Dissecting the Politics and Culture of Capitalism http://mrzine.org Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:29:01 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/ahmadzadeh050109.html Three shells are the daily allowance: three shells that until yesterday were in your hands and today are in ours. By the way, your national symbol is the eagle! Maybe the same eagle that had thought that all of our cities would be under its wings. On this side of the river we have a tale known to all about an eagle pierced by an arrow . . . they say that when the eagle, looking carefully, saw its own feather in the arrow, it said, why shed tears? we are our own undoing. . . . Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:25:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/day050109.html I can project a hell of a lot of warmth, for the right price. Actually, business has never been better since Barack Obama asked that Rick Warren dude to do the invocation at the presidential Inauguration. That really upset the queers. Seems lots of our clientele have "trust issues" about having supported somebody who said he was "all for our rights, except the right to get married, and now look what he's blah-blah-blah." Those queers would never make it in this business. They don't understand the basics. You want Trust? You got to pay for it. Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:36:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/hever050109.html Most importantly, this aid is funded with foreign currency (primarily Euros), but the goods come from Israeli companies which must be paid in Israeli currency. The result is that massive amounts of foreign currency are converted at the Central Bank of Israel into Israeli shekels in order to fund aid, and the Central Bank of Israel gets to keep the foreign currency. In effect, the Israeli siege of Gaza has transformed the aid industry into one of Israel's biggest exports -- companies that would normally provide domestic services have become sources for foreign currency, which contributes to Israel's overall economic strength and has already eliminated Israel's trade deficit almost entirely. The Hamas party in Gaza was able to put some dents into the Israeli mechanism of exploitation. By breaking through the fence to Rafah in early 2008, and later by importing goods from Egypt via underground tunnels to supplement the diet of beleaguered Gazans under siege, Hamas has been able to smuggle goods into the Gaza Strip without paying customs to Israel. Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:50:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/kanazi050109.html In my mind I've freed Palestine Envisioned a dream That just needs to be seen Olive trees and fields of figs Orange groves That lead to our roads No blocks filled with cops No ten-year-olds shot Freedom Is what I got Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:00:00 EST http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article10110.shtml While the thousands of dead and injured Palestinians are the main victims of this latest Israeli terrorist war, the major political loser in all this will be Abbas and his clique of collaborators. Sun, 04 Jan 2009 16:15:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/cpi040109.html Over 150,000 people demonstrated yesterday (Saturday, January 3, 2009) in Israel against Operation Cast Lead in the northern Arab town of Sakhnin and in Tel Aviv. The demonstration in Sakhnin was by far the biggest such protest in Israel. According to organizers, it was the largest protest held by the Palestinians in Israel in many years. . . . Also, tens of thousands of peace activists arrived at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv Saturday night to protest against the military operation. The protesters marched in the streets, carrying red flags and banners that read "Stop the Bombing -- End the Siege" and "Children in Gaza and Sderot Want to Live." . . . During the last week, and across the country, 471 Arabs and Jews have been arrested in protests against the deadly Israeli operation in Gaza, 149 of those minors. Sun, 04 Jan 2009 14:50:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/sakhnin030109.html I have no place / I have no country / I have no homeland Sat, 03 Jan 2009 21:30:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/sakhnin030109.html Palestinian citizens of Israel held a massive protest today in Sakhnin, an Arab city in the North District of Israel, against Israel's war on the Palestinian people in Gaza. Estimates range from 100,000 to 150,000 protesters. Meanwhile, Israel began its ground invasion of Gaza. Can the invasion provoke mass uprisings in Gaza, the West Bank, Egypt, and Israel itself all at the same time? Sat, 03 Jan 2009 15:13:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/finkelstein030109.html The goals of the Israeli government, it seems to me, are pretty clear. Number one, Israel wants to reestablish what it calls its "deterrence capacity." That's a technical term that the Israelis use. It basically means to restore the fear of Israel among the Arabs in the region. After the defeat inflicted by Hezbollah, and the inability of Israel to launch an attack on Iran, it was almost inevitable that they would