Subjects Archives: Inequality

I will not refer to Bush’s health and education, but to that of his neighbors. It was not an improvised declaration. The AP agency tells us what his opening words were: “Tenemos corazones grandes en este país” (We have big hearts in this country); he said this in Spanish in front of 250 representatives of […]

Michael Moore’s documentary Sicko indicts private health insurance and calls for its abolition.  Sicko joins an American tradition that includes Lewis Hine‘s photographs of child laborers (1908) and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), two examples among many.  But can Moore’s theme change our nation in 2007? Private health insurance, usually obtained […]

I saw Michael Moore’s SICKO last week.  By now who doesn’t know that SICKO is a savage and hilarious demolition job on the US health care insurance corporations and their self-serving myths about the national health care systems of countries like Canada and Cuba? But this is not a review of SICKO.  I’ll just say […]

The four young African American lesbians from Newark, New Jersey, who were convicted of gang assault and received long senetences for defending themselves against street harassment have been sent to New York State prisons.  Supporters and those concerned about what has happened to these women and their families are trying to obtain them pro bono […]

Watch the videos of a July 2006 forum in New York City featuring Scott Long of Human Rights Watch, Paul Schindler of Gay City News, an Iranian-American activist, and others debating the question of Western gay rights activism, US imperialism, and Iran. Gays Feed into Anti-Iran Hysteria Gay Executions in Iran? Randy Wicker, born in […]

Four more Black girls just went bad.  Young, 19 to 25; from Newark or surrounding neighborhoods; “troubled” families; having babies while in their teens — you’ve heard it all before.  The reason you’re reading about this bunch is that they’re lesbians — “killer lesbians,” “a wolf pack of lesbians,” say the media.  They’re not martyrs […]

On August 18, 2006, seven young African American lesbians traveled to the West Village from their homes in Newark for a regular night out.  When walking down the street, a male bystander assaulted them with sexist and homophobic comments.  The women tried to defend themselves, and a fight broke out.  Thus began the women’s nightmare […]

  On Wednesday, June 6, federal agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted a sweep of homes in New Haven, Connecticut.  They arrested 33 immigrant workers and set off a series of mass protests calling for the release of detainees and an immediate halt to federal raids.  On Saturday, June 16, a mass mobilization […]

  Frankly, the last time a boy kicked me in the shins was . . . well never, because even in grade school I think we were all taught not to do that.  I am, after all, a 5 ft 1 inch girl in flip-flops with her hands above her head, wearing a pink shirt, […]

Listen to Saadia Toor (Assistant Professor, Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work, College of Staten Island) and Kourosh Shemirani (of the Queer Iranian Alliance) on Doug Henwood’s Behind the News (WBAI, 99.5 FM, 31 May 2007) on liberal imperialism and how Western leftists should think about the conditions of women and LGBTQ people in Iran and […]

Auto workers are bracing for a bumpy road ahead at Chrysler, following the May 14 announcement that Daimler-Chrysler (DCX) would sell off 80 percent ownership of the company to Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity firm.  The surprise sale may tip the balance of power further against the United Auto Workers (UAW) as the union […]

Contrary to both mainstream dogma and received cultural-leftist/neo-Marcusian canon, access to commodities has never been anything like equal in the United States.  In fact, in this epoch of escalating income and wealth polarity, the newest statistics show that inequality among U.S. “consumers” is now at an all-time high. Bradley Johnson of Advertising Age magazine’s “American […]

Opening comments at Conference on Participation, Change, and Human Development at the Centro Internacional Miranda in Caracas, Venezuela on 27 March 2007 The Bolivarian Constitution, in my view, is unique in its explicit recognition (in Article 299) that the goal of a human society must be that of “ensuring overall human development.”  From the declaration […]

Soha Béchara, 39 ans, est une figure emblématique de la résistance à l’occupation israélienne dans le Liban sud. Cette ex-militante communiste a été emprisonnée durant dix ans, sans jugement, dans la prison de Khiam, après avoir tenté d’assassiner, en novembre 1988, en pleine guerre, le général Antoine Lahad, chef de l’Armée du Liban sud (ALS), […]

Una tradición menor del pensamiento conservador es la definición del adversario dialéctico por su falta de moral y por sus deficiencias mentales.  Como esto nunca llega a ser un argumento, se encubre el exabrupto con algún razonamiento fragmentado y repetido, propio del pensamiento posmoderno de la propaganda política.  No es casualidad que en América Latina […]

Dear Peter Pace, As a lesbian, I often turn, in my quest for moral guidance, to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.  You, Peter Pace, being Chairman of the JCS, are to me a virtual guru of ethical enlightenment!  So, naturally, I was struck by your recent Chicago Tribune interview, in which you said, “I believe […]

  Opening March 30 Quad Cinema 34 W. 13th St., New York filmmaker will be present Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings Opening April 6 Laemmle Music Hall 3 9036 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills filmmaker will be present Friday and Saturday evenings Click on the still to watch the trailer of Sacco and Vanzetti. A documentary […]

  Tune in to Out-FM this Monday the 12th of March at 11:00 AM on Pacifica Radio WBAI at 99.5 FM and at www.wbai.org. Brad Taylor hosts a discussion with CUNY- Staten Island Professor Saadia Toor and Kourosh Shemirani of Qiam (Queer Iranian Alliance) stemming from the discussion event hosted by Professor Toor at CUNY’s […]

February 14, 2007 To:  The Honorable Immigration Judge, I’m a 2nd grade Two-Way Spanish Immersion (TWI) teacher at Rosa Parks school in Berkeley.  Today is Valentine’s Day.  It was my last day with one of my top students, Gerardo Espinoza.  His father, Felipe Espinoza Senior, received an order of deportation and is moving the family […]

PUBLIC STATEMENT OF WARNING In order to prevent Peter Tatchell and Outrage! from causing further damage through their unfounded campaigns and press releases, we issue this public statement of warning. As Human Rights Defenders from across Africa, we strongly discourage the public from taking part in any LGBTI campaigns or calls to action concerning Africa […]