El-Haddad: Annapolis, as seen from Gaza25 Nov 2007Even in the worst of times, there’s one thing we’re never short of in our troubled part of the world: another conference, meeting, declaration, summit, agreement. Something to save the day, to “steer” us back to whatever predetermined path it is we are or were meant to be on.
Robinson: Cuba Takes On Domestic Violence25 Nov 2007This year the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women falls on a Sunday, but it’s not a day off for the victims or those people who fight against an evil that crosses all borders and ignores social class, race, creed or age. In Cuba, the day is being observed by many organizations and a recently released documentary titled La Deseada Justicia (The Desired Justice) brings the issue home.
Muwakkil: Harold Washington Remembered25 Nov 2007Although a haze of nostalgia clouds our recall of the Harold Washington years, few can disagree that the era was a time of hopeful activism. When Harold Washington, Chicago’s first black mayor, died on Nov.
Janicke: Massive Student Demonstration In Support Of Reforms25 Nov 2007Caracas—In a massive demonstration that dwarfed violent opposition student protests two weeks ago against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s proposed constitutional reforms, more than 50,000 students marched in favor of the reforms in Caracas on Thursday. The rally on the ‘Day of the Students,’ also commemorated 50 years since the student uprising on October 21 1957 that culminated in the downfall of dictator Marcos Parez Jimanez on 23 of January 1958.
Ali: Regime change in Australia25 Nov 2007NO one should be under any illusion about the implications of Australia’s change of government: sharp deviations from the country’s political or economic trajectory are an unlikely consequence of the Labor Party’s return to power at the federal level after nearly a dozen years in the wilderness. All the same, the long overdue comeuppance of John Howard’s government at the hands of voters was delightful to witness.
Haste: Colombians devastated at Chávez’s ‘dismissal’24 Nov 2007Bogotá, 22 November 2007— ‘Listen, I want to ask you – how many police and soldiers are held hostage by the Farc?’ Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez’s simple question to Colombian General Mario Montoya has now been used as an excuse by Colombia’s President Álvaro Uribe to end the first positive attempt in many years to reach a humanitarian agreement with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc) guerrillas. p class=”MsoNormal” style=”marg.
Cohn: Preventing the Impending War on Iran24 Nov 2007Rhetoric flowing out of the White House indicates the Bush administration is planning a military attack on Iran. Officials in Saudi Arabia, a close Bush ally, think the handwriting is on the wall.
Herman: The U.S. Aggression Process and Its Collaborators:24 Nov 2007We are living in a very dangerous period in which a predatory superpower has embarked on a series of aggressive wars in rapid succession—three on two different continents during the past decade alone. Not only have these wars violated the UN Charter, and constituted what U.
Goodman: What Would Jesus Buy?23 Nov 2007“Black Friday” is the name retailers have given to the day after Thanksgiving in their attempt to make Christmas synonymous with shopping. On Black Friday, Americans are expected to flock to the malls and shopping centers, eager for discounts, armed with plastic.
Ribeiro: Syngenta: murder and private militias in Brazil23 Nov 2007Last October 21st, an armed militia under contract to the GM seeds multinational Syngenta invaded the Terra Livre camp in Paraná in Brazil, killing with two shots from point blank range a 34 year-old activist of the Landless Workers Movement (MST), Valmir Mota de Oliveira, known as Keno, a father of three. The attackers seriously wounded other people of the same movement.
Sandronsky: In Davis, Sodexho Workers Struggle23 Nov 2007Sodexho food-service workers at University California Davis and social justice groups such as Students Organizing for Change have been busy mobilizing for improved labor conditions. Their goal is for the company’s 500 contracted-out workers to become university employees, represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 3299.
Wainwright: Any Respect Left?23 Nov 2007Despite the split, members of the Respect party are furthering socialism around the country. What can we learn from them? The gap to the left of Labour grows ever wider, but once again the left has failed even to lay down even a solid foundation stone towards filling it.
Bello: Power, Passion, and Neoliberalism23 Nov 2007Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is very impressive indeed. This is, however, not immediately evident, a sense that is confirmed by Joseph Stiglitz’ review of the book.
Kunin: Why Are We in Afghanistan?22 Nov 2007There are probably still a few people among the hardcore supporters of Canada’s war in Afghanistan who believe we’re there to restore peace, create democracy, and help women go to school. Yet among opponents, whose numbers are growing, the most common analysis is that we’re there to please the U.
Worthington: Former Guantánamo detainee seeks asylum in Sweden22 Nov 2007On Tuesday November 20, Adel Abdul Hakim, a former Guantánamo detainee from Xinxiang province in the People’s Republic of China, took another step towards reconstructing his shattered life by applying for asylum in Sweden. The 33-year old, an ethnic Uyghur from a state wher.
Ribeiro: Corporations, agro-fuels and GM seeds22 Nov 2007September 16th 2007—The wave of bio-fuels continues to advance, not because it is good for the environment or offers some solution to global climate change – de facto it will worsen it – but rather because the most powerful industries on the planet see it as a source of juicy profits and so make sure that many governments help them with laws and subsidies. The main interests are the motor vehicle companies (who hope that with the new fuel people will have to change their cars), the oil companies (who control fuel distribution), the companies controlling world grain production (who will win both from increased demand for bio-fuels and from higher prices for foods trying to compete with them) and the multinationals producing genetically modified agricultural products.
Esteva: The cancer of growth21 Nov 2007November 19—It has become possible, only after tragedies such as the one that took place in Tabasco, to publicly debate a central precept of the dominant religion: the goal of accelerated economic growth. Fifty years of propaganda have converted the economists’ dogma into a general prejudice.
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