Archive | November, 2011

  • Why Syria Matters: Interview with Aijaz Ahmad

    Aijaz Ahmad: For one thing, Syria is the last remaining representative of Arab nationalism as it used to be understood historically.  It still calls itself socialist.  Even though it has implemented a great deal of neoliberal reform, the state sector is still dominant.  It bans, literally bans, religion from politics.  It will not recognize the […]

  • Deconstructing the Foundational Myths of Israel

    Shlomo Sand.  The Invention of the Jewish People.  Verso, 2009. By this time already, after 60-plus years of heatedly arguing the topic back and forth, is there anything new and insightful to be said that might have a bearing on the Israel-Palestine conflict and help to bring some political and intellectual closure at long last […]

  • Sayed Mohsen Abdel-Ghani, 17 Years Old, Tortured by Egypt’s Army and CSF

    On Sunday, 20 November, Sayed was arrested on Mohamed Mahmoud Street.  For four days, the Central Security Forces and the army tortured him. For more information about Mosireen, visit <mosireen.org>.  See, also, <against-torture.net>. var idcomments_acct = ‘c90a61ed51fd7b64001f1361a7a71191’; var idcomments_post_id; var idcomments_post_url; | Print

  • Free Elections in Egypt

    Carlos Latuff is a Brazilian cartoonist.  Cf. “As with Morocco, with the outcome largely predictable, the most interesting aspect of the results will not be the allocation of seats but the turnout.  SCAF will be hoping for a high participation rate as evidence of popular endorsement of its transitional role” (James Asfa, “Democrats Against Elections: […]

  • Scripting Erdoğan’s Syria Policy

    Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: “Syria is an internal affair for us!”Barack Obama: “What a smart little boy he’s become!” Barack Obama: “We have reached the end of our patience!”Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: “We have reached the end of our patience!” The top cartoon was first published by Gırgır; the bottom cartoon was first published by Çizgice.  They […]

  • Middle East Business Made Simple

      US investments in the Arab nation ⇒ oil to the United States ⇒ US bombs and missiles against the Arab nation Mohamed Al-Zawawi, born in Benghazi, was a Libyan cartoonist.  He died in Tripoli on 5 June 2011 at the age of 75.  This cartoon was published, untitled, in Al-Thawra (The Revolution), date unknown, […]

  • Who Controls Capital? What Does Capital Control?

    Who controls capital, and what does capital control?  The concept of “capital” in this context must be corporate enterprise.  By this metric the commanding heights of capital in the United States would be the Fortune 500 or 1,000, perhaps a thousand or so more, with an array of satellite firms numbering in the tens of […]

  • The People’s Democratic Struggle and the Struggle for the Environment: An Interview with Fred Magdoff

    “The people’ democratic struggle and the struggle for the environment should be intimately tied together.” — Fred Magdoff Fred Magdoff is professor emeritus of plant and soil science at the University of Vermont and adjunct professor of crop and soil science at Cornell University.  He is a co-author of What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know […]

  • Will French Intelligence Agents Be Training Syrian Deserters?

    According to Le Canard enchaîné, French agents are now in Lebanon and Turkey “for the mission to build the first contingents of the Free Syrian Army.” French intelligence agents have been sent to northern Lebanon and Turkey to build the first contingents of the Free Syrian Army out of the deserters who have fled Syria, […]

  • We Are the 1%: Occupy Iran, Occupy Venezuela!

      Jorge Alaminos Fernández is a graphic artist and designer in Spain. | Print  

  • Support Today’s Freedom Riders by Ending U.S. Support for Israeli Apartheid

    Fifty years ago, Freedom Riders braved beatings and arson by supremacists intent on maintaining apartheid in the Jim Crow South.  By challenging segregated transportation through nonviolent action, these African American and white activists set in motion a process that ultimately dismantled segregation.  While the struggle for racial justice continues, at least this shameful chapter of […]

  • The General Strike

      General strikes were common in Europe and in the U.S. towards the end of the nineteenth century and in the first decades of the twentieth century.  They provoked great debates within the labor movement and within the revolutionary parties and movements (anarchist, communist, socialist). Much discussed were the importance of the general strike in […]

  • Urgent from Tahrir: Join Our Struggle for the Survival of the Revolution

      We are in the midst of a decisive battle in the face of a potentially terminal crackdown.  Over the past 72 hours the army has launched a ceaseless assault on revolutionaries in Tahrir Square and squares across Egypt.  Over 2000 of us have been injured.  More than 30 of us have been murdered.  Just […]

  • #OWS and the Young Trade Unionists

    Cory McCray, Founder of the Young Trade Unionists, and George Hendricks, Baltimore Teachers Union (BTU) Rep and Vice President of the Young Trade Unionists (YTU) If you head down to the IBEW Local 24 Union Hall Auditorium on W. Patapsco Avenue in Baltimore on the first Tuesday of any month, you’ll encounter a meeting of […]

  • Did the US Co-opt OWS in Order to Legitimize Egypt’s Flawed Elections?

    Although Occupy Wall Street protesters have so far resisted attempts by the Democratic Party to co-opt their movement, a New York City “General Assembly” was bamboozled by what may be a State Department and/or NED initiative aimed at granting legitimacy to Egypt’s flawed election process. According to a November 16 story in Ahram Online and […]

  • The Scream

    Rajoy Won Victor Nieto is a cartoonist in Venezuela.  Cf. “Polls say that seven out of ten voters for the victorious People’s Party do not have much confidence in . . . PP” (Ancelmo Gois, “Direita, volver,” 21 November 2011); “Right away, the risk premium of the Spanish debt rises and the stock market tumbles, […]

  • Shale Gas and Climate Change — A Burning Issue

    On November 6th, thousands of protesters staged a colorful encirclement of the White House in Washington D.C., protesting against the Keystone XL pipeline project and against expansion in extraction of tar sands oil.  Within just four days after this bold direct action, Obama ordered a thorough review of the pipeline plan and suspended decision-making on […]

  • The Forgotten

      The text in the painting reads the lyrics of a traditional Iraqi folk song: “Those who have forgotten us, when will you remember us?  When will we cross your mind?  When will you help our situation?  Love, you have left us with no explanation; you shut the doors in our face and abandoned us.  […]

  • Gone with the Wind

      “As God is my witness, I will never vote for the lesser evil again.” Emma Gascó (from Sevilla, Spain) is a journalist and cartoonist.  She is a co-blogger (with Martín Cúneo) of Los Movimientos Contraatacan.  Translation by Yoshie Furuhashi (@yoshiefuruhashi | yoshie.furuhashi [at] gmail.com). | Print  

  • The Mystery of Invisible Terrorists

    “Ten murders traced to neo-Nazi terrorists!”  More and more ugly facts splashed through the German media, with echoes around the world.  Politicians from the “respectable” parties expressed shock and surprise.  In 2007 a German policewoman had been shot to death and her colleague badly wounded.  The murder weapon was now found in a partly burned-out […]