Congressional representative is not on […]
Reading More Than Lolita in Tehran: An Interview with Fatemeh Keshavarz
JASMINE AND STARS: Reading More Than Lolita in Tehran by Fatemeh KeshavarzBUY THIS BOOK Fatemeh Keshavarz, author of Jasmine and Stars: Reading More Than Lolita in Tehran, on how literature can be used to create or destroy stereotypes. Q: How did Jasmine and Stars: Reading More Than Lolita in Tehran come to be? A: You […]
Oh! What A Lovely War
I have been very puzzled by how many on the left and in the liberal media seem to imagine that the situation in Iraq and the Middle East is bad for the Imperialists. They are having a heyday with the so-called WOT. . . . It is going very well for them . . […]
This Defeated Occupation: We Must Pre-empt It
7 March 2007 On 10 March 2007 in Baghdad a stillborn regional conference will convene in which the Iraqi people will again be absent, their resistance not represented. Instead, a defeated US occupation will continue attempting to write the fate of the Iraqi people, conspiring with an undemocratic Security Council, as well as neighbouring and […]
The Students Are Stirring: A Campus Antiwar Movement Begins to Make Its Mark
Folks often ask, rather cynically, where are the students protesting the war? Well, the answer is that they are there — on their campuses and in the dorms — organizing speakers, rallies, and teach-ins. The fact that folks off campus do not hear about these events does not mean that they aren’t happening. What it […]
No War for Oil, No Oil for War
Part I Combine the strengths of the environmental and anti-war movements to defeat U.S. Middle East policy, end the Iraq War, and join the global community in the common struggle for a sustainable future. Communities Uniting for Climate Action Now! This April 14th, tens of thousands of Americans will gather all across the country at […]
Anna Nicole Smith Bombs Iran
(PU) Amid growing concern over military losses in Iraq and reports that the US might broaden its presence in the Persian Gulf by attacking Iran, President George W. Bush today called an emergency press conference at the Pentagon. His purpose, he said, was to alert Americans everywhere to the “nondisputable” fact that, regardless of her […]
Turkey Today — Who Is Next Tomorrow?A Call for International Trial Observers
Ibrahim Çiçek, Chief Editor of Turkish socialist newspaper Atilim Starting September 8, 2006 and during the several following months, over 120 socialists, communists, and other people of leftist orientation have been arrested by the Turkish Anti-Terror Police Department. Among them are journalists, including Ibrahim Cicek, the Chief Editor of weekly revolutionary socialist newspaper Atilim www.atilim.org, […]
An Open Letter to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
I had the great fortune of attending the 79th Academy Awards following my nomination as producer for a film in the Best Documentary Feature category. At the Awards ceremony, most categories featured an introduction that glorified the filmmakers’ craft and the role it plays for the film audience and industry. But when comedian Jerry […]
U.S. Religious Delegation Finds Hope in Iran
As Christian leaders from the United States, we traveled to the Islamic Republic of Iran at this time of increased tension believing that it is possible to build bridges of understanding between our two countries. We believe military action is not the answer, and that God calls us to just and peaceful relationships within […]
All Roads Lead to Checkpoints
All roads may have once led to Rome, but, for the Palestinian people, all roads lead to checkpoints. The latest checkpoint to block the Palestinians is not manned by Israel but the ostensible mediator of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the Quartet (which is composed of the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United […]
U.S. Imperialism and Arroyo Regime in the Philippines on Trial at the Permanent People’s Tribunal, the Hague
An interview with Luis Jalandoni, chairperson of the National Democratic Front-Philippines Negotiating Panel, follows E. San Juan, Jr.’s analysis. The February visit of the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples, Prof. Rodolfo Stavenhagen, reconfirmed the barbarism of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s de facto martial-law regime in the Philippines. Stavenhagen bewailed the worsening pattern of […]
Now (That the Dems Have Taken Back Congress) What?
The November ’06 election presents socialists and progressives in the US with a (thankfully) new situation. The next couple of years offer many opportunities, questions, and dilemmas . If we squarely face the many complications inherent in the current balance of class forces in America, maybe we can help to keep things moving away from […]
Uprising against the “War on Terror”: The Danger of US Foreign Policy to International Security
For those among us who hoped that 2007 would be a more orderly year in world politics, the current trends have been frustrating. Over the past few weeks, the Bush administration has pursued the escalation of two major international crises. The first major crisis is taking place in Somalia, where the Ethiopian Army and its […]
Picturing Reality
A Sense of History? “Kahin building, kahin trame, kahin motor, kahin mil; sab milta hai yahan par bas milta nahin dil,”1 croons the late Johnny Walker to Sahir Ludhayanvi‘s immortal lyrics (CID, 1956) while ruing the difficulties one has to face in finding true love in a world of industry, automation, and speed. In […]
Ammunition against the Empire
Need a crash course on the present state of the world? Want to untangle the terminology, separate the victims from the victimizers, understand the dynamics of unilateralism, and deduce what can be done about it all? I’d like to introduce you to a small literary arsenal. A good place to begin is the book […]
