Wright: American Peace Activists Denied Entry to Canada After Appearing on FBI Database5 Oct 2007AMY GOODMAN: Two leading US peace activists were denied entry into Canada Wednesday after their names appeared on an FBI criminal database that the Canadian government is using at its borders. Ann Wright, a retired Army colonel and former diplomat, and Medea Benjamin, cofounder of women’s peace group CODEPINK, were headed to Toronto to discuss peace and security issues at the invitation of the Toronto Stop the War Coalition.
Funk: Divestment: Solution or Diversion?5 Oct 2007Evoking memories of global activism against apartheid in South Africa, the Save Darfur movement is aiming to address the humanitarian crisis in the beleaguered region by campaigning for divestment from certain companies operating in Sudan. Though there are ample grounds for a title=”http:.
Fletcher: Senator Obama, Black America and the War(s)5 Oct 2007Recognizing the historic significance of the Presidential campaign of Senator Barak Obama and the deep meaning that this has for many Black Americans, I have been very careful in expressing my concerns and criticism of the junior Senator from the great state of Illinois. Yet I have expressed them, particularly when it comes to matters of US foreign policy.
Cumings: The People’s Revolutionary Party 84 Oct 2007[Introduction by Bruce Cumings: The large monetary awards to the family members of eight men executed in 1974 as members of the “People’s Revolutionary Party” have no precedent, and mark another milestone in South Korea’s remarkable record of historical reckoning and reconciliation. The twin pillars of this are the reconciliation with North Korea ongoing since Kim Dae Jung was elected president, and the 1995 trials of former presidents Chun Doo Hwan and Roh Tae Woo for treason in carrying out their serial coup d’etat in 1979-80, which involved the bloody suppression of the Kwangju Rebellion.
Sheehan: Imagine Peace4 Oct 2007Imagine all the people, living life in peace.John Winston Ono Lennon October 9, 1940-December 8, 1980 A dream you dream alone is only a dream.
Surasky: Dissenting at your own risk4 Oct 2007Last year, I agreed to speak to a Jewish youth group about my organization, Jewish Voice for Peace, and our opposition to Israel’s occupation. My talk was to follow one from a member of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which calls itself “America’s pro-Israel Lobby.
Reyes: Agro-fooling ourselves4 Oct 2007EU and US targets and subsidies are fuelling a growing demand for ‘agrofuels’. Far from being a sustainable energy source, the increased cultivation of crops for fuel threatens the world’s poor with starvation, damages biodiversity and even contributes to global warming, argues Oscar Reyes.
Reyes: Agro-fooling ourselves4 Oct 2007EU and US targets and subsidies are fuelling a growing demand for ‘agrofuels’. Far from being a sustainable energy source, the increased cultivation of crops for fuel threatens the world’s poor with starvation, damages biodiversity and even contributes to global warming, argues Oscar Reyes.
Dixon: Jena: Baby Steps Toward a New Mass Movement4 Oct 2007Nearly three weeks after the mobilization of more than 50,000 African Americans from around the nation at Jena, Louisiana the question hangs: was it the beginning of this generation’s Black mass movement, the successor to the Freedom Movement of half a century ago? What was accomplished, what was won? What did Jena teach us about Black America and the larger American polity? The answers to all these questions matter because despite what self-congratulating pastors, pun
Naiman: Prove the Intensity of Anti-War Sentiment on October 274 Oct 2007A clear majority of the people of this country want decisive steps to end the Iraq war now, not years from now, as the Pentagon is planning. As the Christian Science Monitor noted recently, the public reached its verdict on the Iraq war long ago, and hasn’t been swayed by President Bush’s speeches or the proclamations of his generals that success is around the corner.
Carlyle: Afghanistan, Six Years On:4 Oct 2007On 7 October 2001 US and British forces invaded Afghanistan, killing thousands of civilians. But following the Taliban’s “defeat” in December 2001, Afghanistan dropped out of the media, and off the anti-war movement’s agenda.
Bricmont: War in the Name of Peace3 Oct 2007In 1999, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation lacked any mandate from the United Nations when it attacked Serbia. In Afghanistan, the U.
Hedges: Israel’s Toy Soldiers3 Oct 2007If you are a young Muslim American and head off to the Middle East for a spell in a fundamentalist “madrassa,” or religious school, Homeland Security will probably greet you at the airport when you return. But if you are an American Jew and you join hundreds of teenagers from Europe and Mexico for an eight-week training course run by the Israel Defense Forces, you can post your picture wearing an Israeli army uniform and holding an automatic weapon on MySpace.
Winter: Ontario Considers Proportional Representation3 Oct 2007Ontario voters will consider their first-ever referendum on electoral reform on October 10th, as part of a provincial election campaign. The referendum is actually a no-brainer, but you’d never know it from most of the media coverage.
Mian: How Not to Win Friends and Influence People3 Oct 2007The United States sells death, destruction, and terror as a fundamental instrument of its foreign policy. It sees arms sales as a way of making and keeping strategic friends and tying countries more directly to U.
Raina: Quiet Flows the Gutter Paved with Gold3 Oct 2007 The New Indian Middle Class will surely take us far; from hauteur, humbug, heartlessness to bloody civil war. (Badri Raina, Hippopotamus, Modest Proposal & Other Rhymes For the Times, Sahmat pub.
Ngugi: Thomas Sankara Lives!3 Oct 2007 In April this year, we celebrated 50 yrs of Ghana’s Independence. In October, we are marking the 20th year since Thomas Sankara’s assassination – a stark reminder that we are still in the state Odinga Oginga called Not Yet Uhuru.
Fernandes: The Gender Agenda of the Pink Tide in Latin America3 Oct 2007With the election of leftist leaders in many parts of Latin America, the subject of women seems to be coming up more frequently in public discourse. Hugo Chávez speaks about Venezuelan women as “revolutionary mothers,” Evo Morales presents Bolivian women as combatants and fighters, and Michelle Bachelet committed herself to addressing gender equality in Chile.
Goodman: Chevron’s Pipeline Is the Burmese Regime’s Lifeline3 Oct 2007The image was stunning: tens of thousands of saffron-robed Buddhist monks marching through the streets of Rangoon [also known as Yangon], protesting the military dictatorship of Burma. The monks marched in front of the home of Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who was seen weeping and praying quietly as they passed.
Chomsky: A Revolution is Just Below the Surface3 Oct 2007EVA: I read a quote of yours which said power is always illegitimate unless it proves itself to be legitimate. So in Venezuela right now we are in the process of Constitutional reform.
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