When challenging power, it’s imperative to celebrate victories. But it’s also important to understand the political dance is often two steps forward, one step back.
In a victory for thousands of party activists, Jagmeet Singh recently released a statement that sharpened the New Democratic Party’s critique of Canada’s contribution to Palestinian dispossession. The NDP leader’s email made 13 demands of the Liberals on Palestine. The first point implies Israel is committing the crime of apartheid while the last two points call on Canada to “suspend the bilateral trade of all arms and related materials with the State of Israel until …
When will these unforgivable cretins of modern cultural exhaustion leave decent self-harming people alone? It’s that time of the year again, when sponsored pretend moralists molest, disturb and upset people who have reached that state of despair largely for the reasons these bargain basement priests are pestering them for.
There is nothing grand about topping yourself, though there is an astonishing, proud literature for those who wish to leave the world of the living. This is not understood by the R U OK brigadistas who seem, on closer inspection, to look like demented barnacles in search of a solid pier.
Photo Credit Rainforest Trust
The ecosystems of the world that support life like Brazil’s Amazon rainforest have an incompatible relationship with far right governments, like the United States under Trump, who took a baseball bat to the EPA. According to Christine Todd Whitman, who headed EPA under George W. Bush: “I’ve never seen such an orchestrated war on the environment or science.” ((“How Trump Damaged Science – Why It Could Take Decades To Recover”, Nature, October 5, 2020.))
As devastating as Trump (4 more years?) was for the environment, President Jair …
US special presidential envoy for hostage affairs Roger Carstens is on a case which could lead to freeing Venezuelan diplomat Alex Saab. Pressure is building on the Biden administration to swap Saab for some American citizens currently incarcerated in Venezuela.
Alex Saab targeted in the US economic war against Venezuela
Alex Saab, who has been confined for over two years, is a victim of the US economic war calculated to achieve regime-change in Venezuela. He has been targeted because of his role in helping circumvent the sanctions imposed on Venezuela by the US. These measures, really collective punishment, are intended to make …
So, it was all pretty much his fault. Now he’s gone; we finally got rid of him and we don’t have Pete Arredondo to kick around anymore. Who, or what, will we have to blame for the next one?
He was in over his head, perhaps one of the unfortunates whose inadequacies become apparent when promoted a level beyond their capabilities – unfortunate for him, but way more unfortunate for the 19 children and 2 teachers killed in the Uvalde school massacre. Texas Department of Public Safety Director, Steve McCraw, described Pete Arredondo’s response to the school massacre as “an abject failure.” In …
Ali Imam (Pakistan), Untitled (Deserted Town with a Black Sun), 1956.
Calamities are familiar to the people of Pakistan who have struggled through several catastrophic earthquakes, including those in 2005, 2013, and 2015 (to name the most damaging), as well as the horrendous floods of 2010. However, nothing could prepare the fifth most populated country in the world for this summer’s devastating events, which began with high temperatures and political chaos followed by unimaginable flooding.
Cascading frustration with the Pakistani state defines the public mood. Taimur Rahman, the general secretary of …
“As soon as I left prison, I went to Nael’s grave. It is adorned with the colors of the Palestinian flag and verses from the Holy Quran. I told my little brother how much I loved and appreciated him, and that, one day, we would meet again in paradise.”
The above is part of a testimony given to me by a former Palestinian prisoner, Jalal Lutfi Saqr. It was published two years ago in the volume ‘These Chains Will Be Broken’.
As a Palestinian, born and raised in a refugee camp in Gaza, I was always familiar with the political discourse …
What is it about Australian diplomacy that makes it so clumsy and dunderheaded? Is it the harsh delivery, the tactless expression, or the inability to do things with subtle reflection? On September 6, Australian diplomacy gave another display of such form with Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s remarks about the Solomon Islands elections.
