Paul Jay: Certainly President Obama had more support for the war in Afghanistan from the Republican Party than he ever did from within his own party. But might this mean increased pressure for a more aggressive stance towards Iran? . . . What’s your take? How do you think this election might affect US foreign […]
Subjects Archives: Movements
Young Jews Disrupt Netanyahu at Jewish General Assembly
November 8, 2010 — Young Jews challenged leadership at the Jewish Federation General Assembly in New Orleans. They disrupted PM Netanyahu’s speech to say: “Israel’s actions delegitimize it, not those working to put an end to its violations of international law.” YoungJewishProud.org is a project of young leaders of Jewish Voice for Peace. | […]
Death Squads in Honduras
Anyone who thinks that social and political instability in Honduras ended with the election of Porfirio Lobo as the president of the republic is mistaken, according to the Committee of Families of the Detained and Disappeared in Honduras (COFADEH). Human rights violations, political persecution, and selective political murders continue to be the order of […]
French Trade Unions: Going All the Way or Just Going Along to Get Along?
One of the key elements of the current new movement against the retirement reform is the unity of trade unions, which has so far survived. This unity of trade union leadership is perceived by a large section of workers, as well as by the population in general, as an asset, a fulcrum of the […]
Chronicles of Insurrection: Tronti, Negri and the Subject of Antagonism
Once I went to May Day. I never got workers’ festivities. The day of work, are you kidding? The day of workers celebrating themselves. I never got it into my head what workers’ day or the day of work meant. I never got it into my head why work should be celebrated. But when I […]
Kino Pravda 3G
The detritus of mobile phone footage of protests, from Tehran to Toronto, over the last year . . . assembled without grand narratives of the mainstream media. Public Studio is a transient Toronto artist collective. | Print
Besancenot: “Blocking the Economy to Block the Reform”
Esteban: Hello, this Tuesday’s action is a symbolic last-ditch stand, isn’t it? Olivier Besancenot: No! It’s another stage toward the general strike which is beginning to happen. On Tuesday night, strikes will be renewed, and there will be new demonstrations, as well as numerous blockades. The question posed now is about blocking the economy […]
Storming the Bastille, Sans Papiers
At the end of the afternoon of May 27, a mass demonstration marched into the Place de la Bastille in Paris. The march itself represented what can now be viewed as a low point in the national union mobilizations to challenge the proposed weakening of France’s public pension regime and other reactionary responses of […]
Maduro: “Venezuela Has Sacred Right to Use Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purposes”
The Venezuelan foreign minister characterizes as insolent the statement of the US State Department spokesperson who said that the US will closely watch Russia’s agreement to build a nuclear power plant in Venezuela. The United States has no moral high ground to stand on, since the US is using nuclear energy for military purposes. […]
Lebanon Welcomes Ahmadinejad
Mariam Saleh: Tens of thousands of cheering Lebanese welcomed President Ahmadinejad on Wednesday, throwing rose petals and sweets at his motorcade, at the start of an official visit that underscores the deep-seated relations with the Lebanese nation. The political leaders of Lebanon along with representatives from various factions were also there, to greet Ahmadinejad […]
Hot Pants and Niqabs: NiqaBitch Stroll through Paris
We both are in our early twenties, and while one of us is Muslim, we didn’t feel directly affected by the passing of the anti-burqa (although anti-niqab is the more appropriate word) law. Still, we both wanted to express ourselves regarding this subject. We’ve always found the law a little fuzzy, and while it’s […]
Immigration and Labor
John Schmitt: My view on immigration and how to deal with the labor market challenges is to focus on the labor market rather than to focus on the immigration issue itself. I think, if we have good, effective national labor standards that guarantee workers at the bottom have the basic minimum wage, they have the […]
Iran-Cuba Ties
Nargess Moballeghi: Two revolutions in two parts of the world for two different reasons. . . . The Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro overthrowing Fulgencio Batista in 1959 and the Islamic Revolution led by Ayatollah Khomeini overthrowing the Shah twenty years later. Though ideologically they couldn’t have been further apart, they have a […]
French Labor Activism, US Labor Passivism
US workers suffered a major rise in unemployment from its level in 2008 (5.8 %) to its level in the second quarter of 2010 (9.7 %). By comparison, French unemployment rose from 7.4 % in 2008 to 9.2 % in the second quarter of 2010. These data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) show […]
Interview with Sandy Pope: Labor’s Struggle for Self-Determination
Sandy Pope and Ed Ott
Sandy Pope is the president of Teamsters Local 805. Her supporters are now engaged in a nationwide petition drive to gather 40,000 signatures from dues-paying Teamster members by 3 December 2010, so she can challenge Jimmy Hoffa in the Teamster General President election to be held in October 2011. This interview was broadcast by […]
Riding Capitalism to the Bottom: Why Republicans Gain as the Economy Falters
Overlooked in the recent rise of the Tea Party and the Republican Right is the way these groups have learned how to grow and thrive on the failures of capitalism. The Democrats, in contrast, remain tied to its successes. With capitalism performing particularly poorly at present, it is no wonder that the Right is […]
Democratic Republic of the Congo, 1993-2003
Report of the Mapping Exercise documenting the most serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed within the territory of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between March 1993 and June 2003 Excerpt (Footnotes Omitted): Several incidents listed in this report, if investigated and judicially proven, point to circumstances and facts from […]
Truth To Power: Guerilla Projection on FBI Headquarters Highlighting Suppression of Dissent
Starting Friday, September 24th, FBI started raiding homes and offices of anti-war organizers, accusing them of providing material support for “terrorism.” Grand juries, initially designed as a control on unlimited prosecutorial power, are now used for the purposes of unlimited fishing expeditions. — Glass Bead Collective Glass Bead Collective is a multimedia direct action […]
Brazil: Lula’s Labour Legacy
When Time magazine awarded Brazil’s President Lula the most influential world leader spot in its 2010 ranking of most influential people, Michael Moore, who wrote the excerpt on Lula, heralded the creation of the Bolsa Familia programme as well as the expansion of public education and health care. These are important achievements, but one […]
Signs of the Beginning of the End of the Long Retreat of Labor
Six years ago, I organized a bus from the Albany area to attend the “Million Worker March,” which was an attempt by longshore local ILWU Local 10 and some activist African-American union leaders to present labor’s demands during the 2004 election year. That rally was not supported by the AFL-CIO and of course fell far […]
