Large-scale political and economic challenges are confronting the US multi-national corporate elite. Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Pfizer and scores of other multinational tax evaders are facing the triple threat of multi-billion dollar fines, the redistribution of their wealth and the possible reintroduction of equitable socio-economic programs, which could undermine their power.
Washington-backed exporters and financiers, eager to impose free trade agreements on European and Asian business classes, have been faced with stiff resistance and outright rejection.
Let me ask you one question. Is your money that good? Will it buy you forgiveness? Do you think that it could?
— Bob Dylan, “Masters of War” from his 1963 recording “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan”
On Tuesday, September 6th, twenty-four hour monitoring by the country’s Legal Centre for Rights and Development (LCRD) recorded the bombings by the Saudi led “coalition”, armed by the US and UK and advised by their military specialists, thus collusion and co-operation of both countries render them equally culpable for the carnage.
Yemen has a population of just 24.41 million (2013 figure) and according to the Rural Poverty …
So, 40 years later, we come back to commemorate this struggle against the historical backdrop of a people who have been so terrorized and traumatized and stigmatized that we have been taught to be scared, intimidated, always afraid, distrustful of one another, and disrespectful of one another. But the Attica’s rebellion was a countermove in that direction. I call it the niggerization of a people, not just black people, because America been niggerized since 9/11. When you’re niggerized, you’re unsafe, unprotected, subject to random violence, hated for who you are. You become so scared that you defer to the powers …
Son of a bitch (var. sonovabitch): Something that is very difficult or unpleasant. Used to express surprise, disappointment, anger, etc. (based on Merriam-Webster)
Rodrigo Duterte, elected president of the Philippines last May, was supposed to meet with President Obama in Laos on the sidelines of the ASEAN meeting Monday. He had referred to Obama as a putang ina (“son of a bitch”) in a news conference, and earlier to U.S. ambassador Philip Goldberg with what was reported as a homophobic slur.
(I understand that Duterte routinely uses the word bakla or “gay” to refer to elite men, but — like most Filipinos …
A major new scientific report, “Explaining Ocean Warming” was released on September 5th. It is grim.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress in Hawaii, the findings are based upon peer-reviewed research compiled by 80 scientists from 12 countries. It is the most comprehensive study ever undertaken on the subject of warming of the ocean.
Significantly, the ocean has absorbed more than 90% of “enhanced heating from climate change since the 1970s.” In other words, the ocean has been “shielding us” from the extensive affects of global warming. And, the consequences for the ocean are “absolutely …
Australia’s distance from various centres of power has been called a tyranny. But flip that tyranny over, and you have an assortment of benefits for local development, the mighty laboratory that bred a middle class experiment supposedly egalitarian and oiled by principles of social justice.
These days, such distance is said to have been overcome, the effects of instant communication, rapid travel, and transport. People still think Australia might be somewhere in Europe, but that mistake does not get away from assumptions that a wandering finger on a globe would be able to land safely on Sydney or Melbourne.
Rather than focus on either the nobility, courage, arrogance or ungratefulness of Colin Kaepernick’s refusal to stand up for the national anthem, I think it is more revealing to consider why it seems so important to sports fans that he stand up for the national anthem. It has been pointed out that when Donald Trump claims he wants’ to “make America great again” the “Trumpettes” cheer wildly. The implication, of course, is that America is not so hot now. But when a sports athlete also says America isn’t so hot, refuses …
Division within Palestinian society has reached unprecedented levels, becoming a major hurdle on the path of any unified strategy to end Israel’s violent occupation or to rally Palestinians behind a single objective.
Newly-appointed Israeli ultra-nationalist, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, understands this too well. His tactic since his ascension to office last May is centered on investing more in these divisions as a way to break down Palestinian society even further.
Lieberman is an ‘extremist’, even if compared with the low standards of the Israeli military. His past legacy was rife with violent and racist declarations. His more recent exploits include taking on the …
While the slaughter of Yemenis continues, the world remains silent in response to their screams. Why is that? Has the world lost its senses, especially to feel the sufferings of the tormented? In an alleged effort to defeat the Houthi rebels, a coalition of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia, supported by the United States and the United Kingdom, have been bombarding Yemen, already one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, with air-strikes since March 2015, sending it literally back to the stone-age.
The war has triggered a major humanitarian crisis. Since the air-strikes began, “food prices …
Truth is an elusive beast at best. Hunter S. Thompson nailed the truth about truth as well as anyone with these few words: “It’s never as it seems, Bubba.” The best we can do is to understand a few things about our own lot in life and our place on the food chain. Unless you happen to be a card-carrying member of the World Shadow Government, Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission, Bilderbergers, or your name is high on the Forbes World’s Billionaires List, you have no real way of knowing what’s going on. It’s really none of your business. You are …
Last Tuesday members of the Ethiopian community in Winnipeg called on Canada to sanction the North East African country. The protesters are angry about the regime’s violent crackdown in the Oromiya and Amhara regions of northern Ethiopia. Hundreds of peaceful protesters have been killed and many more jailed since unrest began over a land dispute 10 months ago.
