Subjects Archives: Movements

  After a two-hour standoff at sea, the U.S. Boat to Gaza The Audacity of Hope was seized by the Greek Coast Guard and forced to return to the port of Piraeus under military escort.  The boat’s captain has been put in jail, charged with disturbing sea traffic — which includes endangering the lives of […]

  “Making Memories!” 80 percent of domestic workers are not allowed to leave the house. “Shopping Paradise!” 85 percent of domestic workers are not allowed a regular day off. “Sea & Sun!” 56 percent of private beaches limit access for migrant workers. Directed by Jowe Harfouche.  Actresses: Rahel Abebe, Priya Subedi, Michelle Cafarelle, Lioba Hirsch, […]

  NATO — Burying the Libyan People in a Coffin Labeled “Democracy” Gervasio Umpiérrez is a cartoonist based in Montevideo, Uruguay.  This cartoon was published on his blog on 16 June 2011; it is reproduced here for non-profit educational purposes.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com).  Cf. Peter Hart, “Libya’s Lousy PR” […]

  Prisoners in the Security Housing Unit (SHU) at Pelican Bay State Prison (California) are going on an indefinite hunger strike as of July 1, 2011 to protest the cruel, inhumane, and torturous conditions of their imprisonment.  The hunger strike has been organized by prisoners in an inspiring show of unity across racial and geographic […]

A new political party law has been drafted in Syria and is now posted online for public debate.  It is due for ratification by parliament next August.  If it passes, the law would effectively end one-party rule in Syria, which started when the Baathists came to power, through military coup, back in March 1963.  In […]

  I can report to you that the US government has been in contact with the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood.  In a recent conference held in London, US and British official representatives met with the former (and still actual) leader of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, ‘Ali Al-Bayanuni. As’ad AbuKhalil is a professor of political science at […]

  June 22, 2011 Citizens from across Michigan today announced they are taking Michigan’s controversial emergency manager law to court, filing a lawsuit that charges Gov. Rick Snyder and the Legislature with implementing an unconstitutional power grab that effectively silences citizens. “The emergency manager law is a shameless power grab by Lansing politicians and their […]

  The United National Antiwar Committee (UNAC) calls for demonstrations on June 27 against the US/NATO attacks on Libya.  June 27 is the date that the NATO mandate expires and their new mandate comes into effect. The United National Antiwar Committee was founded at a conference of 800 in Albany, NY in July 2010.  For […]

Last week, stories surfaced in the Lebanese and Arabic press, saying that Syria was about to do away with Article 8 of the constitution that designates the Ba’ath Party as “leader of state and society.”  This of course was before President Bashar al-Assad gave a speech on Monday, hinting to the possibility of either doing […]

  “Yes, Mr. Prime Minister, it’s my fault.  Israel’s PR failure is on my account.  But after you forbid us from protesting, after you pass the law, everything will be different here.  The entire world would know that Israel is a magnificent democracy.  Tourism and trade will flourish.  Anywhere Israelis go, everybody will know that […]

  Much of the commentary in the Arabic media in recent days has focused on the realignments taking place across the Middle East as a result of the various Arab uprisings. Ammar Nehmeh, an occasional columnist at the Beirut-based leftist daily As-Safir, wrote that forces that traditionally resist U.S. policy in the region, and that […]

  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 […]

  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 […]

  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 […]

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 […]

  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 […]

  “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 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 […]

  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 […]

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 […]