Subjects Archives: Movements

The process of changes in favor of the Bolivian majority is at risk of being brutally restrained. The rise to power of an Indigenous president with unprecedented support in that country and his programs of popular benefits and recovery of the natural resources have had to face the conspiracies of the oligarchy and United States […]

See, also, Dave Regan, “Why We Demonstrated in Dearborn,” MRZine, 2 May 2008; and Stephanie Luce, “Rebuilding Labor’s Power: There Are No Shortcuts,” MRZine, 2 May 2008. I had a fantastic time at the Labor Notes conference last weekend, and am eager to build on the new connections I made and campaigns I learned about. […]

  Analytical Monthly Review, published in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, is a sister edition of Monthly Review.  Its April 2008 issue features the following editorial. — Ed. The peaceful mass participation in the elections for a Constituent Assembly (“CA”) in Nepal on April 10, 2008 was not only an historic achievement of the Nepalese people, […]

The left press is buzzing about the SEIU disruption of the 2008 Labor Notes Conference in Detroit.  Perhaps lost, as a result, is the significance of this  event. This bi-annual labor activist conference has been taking place for almost 30 years now, and it provides a space for labor activists to meet and discuss all […]

I have decided to write this reflection after listening to a public comment disseminated by one of the media of the Revolution, which I will not specifically mention.

We must be very careful about the assertions we make, in order not to play into our enemy’s ideology.

The Student Muqtada al-Sadr has decided to take time out of his rebellion for studies.  The increasingly popular Iraqi nationalist and Shi’i religious leader, it was reported late last year, is seeking the title of Ayatollah (“Sign of God”).  Muqtada’s Iraqi supporters presently confer on him the title of Hujjat al-Islam (“Proof of Islam”), although […]

  The Taft-Hartley mandatory Labor Board election is a steel trap.  It extinguishes the Constitutional right of free association for most workers most of the time.  It has effectively ended self-organization and the formation of new unions.  Tinkering with Board election procedures in an effort to revive the labor movement is exactly the wrong course […]

  Thirty-two years, one month, and ten days ago — on 16 February 1976 to be exact — bankers, industrialists, the Sociedad Rural, and other leading organizations of rural sectors initiated a strike in support of a coup d’état (known as the Bosses’ Apegé Lockout), anticipating the military revolt of 24 March, all with the […]

  Washington DC — A March 13 event on Capitol Hill intended to expose Iran’s human rights violations was overcome with political rivalry and infighting.  The event, a one-hour briefing on Iran’s human rights record, was eventually broken up by Capitol Hill police officers. The briefing piggybacked on a recent rise in concern over Iran’s […]

Is there anyone with a deeper knowledge of the contemporary American labor movement than Kim Moody?  He not only seems familiar with the strategies and outcomes of practically every strike and organizing drive of the last twenty years.  He also appears to know the status of each union local, large and small, as well as […]

New York City Labor Against the War joins the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions in denouncing Israel’s recent massacres in Gaza, the victims of which include at least 130 Palestinians — half of them civilians, including dozens of women and children — since February 27.

  Analytical Monthly Review, published in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India, is a sister edition of Monthly Review.  Its March 2008 issue features the following editorial. — Ed. The struggle for democratic rights in India, its forward and backward movement, has been continuous from the days of British colonialism to the present.  Independence and Emergency, for […]

I promised I would continue the reflections today, using textual news and adding pertinent commentaries.

  In September 2000, I decided to do my part to bring peace to the Middle East.  As a Canadian attorney of Palestinian origin, I believed I could use my legal skills to help broker a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.  Naive?  Perhaps. I left my comfortable life in California and moved to […]

  A coalition of Mexican unions and social movements has been calling for a continental workers’ campaign for a living wage and social justice in the three NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) countries.  The original call was made in November 2006 (see Richard Roman and Edur Velasco, “Mexican Workers Call for a Continental Workers’ […]

“La Hojilla,” a program on the Venezolana de Televisión TV channel, took it upon itself to select, for months up to March 5, information and phrases that precisely reflect the imperialist plan to do with Chávez what was done with Milosevic after the genocidal war of Kosovo: to try him in the International Criminal Court.

WHOA — I just found out that the Left Forum — a conference attracting thousands of progressive activists and scholars — is happening this month in Manhattan.  That means we pinkos and queers get one last chance to liberate society through thought provoking workshops and panels!  I sure hope the Forum’s organizers snap up my […]

  To buy a DVD of Aristide and the Endless Revolution (Dir. Nicolas Rossier, 2005), visit <www.aristidethefilm.com/>. | | Print

These words will be published tomorrow, on February 29. A great many tasks lie immediately ahead of us. The 10th International Conference of Economists on Globalization and the Problems of Development, a conference I have always attended and in which I have always expressed different points of view, will begin on Monday the 3rd. Judging by the international developments we’ve witnessed, this conference will doubtless be of great importance, owing to the presence of prestigious economists, some Nobel Prize laureates and two eminent heads of State.I wish to address a specific issue in this, today’s reflection.

In recent weeks, external and internal pressures against Venezuela’s Bolivarian revolution have intensified dramatically. It is clear that US imperialism and the US-backed Venezuelan opposition see the defeat of Chavez’s proposed constitutional reforms on December 2 as a green light to push forward their plans to destabilize the government. In addition, growing internal problems, with […]