March 2002

...The US, the search for new enemies, dirty DU danger, Afghan women free to die; Israel’s soldiers say no; volunteers for Palestine; Iran v. the heroin smugglers; Japan, tired of the old politics; El Salvador, rebranding the revolutionaries; US workplace love-in; Turkey’s Big Brother; Belgium repents; and José Saramago asks what happened to democracy...

(Articles in the English edition, including all our back numbers, now have hyperlinks to and from original articles in French - see margin above the Search box)

  • The other axis of evil — Ignacio Ramonet

    We need to be aware that neo-liberal globalisation is attacking the social order on three fronts. The economic front is the most important since it affects all humanity. It is presided over by the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation: they form the real axis of evil (1). This loathsome triumvirate creates massive havoc and seeks to impose an economic agenda founded on the predominance of the private sector and the markets, and on profit. Consider the (...)
    Translated by Luke Sandford
  • OFFENSIVE NEW PENTAGON DEFENCE DOCTRINE

    Making enemies * — Paul-Marie de La Gorce

    The United States military seems to be preparing for an attack on Iraq, its plans based on a new Washington defence doctrine and even newer hi-tech weaponry. The Pentagon is gathering its resources to declare pre-emptive war in the name of American national self-defence.
    Translated by Barry Smerin
  • DEPLETED URANIUM IN BUNKER BOMBS

    America’s big dirty secret — Robert James Parsons

    The United States loudly and proudly boasted this month of its new bomb currently being used against al-Qaida hold-outs in Afghanistan; it sucks the air from underground installations, suffocating those within. The US has also admitted that it has used depleted uranium weaponry over the last decade against bunkers in Iraq, Kosovo, and now Afghanistan.
    Translated by the author
  • INSECURE, EXASPERATED AND BORED WITH THE OLD POLITICS

    Japan fights the future * — Anne Garrigue

    Last year’s election of Junichiro Koizumi as Japan’s prime minister was supposed to begin the end of the corrupt, conservative Liberal Democrat regime in power for nearly 50 years. It didn’t, and he has lost popularity. The economy is stagnating, and the nation is still locked into a subservient financial and diplomatic relationship with the United States. The only real change is tentatively coming from new, local grassroots organisations.
    Translated by Luke Sandford

  • The American shogunate * — Chalmers Johnson

    Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
  • THE PEACE MOVEMENT REVIVAL

    Israel’s army refuseniks * — Joseph Algazy

    As Israel and the Palestinian territories descend into chaos, there are new international humanitarian efforts in the West Bank and Gaza; and the Israeli peace movement has revived, with big demonstrations, a new joint action group and a growing refusal by Israeli soldiers to serve in Palestinian territories. A third of Israelis now back this refusal.
    Translated by Wendy Kristianasen

  • To protect and serve * — Isabelle Avran

    Translated by Wendy Kristianasen

  • Dehumanised in Gaza: the movie — Dominique Godrèche

    Translated by Wendy Kristianasen
  • FMLN ACTS LOCAL, THINKS NATIONAL

    Revolutionary management in El Salvador — Karim Bourtel

    A transport strike paralysed El Salvador last month after the rightwing government rejected a traffic plan that had been negotiated by San Salvador’s leftwing mayor. Former guerrilla fighters now rule the capital and the outcome of the 2004 presidential elections may depend on them.
    Translated by Luke Sandford

  • The Blairite ex-guerrillas * — Karim Bourtel

    Translated by Luke Sandford
  • BRUSSELS REPENTS ITS AFRICAN SINS

    Belgium’s murky history * — Colette Braeckman

    Two Rwandans were convicted in Belgium last year of playing a part in genocide, under a 1993 law giving Belgian courts universal jurisdiction. Perhaps this ethical policy means Belgium is admitting its dark colonial past.
    Translated by Lorna Dale
  • AMERICA NEVER CARED ABOUT AFGHAN WOMEN

    Free to die * — Christine Delphy

    Translated by Barbara Wilson
  • THE HEROIN ROUTE FROM AFGHANISTAN TO EUROPE

    Iran loses its drugs war — Cédric Gouverneur

    Most heroin sold in Europe comes from Afghanistan’s poppies. Drugs cross the permeable border with Iran on their way to Turkey and Europe despite Iran’s desperate efforts, costing many lives, to combat trafficking at the border. Europe doesn’t help Iran with the cost of policing, and does even less to finance Afghan farmers to plant alternative crops.
    Translated by Harry Forster

  • The enemy within — Cédric Gouverneur

    Translated by Harry Forster

  • The European market — Cédric Gouverneur

    Translated by Harry Forster
  • END OF THE NEW WORKPLACE

    Smiling serfs of the new economy * — Ibrahim Warde

    Will the crash of Enron, following the dot.com debacle, end the abuse of the ’new economy’ employees in the United States, who surrendered their basic rights in the interests of company shareholders and even had to make voluntary ’contributions’ to their firms’ political friends?
    Translated by the author
  • TUNE IN, TUNE OUT

    Turkey’s unreality TV * — Nicolas Monceau

    Turkey is in financial crisis and with a severe cultural identity problem. And what is everyone doing, rich, poor and poorer across the nation? Watching television game shows and the Istanbul version of Big Brother.
    Translated by Malcolm Greenwood
  • JUSTICE AND DEMOCRACY DENIED

    For whom the bell tolls * — José Saramago

    Translated by Julie Stoker

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