As protesters called for sanctions in Winnipeg, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Development Katrina Gould was in Addis Ababa. During a meeting with the Foreign Minister she was quoted saying, “Ethiopia has managed to …
EnMo economics is an economic theory that suggests the proper role of the state in the economy is to ensure that all its people have Enough of everything they need to live secure, comfortable and happy lives, whilst also ensuring that the private sector is able to supply more in terms of non-essential products and services. This is a very important but quite simple distinction to make — although there would always be some unimportant blurring at the edge where essential meets non-essential.
This principle applies to money supply too. The proper role of the state is to take the view …
And it’s whispered that soon if we all call the tune
Then the piper will lead us to reason
And a new day will dawn for those who stand long
And the forests will echo with laughter
— “Stairway to Heaven,” written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page for Led Zeppelin’s fourth album (untitled) recorded in November, 1970, released in 1971.
The Mythology of Economics
Many people know that our great trusted rulers routinely lie to us and deceive us – always “in the national interest”, obviously. The clearest single proof of this that nearly everyone is familiar with is our rulers’ obsession with secrecy …
At the recent annual convention of Veterans for Peace, VFP Vice President Jerry Condon said: “The US peace movement has been demobilized by disinformation on Syria.”
Disinformation and propaganda on Syria takes three distinct forms. The first is the demonization of the Syrian leadership. The second is the romanticization of the opposition. The third form involves attacking anyone questioning the preceding characterizations.
There is a recent article which exemplifies all three of these forms. It is titled “Anti-Imperialism and the Syrian Revolution” by Ashley Smith of the International Socialist Organization (ISO). It’s a remarkable piece of misinformation and faulty analysis. Because …
For years, Apple has perfected the art of tax minimisation, hoovering up possibilities in creating an empire built on profit and return. It has cultivated a power that adapts the message of the bribing agent with that of the bully, tempting government hosts with promises of plenty, and withdrawing pledges on being pushed into moves it would rather not make for the sake of customers and shareholders. Permit tax breaks, and low tax bills, and your State prospers.
The European Commission, which occasionally comes across as a pushy regulatory bugbear, decided to make Apple accountable as a decent tax paying corporate …
Only defiance, anger, opposition count in this day and age of slick serial murderers called marketeers!
by Paul Haeder / September 5th, 2016
Refusal is the highest honor. “I prefer not to.” Any sort of Bartleby. These times call for Herman Melville, Twain, Memory of Fire, Emma Goldman, Malcolm X, Virginia Bolten, Mujeres Libres, Wilde, Shaw!
Were civilization itself to be estimated by some of its results, it would seem perhaps better for what we call the barbarous part of the world to remain unchanged.
? The Writings of Herman Melville, vol. 1, eds. Harrison Hayford, Hershel Parker, and G. Thomas Tanselle (1968)
Active resistance to the singularity of money and its hoarders. Incredibly, or not, Americans, in El Norte, this stolen land, are the biggest …
Btaaboura is a tiny village in the mountains of northern Lebanon. It is connected to the main motorway by a narrow winding road. It could be just anywhere in the Christian part of this country: white stone houses, olive groves, wine grapes, bare hills.
Like elsewhere, the wealth is hardly backed by hard work. It is mainly sustained by remittances flowing from abroad. There are grotesquely luxury cars everywhere – Audis, BMWs. And there is a Western Union office on the main street. All doors are closed; nothing moves.
But this village is actually ‘unique’, different from all others in the area. …
An expected visit by ICC delegation could increase the risk of Israeli officials being tried for war crimes
by Jonathan Cook / September 5th, 2016
Israel has agreed to allow the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague to send a delegation to Israel and the occupied territories, it was revealed at the weekend, in a step that could dramatically increase the risk of Israeli officials being tried for war crimes.
Emmanuel Nahshon, a foreign ministry spokesman, confirmed to Al Jazeera on Sunday that Israel had agreed to the visit in principle, though the “when and how” were still under discussion.
The ICC’s move comes as human rights groups have harshly criticised Israel for closing investigations into dozens of allegations that its military …
Drugs as Weapons Against Us: The CIA’s Murderous Targeting of SDS, Panthers, Hendrix, Lennon, Cobain, Tupac and Other Activists is a virtual encyclopedia of the global drug trade. Author John L Potash devotes special attention to the long involvement of the British and US governments in illegal drug trafficking – for the political and financial benefit of the elite families who control these governments. Most of the book focuses on MKULTRA, the top secret CIA program devoted to developing and experimenting with mind altering drugs, such as LSD, MDA (an ecstasy precursor), STP, PCP and Scopolamine.
Bill Lee Seeks to Be Labor’s Anti-Candidate in 2016 Vermont Governor Race
by David Van Deusen / September 3rd, 2016
MONTPELIER, Vermont — Anyone who grew up in New England or Quebec in the 1970s, any baseball fan really, knows tales of the Spaceman. Pitching for the Boston Red Sox from 1969-1978 and the Montreal Expos from 1979-1982, yarns of Bill sprinkling “marijuana dust” on his pancakes to help him cope with big city bus fumes abound. We Vermonters know him as an adoptive (and eccentric) favorite son, involving himself politically in support of single payer healthcare and endorsing Anthony Pollina’s own 2008 run for governor. Now the Spaceman …
Their sons ignore you; a fire warms them and sheds light around them, and you have not lit it.