then target Hamas, because Hamas is also defying the Israeli will. According to the Israeli papers, Barak was planning the attack already before the last ceasefire, and they were just waiting for a provocation from the Palestinians. On November 4th, the Israelis broke the ceasefire with Hamas, knowing full well -- and if you read the Israeli papers, they say so -- that if they killed six militants in Gaza, the Palestinians would retaliate, and then Israel would have the pretext to invade. So the first goal was to restore the fear of Israel in the Arab world by inflicting a bloodbath. Sat, 03 Jan 2009 14:25:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/castro030109.html Mariela Castro: Yes, I believe that, in societies like ours, same-sex unions are possible. It's true that, in the history of countries that have tried to create socialism, sexuality-related prejudices from the capitalist past have persisted. But in the Cuban version of socialism it will surely be possible to make fundamental changes in the lives of men and women according to their sexual orientation and other elements of their sexuality that haven't been contemplated by other socialist nations to date. Of course there are very strong influences of religions predominant in our cultures, but they are not going to become obstacles to achieving the aim of guaranteeing human rights socialism must guarantee. That is why we proposed a bill to legalize same-sex unions to parliament. Sat, 03 Jan 2009 11:15:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/us020109.html On January 2, 2009, some 4,000 supporters of the people of Gaza rallied at Tribune Plaza on Chicago's Michigan Avenue and then marched across the Michigan Ave. Bridge to hold a protest in front of the Israeli Consulate on E. Wacker Drive. They could not fit everyone into the cleared street on the block in front of the Consulate, so huge was the demonstration. Fri, 02 Jan 2009 23:30:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/wilayto020109.html More than 60 people turned out today in Virginia's capital city to protest the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Palestinian people of the Gaza Strip. The spirited protest, held during rush hour in front of Richmond City Hall, was initiated by longtime Richmond African-American activist Umar Kenyatta and sponsored by the newly formed Coalition of Conscientious Organizations. The majority of the protesters were from the area's Islamic, Arab-American, and African-American communities. Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:25:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/cpi020109.html Tomorrow (Saturday, January 3, 2009), two big protests will be held in Israel -- by a coalition of peace forces and the Communist Party of Israel and Hadash in Tel Aviv and in Sakhnin by the High Committee of Arab-Palestinian Citizens in Israel -- both of them against the killing in Gaza. Together we will call out: Stop the Killing! No to the Siege! Yes to life for both peoples! In these dark days, let us stick to our message: Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies! Our demand: A full truce and the lifting of the siege on Gaza NOW! Fri, 02 Jan 2009 20:44:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/mazali020109.html Absent from Israeli and most other TV networks are the ongoing activism and protest inside Israel against Israel's siege and, now, war on Gaza. Immediately below is a video report on two of many such actions. Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/bergamini020109.html The reactions of outrage against the massacre of Gaza are timidly making way in the world. Even here in Israel, some warn against the government's propaganda and call on people to come out into the square. In my own small way, I myself witnessed a small demonstration, which I came across yesterday as I was leaving the university. They were students against the war on Gaza. As it always happens in such cases, another group immediately formed to stand up "for" the war (which seems absurd, but that's the way it is). Therefore there was a battle of chants and slogans. Those pro-war Israelis, in my opinion, are rather sad and sordid, because, just as they cheered for the war, they demanded that Arab students show their identity cards or go to the Gaza strip. Fri, 02 Jan 2009 11:43:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/elich020109.html To begin with, close to 70% of the food consumed by the 80% of Zimbabweans who are the working classes (peasants, formal and informal wage workers, the unemployed) and over 50% of the middle class foods, which comprise mainly grains (maize, sorghum, groundnuts and pulses as oils or for direct eating) and local relish (greens) have always been produced by the peasants and urban residents' gardens. Apart from feeding themselves (65% of the population), the peasants sold over 70% of the marketed grain and groundnuts and the little locally produced rice (over 90% of which was always imported). Secondly, peasants provided most indigenous fruits (Mazhanje, Masawi, etc.), as well as most of the meat and milk consumed in rural areas. True, large white farmers produced and sold most of the higher protein-value, largely urban-consumed, foods: milk and dairy products; wheat; temperate