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by Kim Petersen / December 23rd, 2020
Yes, there is a pandemic. And, yes, the COVID-19 numbers and deaths are rising in certain locales. In the Canadian province of Alberta, lockdown measures were put into effect that include shutting all casinos, gyms, dine-in restaurants, and bars. Mask wearing, despite what science says, has been mandated. As well, all outdoor and indoor social gatherings have been banned.
As CJ Hopkins wrote in a excellent essay on the transformation …
by Dissident Voice Communications / December 23rd, 2020
Lawrence B. Wilkerson, retired US Army Colonel and former chief of staff to US Secretary of State Colin Powell, has nominated the Cuban Medical Brigade Henry Reeve for the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. Wilkerson is also a Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Government and Public Policy at William and Mary College.
Wilkerson’s interest in Cuba’s medical internationalism began when he learned that Cuban medical brigades were working all over Pakistan following the horrific earthquake of 2005, saving lives and spreading goodwill. “Thanks to the Cuban medical intervention, then-President Pervez Musharraf invited the Cubans to open an embassy in Islamabad. They did. Besides …
by Colin Todhunter / December 22nd, 2020
Agriculture in India is at a crossroads. Indeed, given that over 60 per cent of the country’s 1.3-billion-plus population still make a living from agriculture (directly or indirectly), what is at stake is the future of India. Unscrupulous interests are intent on destroying India’s indigenous agri-food sector and recasting it in their own image. Farmers are rising up in protest.
To appreciate what is happening to agriculture and farmers in India, we must first understand how the development paradigm has been subverted. Development used to be about breaking with colonial exploitation and radically redefining power structures. Today, neoliberal dogma masquerades as …
by Max Parry / December 22nd, 2020
In the final week of September, an Azerbaijani offensive renewed hostilities in the perennial armed conflict and territorial dispute in the South Caucasus between Armenia and its neighbor over the Nagorno-Karabakh (“Mountainous Karabakh”) region. By October, the clashes had escalated past the state border between Azerbaijan and the internationally-unrecognized Republic of Artsakh which suffered heavy shelling from banned Israeli-made cluster bombs by the Azeris. Meanwhile, Armenia retaliated with strikes in Azerbaijan outside of the contested enclave, with civilian casualties reported on both sides in the deadliest resumption of large scale fighting since the Russian-brokered ceasefire in 1994. Following Baku’s victory …
by Yves Engler / December 22nd, 2020
Add this to the “you can’t make this stuff up” file: Canada’s foreign minister recently met his Haitian counterpart, who is part of a de facto administration illegally rewriting the constitution, to discuss Venezuela’s supposed democracy deficiency. Apparently, Ottawa wants a Haitian regime extending its term and criminalizing protest to maintain its support for Juan Guaidó as “constitutional” president of Venezuela.
Last week foreign affairs minister François-Philippe Champagne spoke with his Haitian counterpart Claude Joseph. According to Champagne’s tweet about the conversation, they discussed COVID-19, Haiti’s elections and Venezuela. …
by William Manson / December 22nd, 2020
Investors are driven by two emotions: fear and greed.
— CNN-Money
These days, for the 5% of Americans who have substantial cash to invest, it has become increasingly easy to acquire large capital-gains in stock-market equities, even over the short-term. Super-wealthy investors, with periodic bolstering from the Fed, nowadays produce the frequent bubbles of absurdly inflated share-prices, later cashing out just before the predictable slump occurs. Such gains are then taxed at only a 15% rate, far lower than the 28% rate imposed on most wage-dependent earners. Moreover, of course, as such investors die — notwithstanding their frequent hubris about mortality (cf. …
by Shawgi Tell / December 22nd, 2020
Unlike public schools, private businesses like charter schools spend millions of public dollars a year on advertising and marketing.
Putting aside widespread fraud and corruption in the segregated charter school sector, this is an enormous waste and abuse of public funds, especially at a time when public schools are being starved of much-needed public funds and struggling to meet the needs of students. This is money that can and should be invested in teaching and learning, where it is most needed.