— Jean-Paul Sartre
Heather Ann Thompson’s Blood in the Water: The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 and Its Legacy, Pantheon ((“Dr. Heather Ann Thompson: About,”)) was released August 23rd. Dr. Thompson is a Professor of History in the Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Michigan and remains on the Faculty of Temple University. Noted by The New York Times as a “superb work of history” ((“’Blood in the Water,’ a Gripping Account of the Attica Prison Uprising,” by …
September 9th is fast approaching- a day that stands out in the celebrated history of domestic resistance against official State terror and institutional slavery in this country. On that day in 1971 thousands of prisoners entombed in an upstate prison in rural New York, perhaps the worst in the United States at the time, said enough as they seized Attica. They said no to slave wages, no to physical abuse and no to psychological torture; they demanded improved living conditions, medical treatment, religious freedom and educational and training opportunities. Most important, they demanded an end to the systemic assault upon …
What a fine race it has become! Both Hilary Clinton and Donald Trump are competing in it as a who is the ‘tougher guy/gal’ in what could be easily described as a 21st Century Tarantino-style (or Scorsese-style) political pulp fiction gore.
What they both utter, may often sound like some staged bluff: “Are you talking to me? Hey, there’s nobody else here… Are you talking to me?”
But just think for a moment what would really happen if one of them sticks to his or her ‘promises’ and ‘principles’, after getting elected! (The bullets would be flying, the nukes exploding, and millions …
Al Gore, former Democratic nominee in 2000, has a warning for anyone concerned about climate change that is planning on voting for a third-party candidate like Jill Stein: don’t! He urges them to vote for Hillary Clinton, saying that he knows from “experience” the damage that third party candidates can do to spoil it for corporatist Democrats. We explain why he’s wrong.
An elitist, nationalist, bias dominates all areas of Canada’s paper of record.
On the front of last weekend’s Style section the Globe and Mail profiled Sonja Bata on turning 90. Business partner and wife of the deceased Thomas Bata, the Globe lauded Sonja for the “many contributions she has made to Canada”, including the Bata Shoe Museum and various other establishment “cultural, environmental and social causes.” The article touched on the shoemaker’s early history and described how she “traveled the world building a shoe empire – between 1946 and 1960, 25 new factories were built and 1700 Bata …
In the period from 1945 until approximately 1989, the white empire in North America learned to rely upon its cadres of military officers throughout the world to directly control its non-white (in the US a term which extends to most of the world’s population) dominions. This was defended by the pretext — inherited from the propaganda of WWII — that the Red Army which had quite surprisingly defeated Western attempts to destroy it culminating in Operation Barbarossa (a campaign that would have been impossible without the tacit consent of France, Britain and the US), would be able to drive the …
We’ve got the best,
Glass bottles. Goats and girls,
In the town we call the World.
— Ditty on Charters Towers, circa late 19th Century
Charters Towers, North Queensland — The Australian outback shrinks human life forms. In a manner no doubt similar to an extra-terrestrial experience, the human form becomes minute, placed before yawning spaces and vast horizons. It also explains the sheer bombast behind those who, in places of intense isolation, find grand terms to reduce space and insignificance.
It is with wonder that such hotels as The Imperial (“Impy” for the locals) water and feed patrons in the small town of Ravenswood …
… a landmark agreement that will save lives and ease the immense human suffering caused by armed conflict around the world. It will reduce the number of illegal arms …We should be proud of the role Britain has played to secure this ambitious agreement … that will make our world safer for all.
— David Cameron on the Arms Trade Treaty, April 2, 2013.
The death toll in Yemen is now so high that the International Committee of the Red Cross is donating “entire morgue units” to hospitals still standing, having so far escaped the illegal Saudi assault, backed, advised and …
The Bolivian cooperatives’ protests and their August 25 killing of the Bolivian Vice Minister of the Interior Rodolfo Illanes requires us to question our assumptions about cooperatives. What are the Bolivian mining cooperatives? Most began during the Great Depression as miners banded together to work a mine in common. However, like many cooperatives in the US that arose out of the 1960s, they have turned into small businesses. Regardless of their initial intentions, cooperatives existing in a surrounding capitalist environment must compete in business practices or go under.
The Bolivian mining cooperatives themselves underwent this process, and have become businesses whose …
Down with Capitalist Australia’s Military Build Up!
U.S., Australian Militaries: Stay Out of the South China Sea!
by Trotskyist Platform / August 31st, 2016
In October 2015, the U.S. warship, the USS Lassen destroyer (pictured left) sailed through waters, not far from mainland China, that are claimed by the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) as its territorial waters. This provocative action in the South China Sea was fully backed by the right-wing Australian government and the ALP Opposition. Moreover, the Defence White Paper of 25 February 2016 released by Prime Minister of Australia Malcolm Turnbull’s government announced a massive military buildup for the Australian Defence Forces (ADF) which the White Paper could not …
