Athol Fugard, the South African playwright, on a recent visit to America, noted that the great – as yet unwritten – dramatic American epic would be one that dealt with the conflict of black people within the context of our history. Most of us would agree with that, and probably most novelists, dramatists and film makers would endorse the idea; in fact, the TV series Roots may have been a pretty good start.
Alternately, the cataclysmic clash between North and South would be a likely candidate, moving beyond Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, …
Last night another concert of mine in Germany was cancelled due to pressure from a political tendency here known as the Antideutsch (Anti-Germans). The show went ahead, in this case, but in a different venue. In previous cases, shows have been cancelled due to Antideutsch threats to boycott venues, picket, smash windows and hurt people, depending on the case. All of these actions have been carried out by Antideutsch elements on many occasions throughout Germany over many years now. Their targets over the years have included progressive artists, groups, and venues, as well as members of the very large Palestinian …
In a recent article on Counterpunch, Rob Urie defended the traditional Marxist analysis of US policy in the Middle East. He argues that support for Israel is driven primarily by economic interest, not the Jewish lobby.
He starts by paying tribute to the idea that Western societies are uniquely racist. He says that the “Western narrative” claims there is an “Arab character”, and that this is “antique racist blather”. He gives no definition of these terms. Further, he establishes his credentials as part of the dominant current in the American left by claiming that “over a million people in Iraq …
Ronald Reagan was one of the most popular presidents in modern history. As a former Hollywood actor, he had an uncommon degree of charisma. The conservatives absolutely loved Reagan for his efforts to reduce the size of government, but most liberals hated him with a passion. Reagan is still revered by a lot of Americans. This reverence for Ronald Reagan helps to explain how he was able to fool most of the American people to a degree unparalleled by any other modern president. With the help of Alan Greenspan, Reagan pulled off one of the greatest frauds ever perpetrated against …
There are three prominent issues in the news in which the far left and hard core Tea Party activists on the Right agree on policy, but for usually very different reasons: Common Core Standards, ‘Obamacare’, and Syria. Only the far left and the far right are speaking out against major policy issues whereas either mainstream America, or the political establishment in DC, take the supportive side.
The Common Core Standards are an attempt to bring ‘rigor’ (as in rigor mortis) and high standards to our public educational system to make our school children ready for the 21st Century global market. Not …
Banners, Lock-down at Office of the U.S. Trade Representative
by Kevin Zeese / September 23rd, 2013
Washington, DC – This afternoon, September 23rd, protesters concerned about the looming Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) covered the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative with banners calling for a democratic process and a release of the treaty’s text. The group, which included members of FlushTheTPP.org, Backbone Campaign, Veterans for Peace, CODEPINK, and Earth First!, say that the TPP will have vast consequences for U.S. laws, workers rights, the environment and many other aspects of life.
We decided to expose these secret negotiations by going right to their national office and plastering the Office of the …
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) is the nation’s second largest civilian employer after WalMart. Although successfully self-funded throughout its long history, it is currently struggling to stay afloat. This is not, as sometimes asserted, because it has been made obsolete by the Internet. In fact, the post office has gotten more business from Internet orders than it has lost to electronic email. What has pushed the USPS into insolvency is an oppressive 2006 congressional mandate that it pre-fund health care for its workers 75 years into the future. No other entity, public or private, has the burden of funding multiple …
While Colorado and Washington have de-criminalized recreational use of marijuana and twenty states allow use for medical purposes, a Louisiana man was sentenced to twenty years in prison in New Orleans criminal court for possessing 15 grams, .529 of an ounce, of marijuana.
Corey Ladd, 27, had prior drug convictions and was sentenced September 4, 2013 as a “multiple offender to 20 years hard labor at the Department of Corrections.”
Marijuana use still remains a ticket to jail in most of the country and prohibition is enforced in a highly racially discriminatory manner. A recent report of the ACLU, …
Let’s call this adjunct worker looking for work, Chip. You know him or her – chip off the old block. He or she is looking for work, err, well, it’s a calling, teaching, and no one ever said you should get paid for a calling. A passion? “You pay, dude, like a hobby. Remote control planes, my thing, and, well, teaching is your thing . . . your calling. So pay, dude? Give us a break — no one said life was fair.” He or she is past 40, could be mid-fifties, or even closer to hip replacement or amputation …
In 2008 when I arrived in Yangon there was barely a usable internet unless one made a trip to an expensive hotel and sat for hours using what Americans once called hi-speed dial-up. For telephone communications one had to use a landline and then, most likely, the call was difficult to connect or cut off during a conversation. Only the wealthy could afford to buy a mobile phone with prices for a SIM card way over one thousand U. S. dollars. I got along like most people and often used word of mouth and passed messages through friends, as this …
The blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip by the Israeli occupation in addition of the closure of the Rafah Crossing and the tunnels by Egyptian Authorities have affected negatively the life of the Gazans in many aspects as follows:
Health Sector:
– Due to fuel shortage, several medical operations and services had stopped since the Ministry of Health needs more than 250,000 liters of fuel monthly to operate generators at the hospitals and other medical facilities. Also there is severe shortage of medicine and medical disposables entered to the Gaza Strip from Egypt.