Many are also wondering why privately-operated charter schools need to spend so much public money luring students and families through advertising …
by Michael K. Smith / December 22nd, 2020
In an interview with Peter Robinson, Thomas Sowell (Hoover Institution) criticizes the political work of Noam Chomsky on grounds that make clear he does not distinguish Chomsky’s libertarian socialism from the technocratic and highly militarized state capitalism favored by liberal elites. Incredibly, Sowell lumps him in with the liberal intelligentsia Chomsky has long attacked, ignoring the glaring fact that liberal elites loathe Chomsky precisely because of the brilliant and unanswerable nature of that attack.
It is unclear if Sowell knows anything at all …
by Margaret Flowers / December 21st, 2020
Person arrested protesting for Medicare for All. New York City. 2009 (HealthcareNow.org.)
It was ten years ago last week that the Arab Spring began. I recall it well as the day before Mohamed Bouazizi set himself on fire in Tunisia and ignited a revolutionary movement, I stood in the snow for hours protesting outside the White House with hundreds of veterans against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Inside the White House, President Obama was telling the press how well the wars were going. Outside, soldiers who …
by John W. Whitehead / December 21st, 2020
When the song of the angels is stilled, when the star in the sky is gone, when the kings and princes are home, when the shepherds are back with their flocks, the work of Christmas begins: to find the lost, to heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to bring peace among the people, to make music in the heart.
? Howard Thurman
The Christmas story of a baby born in a manger is a familiar one.
The Roman Empire, a police state in its own right, had ordered that a census be conducted. Joseph …
by Vern Loomis / December 21st, 2020
Two groups with powerful political voices have provided a lifeline of support to the Trump presidency. The Pro-life and Pro-gun lobbies have been with him from the beginning, and likely will be there for whoever attempts to follow in his footsteps. While not solely confined to those avowing religious dogma, Pro-life sentiment is largely extolled from a Christian/Evangelical base. And while having little religious pretext to their cause, pro-gun sentiment is often found within the Christian (particularly Evangelical) community (nearly 60% of Evangelicals oppose stricter regulation). To many it seems a conflict; how can one be both Pro-life and …
by Binoy Kampmark / December 21st, 2020
The mind changer in Downing Street has struck again. With UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the helm, changes of direction are compulsive, natural and sudden. The U-Turn has become the prosaic expectation. “Too often it looks like this government licks its finger and sticks it in the air to see which way the wind is blowing,” Tory MP Charles Walker, deputy chair of the 1922 Committee, lamented in August. “This is not a sustainable way to approach the business of governing and government.”
As unsustainable as it might be, the UK was treated to another round of vigorous U-turning …
by Medea Benjamin and Marcy Winograd / December 21st, 2020
Photo credit: Witness Against Torture
It was painful enough to live through the U.S invasion of Iraq that caused untold devastation and human misery for no justifiable reason.
Now we are again reminded of the grim Bush legacy with President-elect Biden’s nomination of Avril Haines for Director of National Intelligence. Haines, who has an inside-the-beltway reputation for being nice and soft spoken, was a little too nice to CIA agents who hacked the computers of Senate Intelligence Committee investigators looking into the CIA use of torture–waterboarding, sleep deprivation, hypothermia, rectal feeding, whippings, sexual humiliation–at prisons …
by Gary Olson / December 20th, 2020
The Good Samaritan by Vincent Van Gogh, 1890Lately, I’ve been musing about religion and politics. And more specifically, the thought that keeps recurring to me is the following: Is the idea of born agains and other Christians becoming political radicals, a far-fetched one? Or, should the question be, how could they not become politically radical Christians?
One sees frequent references to the large number of white, born again Christians who voted for Trump and the unmistakable inference is that there is a deep, principled gap between these …
by Binoy Kampmark / December 20th, 2020
Capitalism and patriotism do not share the same stable. When those in the business of accumulating profits suggest a love for flag and country, be wary. Wars might take place and trade agreements struck by governments, but the capitalist will go for the market that matters, whatever the flag.