fruits and jams (apples, oranges, etc.), tea and coffee, sugar, meat (beef, poultry, and pork products), and oils and fats (from soya beans, sunflower, and so forth). The middle and upper urban-based classes consumed most of this LSCF (Large-Scale Commercial Farm) production. However, most of the poor urban working class transferred money to peasant producers, who kept some for their family members and supplied them with part of their food. There was a clear division of production between peasants and large farmers, with the former producing most of the cheaper and bulkier foods, and the latter producing the rest of the foods, much of which was consumed by a few people. Moreover, by far the largest outputs (in volumes and value) produced by large farmers were destined for exports (tobacco, sugar, tea, coffee, horticulture, beef, etc.) and for the local industry (soaps, etc.). Although their exports were critical for forex (40% of national forex was from agriculture, but peasants produced 80% of the cotton and its attendant forex), they were not the main supplier of the food consumed by most of the population, who could not afford their products. These are the social and structural facts of the previous unequal income and consumption situation. However, we must still explain why the bulky low-income foods are in short supply (maize especially)! Well, it is mainly because of the decline in seed and fertilizer supply, and reduced private and external financing. During the last eight years the country also experienced four substantial droughts, with signs of climatic change or higher variability in rainfall. The previous season was one such year, coupled with extremely low input supplies. This trend has led to reduced rain-fed maize production by the peasantry, as 90% of the irrigation resources were and are still held by large farmers, including the sugar estates. Peasants have thus experienced a loss of their own seed and cash resources, which has undermined their production cycle. Various other constraints have been experienced in a context of economic decline and sanctions: fuel shortages and high global prices affected the transport and plowing processes; electricity shortages limiting irrigation and fertilizer production processes; and reduced government revenues limiting state support to peasants, and so forth. This occurred in the face of limited aid to small farmers largely because of the political standoff at the international level. Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:08:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/latuff010109.html Thu, 01 Jan 2009 21:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/cook010109.html Unable to destroy Hamas, Israel is now considering whether to live with the armed group next door. Hamas has proved it can enforce its rule in Gaza much as Arafat once did in both occupied territories. The question being debated in Israel's cabinet and war rooms is whether, like Arafat, Hamas can be made to collude with the occupation. It has proved it is strong, but can it be made useful to Israel, too? In practice that would mean taming Hamas rather than crushing it. Whereas Israel is trying to build up Fatah in the West Bank with carrots, it is using the current slaughter in Gaza as a big stick with which to beat Hamas into compliance. The ultimate objective is another truce stopping the rocket fire out of the Strip, like the six-month ceasefire that just ended, but on terms even more favorable to Israel. Thu, 01 Jan 2009 16:19:00 EST http://chronicle.com/news/article/5725/opinion-wheres-the-academic-outrage-over-the-bombing-of-a-university-in-gaza Not one of the nearly 450 presidents of American colleges and universities who prominently denounced an effort by British academics to boycott Israeli universities in September 2007 have raised their voice in opposition to Israel’s bombardment of the Islamic University of Gaza earlier this week. Thu, 01 Jan 2009 15:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/nyclaw010109.html Some 1,500 labor bodies have plowed at least $5 billion of union pension funds and retirement plans into State of Israel Bonds. Thu, 01 Jan 2009 14:35:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/brutus010109.html Still the sirens stitch the night air with terror -- pierce hearing's membranes with shrieks of pain and fear: still they weave the mesh that traps the heart in anguish, flash bright bars of power that cage memory in mourning and loss. Thu, 01 Jan 2009 11:55:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/wolff311208.html Capitalism's instability is systemic. To address it without considering systemic change is to continue the history of failure to "solve" that instability. Capitalism's core class conflict between workers and boards of directors was never fundamentally changed by state bailouts, (re)regulations, or monetary and fiscal policies. Capitalism's class structure is likewise not systemically changed even if we replace boards of directors privately elected by shareholders with boards of state officials instead. State capitalism (USSR), too, not just private capitalism (USA), displayed instabilities driven by class conflicts between surplus producers and appropriators. Notwithstanding differences between the