Things have been testy for the government of Manasseh Sogavare, who has rolled out the red carpet to pestiferous officials of virtually all ranks from Beijing to Washington. Most, if not all this interest, has been triggered by Sogavare’s signing of a security pact with the People’s Republic …
(Review of: Nothing Personal, Just Business: A Guided Journey into Organizational Darkness, by Howard F. Stein, Ph.D., Quorum Books)
by William Manson / September 7th, 2022
In a series of books, psychoanalytic anthropologist Howard F. Stein intensively studied the psychodynamics of the modern workplace, primarily huge corporate organizations. He began this in-depth, on-the-site research back in the Nineties, when big corporations, as a profit-enhancing strategy in itself, began to impose massive “downsizing” and “RIFs” (reduction in force) on hundreds of thousands of Americans. At first controversial, this frequent practice soon became “normalized” — an accompaniment to the epidemic of mergers-and-acquisitions (with entire dismantling and selling off of company divisions). Then came “offshoring” of tens-of-thousands of jobs, and–perhaps …
There was a time in my life when I would be at 99 percent of the protests that took place in NYC. People wanted me there because they liked me, of course, but also because I took and posted epic photos that (we told ourselves) advanced the cause.
This tale connects to the cause of animal rights. Here’s the scene from January 2014:
I stood with about eight other “activists” in front of a midtown building that housed hundreds of businesses — including the offices of Air France/KLM. We chose this …
I’ve written about this so much and have gotten students to research some of the direct and indirect topics tied to: Who are your masters, and how far will you go to get and keep a job? One solution for one issue — say, looking at crops and regulating soil wetness with a drone is good, but what are the negative consequences of drone tech and drone community college programs? CIA, NSA, FBI, ATF, Cops, and other deals? Is there always a trade off, you know, Fat Man and Little Boy, the consequences of pursuing “science” with the $$ coming …
As soon as I landed in Rome, I discovered that I was no longer able to access any Russian media whatsoever. Unfortunately, threats by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, that Europe should sever all links with “Russia’s propaganda machine” were taken seriously by the Italian government.
As a journalist, having access to only one side of the Russia-Ukraine war story was a major predicament. How is one to develop a rounded view of such a complex issue when only a one-sided narrative of the war is allowed to be propagated?
Of course, the problem is widespread, and has afflicted …
Golden Ruleon San Francisco Bay (Photo: Gerry Condon)
The sailboat Golden Rule will embark on a 15-month, 11,000 mile voyage near Stillwater, Minnesota this September to raise awareness about the growing danger of nuclear war and build support for abolishing nuclear weapons.
Referred to as the Great Loop, the crew will make 100 ports of-call along the Mississippi River, coastal cities and around the Great Lakes before heading back to San Francisco through the Panama Canal. Planned community events that link environmental, and peace and justice concerns to anti-war issues …
by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies / September 6th, 2022
Peace talks in Turkey, March 2022. Photo credit: Murat Cetin Muhurdar / Turkish Presidential Press Service / AFP
Six months ago, Russia invaded Ukraine. The United States, NATO and the European Union (EU) wrapped themselves in the Ukrainian flag, shelled out billions for arms shipments, and imposed draconian sanctions intended to severely punish Russia for its aggression.
Since then, the people of Ukraine have been paying a price for this war that few of their supporters in the West can possibly imagine. Wars do not follow scripts, and Russia, Ukraine, the …
10 Downing Street is set to be bathed in social media guff with the victory of Liz Truss. Confirmed as Boris Johnson’s successor, the new British Prime Minister won by a slimmer margin over rival contender Rishi Sunak than anticipated. Nonetheless, 81,326 votes to 60,399 was sufficient to guarantee her a secure margin – for the moment. (The turnout had been 83 per cent.)
