Part of the right wing routinely blames undocumented immigrants for just about everything. On September 24, nine days after the financial meltdown started in earnest, the National Review Web site carried an article by columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin blaming “illegals” for the crisis and the subsequent bailout of the banks. “The Mother of All […]
Archive | November, 2008
Ode to Black Friday
God rest ye merry Walmart Shoppers Let nothing you dismay Remember Sales our Saviour Was born on Black Friday To save us all from inflation’s power When we were gone astray O tidings of TVs and Toys, Consumption and Toys O tidings of Consumption and Toys In Nassau, in New York State, Thus tragedy was […]
Indigenous Peoples Rising in Bolivia and Ecuador
Introduction Indigenous peoples in Indo-Afro-Latin America, especially Bolivia and Ecuador, are rising up to take control of their own lives and act in solidarity with others to save the planet. They are calling for new, yet ancient, practices of plurinational, participatory, and intercultural democracy. They champion ecologically sustainable development; community-based autonomies; and solidarity with other […]
Thailand: Anti-government PAD Thugs Want Dictatorship to Replace Democracy
Bangkok International Airport has now been closed by fascist thugs from the anti-government “People’s Alliance for Democracy” (PAD). The PAD are demanding that the elected government resigns. This is despite the fact that the government has the backing of the majority of the Thai population and even the majority of Bangkok citizens. This backing has […]
The Mumbai Attacks
The scale of the attacks is incredible: the Taj, the Oberoi Trident, a major train station (CST), a major hospital (Cama), a cafe that’s favored by tourists (Cafe Leopold), the Jewish center, all in different parts of the city. Some attackers came by sea, others set off bombs, others just entered buildings or public areas […]
Reality Check: Obama Received about the Same Percentage from Small Donors in 2008 as Bush in 2004
Obama also raised 80% more from large donors than small, outstripping all rivals and predecessors It turns out that Barack Obama’s donors may not have been quite as different as we had thought. Throughout the election season, this organization and others have been reporting that Obama received about half of his discrete contributions in amounts […]
Calderon’s Nightmare — Renegotiating NAFTA
Open class struggle is every capitalist ruler’s nightmare. As long as poor working people suffer in silence, business can continue as usual. Heads of state can go on pushing the buttons and pulling the levers of power according to plan with little interference from below. There is a point in time, however, when the legions […]
Civil Society against Democracy?
Amaney A. Jamal. Barriers to Democracy: The Other Side of Social Capital in Palestine and the Arab World. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007. 216 pp. $37.50 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-691-12727-9. Amaney Jamal’s central insight in this carefully researched book may seem obvious once it is stated. Her “overall hypothesis” is simply that “linkages to […]
Socialism’s New American Opportunity
The US left today confronts a remarkable opportunity. George Bush and Sarah Palin effectively reopened the explicit debate over capitalism versus socialism. More than that, their interventions, combined with the current crisis of capitalism, disrupt the conventional, classic definitions of both isms. Thus, the debate over them is now transformed in advantageous ways for the […]
Send Your Message to Israel: Let the Shministim Go!
I’ve been thinking a lot about courage. Right now, while I’m snug and fed this Thanksgiving holiday in the comfort of my home, halfway around the world a group of teenagers is sitting in a jail cell today, demonstrating the very definition of courage and sacrifice. It’s frustrating. Humbling. And I’m damn glad to have […]
Bailout Costs $8.5 Trillion: Interview with Nomi Prins
The Real News: The 800 billion announced Tuesday and 7.76 trillion from the Bloomberg estimate add up to $8.56 trillion or $26,500 for every man, woman, or child in the United States. We spoke to journalist and author Nomi Prins about where these trillions might come from. Nomi Prins: . . . All of […]
Colombia in Economic Crisis: Interview with Forrest Hylton
Zaa Nkweta: With Colombia in the midst of economic crisis, highlighted by the fall of several pyramid schemes, Colombia President Álvaro Uribe has vowed to stamp out corruption, arresting 52 employees and declaring the state of emergency. I spoke to Forrest Hylton about the actions that the Colombian government has undertaken. Forrest Hylton: Uribe is […]
The Achilles’ Heel of the Bolivarian Revolution
The media were predicting a disaster for Venezuela’s Chavistas. Desperate for news that was fit to print, the opposition-controlled Venezuelan press and its foreign counterparts convinced many that the time had come for Hugo Chávez and his Bolivarian Revolution, after stumbling in a slim referendum defeat last year, to finally come crashing down under its […]
Opposition Also Wins Tachira and Carabobo States in Regional Elections
November 24, 2008 — This morning Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) announced that the opposition won in two more states, in Tachira and Carabobo, which had been too close to call last night when the first results had been announced. Members of Chávez’s PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela) thus won governorships in 17 states, […]
US Citizen Diplomats Arrive in Iran, Invited by Ahmadinejad
In an effort to establish peaceful diplomacy with the government and people of Iran, and to model for the new Obama administration the power of cooperative good will, three highly regarded American peace makers have ventured to Iran. CodePink cofounders, Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin, along with former Army Colonel and decorated Foreign Service […]