instabilities of state and private capitalism, both still yielded inefficiencies and wastes that each so assiduously documented in the other. One possible systemic change eliminates capitalist class conflict by reorganizing enterprises to position productive workers as their own collective board of directors, thereby removing one key cause of capitalist instability. Such post-capitalist boards' decisions (about technical change, capital accumulation, wages, and so forth) would differ markedly from capitalist boards' decisions. Post-capitalist boards of directors would differ from capitalist boards in their relations to the state as well. A systemically post-capitalist economy would have its instability problems, but they too would differ from capitalism's. The point is not that this systemic change is the only one that could (or could alone) seriously address capitalism's instability. The goal here is to expose the widespread -- and politically self-defeating -- refusal, even on the left, to acknowledge such systemic causes. Wed, 31 Dec 2008 21:35:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/gindin311208.html By formally linking UAW conditions to those in the Japanese transplants, they pushed the union -- whose independence had already been compromised through years of concessions -- to effectively act as an agency of the state. The loan conditions asserted that "By no later than February 17, 2009, the Company shall submit to the President's Designee . . . [a] term sheet signed on behalf of the Company and the leadership of each major U.S. labor organization [essentially the UAW] that represents the employees." Beyond the elimination of any layoff benefits above customary severance pay -- something the union had already conceded -- the terms called for a reduction in workers' wages, benefits, and working conditions to match, "no later than December 31, 2009," the levels that are "competitive with the average as certified by the Secretary of Labor" at the U.S. operations of Nissan, Toyota, and Honda. As well, the union had to accept that at least half of each company's obligations to the union-administered health care plan would now include company stock (the full terms are available at www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/hp1333.htm). While American unions were waiting for the inauguration of a new president to bring them legislation that would make it easier to establish unions, the current administration (with no dissent to date from President-elect Obama) essentially declared, in a standard-setting industry: "You can have unions but you can only have non-union outcomes." There are a number of lessons to learn from this unfolding event and we raise a few of them here. Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:10:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/us311208.html At Obama Transition HQ and other locations Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:30:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/germany311208.html Writing for IMC UK, John Strand observed on 30 December 2008 that the Berlin demo organized by Palestinian and other migrants the day before was "only attended by literally a handful of the Left. None of the peace groups or the radical left attended." Strand attributes the absence of the Left to a powerful pro-Israel campaign "inside and outside" the Left making charges that left-wing criticisms of Israel constitute "left-wing anti-Semitism." Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:24:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/malaysia311208.html Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:40:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/japan311208.html Wed, 31 Dec 2008 00:30:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/iceland301208.html Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:55:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/australia301208.html Tue, 30 Dec 2008 23:15:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/ferner301208.html Determined to keep President-elect Barack Obama true to his promise of change, peace and economic justice activists kick off an 18-day outdoor vigil January 1, four blocks from the Illinois Senator's home in Chicago. Camp Hope, headquartered in the Windy City's Drexel Square Park, seeks to have Obama swiftly enact eight initiatives on issues he supported during his campaign. Tue, 30 Dec 2008 21:15:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/esteven301208.html We must unapologetically make the case for post-capitalist alternatives, rather than tacitly accept the logic of Fukuyama and criticize politicians solely in the terms offered by the mainstream discourse. Criticizing Obama should be merely the jumping-off point for bringing the big picture into better focus. Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:27:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/cook301208.html According to reports in the Israeli media, Mr. Barak had been planning the attack on Gaza with his chiefs of staff for at least six months -- about the time the original ceasefire was being agreed with Hamas. In the run-up to the election, observed Michael Warschawski, a founder of the Alternative Information Centre in Jerusalem, "all Israeli leaders are competing over who is the toughest and who is ready to kill more." Days before the Gaza operation, even Meretz, a far Left party, issued a statement favoring a military strike against Hamas. Protests so far have been confined inside Israel to tire-burning at the entrances to Arab communities and a demonstration among a few hundred peace activists in Tel Aviv. Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/hackbarth301208.html Last week the Israeli media reported that the Turkish Air Force had signed a US$141 million deal with Israeli military companies Elbit Systems Ltd. and Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) for air and space imagery intelligence systems. Tue, 30 Dec 2008 12:47:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/podur301208.html Israel is not committing war crimes. There is no war. These are crimes against humanity, against people whom it is imprisoning and starving, occurring in full view of the entire world and with its endorsement. Israel can't besiege the Palestinians alone: it takes the whole world to starve a small country. As a consequence these crimes are not Israel's alone. Tue, 30 Dec 2008 11:35:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/kanazi291208.html In her other hand she held the key to her grandmother's house / But I couldn't unlock the cell that caged her older brothers / They said, we slingshot dreams so the other side will feel our father's presence / A craftsman / Built homes in areas where no one was building / And when he fell, he was silent / A .50 caliber bullet tore through his neck shredding his vocal cords / Too close to the wall / His hammer must have been a weapon / He must have been a weapon / Encroaching on settlement hills and demographics Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:50:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/ireland291208.html Mon, 29 Dec 2008 22:15:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/hassanpour291208.html Pinter saw himself as "a citizen of the world." This is one more reason why the obituaries identify his politics as leftist. Conservatism and liberalism celebrate the globalization of the capitalist market but are not hospitable to the idea and practice of global citizenship, even in the sense of equality of all the inhabitants of the planet. Contrary to the obituaries, Pinter was not alone and is by no means the last member of the generation of intellectuals opposed to war, poverty, and destruction. Even during his lifetime, there was a long list from Jean-Paul Sartre to Noam Chomsky. Still, the question remains: why the majority of Turkish intellectuals do not follow their fellow-citizens such as Ismail Besikci, Orhan Pamuk, or Yasar Kemal who refuse to be bystanders and oppose the suppression of the Kurdish people? Why Kurdish nationalists applaud Mountain Language but are far from appreciating Pinter's denunciation of the US war on Iraq and the rest of the world? Why Pinter opposed US-UK imperialist wars and Kurdish nationalists continue to support it? I do not find it difficult to make sense of these contradictions. The struggles of the twentieth century for building an alternative to the world capitalist system failed, in spite of their initial successes. Rather than implying the end of history, these defeats call for a new era of history, new struggles, and new efforts to build a new world. Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:35:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/canada291208.html The Montreal video features Amir Khadir of Québec solidaire. Mon, 29 Dec 2008 05:50:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/us291208.html Mon, 29 Dec 2008 04:44:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/cousins291208.html Mon, 29 Dec 2008 02:44:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/denmark281208.html Sun, 28 Dec 2008 23:55:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/icahd271208.html For the second consecutive day, many Arab regimes maintained their deadly official "calm," or even worse, their "verbal denunciation" to the attacks. Yet, none of the Arab leaders took any "practical measure," except for calling for an "urgent" Arab summit on Friday, a week after the Israeli offensive that claimed the lives of more than 270 Palestinians in less than 24 hours! In contrast to the expected Arab official reaction to Zionist aggressions, Arab peoples have staged angry demonstrations across the Arab world to condemn Israeli barbarism and to express support for Palestinian resistance. Demonstrations also called on the international community to assume its responsibilities towards the Palestinians and the crimes against humanity committed by Israel. Sun, 28 Dec 2008 15:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/france281208.html Sun, 28 Dec 2008 14:15:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/uk281208.html Sun, 28 Dec 2008 12:42:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/spain281208.html Sun, 28 Dec 2008 12:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/turkey281208.html Sun, 28 Dec 2008 10:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/hogendoorn281208.html Sun, 28 Dec 2008 09:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/icahd271208.html Indeed, the