This past July in Tehran, I went to see Tehran Has No More Pomegranates at Azadi Cinema, which was excellent. As I walked out of the theater, I realized that my cellphone had dropped out of my pocket. When I went back inside to find it, the ticket collector had me sit in the […]
Subjects Archives: Media
Media, Communications, and Literature
Media Manipulation
“Teacher, what does ‘media manipulation’ mean?” “For example: five journalists are murdered in Honduras, and transnational media corporations report: ‘Calm in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans’; a common prisoner commits suicide in Cuba, and they say: ‘Tsunami in the Caribbean!’” Tomás Rafael Rodríguez Zayas (Tomy) is a Cuban cartoonist. This cartoon was published by Cambios en […]
Our Summer in Tehran
(Phone Message) “Hey, Justine, I just wanted to say, ‘Come back safely.’” May 16, 2007. Tomorrow morning, my son and I leave for Iran. (Phone Message) “Hi, Justine, I want you to be careful and maybe not mention to people that you’re Jewish.” (In-flight Announcement) “. . . We do ask you to respect […]
Iraq: Collateral Murder
5th April 2010 10:44 EST WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad — including two Reuters news staff. Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time […]
Cuba Does Not Bow to Pressures
Address by Army General Raúl Castro Ruz, President of the State Council and the Council of Ministers and Second Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba Central Committee, at the Closing Session of the 9th Congress of the Young Communist League, Havana, 4 April 2010, Year 52 of the Revolution Comrades, delegates, and guests: […]
The Courts Can’t Take Away Our Internet
Today’s ruling for Comcast by the DC Circuit Court could be the biggest blow to our nation’s primary communications platform, or it could be the kick in the pants our lawmakers need to finally protect it. Either way, the future of the Internet, the fight for Net Neutrality, and the expansion of broadband is […]
A Difficult Love Affair? On the Relation between Marxism and Theology
Abstract: From the moment Marx and Engels became involved with the League of the Just, Marxism has always had a long and often difficult relation with theology and the Bible. Some of the leading figures of the twentieth century were no exception — Althusser, Adorno, Gramsci, Lefebvre, Eagleton are just a few. And in our […]
The Return of the Multi-Generational Family Household
In 2008, an estimated 49 million Americans, or 16% of the total U.S. population, lived in a family household that contained at least two adult generations or a grandparent and at least one other generation. In 1980, this figure was just 28 million, or 12% of the population. This 33% increase since 1980 […]
Studying Madrasas in West Bengal
Nilanjana Gupta. Reading with Allah: Madrasas in West Bengal. New Delhi: Routledge, 2010. Pp. 192. R. 595. ISBN: 978-0-415-54459-7. Much has been written on the Indian madrasas or Islamic seminaries, but because the most influential madrasas in the country are concentrated in the northern states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, many of these writings tend […]
Honduras: Students, Trade Unionists, and Teachers March amidst Crisis at UNAH
Tegucigalpa, Honduras — Scores of students, trade unionists, and teachers of the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH) marched to the National Congress today in protest, due to the current crisis of this university, demanding that it be not closed. The march was composed of a student group from the University Revolutionary Front (FRU), […]
Mashaei Rocks the Haus
A Tehran Bureau correspondent in Germany reports on the IranHaus celebration of “cultural dialogue” held at the International Conference Center in Hamburg on 14 March 2010, featuring Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. “A number of young Iranians were there,” the sight of whom the pro-Green Tehran Bureau correspondent found “very disheartening.” According to the correspondent, Mashaei, “the […]
Israeli Socialism and Anti-Zionism: Historical Tasks and Balance Sheet
A talk delivered at the conference “The Left in Palestine/The Palestinian Left,” School of Oriental and African Studies, London, 28 February 2010 This talk is dedicated to the memory of my late friend and comrade, the Arab Marxist Jabra Nicola (1912-74). The terms “Right” and “Left” as used in Israel are misleading: they do […]
Ahmadinejad Bucks Religious Establishment
Even as hundreds of thousands gathered across Iran on Thursday [11 February 2010 — ed.] to mark the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Republic, it’s worth noting that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad isn’t the religious fanatic he is portrayed as in the West. In fact, in a country where overt allegiance to fundamentalist Shiism […]
Targeted Citizens
“My friend told me to call Israel the ’48 lands while in Gaza. Here’s one of many reasons why, and why a one-state struggle is the right(er) struggle.” — Max Ajl Targeted Citizens, written, directed, produced, and edited by Rachel Leah Jones for Adalah, surveys discrimination against Palestinian citizens in Israel. With the participation […]
Ghazal for Iranians Who Don’t Hate Arabs
To Rom, and Parichehr Today I met Iranians who don’t hate Arabs. They smiled and said “hey, selam,” even knowing I was Arab. They didn’t have green eyes, yet they seemed to bear up pretty well without them, and they don’t fault Arabs, not all of us, at least, for Nahavand, and the bloody flare-up […]
Interviews with Strikers in Athens, Greece
Athens, Greece, 11.03.10. — Tens of thousands of trade unionists and anti-capitalists demonstrated during a nationwide strike against the cash-strapped government’s austerity measures. People explain why the have taken to the streets. “Today’s 24-hour general strike was called by GSEE and ADEDY (private and public sector unions). They are demanding that working people not […]
Celebrating Zinn at Boston University the Right Way
Boston University is planning a “celebration” of Howard Zinn on March 27th. I dare think that this is a proper moment for the university to address the need to reverse the grievous discrimination against Zinn, who taught political science at BU for over two decades and yet retired with a paltry junior faculty salary. John […]
France: Multiple Voter Punishments
“It’s necessary to campaign on my record,” Nicolas Sarkozy had told UMP leaders in the regional elections, before prudently beating a retreat when polls revealed the darkening sky for the party. Despite the same old cliché repeated by UMP spokespeople according to the dictate of the Élysée, the fact remains that voters clearly rejected […]
Israel: Burying Peace in Palestine
Gervasio Umpiérrez is a cartoonist based in Montevideo, Uruguay. This cartoon was featured on the home page of Rebelión on 13 March 2010. | | Print
Sans-Culottes
Michael Sonenscher, Sans-Culottes: An Eighteenth-Century Emblem in the French Revolution. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2008. x + 493 pp. $45.00 U.S. (cl). ISBN 978- 0691124988. Michael Sonenscher begins, “This is a book about the sans-culottes and the part that they played in the French Revolution” (p. 1). Actually, there are no revolutionary sans-culottes […]