– The amount of stored medicine has decreased to 30%. …
The contempt with which “liberated” Afghans are treated by the British Ministry of Defence has been revealed in figures obtained by the (London) Independent (23 September 2013.)
“‘Fatality claims’ include the deaths of Afghan civilians in botched air-strikes, crossfire and road accidents involving British forces” — in an invasion into which the British, as ever, trotted obediently after their Washington masters.
A fortnight short of twelve years later, they are still mired in this “graveyard of empires” killing subsistence farmers, rural and city dwellers, husbands, wives, children and entire families — by drone, gun, crossfire or “our convoy owns the roads” arrogance.
Mint Press News incorrectly used my byline for an article it published on August 29, 2013 alleging chemical weapons usage by Syrian rebels. Despite my repeated requests, made directly and through legal counsel, they have not been willing to issue a retraction stating that I was not the author. Yahya Ababneh is the sole reporter and author of the Mint Press News piece. To date, …
Remarkably, from July 8, when 40% of the melt had already occurred, to July 12, four days later, 97% of the island’s surface ice had thawed into slush. Most of the thaw occurred in a scant four days time! Son Nghiem of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA explained, “This was so extraordinary that at first I questioned the result: Was this real or was it due to a data error? ((Source: National Geographic News, July 25, 2012.))
Meanwhile, as of September 2013, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is readying their 5th Assessment Report (AR5), but …
The year was 2001. George W. Bush was president. The party for the rich that was the 1990s was nearing its end but nobody wanted to acknowledge it. War was on the horizon and all hell was about to break loose. The Twin Towers fell in September of that year and we were told that our world was forever changed. Thomas Pynchon’s latest novel is called Bleeding Edge and it’s about the internet, black ops, and the last (dare we hope the final) stage of capitalism. The city is a part of the story, but the real …
When it suits its purposes, Russia seems to have the same propensity as the US to thumb its nose at international law. Two weeks ago, Putin acquired immense international stature and prestige by halting the imminent threat of US missile strikes in Syria. Now he seems to have squandered it all by illegally seizing a Greenpeace vessel in international waters.
On September 18, Russian FSB agents illegally boarded the Arctic Sunrise (by rappelling down from a helicopter) and seized, at gunpoint, the boat and all its occupants. The Greenpeace ship was in Arctic waters to protest hazardous oil drilling by the Russian company Gazprom. Earlier in the week …
Living in the Pacific Northwest, I have had the good fortune to see killer whales on several occasions from shore or boats. My dream is to view them underwater while scuba diving. Once after having surfaced from a dive in Saanich Inlet, I was told a pod of killer whales had swam past behind me. I was upset at the dive instructor who explained that he hadn’t informed me because he was afraid the other diver in our group might panic.
So I was particularly keen to watch the documentary on captive killer whales, Blackfish, which reminded me of La Planète …
In Part 1, Williams explores the chasm between environmentalists of the leftist and rightist persuasions, in particular the role NGOs play in the environmental movement. In Part 2, Williams explores further the direction of the environmental movement.
*****
No genuine environmental organization can back carbon trading or other market-based schemes. Dozens of social justice and environmental and indigenous organizations have unequivocally called for the scrapping of ETS before it does more damage and further locks in the very fossil-fueled energy production system we’re trying so urgently to dismantle.
However, Klein, due to her being a board member of Bill Mckibben’s organization, 350.org;, …
I was somewhat shocked by your article, which to most readers would appear as an advertisement for PM Harper’s upcoming JNF Fundraiser. There are several important pieces of information which you and The Star have a moral and ethical obligation to present to readers who might otherwise be prompted by your article to donate to the JNF. Indeed one …
Real alternative to EU exports is born during recent talks in Moscow. Representatives of Chinese National Petroleum Company and Russia’s oil and gas giants Gazprom and Novatek have inked the agreement to sell abundant Siberian resources to the fast-growing Eastern market. The Chinese are investing billions to Russia’s fuel energy complex diversification program. Positive Fitch report on the historic deal indicates that both parties are planning to reach synergies and profit from cooperation.
Since the adoption of “third energy package” in 2009 Moscow has been deeply disappointed by European red tape in the sphere of energy policy. Step by step Brussels …
The train of history is an unpredictable one. The less well-oiled gears may be wonky. The driver may be asleep or dosing off. How one influences that train is a matter of some conjecture. Great figures of history have attempted to control their role in it. The error often lies in assuming that history is made at the time, when it is actually made after the time. As a keen Winston Churchill quipped about the architect of appeasement Neville Chamberlain, history would treat him poorly for the simple reason that he would write it.
