An insider’s analysis of what Corporate Bankruptcy Czar Robert Miller is cooking up for workers and communities in America by Delphi worker/UAW activist Gregg Shotwell, with an introduction by former UAW Executive Board Member, Jerry Tucker Gregg Shotwell is a machine operator for Delphi (formerly GM) — the world’s largest auto parts supplier. He has […]
Geography Archives: United States
As Crisis Deepens: Is a Comeback for Labor in the Cards?
As labor activists from around the country and world converge on Dearborn, Michigan in early May for the Labor Notes Conference, it’s worth reflecting back on a year that has brought back hopes for a revitalization of the labor movement. Several months ago, the Wall Street Journal described an increase in strikes in the United […]
It’s Time to Call a Truce in America’s Longest War
I am Ron Ridenour, a 55-year-old Flathead County and Canyon resident of Montana. I stood before a federal judge on June 25th, 2004, the most critical reckoning day I had encountered in my lifetime. In order to reduce a 5 to 20 year prison term and a two million dollar fine to livable amounts, […]
Images of the Unemployed in New Deal Photography: “The Forgotten Man” versus the Militant Unemployed Workers Movement
The Great Depression represented a new moment for government involvement in many facets of American life including a national photography project. The government-sponsored photography project documenting the experiences of Americans during these years of economic crisis existed from 1935 through 1942. The project was housed in various government departments’ including the Resettlement Administration, the Farm […]
Filipino American Hip-Hop and Class Consciousness: Renewing the Spirit of Carlos Bulosan
“Filipino writers in the Philippines [and the United States] have a great task ahead of them, but also a great future. The field is wide open. They should rewrite everything written about the Philippines and the Filipino people from the materialist, dialectical point of view — this being, the only [way] to understand and interpret […]
A Note on Immigration and the U.S. Workers [Una nota sobre la inmigración y los trabajadores estadounidenses]
Si el pueblo trabajador en Estados Unidos ha de alcanzar unidad, autoconfianza colectiva e independencia política en el futuro próximo (¡y cuanto nos hacen falta!), la demanda del movimiento de los trabajadores inmigrantes de derechos plenos debe ser el primer punto en su agenda. El pueblo trabajador en este país necesita darse cuenta de lo […]
Minneapolis-St. Paul, 9 April 2006
Yiwen Cheng lives in Kansas City, and Stephen Philion lives in Minneapolis.
Washington, D.C., 10 April 2006: The Awakened Giant Goes to Washington!
10 April 2006 was the National Day of Action for immigrant rights. Millions marched nationwide on 9-10 April 2006 in opposition to HR 4437 (which would make undocumented immigrants — and those who help them stay in the United States — felons for the first time in the nation’s history) and in support of legalization […]
The “Dirty Thirty’s” Peter McLaren Reflects on the Crisis of Academic Freedom
Peter McLaren David Gabbard and Karen Anijar Appleton, “Fearless Speech in Fearful Times: An Essay Review of Capitalists and Conquerors, Teaching against Global Capitalism and the New Imperialism, and Teaching Peter McLaren,” MRZine, 30 October 2005 Peter McLaren is Professor of Education at the Graduate School of Education and Information Studies at the University […]
Katrina’s Aftermath Transforms Work in the Gulf Region
Six months after Hurricane Katrina, the Gulf Coast struggles with a new challenge — who will do the rebuilding? The region is awash in clean-up and reconstruction projects, but with more than 1.5 million people displaced by the hurricane, ready hands are in short supply. In many areas, the tight post-Katrina labor market has already […]
Fighting Islamophobia: A Response to Critics
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 […]
What’s the Matter with U.S. Organized Labor? An Interview with Robert Fitch
SOLIDARITY FOR SALE: How Corruption Destroyed the Labor Movement and Undermined America’s Promise by ROBERT FITCH AUTHOR’S NOTE READ EXCERPT BUY THIS BOOK Michael D. Yates: Robert, let’s start off with a question not directly connected to your book Solidarity for Sale. Some commentators say that today labor unions and labor movements are irrelevant […]
Latino Milwaukee
Click on an image to watch a slide show of the immigrant rights march in Milwaukee on 23 March 2006. SOURCE: Kristyna Wentz-Graff, “A Day without Latinos,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 23 March 2006 March 23, 2006 was a historic day for Milwaukee. It was a day of Latinos in a city that still thinks […]
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 […]
Reforming the Teamsters: An Interview with Tom Leedham
Tom Leedham, principal officer of Teamsters Local 206 in Oregon, is challenging IBT President James Hoffa on a reform slate in this year’s Teamster elections. Leedham’s Strong Contracts/Good Pensions slate — and its rank-and-file supporters — won a big victory when their campaign was accredited for the 2006 International elections. In just over a month, […]
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 […]
Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, USA, 18 March 2006
The demonstration of about 100 received favorable coverage by a local newspaper: “Protesters Want Soldiers, Dollars Home” (The Pantagraph 19 March 2006). Click on an image for a larger view. Jan Cox is a co-chair of Bloomington-Normal Citizens for Peace and Justice.
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 […]
