You strangle us [for decades] and then you criticize us for the way we breathe.
— Fidel Castro
Cubans came to our region as doctors, teachers, soldiers, agricultural experts, but never as colonizers. They have shared the same trenches with us in the struggle against colonialism, underdevelopment, and apartheid. Hundreds of Cubans have given their lives, literally, in a struggle that was, first and foremost, not theirs but ours. As Southern Africans we salute them. We vow never to forget this unparalleled example of selfless internationalism. We wish also to record our indebtedness to Cuban hospitality. In particular, tens of thousands of
About the time Barack Obama ordered the drone strike that killed Abdul-Rahman al-Awlaki, the 16-year-old American kid Facebooked his second-rate choice of hip-hop favorites. I say “second-rate,” because Abdul was my son’s age almost exactly, so I know the kind of crap they listen to.
Every Tuesday, President Obama personally checks off the names of people he wants killed. George Bush, a bit more squeamish than Obama, never did that; but Mr. Obama felt those decisions were the president’s responsibility: he want[s] to keep his own finger on …
For some years an international campaign has been gradually building – ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. The goal is a treaty banning nuclear weapons, a Convention such as the Landmine Convention and the Cluster Munitions Convention. It will follow the same process, and requires enough nations, supported by their citizens, to sign up to it, bring it into being and then to ratify it. Once ratified, the development, possession and use of nuclear weapons becomes illegal. The beauty of this approach is that it sidesteps the bogged-down Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in which states that have undertaken …
The Conservative government is spending enormous amounts of time and public resources lobbying on behalf of dirty Alberta oil. They spent tens of millions of dollars lobbying on behalf of the Keystone XL pipeline through the US but they have also opened a significant European front.
Over the next week Prime Minister Stephen Harper as well as ministers Joe Oliver, John Baird, and Ed Fast are traveling through European capitals partly to try and convince officials to undermine the European Union’s move to reduce carbon emissions from fuel. The current trip is part of the 3 1/2 year-old Pan-European Oil Sands …
Unreported in the mainstream press is the dramatic long-term hunger strike by a group of Americans in solidarity with the hunger strikers in Guantanamo prison. The fasters include CODEPINK cofounder Diane Wilson (on a water-only fast since May 1), Veterans for Peace member Brian Wilson (May 12), and former president of Veterans for Peace, Elliott Adams. Below is an interview with Elliott Adams, who began his hunger strike on May 17.
Medea Benjamin: Why did you decide to take this dramatic action, which entails such personal sacrifice?
Elliott Adams: What is happening in Guantanamo is despicable. Just think about it: 86 prisoners …
The Western press was mute on the Syrian war on June 12th as reports came of another massacre carried out by the so called “rebels”, who are, in fact, members of al-Qaeda and al-Qaeda affiliated groups. Among those massacred in the village of Hatlah in the region of Deir e Zohr were dozens of women and children. Reports of the massacre vary from 30 to 100.
The French press didn’t seem too interested in dwelling on the massacre, which is surprising given their deep concern for the “protection of the civilian population” and indefatigable advocacy of “humanitarian …
The news broke this week that the National Electoral Council (CNE) of Venezuela has finished an audit of the April 14th elections and, according to an ABC report, bylined by Christopher Toothaker, “as expected it confirmed Nicolas Maduro’s 1.5 percentage-point victory.”
I was a supporter of the Bolivarian government up until very recently (as anyone who has seen my film, Venezuela: Revolution from the Inside Out, 2008, PM Press, will know). My piece about the Venezuelan guarimbas, or election protests, two days into my month-long journey through a …
A few years ago I was watching a boxing match on television that featured a black fighter whom I’ll call “Sam Smith,” squaring off against a white fighter whom I’ll call “ Joe Jones.” Although I’ve long since forgotten the boxers’ names, their weight class, and who won the fight, I do remember wishing I had a 10-pound barbell to throw at the TV screen.