Saving Syria from Chemical Weapons by “Punishing” With Chemical Weapons?
by Felicity Arbuthnot / September 20th, 2013
Two centuries ago, a former European colony decided to catch up with Europe. It succeeded so well that the United States of America became a monster, in which the taints, the sickness and the inhumanity of Europe have grown to appalling dimensions.
Frantz Fanon, (1925-1961)
Against all odds, given the circumstances, the Syrian government has, of Friday (20th September) sent an “initial declaration” of the country’s (arguably defensive) weapons to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in The Hague. “The organization is looking at ways to fast-track moves to secure and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles and production facilities.”
Bolivian President Evo Morales will file a lawsuit against the US government for crimes against humanity. He has decried the US for its intimidation tactics and fear-mongering after the Venezuelan presidential jet was blocked from entering US airspace.
“I would like to announce that we are preparing a lawsuit against Barack Obama to condemn him for crimes against humanity,” said President Morales at a press conference in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz. He branded the US president as a “criminal” who violates international law.
In solidarity with Venezuela, Bolivia will begin preparing a lawsuit against the US head of state to be taken to …
Tactics: the science and art of using a fighting force to the best advantage having regard to the immediate situation of combat.
Strategy: the science and art of conducting a military campaign in its large-scale and long-term aspects.
— The New Webster’s Comprehensive Dictionary of the English Language
Naomi Klein, in a recent interview, Green Group’s May be More Damaging than Climate Change Deniers, has sparked a furious debate amongst activists on the right and left of the North American environmental movement. Thanks to Klein’s article, the flames of controversy have been fanned and brought forth some fiery rhetoric around a dispute …
The stage is set. By now it’s established Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei has given full authority to the new administration of President Hassan Rouhani to talk directly to Washington about Iran’s nuclear program.
This happened only a few days after US President Barack Obama leaked that letters had been exchanged between himself and Rouhani.
Rouhani’s empowerment was first confirmed later last week by extremely credible former nuclear negotiator ambassador Seyed Hossein Mousavian in this op-ed published in Japan. Mousavian was Rouhani’s deputy in Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) from 1997 to 2005. Then Rouhani himself expanded on it …
Sand’s latest book, How I Ceased To Be A Jew, (translated from Hebrew) is a tragic testimony made by a morally awakened Israeli Jew who comes to realise that his spiritual, cultural and political existence is contaminated with Judeo-centric exclusivism and is fuelled by ethno-centric racism. Shlomo Sand decides to stop being a Jew – but has he succeeded?
Sand, as we all know, is a wonderful writer; witty, innovative, poetic and fluent, his voice is personal, at times funny, occasionally sarcastic and always genuinely pessimistic.
A plan to inspect and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons has focused new attention on Israel’s undeclared WMDs
by Jonathan Cook / September 20th, 2013
Israeli officials are reported to be increasingly nervous that international efforts to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons might serve as a prelude to demands on Israel to eliminate its own, undeclared weapons of mass destruction.
Israel maintains a posture it terms ‘ambiguity’ on the question of whether it possesses either nuclear or chemical weapons. But Israel is widely believed to have a large arsenal of nuclear bombs, concealed from international scrutiny, and there are strong suspicions that it has secretly developed a chemical weapons programme.
Those concerns intensified following the disclosure this month of a confidential CIA report suggesting that Israel had created …
Waiting for the pipeline shuffle (rhymes with hustle)...
by Bill Annett / September 20th, 2013
Recently a sober CBC report (aren’t they all?) indicated that a corporal’s guard of Federal cabinet ministers, bolstered by “senior bureaucrats,” are deploying to British Columbia in a concerted effort to sell the natives on the China-or-bust oil pipeline initiative. By “native” of course we mean the original residents, who apparently are the only ones with a common sense concern for the environment. White British Columbians, as usual, are either lulled into sleep by their dead-ass media, or else transfixed by riveting news items such as visiting guitar artists or hockey scores. Unfortunately, decades ago, the Crown deked the originals …
Harper’s Conservatives have a thing for monarchy, the more absolute the better, it seems.
At home they’ve put up portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and added the moniker “royal” to the Canadian Navy and Air Force while in the Middle East they’ve strengthened Canada’s ties to kingdoms from Morocco to Saudi Arabia.
Jordan’s pro-US/pro-Israel King Abdullah II has been the focus of significant attention with the Conservatives signing a free trade and military cooperation agreement with that country last year. Now the Conservatives are strengthening Canada’s ties to a monarchy confronted by an influx of Syrian refugees, volatile regional geopolitics and popular …
