Subjects Archives: Imperialism

Keynote Paper delivered at the 14th Forum of the World Association for Political Economy, July 21, 2019. Today’s world is at war on many fronts. The rules of international law and order put in place toward the end of World War II are being broken by U.S. foreign policy escalating its confrontation with countries that […]

Aijaz Ahmad argues that the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) and its fronts, including the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), display distinct fascistic characteristics, but the Indian state continues to live by the liberal playbook, no matter how hollow the Indian liberal institutions may have become. He anchors this proposition in a distinctive theoretical position.

Hubris is usually a forewarning of impending calamity. Extreme arrogance blinds the hubristic person to the limits of their power. So, blindly, they push on with reckless excess, leading to potentially disastrous results.

Harris favored criminalizing truancy, raising cash bail fees and keeping prisoners locked up for cheap labor.

Frida Kahlo was not a heroine, nor was she a victim. She painted her pain and her suffering but she defied and overcame them in the very act of painting. She was also more than her suffering; an artist who explored her own history, the history of her own country—its past and its future—and who understood who its enemies were.

There are signs of a new tanker war in the Persian Gulf, with Britain joining a coalition that wants a war with Iran.

The protesters’ immediate demand is for governor Ricardo Rosselló to resign, but the mobilizations have also highlighted the widespread rejection of Puerto Rico’s status as a colony of the U.S.

Impossible to deny the reality of poverty in our world. Studies of the data on income and wealth routinely show that billions of people on the planet live with minimal access to resources. These studies demonstrate that poverty cannot be measured merely by the financial resources that are not available; they demonstrate how billions of people have no access to electricity, safe drinking water, education, or health care.

Why is it that just 1p of a £2.50 cup of coffee goes to the farmer who cultivated and harvested the coffee beans?

The British Navy’s seizing of an Iranian oil tanker shows Britain following Trump, trading in diplomacy for the threat of military confrontation, argues Lindsey German

We know it’s bad but not quite how bad. We know we should do more about protecting our personal data but either we can’t be bothered or don’t know how.

It is not the collapse of Conservatism causing the rise of the far-right in America, Europe and Britain, it is the opposite.  It is, however, important to understand that this is exactly how fascism comes to power.

The BBC’s Panorama on antisemitism in the Labour Party provides no real evidence and shows how cynical the smear campaign is, argues David McAllister

Statement by Ken Kimmell, President, Union of Concerned Scientists

During the July 14, 2019 meeting between France, Germany, and the UK to discuss their response to the U.S. withdrawal from the Iran Nuclear Deal, President Hassan Rouhani remarked that Iran is “always ready for negotiation.” Iran, he said, urges the U.S. to “abandon bullying.”

While capturing Venezuela’s oil was and obviously remains the objective, the destruction of Chavismo as an example and inspiration also was and remains a key consideration.

The U.S. government is detaining thousands of migrants, in what can only be described as a system of 21st century concentration camps. Justin Akers Chacón—professor of U.S. History and Chicano Studies in San Diego and author, with Mike Davis, of No One is Illegal—examines the background to this horrific story, suggesting that Trump’s detention centres are just the latest in a long line of racist systems of incarceration in the U.S.

Left tech bros are honing Marx into a capitalist tool

In the year 2000, the CIA gave Iran (slightly and obviously flawed) blueprints for a key component of a nuclear weapon. In 2006 James Risen wrote about this “operation” in his book State of War.

Bernie Sanders must very quickly get serious about building a grassroots movement-type politics on the ground that disrupts the corporate-managed pace, coverage and content of the primary season.