Occupation, in which Israel controls Gaza under a violent siege which violates fundamental human rights and international law, is not even mentioned in Israel's PR campaign. Speaking to the international community, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni insists that no country would tolerate its citizens being attacked, a seemingly reasonable statement were it not for Israeli sanctions on Gaza supported by the US and Europe -- sanctions that preceded the rocket fire on Israel -- or the fact of Israeli Occupation in general. Solely focusing on the rocket attacks conceals the political policy that led to them: "The Hamas government in Gaza must be toppled," Livni has said repeatedly. "The means to do this must be military, economic and diplomatic." The responsibility for the suffering both in Israel and Gaza rests squarely with successive Israeli governments, Labor, Likud, and Kadima alike. Had there been a genuine political process (remember, the closure of Gaza began in 1989), Israelis and Palestinians could have been living together in peace and prosperity already for 20 years. After all, already in 1988 the PLO accepted the two-state solution in which a Palestinian state would arise on only 22% of historic Palestine, alongside the state of Israel on the other 78%. A truly generous offer. Sat, 27 Dec 2008 22:25:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/berger271208.html Today, in face of the Israeli attacks on Gaza, the essential calculation, which was always covertly there, behind this conflict, has been blatantly revealed. The death of one Israeli victim justifies the killing of a hundred Palestinians. One Israeli life is worth a hundred Palestinian lives. This is what the Israeli State and the world media more or less -- with marginal questioning -- mindlessly repeat. Sat, 27 Dec 2008 20:30:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/freegaza271208.html "The morgue at the Shifa hospital has no more room for dead bodies, so bodies and body parts are strewn all over the hospital." -- Dr. Haidar Eid (Palestinian, South African), Professor of Social and Cultural Studies, Al Aqsa University Gaza Sat, 27 Dec 2008 18:10:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/psc271208.html A number of prominent South Africans have condemned the brutal attacks currently being perpetrated by the Israeli army in Gaza. Among those who have voiced their condemnation are Eddie Makue, General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches; former government Minister Ronnie Kasrils; Cosatu spokesperson Patrick Craven; and University of Johannesburg academic Professor Steven Friedman. . . . We call on all our people to oppose the perpetration of these war crimes by Israel. Furthermore, we call on the South African government immediately to withdraw our ambassador from Israel, to end all diplomatic relations with Israel, and to impose sanctions on Israel. Our government cannot pretend that this is a war between equal sides. There is no balance in this situation. There can be no moral equivalence between the fourth most powerful army in the world (whose armaments include nuclear weapons) and an occupied people fighting for their survival to prevent a complete genocide against them. Israel seems intent to mark the end of its 60th year of existence the same way it has established itself -- perpetrating massacres against the Palestinian people. The barbarism of these attacks, and the impunity with which Israel continues to violate international law should also be placed on the agenda. Just as Apartheid South Africa was kicked out of the UN for its gross violations of human rights and for its perpetration of a system which was a crime against humanity, so too should Israel be excluded from the UN for its repeated refusal to adhere to international law and UN resolutions and for its perpetration of a system of apartheid. Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:45:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/cpi271208.html Today's Israel's military attack is part of the ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip. Israel is exploiting the last moments of the Bush administration to implement the deadly but ineffective imperialist policy of utilizing military force to effect political change. Demonstrations against the Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip are planned in the major Israeli cities, and demonstrations will be held tonight in Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Nazareth. Yesterday (Friday), hundreds demonstrators attended a rally in central Tel Aviv to protest the expected Israeli military operation against Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza. The rally was organized by the Coalition against the Gaza Siege and Hadash. Sat, 27 Dec 2008 15:30:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/qumsiyeh271208.html Please pick up the phone and call media outlets immediately to condemn the atrocities being committed in Gaza (using US taxpayer money and with international and Arab government acquiescence). Demonstrations are ongoing throughout the West Bank. Here is the press release for the one in Bethlehem. Sat, 27 Dec 2008 13:45:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/smf261208.html Our