A recent exponent of this proposition is Sir Jim Ratcliffe, a billionaire who was a strong advocate for Britain leaving the European Union. In approaching negotiations with the EU after the referendum result, he had an instruction to Britain’s diplomats: “We must listen, we must be unwaveringly polite and retain our charm. But …
by Beau Peters / December 19th, 2020
Image Source: Pixabay
“Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.”
This is a saying our country is familiar with. It’s a mentality that built American society the way it is today. Unfortunately, it’s not the only problematic sentiment our society is familiar with either.
Our society is full of platitudes, bromides all too often used to gloss over and even to excuse the profound economic injustices that continue to plague our modern world. The stark reality is that many people commend America as the land of promise and plenty, …
by Ramzy Baroud / December 18th, 2020
The notion that the COVID-19 pandemic was ‘the great equalizer’ should be dead and buried by now. If anything, the lethal disease is another terrible reminder of the deep divisions and inequalities in our societies. That said, the treatment of the disease should not be a repeat of the same shameful scenario.
For an entire year, wealthy celebrities and government officials have been reminding us that “we are in this together”, that “we are on the same boat”, with the likes of US singer, Madonna, speaking from her mansion while …
by Yanis Iqbal / December 17th, 2020
The world-system is slowly changing. For the first time in capitalism’s history, the global economy’s centre of gravity is shifting away from the west – a process which is a result of Uneven and Combined Development (UCD). On the one hand, dominant states utilize imperialism to preserve existing uneven configurations of capitalist development which favour them. On the other, contender states accelerate development to contest imperial projects of dominant states. Such hot-house development is called combined development because it compresses multiple stages into shorter and more intense bursts.
Combined Development
Today, China is leading a process of combined development as part …
by William Hawes / December 17th, 2020
Now that Joe Biden will be America’s next president, it might be worthwhile to take a closer look at some of the choices for his cabinet, White House staff, and national security positions. There are some real crazies here, as we shall see. As we dig deeper and deeper, what emerges is a network of people whose views can quite literally be defined as fascist. This is not to deny that in many ways Trump and his administration were worse than many of these officials profiled below. What is noteworthy is that Biden’s team of imperialists is potentially more competent …
by Binoy Kampmark / December 17th, 2020
The number of figures extolling the merits of Britain’s Westminster system and how it supposedly embodies a glorious model of democracy are too numerous to mention. This is despite exploits by the government of Boris Johnson, marked by the appointment of unelected advisers with enviable, unaccountable powers and a record of assault on Parliament’s scrutineering functions. “As the government blunders from one disaster to the next,” wrote a resigned George Monbiot in June, “there seem to be no effective ways of holding it to account.”
Press freedoms supposedly axiomatic in holding government to account have been regarded with increasing suspicion …
by Peter Koenig / December 17th, 2020
In the context of China’s webinar on 14 December 2020, on the topic of “China’s New Development Paradigm and High-Quality Belt and Road Cooperation”, organized by the China Center for Contemporary World Studies, International Department of CPC Central Committee and the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China, my presentation was on China’s Economy of Peace.
*****
China, about a decade ago, has deliberately embarked on an Economy of Peace. A strategy that China pursues, unimpressed by constant aggressions from the west, which are mostly led by the United States. Is it perhaps this Chinese steadfast, non-aggressive way …
by James O'Neill / December 16th, 2020
In an opinion poll published in the Guardian online an astonishing 2/3 of voters either approved or strongly approved of the Prime Minister’s conduct of the nation’s affairs. While this may in part be a reflection of the abysmal performance of the official Labor “opposition” there must be a deeper reason for the Prime Minister’s support. It cannot be that a substantial majority of Australians think that he is doing a good job. He manifestly is not. This can be illustrated by reference to the greatest problem currently facing the Australian government.
I am not referring to the Covid-19 coronavirus. That …
by Shawgi Tell / December 16th, 2020
While technology has been encroaching on more spheres of life over the past 25 years, the ruling elite and their representatives are now zealously promoting a new and dramatic digital-technological upheaval—the so-called Fourth Industrial Revolution—that will supposedly transform everything under the sun, open amazing vistas, increase government and business transparency and accountability, and put humanity on a bright new footing. Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum is the main spokesperson of this capital-centered agenda.