There is little doubt that the Tory selectorate – a good deal of it – seem to adore her. That hardly makes them, or her, representative of a broader constituency, and certainly the same constituency that voted …
A great deal of attention has been paid to the problems of carceral injustice and the increasing use of AI for things such as predictive policing. Much of this research has revealed that these digital technologies serve to recreate economic disparities, racism, and other forms of social discrimination while removing the stain of human agency toward a flawed ideal of objectivity. Less attention has been paid to the use of these digital technologies in pre-employment background checks. This essay examines the use of AI and algorithmic data analysis and the ways …
In May 2022, the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, Bryan Newland, released the first volume of an investigative report examining the complicity of hundreds of federal boarding schools in the destruction of indigenous nations. This is the perfect occasion to revisit and shed a light on one of the most shameful episodes in American history.
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz argues that after nearly a century of uninterrupted westward expansion and incremental genocide, the US government tried to assimilate rather than exterminate rebellious Indians clinging on to dwindling reservations in the late 1800s. The man who led the charge was General Richard Henry Pratt, …
After a fragile ceasefire lasting just five months, the TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front) have once again initiated violent conflict with federal forces in Northern Ethiopia.
They started the war in November 2020, were forced to retreat just over a year later, but not content with the level of human suffering resulting from their initial barbarism, they are, it seems, determined to kill and kill again; to rape and beat their Ethiopian brethren; to once more destroy property, burn farmland, slaughter livestock, sending fear through communities, deepening the pain of a nation in their frenzied quest for power.
It has been a hobbyhorse of Greg Norman for years: a threatening, alternative golf tournament to draw the stars and undermine the musty establishment. Realising a most dubious project, the LIV Tournament has become blood money’s greatest symbol. Funded by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, it is a most noisy statement of sportswashing.
Some aspects of this are also a touch sinister. Last month, the Wall Street Journalrevealed the details of a draft LIV contract that has been offered to players. Provisions of the contract include requirements for the players to don LIV apparel when playing both LIV and …
Some newspapers defend their journalists, at least once in a while. When the charming prince of Saudi Arabia had Journalist Jamal Khashoggi sawed up into little pieces, the Washington Post expressed outrage, and the bad press cost the Saudis some embarrassment; for a while it even looked like they might not get to bomb Yemen any more.
The Post is, of course, every inch an establishment newspaper which houses neocons, neoliberals, warmongers, regime changers and more. It does not support Julian Assange, though it used and printed information he made available. Nevertheless, the Post did speak out for Khashoggi.…
On December 16, 2017, the Finnish daily newspaper Helsingin Sanomat published an investigative report on the activities of the Finnish Intelligence Research Centre. Titled “Finland’s Most Secret Place,” the report focused on the military intelligence agency’s tasks and noted its rough location.
The article was particularly pertinent, given debates at the time on whether the powers of the seemingly innocuous body in question should be expanded to monitor private data in digital networks while discussing an overall expansion of surveillance powers.
As the paper noted in scathing tone, the MPs debating the matter in Parliament seemed ignorant about what was …
The most perceptive ancient historians and philosophers could not have foreseen a time when a certain type of mass convenience and abundance becomes a threat to democracy, justice and dispersed power. Welcome to the incarcerations of the credit card payment systems Gulag and the corporate state’s drive to stop consumers from paying with cash.
So long as you have a credit card and a credit score, you’re in a world of easy credit (no down payments, etc.), and high interest rates, especially on unpaid monthly balances. All it takes is swiping your card and pushing buttons at retail establishments or online …
There are work-arounds the U.S. can use to fund affordable housing, drought responses, and other urgently-needed infrastructure that was left out of the two recent spending bills.
Congress has passed two major infrastructure bills in the last year, but imminent needs remain. The 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law chiefly focused on conventional highway programs, and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) mainly centered on energy security and combating climate change. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), over $2 trillion in much-needed infrastructure is still unfunded, including projects to address drought, affordable housing, high-speed rail, and power transmission lines. By 2039, …
Still, the general public is tired of negative articles about climate change. It turns them off. Climate change is impossible to deal with. It’s too much; it’s too negative!
As a result, baffling emails come with loud and clear messages, some subtle but some not so subtle. Yet, these same people want access to scientific facts and data that describes just how challenging things really are. They even admit to that while complaining about too much doom and gloom. Nobody is satisfied.