Typically, boxers wear trunks that are readily distinguishable from each other. For whatever reason, that wasn’t the case in this match; both fighters were wearing shiny black trunks. Smith’s trunks had a narrow, light blue vertical …
It was a statement that remains powerful for its clear and striking defiance: wanting to be left alone. It was not merely a position taken by Greta Garbo who fobbed off the fans and detractors with equal disdain simply wanting to be left alone; it was also a statement of legal supposition that became law.
The authors of what remains one of the common law’s greatest expositions of a principle said it best: separateness is sacred, and the law must keep up with the strides, lengthy and indifferent to consequences as they tend to be, of technology.
The French were right: the best way to deal with the rich is to behead them – at least figuratively, if not physically. Opposing capital punishment does not mean that the ruling class; i.e. the rich, should be exempt from punishment or consequences for their crimes against the poor – it only means that unnecessary killing is unwarranted. By disenfranchising the rich, distributing their money to the people they have stolen it from, and ensuring that they will be powerless to commit similar crimes in the future, the guillotine can remain a bloody remnant of history, instead of a portent …
“Economists study and analyze poverty in their nice offices, have all the statistics, make all the models, and are convinced that they know everything that you can know about poverty. But they don’t understand poverty.” —Manfred Max-Neef
The Global Power Project, an investigative series produced by Occupy.com, aims to identify and connect the worldwide institutions and individuals who comprise today’s global power oligarchy.
My friend Hanna is Syrian and also happens to be Christian. The latter fact was rarely of consequence, except whenever he wished to boast about the contributions of Arab Christians to Middle Eastern cultures. Of course, he is right. The modern Arab identity has been formulated through a fascinating mix of religions, sects and races. Christianity, as well as Islam, is deeply-rooted in many aspects of Arab life. Needless to say, the bond between Islam and Christianity is simply unbreakable.
“I am Christian, but, in terms of culture, I am equally a Muslim,” he told me by way of introduction to …
So my friend. A man so beloved I wish everyone in the world knew his brilliance, his depression, his humanity, compassion and crippling guilt, he sends me this picture – the picture. The picture that will forever be seared in my mind and heart and known around the world as simply “the picture“.
Manifested without warning like an evanescent puff of air as an attachment marked “Dhaka. jpg”, with no more distinction than a recipe for chocolate chip cookies or dick pills. It might have been tagged “A picture from Dhaka that will rip your heart out forever.jpg”. But it …
While media stenographers echo the regime’s charges against whistleblowers who represent democracy far more than the government and its loyal servants, Americans have an opportunity to respond to real patriotism with support for its foremost practitioners. No elected official – so far – has come forward to stand up for the rights of the imprisoned Bradley Manning and the hunted Edward Snowden. It may be too much to expect any of our corporate owned or rented elected “representatives” to stand for anything but great wealth, the military and Israel, but Americans who’ve rallied to Manning’s support need to increase their …
You can’t say civilization don’t advance… in every war they kill you in a new way.
— Will Rogers (1879-1935) American cowboy, vaudeville performer, humorist, social commentator and motion picture actor
If people can’t trust not only the executive branch but also don’t trust Congress, and don’t trust federal judges, to make sure that we’re abiding by the Constitution with due process and rule of law, then we’re going to have some problems here.
— Pres. Barack Obama, speech in San Jose, Ca, (June 7, 2013)
When Barack Obama defeated Mitt Romney in the 2012 U.S. presidential election, there was hope that the newly …
The builders of Gaza’s Ark hope to bring Gazan goods to the world. The latest plan to try to break the illegal siege of Gaza, according to organizer Michael Coleman at Sunday’s press conference in the port of Gaza, is to refurbish their very second-hand fishing boat, fill it with Gazan products (date products, embroidery, craft items and more) and sail to another Mediterranean port, like any normal exporter.
Though this would hardly be earth-shattering news in any other coastal area, it is hoped that this time Israel will blink, and not scuttle this modest attempt to help beleaguered Palestinians in …
