Seema Azad, editor of the left-wing journal DASTAK published from Allahabad, was taken into custody by the police Saturday, 6th February, soon after she alighted from the train on her return from the Book Fair at Delhi. She, along with her husband and left-wing activist Vishwa Vijaya Azad, has been detained at the Khuldabad […]
Subjects Archives: Movements
Violent Student Groups in Venezuela Coordinate Actions with the “Democratic Unity” Opposition Coalition
Many of the students involved belong to the youth divisions of the different political parties from the opposition. Since 2005, US government funding has gone towards training and advising youth leaders and student movements enabling them to enter the political arena. Many question whether the recent student protests against the Chavez Administration in Venezuela […]
We Do Not Want Any “Market of Knowledge”! Call for a European Mobilisation against the Lisbon Strategy in Higher Education and Research
In march 2010, the spring summit of the heads of state and governments of the European union will mark the 10 years of the Lisbon strategy, which frames the policies currently engaged in the Member States so as to “modernise” the national research and education system (primary, secondary and higher education, lifelong learning). The […]
Counterrevolutionary Students of Venezuela Send “Solidarity Message” to Iranian Students
The following message, published on Rod’s Blog / El Blog de Roderick Navarro on 7 January 2010, has been posted on numerous Web sites (especially in Persian translation) supporting the Green Wave in Iran, such as , , , . Are Green Wave supporters who have welcomed this message aware of the character of the […]
Colored Revolutions: A New Form of Regime Change, Made in USA
In 1983, the strategy of overthrowing inconvenient governments and calling it “democracy promotion” was born. Through the creation of a series of quasi-private “foundations”, such as Albert Einstein Institute (AEI), National Endowment for Democracy (NED), International Republican Institute (IRI), National Democratic Institute (NDI), Freedom House and later the International Center for Non-Violent Conflict (ICNC), Washington […]
Zionism Laid Bare
The essential point of M. Shahid Alam‘s book, Israeli Exceptionalism: The Destabilizing Logic of Zionism, comes clear upon opening the book to the inscription in the frontispiece. From the Persian poet and philosopher Rumi, the quote reads, “You have the light, but you have no humanity. Seek humanity, for that is the goal.” Alam, […]
Turkey on the Streets for Tekel Workers
Tens of thousands of people used their right not to work for one day and supported the struggle of the Tekel workers in a general strike. For Türk-İş President Kumlu it was a successful protest action withstanding the pressure of officials and employers. Turkish Confederation of Labour Unions (Türk-İş) President Mustafa Kumlu reckoned the […]
Vietnamese Daughters in Transition: Factory Work and Family Relations
This paper assesses the social implications of employment opportunities in manufacturing for rural young unmarried Vietnamese women. Interested in the ways in which intimate relations, identities and structures of exchange within the family are reconfigured through the migration and work experience, we interview young, single daughters who had obtained employment as garment factory workers […]
Republicans Sell Soul to Pat Robertson
(PU) In an oak-paneled conference room somewhere in Manhattan’s Goldman Sachs building, the Republican National Committee today signed over its soul to the Reverend Pat Robertson. “They had a soul?” asked a reporter at a press conference shortly after the signing. “Oh yes,” explained RNC chairman Michael Steele. “You see, the legal reality of corporate […]
Hatoyama to Nanjing, Hu to Hiroshima? The New Face of China-Japan Relations
With the world economy’s center of gravity shifting from the West to the East, led by China’s rising economic and corresponding political power, the year 2010 may witness a series of epoch-making events in Asia. 日中首脳会談、「友愛」で外交デビュー Hatoyama (left) and Hu, 22 September 2009 A grand rapprochement between Japan and China could be one such […]
Repression in Honduras
About Repression in Honduras by Jeremy John This powerful video was made by César Silva, a publicist who before the coup in Honduras worked for Channel 8, the State Television Channel. He made this video in collaboration with Edwin Renán Fajardo Argueta. Once the coup happened, and Channel 8 was no longer directed by […]
Honduran Resistance in the Streets of Tegucigalpa
Hundreds of thousands of Hondurans took to the streets on Wednesday, January 27 to protest the inauguration of Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo Soza. Lobo was the victor in fraudulent elections held last November and his new regime is seen by the Honduran resistance as a continuation and consolidation of the coup regime that first came […]
The Unknown Cultural Revolution: Life and Change in a Chinese Village
Dongping Han’s talk is preceded by Reiko Redmond’s and Raymond Lotta’s introductions. Dongping Han: I am not just going to talk about my book. I’ll tell you my love story. When I teach in the classroom and tell my students that it’s possible for people to work together, to solve their problems, to improve their […]
The Future of Islam and Democracy in Iran
Despite the systematic efforts of many commentators and media outlets to represent what is happening in Iran as a wholesale revolt against everything the Islamic Republic stands for, a sober analysis reveals that we are witnessing the renegotiation of political power in the country. The protagonists represent different wings within the system; the contours of […]
Honduras: Massive Demonstration as Lobo Takes Power
27 January — De facto President Porfirio “Pepe” Lobo took power today as the international business press suggested that the coup had finally triumphed over the resistance or at the least the crisis is over. Meanwhile, despite the ongoing human rights crisis of kidnapping, murder, and intimidation, hundreds of thousands of Hondurans of all […]
The Making of Japan’s New Working Class: “Freeters” and the Progression from Middle School to the Labor Market
This article is a modified and developed version of a chapter from Social Class in Contemporary Japan: Structures, Socialization and Strategies, edited by Ishida Hiroshi and David H. Slater, Routledge, 2009. For a brief outline of the book’s arguments, please see <japanfocus.org/data/Social_Class_5.htm>. Introduction: The “New Working Class” of Urban Japan Tomo was a first-year […]
Revolution within the Revolution in Venezuela
In 1999, under newly elected President Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan people were given a rare opportunity: to participate in the writing of what would become arguably the world’s most radical constitution. The result of an extensive constitutional process and an assembly voted on by Venezuelan citizens contrasts with the United States constitution, one created […]
From Realism to Regime Change: Questioning Richard Haass
Richard Haass, the President of the Council on Foreign Relations, has attracted considerable notice with an opinion piece out now in Newsweek arguing that “the United States, European governments, and others should shift their Iran policy toward increasing the prospects for political change” in the Islamic Republic — in sum, that the United States […]
Colored Revolutions in Colored Lenses: A Comparative Analysis of U.S. and Russian Press Coverage of Political Movements in Ukraine, Belarus, and Uzbekistan
This study compared The New York Times‘ and The Moscow Times‘ coverage of the political movements in three former Soviet republics. Data analysis revealed a clear pro-movement pattern in The New York Times’ reporting. The U.S. newspaper used more pro-movement sources than pro-incumbent sources. Overall, The New York Times depicted the protesters favorably and […]
On the Liberal Hope for the New Middle Class’s Capitalist Revolution in the Muslim World
Vali Nasr. Forces of Fortune: The Rise of the New Muslim Middle Class and What It Will Mean for Our World. New York: Free Press, 2009. 320 pp. This empirically informative yet analytically defective book labors to dissect the complexities of political and economic development in the Muslim world, strongly focusing on Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, […]
