So Syrian opposition groups met in Antalya. I closely followed that conference and read about their deliberations and received reports about it. There are Syrian leftists who argue with me constantly that I should not reduce the Syrian opposition to lousy Khaddam or lousy Ma’mun Humsi (a tool of Hariri Inc.) or lousy war […]
Subjects Archives: Media
Media, Communications, and Literature
A User’s Guide to Demanding the Impossible
Excerpt: This guide is not a road map or instruction manual. It’s a match struck in the dark, a homemade multi-tool to help you carve out your own path through the ruins of the present, warmed by the stories and strategies of those who took Bertolt Brecht’s words to heart: “Art is not a […]
Sol
May our sun, the Puerta del Sol camp in Madrid, not be turned off!
Madrid: Encampment to Continue at Puerta del Sol
The General Assembly of the Sol Camp made a consensus decision at its meeting this morning to continue the encampment at Puerta del Sol, until, at least, Sunday, 29 May. None of the thousands of participants in the assembly opposed the idea.
To the Spanish People, a Message of Solidarity from Ard al-Liwa, Egypt
“All of the Egyptian people are behind you and anyone who wants to make a revolution, anyone who wants to achieve something. There is a saying: If the people want life, destiny should give it to them.” Hamdy Reda is an Egyptian visual artist. Artellewa Space for Contemporary Art in Giza, established in 2007, […]
Regaining Vision
Address to the Conference “Debt and Austerity: From Southern Countries to Europe,” Athens, Greece, 6-8 May 2011 Honorable guests, Dear participants, Comrade activists, Fellow fighters, The Greek initiative for the establishment of a Committee for the Accounting Audit of Its Public Debt welcomes you to this very important three-day event for the exchange of […]
Returning to Jaffa: The Triumphant Odyssey of Palestinian Refugee Hassan Hijazi
Hassan Hijazi, a Syrian-Palestinian youth, is as surprised as the Israeli police. Hassan, who is a civil servant in the Education Ministry of Syria, had never imagined, even in his wildest dream, that one day he would be able to stroll on the streets of Jaffa, a city annexed to Tel Aviv. “My parents […]
Post-3/11 Japan: Learning from Crises Past, Facing the Critical Present
Two months after the disasters of March 11, most of the rhythms of everyday life have returned to Tokyo. Although dimmed city streets remain as daily reminders of the critical nuclear situation 140 miles north, the university campuses that were deserted over an extended spring break have refilled. Although the earth still shivers, the anxious […]
The Nakba Law: In German It Sounds Worse
“It is forbidden to mourn on the founding day of the state.” — Israel 2011 Tel Aviv, Israel, 9 May 2011 Zochrot is an NGO whose goal is to introduce the Palestinian Nakba to the Israeli-Jewish public, to express the Nakba in Hebrew. This is in order to promote an alternative memory to the […]
Interview with Michael Munk, Author of The Portland Red Guide
Michael Munk’s The Portland Red Guide is a historical guidebook of social dissent in Portland, Oregon, and links notable radicals, their organizations, and their activities to physical sites in the city. We had a brief conversation over e-mail with Michael Munk to talk about the book, now in its Second Edition, and his experience […]
Turkey: Freedom of opPRESSion?
On December 24th, 2010, a publishing house in Turkey was raided by the police. Without any prior warning, its office’s electricity was cut off, and special operations teams surrounded its building. Walls were rammed, doors were torn apart, and people working for Ozan Publishing were arrested and tortured. Not satisfied with that, the police […]
May Day Toast to the Workers of the World
“Let’s drink a toast to all those farmers, workers, artists and intellectuals of the last 100 years who without thought of fame and profit . . . worked tirelessly in their dream of a worldwide socialist revolution, who believed and hoped that a new world was dawning and that their work would contribute to […]
Iran’s Islamist Bloggers Divided over Khamenei vs. Ahmadinejad
It appears from Iranian Islamist blogs that the honeymoon between Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Islamic Republic’s Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is finally over. Some reject Ahmadinejad in favor of the Supreme Leader while others show unwavering support for Ahmadinejad. It all started when President Ahmadinejad accepted the resignation of the Iranian Minister […]
Maseerat al ‘Awda, the Return to Palestine March
Following a general meeting that brought together representatives from various Palestinian and Lebanese civil society organizations as well as individual activists, the Organizing Committee of Maseerat al ‘Awda, the Return to Palestine March, has announced the launch of its preparatory activities. The “Return to Palestine March” will take participants to the border with Occupied […]
The War in Libya: Race, “Humanitarianism,” and the Media
Firing for Media Effect: Setting the “African” Agenda “We left behind our friends from Chad. We left behind their bodies. We had 70 or 80 people from Chad working for our company. They cut them dead with pruning shears and axes, attacking them, saying you’re providing troops for Gadhafi. The Sudanese, the Chadians were […]
After Yugoslavia: Alternative Balkanization from Below, against the Belgrade Consensus
Andrej Grubacic. Don’t Mourn, Balkanize! Essays after Yugoslavia. Introduction by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz. PM Press, 2010. This is not a typical book review and I am not a detached reader. The book’s author, Andrej Grubacic, is a friend and collaborator, a comrade in the truest sense of the word. And as he makes clear throughout […]
The Revolution of Anger
ثـــــورة غضــــــب Never will we accept humiliation We are the lovers of martyrdom Raise your voice and say it loud My cause is my nation, and my blood my weapon! Never will we accept humiliation We are the lovers of martyrdom Raise your voice and say it loud My cause is my nation, and […]
Gaza Honors Slain Italian Activist Vittorio Arrigoni
Cf. Egidia Beretta Arrigoni, “Vittorio non è mai stato così vivo come ora” (Il Manifesto, 17 April 2011); “The mother of pro-Palestinian activist Victorio Arrigoni reaffirmed that his body should not return via Israel. . . . Egidia Beretta replied that ‘Israel did not want him when he was alive and won’t have him […]
Disinformation about Syria in Western Media
A number of news reports by AFP, the Guardian, and other news agencies and outlets are suggesting that Syrian security forces were responsible for shooting nine Syrian soldiers, who were killed in Banyas on Sunday. Some versions insist that they were shot for refusing orders to shoot at demonstrators. Considerable evidence suggests that this is […]
Comrade Gagarin
“An astronaut son of a carpenter, Yuri Gagarin, a son of Red October” I Giovani Comunisti/e (Young Communists) is the youth wing of the Partito della Rifondazione Comunista (Communist Refoundation Party). Music by Banda Bassotti (“Juri Gagarin”). Cf. “Gagarin’s experience shows that the son of a Soviet carpenter enjoyed material foundations to make it […]