country has an important opportunity -- we must take advantage of the world economic crisis to leave behind the neoliberal economic system and take measures to adopt a new model of national development, based on a fair distribution of income, job creation, and the strengthening of industry and the internal market, bettering the living conditions of the Brazilian people. The crisis has shown the entire world that neoliberalism is incapable of sustaining social, environmental, and economic development and that it is necessary to regulate the economy and strengthen the state. The economic model characterized by the hegemony of finance capital, high interest rates, a primary surplus, and the prioritization of the export sector is bankrupt. We will not find the solution in policies that reinforce or soften the problems of neoliberalism, such as supporting banks and big corporations. Rather, we should look to initiatives that aim at structural change. In Brazil, we need to immediately reduce interest rates and control the movement of speculative capital, impeding its free circulation, by instituting new taxes and controls. Fri, 26 Dec 2008 16:50:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/bond261208.html Those who declare that the Great Crash of Late 2008 heralds the end of free market economic philosophy -- "neoliberalism" for short -- are not paying close enough attention. This includes the Swedish Bank's Economic Nobel Prize laureate, Princeton professor Paul Krugman. "Everyone's talking about a new New Deal, for obvious reasons," he told his New York Times column readers. "In 2008, as in 1932, a long era of Republican political dominance came to an end in the face of an economic and financial crisis that, in voters' minds, both discredited the free-market ideology and undermined its claims of competence. And for those on the progressive side of the political spectrum, these are hopeful times." But notwithstanding some promised fiscal stimulation and public works projects in the US, a more realistic -- and also radical -- approach requires us to first humbly acknowledge that a dangerous period lies immediately ahead, because of at least three factors: . . . Fri, 26 Dec 2008 12:47:00 EST http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/stories/20090102252604400.htm Now, how do we deal with this reality? It’s not easy for the Left. It’s a real challenge. And the Left cannot just remain at the level of principles. To say that the alternative is a secular state which separates itself from religion is not enough. It has also to develop how the influence of those reactionary forces on the popular classes can be defeated. Through the Left moving into the masses to defend, not in rhetoric but in fact in action and through action, their real economic and social interests. This is the only way to marginalise the centrist and reactionary forces. As long as the Left is doing nothing within the popular classes, as long as most of their analyses and programmes are only on paper or in their political rhetoric, they will continue to be a marginal force. Nothing more than that. Fri, 26 Dec 2008 04:40:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/kitt261208.html Eartha Kitt: In 1968, during the Vietnam War, I was invited by Lady Bird Johnson to give my opinion about the problems in the United States, specifically, "Why is there so much juvenile delinquency in the streets of America?" The First Lady seemed to be more interested in decorating the windows of the ghettos with flowerboxes. I mean -- it's fine to put flowers in the ghettos, but let's take care of the necessities first: give people jobs, and find a way to get us out of poverty. Fri, 26 Dec 2008 04:15:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/ahmadinejad251208.html If Christ were on Earth today, undoubtedly He would stand with the people in opposition to bullying, ill-tempered and expansionist powers. Thu, 25 Dec 2008 13:19:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/galeano251208.html Eduardo Galeano: In the 20th century, justice was sacrificed in the name of freedom, and freedom was sacrificed in the name of justice. Our time is now the 21st century, and the best it has to offer is the challenge it presents: it invites us to fight to assist the reunion of freedom and justice. They want to live real close to each other, back to back. Thu, 25 Dec 2008 06:50:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/chavez251208.html The Christ child was born on earth, poor and human, to fight and make this planet truly the kingdom of heaven, of equality and justice, not to be poor in life and to win glory in the afterlife, Comandante Chávez said during the last Aló Presidente broadcast of the year, speaking from El Valle where he inaugurated a new People's Clinic. "The message of Christ, who said the kingdom of heaven is that of the poor, has been very often manipulated. In this way they have for centuries manipulated the poor of the world, to make them quietly accept exploitation." "Christ was born to call on us to create, here on earth, the Kingdom of Love," Chávez explained, adding that this kingdom has no other name than socialism. Thu, 25 Dec 2008 04:59:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/ollman251208.html Is this