Burbach: The Final Battle in Bolivia1 Dec 2007Evo Morales, the first Indian president of Bolivia, is forcing a showdown with the oligarchy and the right wing political parties that have stymied efforts to draft a new constitution to transform the nation. He declares, “Dead or alive I will have a new constitution for the country by December 14,” the mandated date for the specially elected Constituent Assembly to present the constitution.
MIles: Same old, same old – Israel wins again1 Dec 2007As I sit and read the announcements from today’s first discussions from Annapolis, all I can see is another dismal failure for peace and another year long “negotiation” process that like Oslo, Camp David, the ‘road map’ all lead to the same place. That place, as so clearly denoted by the late Tanya Rinehart, is nowhere.
Castro: A People Under Fire1 Dec 2007Venezuela, whose people are heirs to Bolivar’s ideas which transcend his era, is today facing a world tyranny a thousand times more powerful than that of Spain’s colonial strength added to that of the recently born United States which, through Monroe, proclaimed their right to the natural
Nadal: Saving Yasuní National Park, Ecuador1 Dec 2007The Yasuní national park, found in Ecuador at the intersection of the High Amazons and the Andean mountain range, is one of the places with a high index of bio-diversity on the planet: more species of trees are found in each hectare than in all of the United States and Canada. Most importantly, its two million hectares are inhabited by the Huaorani, Tagaeri and the Taramenane, descendants of the original people of America and owners of a millennial culture of life in tropical ecosystems.
Meister: Justice For Only A Penny1 Dec 2007Refusing to help improve the abysmal conditions of the tomato pickers who are vital to the fast-food industry is not enough for Burger King. Now the industry giant has joined a drive to undo agreements by its major competitors to help the pickers.
solo: Venezuela: beyond the corporate Thing30 Nov 2007Over the last week or so Western Bloc corporate media wrapped their clammy, information-choking tendrils mostly around the latest fake Middle East peace talks, continuing grief for the corporate financial sector and assorted disorders for Nicolas Sarkozy in France and Gordon Brown over there at No. 10 Gin Lane.
Krugman: Mandates and Mudslinging30 Nov 2007From the beginning, advocates of universal health care were troubled by the incompleteness of Barack Obama’s plan, which unlike those of his Democratic rivals wouldn’t cover everyone. But they were willing to cut Mr.
Baroud: Demoralisation and Absence30 Nov 2007A once profound and widely read commentator recently claimed he no longer writes about the Palestine/Israel conflict because “Palestinians are killing each other”. Feeling his words have ceased to carry weight he simply decided not “to take sides”.
Many:: The One State Declaration30 Nov 2007For decades, efforts to bring about a two-state solution in historic Palestine have failed to provide justice and peace for the Palestinian and Israeli Jewish peoples, or to offer a genuine process leading towards them. The two-state solution ignores the physical and political realities on the ground, and presumes a false parity in power and moral claims between a colonized and occupied people on the one hand and a colonizing state and military occupier on the other.
Barker: Media Watchdog as Democracy Manipulator29 Nov 2007 Having already investigated the ‘democratic’ ties of Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in the first two parts of this article, Part 3 will now reveal how many of the recipients of their annual Fondation de France Prize are intimately linked to the ‘democracy promoting’ community. “The Reporters Sans Frontières-Fondation de France Prize, worth 50,000 francs [or US$11,000], has been awarded annually since 1992 to journalists who, through their work or attitudes, have demonstrated their devotion to press freedom.
Monbiot: Three Million Homes?29 Nov 2007It sounds preposterous: three million new homes in England alone by 2020. My instinct is to fight this project.
Roy: Secularism is not about appeasing terrorists29 Nov 2007Bhaskar Roy, who retired recently as a senior government official with decades of national and international experience, is an expert on international relations and Indian strategic interests. In this exclusive column for Sify.
Wilpert: Venezuela’s Constitutional Reform29 Nov 2007The following is an article-by-article summary of the changes being proposed to Venezuela’s 1999 constitution. The summary is in no way official and should only be used as an aid in making sense of the proposed constitutional reform.
Halper: Israel’s strategy for permanent occupation and apartheid29 Nov 2007Jeff Halper argues that, for the Israeli government and the majority of Israelis, the overriding question is not how to reach peace with the Palestinians but how to transform the occupation from a temporary situation to a permanent political fact, de facto or through apartheid.One may well think that the struggle inside the Jewish community of Israel is between those of the political right, who want to maintain the settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank so as to “redeem” the Greater Land of Israel as a Jewish country, and those of the left who seek a two-state solution with the Palestinians and are thus willing to relinquish enough of the “territories”, if not all, in order that a viable Palestinian state may emerge.
Schwartz: Catch 22 in Iraq29 Nov 2007Every week or so, the Department of Defense conducts a video-conference press briefing for reporters in Washington, featuring an on-the-ground officer in Iraq. On November 15th, that briefing was with Col.
Ali: Canada, Hizballah and Terrorism: An interview with Tariq Ali28 Nov 2007In 2002 Canada unveiled an official list of “terrorist” organizations, strikingly similar to that of the the US government. Today the Lebanese political movement Hizballah—both the military and political wing—is officially considered a “terrorist” organization by the government of Canada, a policy endorsed by only two additional countries internationally—the US and Israel.
Ireland: U.S. Set To Deport Gay Iranian28 Nov 2007President George W. Bush and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may not agree on much, but tragically they may find common ground about the disposability of Hassan Parhizkar’s life.
Karkar: The Partition of Palestine Ushers in Apartheid28 Nov 2007On 29 November 2007, it will be sixty years since the United Nations General Assembly voted for the partition of Palestine. It was a treacherous decision forced through by the United States after pressuring delegates of several member states to reverse their earlier vote against partition, in order to obtain the two-thirds majority needed to pass the resolution.
Many: International appeal to support the reinstatement of Malalai Joya28 Nov 2007The case of Malalai Joya, the 29 year-old elected representative unjustly suspended from the Afghan parliament in May 2007, requires the urgent attention of the international community. As activists and writers living in countries whose governments are at war in Afghanistan and back the regime of Hamid Karzai, we wish to express our support for Malalai Joya.
Goodman: Have They No Shame?28 Nov 2007Every Saturday, the president of the United States gives a radio address to the nation. It is followed by the Democratic response, usually given by a senator or representative.
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