Chronicling the Crisis of the Working Class http://mrzine.org Sat, 04 Jul 2009 10:12:01 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/iran040709.html We say this as a warning: depriving citizens of peaceful and respectful communication in the midst of the tense circumstances of the present time can lead to a violent reaction on the part of society, a society whose people were peacefully and respectfully promoting their diverse views up until election day. . . . We are a people with a long history dating back a few thousand years. We all belong together, and we share this country and its history. Sat, 04 Jul 2009 10:00:00 EST http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=555 It was rather left wing as regards human rights, minority rights, cultural freedom, equal rights for gays and lesbians and so forth -- in this respect very much like American liberalism. But economically it was neoconservative. And I, too, proposed a mixture of this kind. . . . What was important in hindsight was that in the first two years I spent in the highest chamber of my country as a lawmaker two million jobs were lost -- and I don't think I noticed. That is one of the greatest shames of my life. . . . It seemed to us that attempts to overcome the Soviet-style system from the left were doomed and that we had to pay the price of capitalism to put an end to the dictatorship. At first we were saying that it was a price that had to be paid, and then it was, alas, love for it. But it did not last. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:45:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/abn030709.html Bolivarian News Agency (ABN) correspondent Freddy Fernández reported that members of Honduran popular movements, numbering 100,000 today, will persevere outside the OAS facilities in Tegucigalpa till they can petition Insulza for the unconditional return of President Manuel Zelaya to presidency. . . . The ABN journalist emphasized that the popular mobilization this Friday to repudiate the de facto government has gathered more Hondurans than ever: "Today's mobilization is undoubtedly the biggest so far." Fri, 03 Jul 2009 23:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/bishara030709.html There is a difference between the outlook of a secular generation of Iranian youth, yearning for a life in which religion (in the form of a clergy directing a theological state) refrains from meddling in their personal lives and individual fates as citizens, and the foreign and domestic policy considerations of the reformist trend. A larger distance separates the premises of both of these groups from the calculations of the band of conservatives whose interests were harmed under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency and who now take issue with his domestic and foreign policies. As different as their interests are domestically, all three have converged against Ahmadinejad and in favour of reducing the power of the supreme guide. At the same time, their calculations converge in a national vision of Iran as a state that, in their opinion, should have matured beyond the founding principles of the Islamic Revolution. Arab causes, in particular, do not figure high in their priorities, especially if supporting them conflicts with the aim of ending the international isolation and blockade of Iran. If they are not opposed or reluctant to support Arab causes, they see such support primarily from an instrumental perspective. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 19:25:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/golinger030709.html The US may determine next Monday that sanctions should be in place against Honduras, resulting from the military coup, but it is unlikely that substantial aid will be cut, which will allow the illegal government to ride out the next 6 months until elections are held in November. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 14:50:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/baker030709.html Unemployment in this downturn continues to be overwhelmingly a male story. The unemployment rate for men rose to 10.0 percent, just 0.1 percentage points below its all-time high in December of 1982, the highest on record since World War II. The EPOP for men fell by 0.5 percentage points to 67.5 percent, the lowest rate ever. By comparison, the unemployment rate for women edged up 0.1 percentage points to 7.5 percent. The EPOP for women fell to 56.4 percent, 2.0 percentage points below the pre-recession peak. . . . Another source of bad news in this report was the flat nominal wages reported for June, coupled with a small downward revision for May. The flat nominal wages, coupled with the decline in work hours, led to a 0.3 percent decline in the nominal weekly wage. The combination of declining employment, declining real wages for those still working, and the continuing loss of housing wealth at a rate close to $200 billion a month, virtually guarantees further declines in consumption in the months ahead. With state and local governments planning layoffs and furloughs in response to deficits, there is little basis for optimism about the second half of 2009. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:55:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/namjoo030709.html "The Desert Is Covered with Fog," based on Ahmad Shamlou's poem "Fog," performed by Mohsen Namjoo. This video clip is a work of Mostafa Heravi in collaboration with Radio Zamaneh. It is dedicated by Mohsen Namjoo, Mostafa Heravi, Kaveh Modiri, Sina Karim Khani, Sohrab Bayat, and Aboozar Amini to all the Iranians who lost their lives in recent street protests. Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:35:00 EST http://atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/KG02Cb01.html The issue is not whether Asian central banks will continue to have confidence in the dollar, but why Asian central banks should see their mandate as supporting the continuous expansion of the dollar economy through dollar hegemony at the expense of their own non-dollar economies. Why should Asian economies send real wealth in the form of goods to the US for foreign paper of declining value instead of selling their goods in their own economy? Without dollar hegemony, Asian economies can finance their own economic development with sovereign credit in their own currencies and not be addicted to export for fiat dollars that repeatedly lose purchasing power because of US monetary and fiscal indiscipline. As for Americans, is it a good deal to exchange your job for lower prices at Wal-Mart? . . . Now, at long last, jolted by the global financial crisis that began in July 2007, China is finally demanding that its export be paid in Chinese yuan. But this demand should not be interpreted as a push to make the yuan a reserved currency for international trade. China only wants to denominate its bilateral trade in yuan. It has no desire to make the yuan a reserve currency for international trade in which China is not directly involved. Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:40:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/honduras020709.html Honduran women and men were called upon by President Manuel Zelaya Rosales to participate in a popular referendum on 28 June 2009 in order to convene a National Constituent Assembly. In the morning of the day of the referendum, the president was abducted and removed from the country by a coup d'état. Diverse Hondurans headed for the Presidential Palace to demand that Zelaya be returned to the office which the people entrusted to him. Thu, 02 Jul 2009 19:55:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/palacios020709.html The director of "Llaguno Bridge, Keys to a Massacre," Angel Palacios, is in Tegucigalpa, from where he sent this video. Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:55:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/ronaghi020709.html "About 4 kilometers behind me, there is a square in Tehran called Enqelab Square, which means revolution. A couple of hundreds of meters that way is the famous monument of Azadi Square, which means freedom. The road between Revolution and Freedom Squares has been the scene of some of the greatest rallies in Iran. Freedom Square was the destination of the largest rally of Mir-Hossein Mousavi supporters three days after the election. Some say that millions took part. The protesters are gone now. But Ali Esmaili, who was one of them, cannot forget that day." -- Alireza Ronaghi Thu, 02 Jul 2009 10:48:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/honduras010709.html The curfew is not the only means of population control -- now the de facto government is bent on suppressing the visibly identifiable sectors, in this case the indigenous population of the Central American country. Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:55:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/abn010709.html Since last Sunday, popular movements have been demanding the restoration of the government headed by Manuel Zelaya, the legitimate president of Honduras, and they vow to advance the call for a Constituent Assembly to reorganize the various branches and institutions of the country which have been devastated following the coup d'état. With respect to the period of 72 hours given by the OAS before President Zelaya's return to the country, the movements said that, although they considered the measure reasonable, it is not necessary to wait till the exact deadline, and the de facto government must relinquish power by Saturday so the constitutional president may return to his office. Meanwhile, the media are conveying news about people abandoning the capital and the second largest city in the country, San Pedro Sula, which is believed to be an orchestrated campaign aimed to disperse the multitude from the major cities in the nation in order to fragment the protests and diminish their impact. The levels of repression remain high, especially in San Pedro Sula, whose mayor was ousted by the coup regime. Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:23:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/amr010709.html There should no longer be any question as to the causes and consequences of the process. Energy intensive industrialisation in the core countries (and more recently in China) has led to climate change that is already irreversible. Yet the consequent disaster shall fall primarily on populations in the periphery that did not benefit from energy intensive industrialisation, but rather paid for it by their own exploitation and immiseration. While the Dutch calmly devise for their lowland paradise immensely expensive technological protections from the combination of storms and a rising sea, for Indonesians whose exploitation made Dutch wealth possible such an option is immensely more difficult. Cyclone Aila, not an extraordinary storm but one with extraordinary consequences, tells us that the future has arrived. We will not be protected from the oncoming environmental disaster by any action (such as the Kyoto treaty or its successors) of the richest countries of the earth, yet less their charity. Our technology and science can provide; India has already established a research station in Antarctica and there is even talk of moon missions. The vast resources today mobilized for the external and internal military forces hint at what might be available for lifesaving purposes in a different, rational and better society. The danger to the vast community who reside in the lower Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta is manifest, though only present to media consciousness in moments of newsworthy disasters. We must force the issue to the front of the agenda in our own communities. Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:15:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/ghosh300609.html While the basic premises of the monetarist argument are wrong, this does not mean that the threat of future inflation can be completely discounted. In fact, it can be argued that even without a complete revival of the global economy, and even as wage incomes throughout the world continue to fall, there may be upward pressure on certain prices in the near future. In particular, global commodity prices -- especially those of oil and food -- may well increase again in the next couple of year. The reasons for this possibility are very different from those offered by monetarists. They are not even related to possible imbalances between global demand and supply. Instead, they reflect the continuing possibility that financial speculation can cause sharp changes in the prices of commodities in the world market. Tue, 30 Jun 2009 23:30:00 EST http://sanhati.com/excerpted/1601/ In the wake of the neoliberal shift in the official Left position, there have been massive land grabs and accompanying assaults on the most vulnerable of the rural poor. The rural masses have not taken this assault on their land and basic means of livelihood lying down. Most development and human rights activists however choose to filter this revolutionary potential of the agrarian classes through the lens of "the victims of displacement" rather than class war. While liberal outpourings of sympathy for the dispossessed poor is ultimately couched in moral rather than political terms, often concluding with admonitions for failure of governance, anarchist outcries of despair with the state of affairs are no more productive. This simultaneous attack on and concern for the rural labouring masses derives from a basic obfuscation of the fundamental and historical contradiction in the official Left’s relationship to the peasantry. Added to this is the self-delusion of its relationship to the bourgeoisie shaped by its own unacknowledged bourgeois class consciousness. This obfuscation and self-delusion then provide the underlying focus of most present day discussion on the Maoists. This paper seeks to place the present panic over Maoism in India in perspective through a consideration of the interlinking lenses of the state, media, civil society and the official/mainstream "left". It starts with examining the gaps in P. Sainath’s dedicated reporting on rural misery, as expressing certain key features of official left ideology, starting with the cult book Everybody Loves a Good Drought (1996). It moves on to an exploration of the political context in which the National Commission Report on Maoist affected states (2008), authored by independent civil society activist-experts emerges. In its sympathetic approach to the Maoist menace, the report surely departs from the official Left position and yet in its skewed understanding of the problem, it remains deeply consonant with it. Finally, it points to the dangers of the merging of state, media, and civil society interests and what implications this has for a class based understanding of the rural masses. Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:45:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/nlc300609.html The NLC strongly urges the following steps: 1. All U.S. military aid to Honduras should be immediately suspended. 2. Honduras, a member of CAFTA, is among the largest exporters in the world of garments to the U.S., with U.S. companies importing $2.6 billion worth of apparel in 2008. The NLC calls on Wal-Mart, Fruit of the Loom, Russell, and the dozens of other major U.S. retailers and apparel firms sourcing production to Honduras to go on record publicly opposing the military coup and insisting on a return to peaceful functioning of the country's democratic institutions. Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/gurvich290609.html A bonfire is burning about 500 meters from the government palace, and both the youth of the Democratic Unification Party and other organizations opposed to the coup have set up barricades on the main access roads to the zone of protests. "We Want Mel" and "No to the Coup d'État" are some of the slogans chanted by the speakers, audible all the way up to the government palace, occupied by the perpetrators of the coup. On Sunday, political and social organizations formed the Popular Resistance Front, which called on the public to go on a general strike of citizens, and trade unions, peasant organizations, and student groups will be participating, beginning this Monday. Marches and rallies across the country to be held on Monday have been announced as well. The presidential palace remains surrounded by military tanks, while people hang in there to protest. Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:55:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/weisbrot290609.html If in fact the election was not stolen, and Washington (and Europe) pretend that it was, this can contribute to a worsening of relations. It will give further ammunition to hard-liners in Iran, who are portraying the whole uprising as a conspiracy organized by the West. (It doesn't help that the Obama administration hasn't announced an end to the covert operations that the Bush administration was carrying out within Iran). More importantly, it will boost hardliners here -- including some in the Obama administration -- who want to de-legitimize the government of Iran in order to avoid serious negotiations over its nuclear program. That is something that we should avoid, because a failure to seriously pursue negotiations now may lead to war in the future. Mon, 29 Jun 2009 14:13:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/castro290609.html That coup high command cannot be negotiated with, they have to be made to resign and other, younger officers who are not committed to the oligarchy should take over the military command, or there will never be a government "of the people, by the people and for the people" in Honduras. The coup plotters, cornered and isolated, have no possible salvation if the problem is confronted with determination. By the afternoon, even Mrs. Clinton had declared that Zelaya is the only president of Honduras, and the Honduran coup leaders can't even breathe without the support of the United States. Mon, 29 Jun 2009 12:55:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/golinger290609.html A New York Times article has just confirmed that the US Government has been "working for several days" with the coup planners in Honduras to halt the illegal overthrow of President Zelaya. While this may indicate nobility on behalf of the Obama Administration, had they merely told the coupsters that the US Government would CUT OFF all economic aid and blockade Honduras in the event of a coup, it's almost a 100% guarantee that the military and right wing parties and business groups involved in the coup would not have gone through with it. Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:15:00 EST http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2009-06-25-iran-money_N.htm The Obama administration is moving forward with plans to fund groups that support Iranian dissidents, records and interviews show, continuing a program that became controversial when it was expanded by President Bush. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which reports to the secretary of state, has for the last year been soliciting applications for $20 million in grants to "promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law in Iran," according to documents on the agency's website. The final deadline for grant applications is June 30. Mon, 29 Jun 2009 05:21:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/iran290609.html Farid Marjai: The system in Iran has multiple power centers. For challenges confronting the Mousavi camp, he needs the support of the clerical establishment. Over the years, this establishment has not entirely acted as a monolith, and he is astute enough not to alienate them with an agenda that might be viewed as an assault on the state. Their support or lack of can be decisive for the outcome. Moreover, Mousavi supporters need to continue to be actively engaged, without resorting to any violence. For the most part they have done so. In addition, the tone of language of protest on the street can not be along class lines. Although Mousavi’s language has been inclusive and his discourse egalitarian, some provocateurs in the public at large hurled insults at Ahmadinejad during the presidential campaign, using demeaning terms (such as “peasants”) which has a de-humanizing effect and alienates sectors of the society that support Ahmadinejad. During the disturbances of the past week, those who brought you the Iraq “show” like Paul Wolfowitz have resurfaced, and written op-eds about the Iranian situation. In his appearances on CNN, Wolfowitz urged the American government to establish contact with Mousavi. There is a subtext to this statement and position. By coloring and compromising Mousavi and the Green Wave in this way, Mousavi would suffer legitimacy, and as a result, the social crisis would intensify and radicalize the process to the point of desperately Americanizing the movement. This may be a component of the “creative chaos” doctrine that was advanced by the neoconservative elements in the Bush national security team. In their writings, other Neocon figures such as Kenneth Timmerman had been focusing on opportunities that can be created in Iran even before the elections. Basically, they are on a fishing expedition. . . . Sure, some voices are heard here and there that claim the Green Wave “is not about vote counts, or a Mousavi candidacy anymore” – that it has gone beyond Mousavi and the elections. But considering the realities on the ground, we have to acknowledge that as a catalyst, only Mousavi with the backing of both the reformist block and the moderate conservatives can the crisis be brought to a meaningful conclusion. The state is not about to collapse. That is why the Mousavi camp insists that it is only within the framework of the Green Movement and the constitution that a resolution to the crisis can be envisioned. Mon, 29 Jun 2009 04:34:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/venezuela280609.html The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela condemns the coup d'état that the Honduran oligarchy seeks to impose, against the constitutional government of President Manuel Zelaya Rosales and against the people of Honduras. President Manuel Zelaya Rosales was abducted, snatched from his residence by force, held incommunicado for several hours, and violently expelled from his country by a group of unpatriotic military men engaged in the coup. Masked soldiers abducted Foreign Minister Patricia Rodas and attacked the ambassadors of Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela in the process of executing this arbitrary detention. These disgraceful soldiers are guilty, according to the laws of Honduras and international laws, of the crimes that are being committed and of the violation of the constitution and laws of the nation. The government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela urgently calls upon the international community to condemn this situation and demands that we take the measures necessary to defeat the coup d'état in Honduras and restore the legitimate government of President Manuel Zelaya Rosales. Sun, 28 Jun 2009 16:30:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/pourzal270609.html The battle is also about welfare reform and private property rights in an economy that has been state-dominated since the Islamic Republic was established thirty years ago. Whether Iran's national oil revenue should now be directed away from grassroots priorities emerged as a major election issue this year. All of Ahmadinejad's three challengers promised to promote investor-friendly policies if elected. Sat, 27 Jun 2009 10:35:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/bishara260609.html The criticisms levelled at the regime on the part of a broad swath of youth who have joined the reformists, especially those from middle class backgrounds who are more in contact with the rest of the world, are reminiscent of the grievances aired by the young in Eastern Europe, who held that their regimes deprived them of their individual and personal freedoms, the freedom to choose their way of life and the Western consumer lifestyle. Of course, as usual, some of these claims are true, others are spread by Western media and some stem from general discontent and a search for new meaning in the modes of political expression. While not dismissing or belittling such criticism, it is important to bear in mind that these people are not the majority of young people but rather the majority of young people from a particular class. Iran is not a socialist system: there are distinct class gaps, as well as strong intersections between wealth and power, between power and position in the clerical hierarchy, and between wealth and position in the clerical hierarchy (with instances of convergence of power, position and wealth in one and the same person). Differing intersections work to create diverse political and intellectual trends and moods. Most of the youth from the poor sectors of society support Ahmadinejad, just as the poor support Chavez in Venezuela. Remember that Ahmadinejad's in 2005 was a protest vote, mostly on the part of the young, against corrupt conservatives, not just against the reformists. Remember, too, that some reformists are people of principle, fighters for their beliefs, whether or not they took part in the revolution, whereas others in the reformist camp are combining their defence of freedoms with the defence of corruption. (The Arab world abounds in people who combine the defence of economic privileges with the defence of civil liberties. They make up the class of neo-liberals that is distinguished by being neither liberal nor democratic). Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:35:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/iran260609.html . . . calling on the authorities to ensure that security forces exercise restraint in the policing of any further demonstrations in connection with the election result, and that firearms are not used except as a last resort where strictly unavoidable in order to protect life; . . . Fri, 26 Jun 2009 22:35:00 EST http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/jun/17/iran-elections-identity-crisis Iran is having an identity crisis. Since the Iranian revolution turned into an Islamic Republic few voices other than the party line have been accepted in the public realm. Nonetheless, the vacuum left by the flight of the wealthy elite after the revolution (now mostly in Los Angeles) has led to the rise of an upper class that has benefited from the industrial development of Iran over the last 20 years. Over the years this class has increasing become disenchanted with Iran's international isolation, strictures of Islamic governance and what it sees as the blatant exploitation of religion for political ends. They have long desired a rapprochement with the west in addition to the adoption of western modes of democratic governance. The government has largely left them and their satellites alone in their northern Tehran suburbs. Meanwhile, the seemingly viable mixture of theology and modernity introduced by the revolution has allowed the integration of an extremely large conservative segment of the population into Iranian society. This is the exact inverse of countries like Turkey and Egypt where national development and professional training have benefited almost exclusively the secular classes. Thus, a generation of Iranians from traditional Muslim backgrounds has been reared in the mores of the Islamic revolution and come to adopt its ideals and ambitions as a matter of choice and identity. Over the years this multi-constituted class has prided itself on its many anti-imperial achievements and Iran's very survival in the face of countless internal and external challenges. Educated, on guard, and devoted, they are the life blood of the regime and far from the puppets of a few old clerics that they are made out to be. Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:47:00 EST http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/953/re3.htm What the election drama has accomplished is to bring out the cultural conflicts of the past decade in their most acute form. There is no revolution here, only a huge schism. And if Iranian society is to come out of this in one piece, both sides need to reckon with the reality of the other's existence, and to acknowledge their right to exist and to be heard. Thu, 25 Jun 2009 23:45:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/sasi250609.html Inspired by a song by Bhaghwan Maaji, leader of the adivasi struggle against bauxite mining in Kashipur. Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:30:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/parenti250609.html In its much advertised effort to become a nuclear power, North Korea is actually displaying more sanity than first meets the eye. The Pyongyang leadership seems to know something about US global policy that our own policymakers and pundits have overlooked. In a word, the United States has never attacked or invaded any nation that has a nuclear arsenal. The countries directly battered by US military actions in recent decades (Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, then again Iraq), along with numerous other states that have been threatened at one time or another for being "anti-American" or "anti-West" (Iran, Cuba, South Yemen, Venezuela, Syria, North Korea, and others) have one thing in common: not one of them has wielded a nuclear deterrence -- until now. Thu, 25 Jun 2009 14:00:00 EST http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=98984 Twenty people including, eight Basij members, have been killed during the post-election unrest in Tehran, Iranian officials say. All the Basij members were killed by gunfire, indicating that there were gunmen fomenting unrest among protesters, the officials said. Wed, 24 Jun 2009 22:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/iran240609.html Protesters clashed with the Iranian riot police in the streets around Baharestan Square, Tehran, today. Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/nepal240609.html Produced by Cultural Branch, Central Cultral Department, CPN(Maoist) Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/aam230609.html When some commentators say that what we are witnessing is a revolution they are at best naive and at worst following their own destructive agenda. The dispute is about the future path of the Islamic Republic and the meaning of the revolution -- not about overthrowing the whole system. Tue, 23 Jun 2009 10:10:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/day220609.html Although I grew up in a community of leftwing activists who respected people of all colors and creeds, I never felt like I "fit in." Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:23:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/khamenei210609.html "The amateurish behavior of some people inside the country made them [the Western powers] greedy. They have mistaken Iran for Georgia. (Crowd laughing.) . . . The enemy's problem is that they do not yet understand the Iranian nation." Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/afrasiabi190609.html Mousavi has lodged an official complaint with the powerful 12-member Guardians Council, which has ordered a partial recount of the vote. . . . Furthermore, Mousavi complains that some of his monitors were not accredited by the Interior Ministry and therefore he was unable to independently monitor the elections. However, several thousand monitors representing the various candidates were accredited and that included hundreds of Mousavi's eyes and ears. They should have documented any irregularities that, per the guidelines, should have been appended to his complaint. Nothing is appended to Mousavi's two-page complaint, however. . . . Given the thin evidence presented by Mousavi, there can be little chance of an annulment of the result. Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:40:00 EST http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KF20Ak03.html China has broken silence on the developing situation in Iran. This comes against the backdrop of a discernible shift in Washington's posturing toward political developments in Iran. The government-owned China Daily featured its main editorial comment on Thursday titled "For Peace in Iran". It comes amid reports in the Western media that the former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is rallying the Qom clergy to put pressure on the Guardians Council -- and, in turn, on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei -- to annul last Friday's presidential election that gave Mahmud Ahmadinejad another four-year term. Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:11:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/munk190609.html The five senators voting against $106 billion for Obama's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were three reactionaries -- Coburn (R-OK), DeMint (R-SC), and Enzi (R-WY) -- and only two progressives Feingold (D-WI) and Sanders (I-VT). Not voting were two sick senators, Byrd (D-WV) and Kennedy (D-MA), and one just disgraced one -- Ensign (R-NV). A sad commentary on the party who got antiwar votes. Only 32 opposed in the House, two in the Senate. Fri, 19 Jun 2009 06:50:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/veiluva190609.html Case in point. In recent days a number of US peace organizations have issued sternly-worded statements on the recent events in Iran, including Peace Action and the Campaign for Peace and Democracy. While these groups laudably encourage continued nuclear negotiations and seemingly eschew interventionism, they are quick to denounce the elections as "massively fraudulent" and generally subscribe to the "mad mullah" stereotype of the current political system in Iran. There is a remarkable convergence between the tone of these statements and the American right who are hypocritically beating their chests over Iran's "stolen" election. After all, they do have some firsthand experience on the subject. Fri, 19 Jun 2009 04:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/iran180609.html Imam Khomeini Square, Tehran, 18 June 2009 Thu, 18 Jun 2009 15:40:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/lalgarh180609.html By the time we left Lalgarh, the struggle had intensified. By now the people have been successful in making their immediate enemy CPM flee along with the police. The enthusiasm we saw in the people was exuberant. For the first time they are being part of not some vote minting political party but a committee which is their own organization. They are living a life free of state terror and building their own developmental projects. In different villages many residents held one opinion in common, 'we have got independence for the first time'. Their fight is against age old exploitation, deprivation, torture and terror. In this way this is a historic fight. And we strongly feel that what is deemed 'anarchy' by many is real struggle for independence. We urge the media houses to revisit Lalgarh. The movement has its roots in the extreme impoverished socio economic conditions of the people because of the inaction of the state. The state is bound to strike back to this fight of the people. The CRPF will soon come back with the orders to open fire on the resilient masses. The state government is also shamelessly asking the notorious and infamous Greyhounds and Cobra to come and crush the people's movement. And that will be the most unfortunate and condemnable thing. The anger of the masses against massive state terror, underdevelopment and corruption is valid. And so is the long awaited fight against it. We are going to publish a detailed report back in Delhi about this movement of the people. We remember that the media, especially the regional media in Bengal, had played a pretty progressive role during the Nandigram movement and would appeal to you to also stand by the people of Lalgrah and their genuine fight before the state carries out yet another genocide. Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:15:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/lula180609.html "I don't know anyone, other than the opposition, who has disagreed with the elections in Iran. There is no number, no proof. For now, it's just, you know, a matter between Flamengo fans and Vasco fans," the president said, making analogy to two of the most popular football clubs in Brazil. Thu, 18 Jun 2009 11:30:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/labotz180609.html Today, President Felipe Calderón and National Action Party (PAN) govern Mexico -- but perhaps not for very long. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that ruled Mexico through a one-party state for over 70 years is leading in the election polls with about 37 percent of the vote, the PAN with 33 percent and the PRD with 16. López Obrador, while he has not left the PRD, is not campaigning for its candidates, but rather for the candidates of two small left parties Convergencia and the Workers Party (PT). And there is not much time left; the election of the 500 deputies and six governors will take place July 5. Meanwhile an amorphous opposition operating principally through the Internet is calling upon Mexicans to spoil their ballots or not to vote at all in protest. That campaign looks to be a winner as pollsters predict a voter turnout of about 30 percent, far less than the 41.7 percent who voted in the 2003 midterm election and less than half those who voted in the 2006 election. Many 18 to 20 year olds are simply not registering at all, according to one pollster. Thu, 18 Jun 2009 09:00:00 EST http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/KF18Ak01.html Western capitals must make a difficult choice: how long to pin hopes on the eruption of a "color" revolution in Tehran? The burden falls almost entirely on Europe, since Washington has different priorities. Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:40:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/iran170609.html Dueling rallies for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Mir-Hossein Mousavi, color-coded (Iran's national colors for Ahmadinejad, Green for Mousavi). Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:30:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/venezuela170609.html The Foreign Ministry of Venezuela condemns the vicious and unfounded campaign to discredit the institutions of the Islamic Republic of Iran, unleashed from outside, to roil the political climate. The ministry denounces the acts of interference in the internal affairs of Iran, designed to threaten and destabilize the Islamic Revolution. Wed, 17 Jun 2009 14:40:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/afrasiabi170609.html The burden of proof is on the shoulder of Mr. Mousavi and his allies to prove with substantial documents, and they have, you know, tons of independent observers at all the voting centers to document these alleged violations, to submit to the election commissions as the law requires. . . .You cannot ask for re-elections based on unfounded allegations. . . . Mr. Mousavi himself said back in 1986 when he expressed surprise that some people were calling the elections back then as rigged, and he said that, look, with so many monitors, how is it possible to cheat? And the same question should come and haunt him today, you know. Wed, 17 Jun 2009 12:20:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/israel160609.html Nearly 40 prominent national organizations and more than 150 local organizations in 32 states have signed this open letter opposing President Obama's FY2010 budget request for $2.775 billion in military aid to Israel. . . . The Obama Administration issued its FY2010 budget request on May 8. The $2.775 billion request for military aid to Israel is an increase of $225 million compared to FY2009. Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:35:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/jacobs160609.html Completely missing from Bill Keller's New York Times piece and many other pieces in the US mainstream media (and liberal magazines like The Nation) is any genuine attempt to analyze both the class nature of the different candidates' supporters and the role Washington plays in the media's perception of Iranian politics. Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:30:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/seymour160609.html The idea that Mousavi could be a Nelson Mandela or a Martin Luther King beggars belief. In fact, the more one learns about Mousavi, the more unsavory he seems, and the more it becomes clear that his candidacy is essentially an enterprise of the plutocratic Rafsanjani family. Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/iran160609.html Rasoul Akram Hospital's doctors and nurses protest the deaths of seven people last night, reportedly shot by basij. Tue, 16 Jun 2009 23:48:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/hattingh150609.html Strikes against retrenchments have occurred from France to China and from Greece to South Korea. In some cases, workers have even kidnapped their bosses and occupied factories and offices to stop being made 'redundant.' It is through this type of direct action that the workers involved are winning concessions from the elite. Indeed, workplace occupations seem to be one of the most effective ways for people to win their demands and reclaim their dignity back from the elite. Mon, 15 Jun 2009 23:48:00 EST http://leninology.blogspot.com/2009/06/iran-vote-and-protests.html The next question is, what can come of the protests? Whatever the motivations of Mousavi, we have an enormous number of people on the streets, with a clear demand for political reform. They took to those streets, reportedly ignoring warnings that the police were carrying live ammunition. This means they are brave, certainly, and also confident in their numbers. Already, Khamenei has ceded the question of investigating the elections, which it seems clear he didn't want to do. The Iranian state may kill people, but these protesters are already starting to win. They can make gains far beyond the very limited promises that Mousavi made in order to excite progressive layers. (As far as I can tell, Mousavi was mildly critical of some state repression of television channels, and promised to 'review' legislation that could be harmful to women - hardly a tribune of the oppressed). So, whatever the truth about the claims of a fix, these protests can do nothing but good. They may, in addition to getting rid of some particularly onerous forms of oppression, open up a space in which the left can operate more freely, and in which the labour movement can assert itself more forcefully. Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:25:00 EST http://www.maxajl.com/?p=1362 An energized populace in Iran, willing to defy illegitimate state edicts, can only lead to good, fraud or no fraud. Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:20:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/iran150609.html The past fortnight's protests across SA show how angry communities are: * thousands of Durban's famous Warwick Junction vegetable market traders and their families threatened with eviction because of a mall catalyzed by 2010 World Cup construction; * 5,000 protesters in the small town of Mashisheng fighting municipal corruption and non-delivery of services (one of whom, Jacob Malakane, was shot dead by police); * furious activists demanding houses and services in Johannesburg's Soweto and Orange Farm, Durban's Lamontville, and Cape Town's Macassar Village and the 20,000-strong Joe Slovo settlement (the latter defeated in a Constitutional Court battle last week); * striking public sector workers -- from doctors to firefighters to teachers to bus drivers to prison officials -- whose pay packets are unbearably small. Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:16:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/bond150609.html The past fortnight's protests across SA show how angry communities are: * thousands of Durban's famous Warwick Junction vegetable market traders and their families threatened with eviction because of a mall catalyzed by 2010 World Cup construction; * 5,000 protesters in the small town of Mashisheng fighting municipal corruption and non-delivery of services (one of whom, Jacob Malakane, was shot dead by police); * furious activists demanding houses and services in Johannesburg's Soweto and Orange Farm, Durban's Lamontville, and Cape Town's Macassar Village and the 20,000-strong Joe Slovo settlement (the latter defeated in a Constitutional Court battle last week); * striking public sector workers -- from doctors to firefighters to teachers to bus drivers to prison officials -- whose pay packets are unbearably small. Mon, 15 Jun 2009 11:28:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/iran140609.html Ahmadinejad supporters celebrate their victory while Mousavi supporters protest to contest the election results. Sun, 14 Jun 2009 20:30:00 EST http://www.wengewang.org/read.php?tid=9322 If the Cultural Revolution had established an enduring space for independent groups to contend for power in local unions, could they have been converted into organizations that were actually capable of carrying out their nominal mandate to make leaders more accountable to their subordinates? We will, of course, never know. But as we sum up the lessons of the Cultural Revolution, this is a question worth pondering. Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:15:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/chavez130609.html The Iranian leader recognized the importance of the struggle that this electoral conjuncture represented, which the Venezuelan leader said is "a very big and important victory" for the peoples who are fighting for a better world. President Chávez informed Ahmadinejad that, during the 6th Petrocaribe Summit, all the leaders in attendance were paying attention to the evolution of the Iranian electoral panorama and following all the results. On the occasion of the telephone conversation, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to continue to work to develop the increasingly closer bilateral relations. On this point, they announced their desire to have a new meeting soon. Sat, 13 Jun 2009 23:44:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/fried130609.html What are the banks doing with the bailout billions taxpayers gave them, to help us on the road to economic recovery? In the case of Wells Fargo and the Quad City Die Casting (QCDC) factory in Moline, Illinois, nothing good. In fact the bank is a huge roadblock to recovery. That's why on Thursday, June 11, several hundred angry people marched in the pouring rain outside of Wells Fargo's offices in Chicago. . . . Wells Fargo has indicated it wants to pay back the TARP funds and escape from the federal oversight that came with the TARP money. But the Federal Reserve says Wells Fargo is short of capital and needs to raise more before it gets out from under TARP, according a June 9 report in the Los Angeles Times. Many banks are desperate to get away, as quickly as possible, from the public scrutiny that accompanied the bailout. So they're in a hurry to pay back the money, and for them that's a much higher priority than extending the credit needed for economic recovery and for the survival of businesses that provide jobs, like QCDC. Bank executives are eager to return to business as usual -- big bonuses, expensive trips, and the lavish lifestyle to which they feel entitled. Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:15:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/a-films130609.html This 26-minute film follows a father and his son as they attempt to deal with their unemployment. The two have been living in metal barracks for more than a year, waiting to return to their camp. By documenting issues of reconstruction, temporary housing, economy, unemployment, and despair, the film touches on the daily experience of life in Nahr al-Bared camp. Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:40:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/iran120609.html Iran's election commission still hasn't counted all the votes (roughly 32 million votes in total), but, according to the official results based on about 28 million votes counted so far, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (18,302,924 votes) defeated Mir-Hossein Mousavi (8,929,232 votes). Most of the Western media were predicting a close race, and some were even suggesting that a landslide for Mousavi might be possible. But the actual results were presaged by those of the telephone survey of Iranians conducted by Terror Free Tomorrow: The Center for Public Opinion, the New America Foundation, and KA Europe SPRL about a month before election day. It's a class vote again. Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:10:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/uk120609.html Labour's vote collapsed; BNP got two seats in the European parliament; the left of Labour vote was small, fragmented and dispersed. Fri, 12 Jun 2009 20:33:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/saadat120609.html Ahmad Sa'adat, the imprisoned General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, has entered the second week of his hunger strike to protest the policy of isolation and solitary confinement practiced by the Israeli prison administration against Palestinian prisoners. This is an urgent situation and requires broad solidarity and public support for the Palestinian prisoners within the jails of the occupier and in solidarity with Ahmad Sa'adat. Palestinian prisoners are suffering, subject to isolation and constant movement from prison to prison in an attempt to undermine the prisoners' strength, solidarity and steadfastness. They are denied family visits and prisoner leaders are particularly subject to the policy of isolation. The escalation of Israeli attacks on prisoners' rights -- secured through many years of struggle -- took place immediately following the war crimes and assault on Gaza and has continued since. Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:00:00 EST http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47171 Gacek said killings of Colombian trade unionists rose 25 percent from 2007 to 2008, and that so far this year, 17 more have been killed. Meanwhile, 95 percent of such murders have gone unsolved and unpunished in the last 23 years, he said. And "if we consider all acts of violence against Colombian unionists since 1986, including not only homicides, but abductions, assaults, and torture, for example, the impunity rate soars to 99.9 percent," he added. Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:00:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/kumar120609.html Can we overcome the idea of "Islam = backwardness" that exists among sections of the left, which even liberal imperialists have rejected? Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:55:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/gaber120609.html Mohamed Gaber is a graphic designer and photographer in Cairo, Egypt. Check out his blog Egyptian Leftist at gaberism.net. Fri, 12 Jun 2009 10:33:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/bani-etemad120609.html Rakhshan Bani-Etemad is an Iranian filmmaker. This film was brought online on 7 June 2009. The structure of this documentary film is based on questions about women's rights activities raised from a wide range of viewpoints about women's issues and, in the last part, on the 2009 presidential candidates' viewpoints and programs concerning the issues of women raised in the film. Fri, 12 Jun 2009 05:10:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/harnecker120609.html There is a lot of talk about the need to organize groups at all levels of society and have these groups apply strict internal democracy -- ideas that we obviously share. What we don’t share is the idea that no effort needs to be made to give them a common organic link. In favor of democracy, flexibility, and the desire to fight on many different fronts, there are those who reject efforts to determine strategic priorities and to attempt to unify actions. . . . Only a correct combination of centralism and democracy can render efficacious the decisions that are made, because having engaged in the discussion and decision-making makes each participant more committed to carry them out. When applying democratic centralism, we must avoid attempts to use narrow majorities to try and crush the minority. The more mature social and political movements believe that it is pointless to impose a decision adopted by a narrow majority. They believe that, if a large majority of militants are not convinced of the course of action to take, it is better to hold off until the militants think it over and become convinced themselves that such action is correct. This will help us avoid the disastrous internal divisions that have plagued movements and parties of the left and prevent big mistakes from being made. Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:30:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/bhattarai110609.html BP: In recent days the Maoist-led government has been basically overthrown by the unconstitutional actions of the President, and a new government has been formed by Madhav Kumar Nepal from the UML. Has this disrupted the political process and your plans for education? . . . The new government is made up of 22 parties and doesn't have the support of the party that won the elections -- how long can it last? Thu, 11 Jun 2009 15:17:00 EST http://joshualandis.com/blog/?p=3263 Popular Vote: Opposition, 50.4%; Ruling Coalition, 46%; and Other, 3.6%. But, due to the vagaries of Lebanon’s electoral system, March 14 won. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 14:10:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/crs110609.html An excerpt from a report published by the Congressional Research Service: "Middle East Elections 2009: Lebanon, Iran, Afghanistan, and Iraq" (18 May 2009). . . . In urban areas, Ahmadinejad has been greatly weakened by the perception that his defiance on the nuclear issue has caused Iran to become isolated internationally. Musavi benefits from contrast with that position. Students have conducted several high-profile anti-Ahmadinejad protests in recent years, most recently in late February 2009 when authorities tried to rebury the bodies of some killed in the Iran-Iraq war on the campus of Amir Kabir University of Technology. However, Ahmadinejad continues to exhibit support among lower classes and rural voters, which could potentially carry him to re-election. He has raised wages and lowered interest rates for poorer borrowers, cancelled some debts of farmers, and has increased social welfare payments and subsidies. Some believe these moves have fed inflation, but rural Iranians see him as attentive to their economic plight. . . . The Obama Administration is officially neutral in the contest. However, virtually all observers believe that the Administration perceives that Ahmadinejad's defeat would benefit U.S. interests by enhancing the potential for Iran to meet international demands to curb its nuclear program. Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:05:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/iran110609.html In a new public opinion poll across Iran before the critical upcoming June 12, 2009 Presidential elections, a plurality of Iranians said they would vote for incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iranians also continue overwhelmingly to favor better relations with the United States and would like to directly elect their Supreme Leader in a free vote. The desire for improved American relations and a more open and democratic system in Iran have been consistent findings in all our surveys of Iran over the past two years. These are among the many results of a new nationwide public opinion survey of Iran conducted by Terror Free Tomorrow: The Center for Public Opinion ("TFT"), the New America Foundation, and KA Europe SPRL ("KA"). Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:45:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/artists100609.html Green Stars (including Dariush Mehrjui, Masoud Kimiaei, Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Fatemeh Motamed-Aria); Mousavi Campaign Film, Directed by Dariush Mehrjui; Mohsen Namjoo, "Hamrah Sho Aziz"; Mohsen Makhmalbaf in Support of Mir-Hossein Mousavi; Zahra Rahnavard (Wife of Mousavi), a Woman of Art and Ideas Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:17:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/hossein-zadeh100609.html President Obama's appointment of Dennis Ross as the point man in dealing with Iran is equally ominous. Ross is known as having developed a strategy of dealing with Iran that is called "engagement with pressure," which means projecting or pretending negotiation with Iran in order to garner broader international support for the US-sponsored economic pressure on that country. Here is how Flynt and Hillary Leverett, former National Security Council staff members, relate a conversation they had with Ross about his cynical strategy of engagement-with-pressure: "In conversations with Mr. Ross before Mr. Obama's election, we asked him if he really believed that engagement-with-pressure would bring concessions from Iran. He forthrightly acknowledged that this was unlikely. Why, then, was he advocating a diplomatic course that, in his judgment, would probably fail? Because, he told us, if Iran continued to expand its nuclear fuel program, at some point in the next couple of years President Bush's successor would need to order military strikes against Iranian nuclear targets. Citing past 'diplomacy' would be necessary for that president to claim any military action was legitimate." Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:37:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/irin100609.html The problem of land grabbing by foreign investors and governments, however, extends well beyond the confines of Cambodia. Elsewhere in Asia similar examples can be seen, as well as in Africa. According to the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), between 15 and 20 million hectares of farmland in such countries have been subject to transactions or negotiations since 2006. IFPRI estimates the value of such deals at up to $30 billion. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:55:00 EST http://www.rep.org.br/pdf/105-1e.pdf The present paper is a formalization of the critique of the growth with foreign savings strategy that one of its authors has been doing in recent years. Although medium income countries are capital poor, current account deficits (foreign savings), financed either by loans or by foreign direct investments, will not usually increase the rate of capital accumulation or will have little impact on it in so far as current account deficits will be associated with appreciated exchange rates, artificially increased real wages and salaries and high consumption levels. In consequence, the rate of substitution of foreign savings for domestic savings will be relatively high, and the country gets indebted not to invest and grow but to consume. Only when there are large investment opportunities, stimulated by a sizeable difference between the expected profit rate and the long term interest rate, the marginal propensity to consume will get down enough so that the additional income originated from foreign capital flows will be used for investment rather than for consumption. In this special case, the rate of substitution of foreign for domestic savings tend to be small and foreign savings will contribute positively to growth. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:25:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/nawi100609.html Ezra Nawi is one of Israel's most courageous human rights activists and without your help, he will likely go to jail in less than 30 days. His crime? He tried to stop a military bulldozer from destroying the homes of Palestinian Bedouins in the South Hebron region. These homes and the families who live in them have been under Israeli occupation for 42 years. They still live without electricity, running water and other basic services. They are continuously harassed by Jewish settlers and the military. Nawi's friends have launched a campaign to generate tens of thousands of letters to Israeli embassies all over the world before he is due to be sentenced in July. They've asked for your help. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 09:25:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/iran100609.html We are a group of Iranian academic and antiwar activists in Europe and the United States who, in the past few years, have consistently defended Iran's national interests in all areas including its right to develop peaceful nuclear technology. Our varied activities in the face of anti-Iran propaganda by the neoconservatives in the West have included organizing press conferences, taking part in radio and TV debates, creating antiwar websites, publishing bulletins and newsletters, writing opinion pieces and letters to editors, attending national and international antiwar conferences and petitioning and lobbying Western politicians and parliamentarians. We have campaigned against the policies of the United States and its Western allies which have unjustifiably targeted Iran -- including sending Iran's nuclear dossier to the United Nations Security Council, issuing UNSC resolutions against Iran, secret and public efforts to provoke strife in Iran and destabilize the country, and threats by the United States and Israel for military intervention and bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities. As we approach Iran's presidential elections, we are duty bound to share the lessons of our antiwar activities and highlight what national policies can defend Iran's interests effectively in the international arena without isolating it or enduring U.N. sanctions. In order to safeguard Iran's national rights successfully, we think Iran's president elect must give priority to the following policies in his programs and plans: (1) Questioning the Holocaust, which has greatly aided the hawks in the West, must be discarded and replaced with a constructive foreign policy devoid of any provocative rhetoric. (2) Release of all political prisoners, freedom of press, organization and political parties, as well as peaceful meetings and gatherings. Recognizing the right of all citizens to run for election without any political vetting. (3) Abolishing medieval punishments, such as stoning and cutting limbs, public executions and execution of minors. (4) Recognizing full and unconditional equality in all areas for women and ethnic minorities. Recognizing the full citizenship and civic rights of official and unofficial religious minorities. Disregarding these tasks will seriously hinder the social and political development of the country, and will divide the Iranian people in their resistance against the unwarranted neo-colonial pressure and double standards of the Western powers. It will also provide powerful propaganda tools to hawks and their allies in mainstream media for isolating Iran and denying its fundamental rights in international organizations. Taking steps to carry out these measures, on the other hand, will put our country on a fast track to progress, will unite Iranians of all walks of life, and disarm the neoconservatives in their aggressive propaganda against Iran. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 08:25:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/lifesource100609.html Since June 2007 Gaza has been under siege by Israel. Israel has been preventing the import of food, medical supplies, fuel, electricity and spare parts needed for water and sanitation systems. Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:40:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/gaza100609.html In partnership with Al-Aqsa University in Gaza, the Free Gaza Movement (FG) is launching its "Right to Read" campaign which will use the FG boats to deliver textbooks and other educational supplies to universities throughout the occupied Gaza Strip. This is not a charitable endeavor. Rather it is an act of solidarity and resistance to Israel's choke-hold on Gaza and attempt to deny Palestinians education. According to UNWRA, Israel's blockade restricts ink, paper, and other learning materials from entering into Gaza. Tue, 09 Jun 2009 19:39:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/yates100609.html Sasha Lilley: . . . When I spoke to him recently, I asked Michael Yates about why workers should care about unions, given that most people in this country are not in one. Michael D. Yates: Well, why they should matter to workers is because they provide workers with really the only way that they can deal with employers in most circumstances. Most of us are eminently replaceable, and, as a consequence, employers treat us in ways that we don't see ourselves, they treat us as costs of production, replaceable costs of production. Businesses are in business to make money, as much money as they can, and in order to do that, they have to control the ways in which work is done to the maximum extent possible, which means that they have to depersonalize us and treat us like costs of production, and the only way that we can get around that to maintain at least some scrap of dignity, in addition to which make better wages and have a chance to get benefits and so on and so forth, have a voice at a workplace, is through unionization. All sorts of studies have shown, and I show in my book, that unions do improve workers' economic circumstances, they do give them a voice in a workplace, they do make them better informed about the laws and the general drift of the country and what have you, so that's why I think they matter. In a kind of situation we're in right now, probably they matter more than ever. Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:30:00 EST http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China_Business/KF09Cb02.html The big question for the near term has been: who will get the best access to South Yolotan-Osman gas? Will it be Europe or Russia? We now have the answer -- China. . . . Arguably, it suits Moscow as well that it is China rather than the EU which is succeeding in the Caspian. So long as Europe's energy dependence on Russia remains at its current level, Moscow remains content. Equally, China's latest foray into the Iranian gas scene will be welcomed by Moscow. . . . As in the Caspian, the race for Iranian gas pits China against the European countries rather than against Russia. The Kremlin made a big point in organizing its summit meeting with the EU in Khabarovsk. Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:48:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/peru090609b.html Videos by Peruanista, the Quixote Center, and others. Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:50:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/brutus090609.html Dawnlight seeps slowly into Sao Paulo skies / as if reluctant to rediscover old betrayals / or disclose new ones in Lula's disappointed lands Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:19:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/peru090609.html Since April 9th communities throughout the Peruvian Amazon have been protesting new laws that usher in an unprecedented wave of extractive industries into the Amazon Rainforest. President Alan Garcia's government passed these laws under "fast track" authority he had received from the Peruvian congress to make laws to facilitate the Free Trade Agreement with the United States and to make Peru more economically "competitive". Over 30,000 indigenous people have taken to blockading roads, rivers, and railways to demand the repeal of these new laws that allow oil, mining and logging companies to enter indigenous territories without seeking prior consultation or consent. The protests have led to disruptions of transport as well as the interruption of oil production. In the early morning of June 5, Peruvian military police staged a violent raid on a group of indigenous people at a peaceful blockade on a road outside of Bagua, in a remote area of northern Peruvian Amazon. Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:08:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/venezuela090609.html The Alberto Lovera Bolivarian Circle of New York invites you to join us in July for a 10-day trip to Venezuela examining advances in food sovereignty and other initiatives for social change. . . . When: July 27 to August 5, 2009. Where: Start and end in Caracas; visits to the states of Cojedes, Portuguesa, and Aragua. Cost for Activities: $700. This will cover all lodging, all transportation, and some meals for the duration of the trip. Additional expenses during the trip will be minimal. Airfare not included. Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:20:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/harnecker090609.html Political organizations have to get rid of the idea that they are the only ones capable of generating creative, innovative, revolutionary, and transformative ideas. Therefore, their role is not only to echo the demands of social movements, but also to be willing to gather ideas and concepts from these movements to enrich their own conceptual arsenal. . . . When the people realize that their own ideas and initiatives are being put into practice, they see themselves as protagonists of change and their capacity to struggle will enormously increase. . . . Unfortunately, many of the current leaders have been educated in the school of leading the people by issuing orders, and that is not something that can be changed overnight. Thus, I do not want to create an impression of excessive optimism. A correct relationship between leaders and the grassroots is still far from being achieved. Tue, 09 Jun 2009 10:05:00 EST http://djavad.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/surprising-results-for-inequality-in-2007/ Ahmadinejad's first year saw inequality rise, but the trend then reversed, and the growth rates for the lower deciles became twice those of the highest. What explains this change? Tue, 09 Jun 2009 07:15:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/barghouti080609.html This great victory came as a result of years of hard, principled, meticulous and persistent work by French solidarity groups, particularly AFPS; by the growing French BDS movement which was instrumental in making Veolia lose a huge contract in Bordeaux; by Dutch activists who achieved the first success in convincing a Dutch bank to divest from Veolia and applied pressure on other banks to follow suit; by Swedish peace and justice groups, mainly connected to the Church of Sweden, particularly Diakonia, and Swedish Palestine solidarity groups who cost Veolia the heaviest, $4.5 billion contract in running the Stockholm metro; by British solidarity groups and activists, particularly affiliated with PSC, who contributed tremendously to excluding Veolia from a lucrative contract in the West Midlands; and of course by the Palestinian BDS National Committee, BNC, which partnered with all the above in the now famous Derail Veolia and Alstom campaign to pressure the company to abandon this illegal project. Mon, 08 Jun 2009 21:19:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/higgins080609.html Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party, receiving 82,366 votes (of which 50,510 were first preference votes), was elected to the Dublin Constituency for the European Parliament. Listen to Higgins' speech to the media after his victory. . . . "This is a roar of opposition by ordinary people in Dublin to the savage policies of the Fianna Fáil-Green Party government in making working people and the unemployed pay for a crisis caused by speculators, by big developers, and by big bankers, facilitated by Fianna Fáil." -- Joe Higgins Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:35:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/bd080609.html This video was brought online on 4 June 2009, to conincide with Barack Obama's speech in Cairo on the same day. According to Max Blumenthal, the video was censored by the Huffington Post: "Censored by the Huffington Post and Imprisoned by the Past: Why I Made 'Feeling the Hate in Jerusalem'" (Mondoweiss, 6 June 2009). Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:39:00 EST http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/detroit080609.html Four Days of Active Resistance, Political Discussion, and Strategizing for a "People's Stimulus Plans" and an "Economic Bill of Rights" for Working People and the Poor Mon, 08 Jun 2009 11:00:00 EST