true? Listen to the words of Jesus and decide for yourselves whether Socialism is Practical Christianity. Thu, 25 Dec 2008 02:50:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/aprosarmostoi241208.html Aprosarmostoi (Οι ΑΠΡΟΣΑΡΜΟΣΤΟΙ, The Misfits) from Athens, Greece present their new song "Against State Violence," in memory of Alexandros Grigoropoulos, shot and killed in cold blood by the police, in the center of Athens, Greece, on the night of 6 December 2008. Wed, 24 Dec 2008 12:10:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/rothermel241208.html All the strengths and weaknesses of these three books -- The Anti-War Quote Book, We Who Dared to Say No to War: American Anti-War Writing from 1812 to Now, and Peace: 50 Years of Protest -- exist within very narrow petty-bourgeois radical horizons. The most effective anti-war movements in the last century, movements that actually stopped wars (Russia 1917 and Germany 1918), are blacklisted. The whole labor-communist anti-war strategy, the fact that one existed at all and drew millions around the world to its banner, is also blacklisted from these books. Wed, 24 Dec 2008 10:30:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/day231208.html "Edupunk," one of 2008's official buzzwords, means someone who is self-educated, "without concern for schools, corporations, or governments." I shall now describe Mickey Z as a hyper-stone-uber-megalo "edupunk." Mickey, née Michael Zezima, is a 48-year-old working-class writer, martial artist, vegan, public speaker, and environmental activist who lives in The People's Republic of Astoria, Queens. He's just published his 6th book, No Innocent Bystanders, so we sat down to discuss it. Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:20:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/iran221208.html On Sunday December 21st, Iran shut down two human rights centers founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate and activist Shirin Ebadi without explanation or written justification. Ebadi was also taken into custody and then later released. Ebadi stated, "The collective activities of the human rights activists in Iran have angered the Iranian authorities so much that they have illegally ordered the closing down of two NGOs." We call on the Iranian government to re-open the two organizations and to allow women's rights and human rights activists to work in Iran safely and freely. Sign the petition below and we will deliver to the Iranian Ambassador this week. Mon, 22 Dec 2008 23:55:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/yates221208.html Tombstone is in southeastern Arizona, seventy miles from Tucson. It was founded in 1879 by prospector Ed Schieffelin, who had hit a rich vein of silver in a plateau near the present-day location of the town. He named his claim "Tombstone" after a soldier he met told him that the only rock he was likely to collect in these dry and dangerous hills (the Apache were a threatening presence for whites) was his own tombstone. Soon Tombstone, which took its name from the prospector's claim, was a mining boomtown, with as many as 15,000 residents within a few years. Eastern capital soon dominated the economy, while Irishmen and Germans did the mining and Chinese and other immigrants provided the services (there is a forgotten and sordid history of Chinese settlement, persecution, and dispossession throughout the west, even in small towns in sparsely populated states like Arizona, Wyoming, and Idaho. We learned about this in 2006 at an interesting exhibit we saw at the University of Wyoming Art Museum in Laramie). Poor Shieffelin sold his claim for $10,000, missing out on the millions of dollars of silver the mine produced. Silver was big business in southern Arizona, with many mines and silver mills. By 1881, 490 million troy ounces had been mined. Several mills operated along the San Pedro River a few miles west of town. When the silver mines petered out as the United States demonetized silver and the demand for the metal fell, a boom in copper began, setting the stage fro epic battles between mine owners and miners, the latter represented by radical unions such as the Industrial Workers of the World. In the summer of 1917, when striking miners in nearby Bisbee threatened the war effort, 2,000 armed vigilantes shipped more than 1,000 men to a New Mexican desert where they were abandoned. Mon, 22 Dec 2008 22:50:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/amr221208.html The Government hints at different packages to arrest the slowdown of the economy, including the increase of public expenditure and public debt. The different parties propose strict controls for the financial sector, reversing those financial sector "reforms" put into effect. No one defends the "Washington Consensus" policies that have produced the disaster, but as yet no one is questioning their cornerstone: the focus on exports, foreign capital and technology, and 10-15% of the population as "modern" consumers. . . . We suggest this impasse is in part due to the clear necessity that any such programme must first address the unfinished business of Indian Independence, the failure to carry out the agrarian revolution in the countryside, where to this day most people live. Mon, 22 Dec 2008 15:30:00 EST