The super-rich tell us that the “velocity, scope, and systems impact” of this “historically unprecedented” and “disruptive” digital-technological revolution full of “endless innovations” sets it apart …
by Ramzy Baroud / December 16th, 2020
December 8 came and went as if it were an ordinary day. For Palestinian political groups, it was another anniversary to be commemorated, however hastily. It was on this day, thirty-three years ago, that the First Palestinian Intifada (uprising) broke out, and there was nothing ordinary about this historic event.
Today, the uprising is merely viewed from a historic point of view, another opportunity to reflect and, perhaps, learn from a seemingly distant past. Whatever political context to the Intifada, it has evaporated over time.
The simple explanation of the …
by C.J. Hopkins / December 16th, 2020
2020 was GloboCap Year Zero. The year when the global capitalist ruling classes did away with the illusion of democracy and reminded everyone who is actually in charge, and exactly what happens when anyone challenges them.
In the relatively short span of the last ten months, societies throughout the world have been transformed beyond recognition. Constitutional rights have been suspended. Protest has been banned. Dissent is being censored. Government officials are issuing edicts restricting the …
by Mina Hamilton / December 16th, 2020
On December 9 a regional planning body, the Delaware River Basin Commission, gave a green light to a mammoth fracked-gas export terminal in Gibbstown, New Jersey. It would export fracked-gas from the Marcellus Shale gas fields to Angola, among other countries. The Governors of Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey voted yay. Governor Andrew Cuomo of NY abstained. Environmentalists and concerned citizens had hoped Governor Phil Murphy of NJ would oppose the project. Here is my letter to the Governor.
Dear Governor Murphy,
I suggest a Zen workshop.
You know – the kind where you sit cross-legged. You stare at a blank wall. Once-in-a-while …
by William Manson / December 16th, 2020
I admittedly approached this work with some skepticism about Karl Popper’s well-known “open” vs. “closed” dichotomy (which indeed is only distinguished, and quite vaguely, in Chapter 10). Written in the early 1940s, the book is clearly a period-piece, with some useful things to say about totalitarian “utopianism” (and the ethnic-racialistic “cleansing” which sometimes accompanied it).
For this essay, I’m restricting my criticisms to vol. 1, “The Spell of Plato.” In my opinion, Popper’s choice to present Plato’s Republic and The Laws as providing the blueprint for later 20th century, collectivist-nationalist …
by Stansfield Smith / December 15th, 2020
Regardless of the traditional bluster about the Founding Fathers and the world historic nature of the US Constitution, the electoral system it set up to choose a new president is far from democratic. We now find Trump attempting to use the Constitution as written to be “re-elected.” Those who laud “our great democracy,” claiming Trump is maneuvering in an illegal manner to stay in office, even alleging a “fascist coup,” base their assertions to no small extent on illusions about the US electoral system.
The first illusion we must discard is that the people’s vote determines the winner of the US …
by Margaret Flowers / December 15th, 2020
The United States has reached a severe crisis point and the next few months will determine how we address it. The COVID-19 pandemic is raging across the country and some areas are struggling to provide enough hospital beds and staff to care for people. The recession is deepening as unemployment benefits and the moratorium on evictions run out. Yet, members of Congress cannot even agree to pass a weak version of the CARES Act they passed last March when the situation was less serious.
This is our moment. This is …
by David Rovics / December 15th, 2020
How NPR Divides and Conquers
What is the result when a media outlet does a new story every day about the history of racism in the US, without ever mentioning the history of the multiracial radical labor movement whose white and BIPOC organizers were lynched for fighting for equality and freedom?
I listen to NPR a lot. I’m not going to go into all the reasons I do this, but there are many, and they are contradictory. Generally it’s a combination of a desire to know what’s going on from a news source that has actual reporters on the ground, and wanting …
