We are living one of those historic moments that cry out for rallying the working class to build new capacities, new solidarities, and concrete hope. The crucial question is not how far the attacks on the public sector will go. The real question is how far we will let them go. How will working-class […]
Subjects Archives: Movements
One Week from Bargaining Deadline, GE and Unions Far Apart, May Be Headed for Clash
With just one week to go in national negotiations between the General Electric Company and a coalition of unions, confrontation looks increasingly possible. GE, whose 2010 profits were over $14.2 billion while it paid zero in 2010 federal income taxes, is seeking deep cuts in pensions, healthcare and other benefits to union workers. At […]
Libya: The Poverty of Analyses
I am confused by the analyses of the Anglophone left with regard to the social revolts in Libya. The only thing folks seem able to muster is a series of bifurcated abstractions. Thus certain metaphors in the analyses of Libya prevail, such as “greed and grievance”, “patron and client”, “rapacious rule vs innocent population […]
Middle Classes, American-style “Democracy,” and the Muslim Brotherhood
The middle classes as a whole rally around only the democratic objective, without necessarily objecting to the “market” (such as it is) or to Egypt’s international alignment wholesale. Not to be neglected is the role of a group of bloggers who take part, consciously or not, in a veritable conspiracy organized by the CIA. Its […]
Russia Opposes Any UN Resolution on Syria
RIA Novosti Russia is against any UN resolution on Syria as the situation in the country is not threatening to global security, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said on Thursday. Britain and France submitted a new draft resolution on Syria on Wednesday. The UN Security Council will vote on the document in the next […]
The Battle of Blair Mountain
“In 1921, Blair Mountain, W. Va., was the site of a major milestone in the history of the labor movement when 15,000 union miners took a stand against the coal industry. This week, Blair Mountain may end up being a new milestone in the movement to abolish mountaintop-removal coal mining and perhaps the larger […]
Capitalism, Corruption, and the Subversion of Democracy and Secularism
Capitalism is supposed to bring in modernity, which includes a secular polity where “babas” and “swamys”, qua “babas” and “swamys”, have no role. Many have even defended neo-liberal reforms on the grounds that they hasten capitalist development and hence our march to modernity. The Left has always rejected this position. It has argued that in […]
Muslim Brotherhood and US Representatives at Syrian Opposition Conference in Antalya, Turkey
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 […]
Humala’s Win in Peru Consolidates Gains for Left, More Independent and Democratic South America
Ollanta Humala’s apparent presidential electoral victory in Peru represents a consolidation of the gains made by left-leaning leaders in South America over the past decade, Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) Co-Director Mark Weisbrot said today. “Democracy, national and regional independence, and economic and social progress have gone hand-in-hand with South America’s leftward political […]
Crossing Egyptian Military’s Red Line: Speaking Up against Military Tribunals
A few months ago, just walking too close to the Military Prosecution Complex in Cairo’s district of Nasr City could have landed you in jail. But on May 31, the area surrounding the complex was the stage for a demonstration in solidarity with OnTV’s presenter Reem Maged, socialist activist and blogger Hossam El Hamalawy, […]
Syrian Kurdish Parties Boycott Syrian Opposition Conference in Antalya, Turkey
Syrian opposition groups will be meeting for three days in Antalya, Turkey in a conference organised by the Egypt-based National Organisation of Human Rights (NOHR). The conference, set to begin on Tuesday, 31 May, is to ‘support the revolt in Syria and claims of the Syrian people,’ said Ammar Qurabi, NOHR president. The conference […]
Should the Left Become Social Democratic?
On a television channel on counting day, the panellists discussing the assembly election results were asked to offer advice to the Left, which had lost both the large states it ruled, one of them quite massively, on how it should reform itself for a future resurrection. The overwhelming opinion among them was that it should […]
Calling Up Old Soldiers for the Reserve Army of Labor
Terry Everton is a cartoonist. Visit his blog Working Stiff Review at . See, also, Terry Everton, “Retirement Is for Pussies” (MRZine, 24 May 2011). Cf. “Civilian Labor Force Participation Rates by Age, Sex, Race, and Ethnicity” (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 8 December 2010). | Print
Zelaya’s Return to Honduras: A Step Forward, But Will Political Repression Continue?
Former Honduran President Zelaya’s return home today has important implications for the Western Hemisphere that, we can predict, will be widely overlooked. Zelaya was ousted from the presidency when he was kidnapped at gunpoint by the military on June 28, 2009. Although no hard evidence has yet emerged that the U.S. government was directly involved […]
Awaiting the Arrival of Manuel Zelaya
Compañero Manuel Zelaya: we are back in the place where we last met. Your return to Honduras is only the first step for which we took to the streets. In Honduras we still await justice and punishment for those responsible for the coup d’état and for the violations of human rights. All of Latin […]
Telephone Conversation with President of Syria Bashar al-Assad
May 24, 2011, 19:30 In continuation of the telephone conversation between the presidents of Russia and Syria held on April 6, 2011, and on the eve of his trip to France for a G8 summit, Dmitry Medvedev stated the principled position of the Russian Federation regarding the events in Syria and around it. The […]
El Salvadoran Government and Social Movements Say No to Monsanto
On the morning of Friday, May 6th, President Mauricio Funes of El Salvador’s left-wing FMLN party arrived at the La Maroma agricultural cooperative in the department of Usulután for a potentially historic meeting with hundreds of small family farmers. Usulután has often been referred to as the country’s breadbasket for its fertile soil and capacity […]
Democracy
Every now and then . . . a fiesta of democracy In the meantime . . . a siesta of democracy Eneko Las Heras, born in Caracas in 1963, is a cartoonist based in Spain. The cartoon above was first published on his blog . . . Y sin embargo se mueve on 25 May […]
Reform and Revolution in Syria
Elias Muhanna: Since when have Middle Eastern governments, or any governments for that matter, managed to stifle religious parties in the Middle East by preventing them from coming to the fore? If they pass a political parties law in Syria but they don’t allow religious parties, don’t you think that’s just gonna blow up in […]
New Insights into the Islamic Republic of Iran
Arguably the most important reason for the international interest in Iran is its strategically pivotal geography. Like some of its Muslim neighbours, it has tremendous oil and gas reserves. For the United States, the revolution in Iran was nothing less than a geopolitical shock. Revolutionary dynamics in the Arab World have recently rekindled the debate […]
