Latest articles


Ready for WWIII?

Can one even be ready for World War Three?

How the war on Gaza exposed Israeli and western fascism

Material and rhetorical support for the genocide of the Palestinian people is everywhere. It’s time to ask why

Nearly a year into the world’s first live-streamed genocide – which began in Gaza, and is rapidly expanding into the occupied West Bank – the establishment western media still avoid using the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s rampage of destruction.

The worse the genocide gets, the longer Israel’s starvation-blockade of the enclave continues, the harder it gets to obscure the horrors – the less coverage Gaza receives.

The worst offender has been the BBC, given that it is Britain’s only publicly funded broadcaster. Ultimately, it is supposed to be accountable to the …

The Legacy of the ’90s at KPFA

Longtime KPFA listeners remember 1999 as the year of the Hijacking, the Lockout, and the massive response. Ten thousand people marched through the streets of Berkeley chanting “Take back KPFA!” and “Save Pacifica!” The battle was waged in the station’s studio, on the streets, and even in the courts. The good guys won, and the hijackers were thrown out. But acolytes of that regime remained, and their proteges are today very much back in control — the gatekeeper clique at KPFA.

Sadly, the KPFA scenario is often repeated in the affairs of humankind. I missed the French Revolution, but I imagine …

Don’t Trust the Government. Not with Your Freedoms

In questions of power then, let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.

—Thomas Jefferson

Public trust in the government to “do what is right” understandably remains at an all-time low.

After all, how do you trust a government that continuously sidesteps the Constitution and undermines our rights? You can’t.

When you consider all the ways “we the people” are being bullied, beaten, bamboozled, targeted, tracked, repressed, robbed, impoverished, imprisoned and killed by the government, one can only conclude that you shouldn’t trust the government with your privacy, your …

Getting It Straight

What does one require to understand the narratives promoted by elitists and their corporations?

Peter Doherty: Public Science Communicator

A lecture series can promise much.  But one run out of a corporatised university comes with its own burdens and blemishes.  There is the stifling sense of brand and name that hovers over proceedings.  The logo is everywhere, a permanent reminder about the role of the chief donor, sponsor or name of the individual associated with the event.  Then there is the risk of who will be the first speaker to smash the bottle against the ship before embarkation.

For the Peter Fensham AM Lecture Series (AM is not to be confused with a radio frequency), few finer choices than Professor …

Empire Fables: How Humans Became Happybaras

Once upon a time a group of Marxist vegan scientists weren’t happy with the way the world was going.

They noted that most USians more easily imagined the end of the world than the end of capitalism.

They also noted that the capybara, a large rodent found in South America, seemed to get along very well with all other creatures, sleeping and playing with turtles, cats, rats, rabbits, humans, monkeys, birds, dogs, sometimes even caimans.

So these Marxist vegan scientists, building on the work of Harry Harlow’s infamous maternal deprivation experiments on baby rhesus monkeys and Martin Seligman’s dog-shocking experiments at Penn, applied …

Satisfying Elitists

[E]xposing the constitution for what it really is – a rulebook to protect capitalism for the elites. Written by 55 of the richest white men of early America, and signed by only 39 of them, the constitution is the sacred text of American nationalism. Popular perceptions of it are mired in idolatry, myth, and misinformation – many Americans have opinions on the constitution but have no idea what’s in it.

— Review of We the Elites: Why the US Constitution Serves the Few (Sept. 17 2022) by Robert Ovetz

Beyond Irritation: Bali’s Tourism Scourge

Like eager lice on a ripe scalp, tourists have become a much-reviled feature of various economies.  While cash and contributions come in their wake, such an industry depletes, drains and pollutes the very site it idealises.  International tourism does its bit to bloat global greenhouse gas emissions, with transportation constituting the lion’s share.  All this has engendered yet another addition to the uninspiring jargon of tourism research: overtourism.

Overtourism can be seen as the apotheosis of the Irridex Index (irritation index), an unremarkable idea formulated by George Doxey in 1975 to describe the way attitudes in a local community evolve …

Can the World Save Palestine from US-Israeli Genocide?

A moment of prayer and meditation at the opening of the UN General Assembly, September 10, 2024 (Photo credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe)
On September 18th, the UN General Assembly is scheduled to debate and vote on a resolution calling on Israel to end “its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory” within six months. Given that the General Assembly, unlike the exclusive 15-member UN Security Council, allows all UN members to vote and there is no veto in the General Assembly, this is an opportunity for …

The Violence of Development

New Version of the book Food, Dependency and Dispossession: Resisting the New World Order

A revised version (September 2024) of the open-access e-book Food Dependency and Dispossession: Resisting the New World Order (2022) by Colin Todhunter is now available.

A brand-new concluding chapter, “The Violence of Development”, rounds off a book that presents a scathing critique of the global industrial agriculture system and its proponents. The book takes aim at the Green Revolution and its modern equivalent (genetically modified organisms), the displacement of traditional farming practices, and the devastating impacts of a neoliberal agenda that is conveniently passed off as ‘development’.

By critically examining the concept of ‘development’ and how it has been implemented globally, the …

Pandering to the Taxpayers

Money Talks so Voters Won't Squawk

In every presidential election, office seekers elbow each other to position themselves as favoring tax breaks for the electorate. Kamala Harris raced in quickly with proposals for a tax break for the middle class and a tax deduction of up to $50,000 for new small businesses ─ two debt producing polices. To her credit, the vice president intends to roll back a Trump administration law by raising the corporate tax rate to 28%, a needed revenue-raising policy. The first two tax proposals sound good but aren’t good. Both candidates favor Child tax credits, a worthy policy for a huge class …

Freedom Haters

Time well spent?

The New Normal Right

OK, this will be one of my non-satirical essays … or mostly non-satirical essays.

It will serve as a companion piece to The New Normal Left, another non-satirical essay that I published in April 2023, which was basically just a reiteration of a speech I gave at a conference in London. It went over pretty well back then. I republished most of it in my latest column, A Brief History of Global Capitalism. It didn’t go over quite as well this time. Political perspectives appear to …

The Canine and the Refugee

Emad, a thirty-five-year-old Palestinian man, has a dog named Shuhaybar. He’s a small, white fluffy guy with hair hanging over his eyes. Americans call him a West Highland White Terrier. Emad calls him a friend. He looks completely out of place in Gaza, yet somehow he fits. Maybe it’s Emad’s handmade chamois sombrero that he places on the dog to protect him from the sun. Or the piece of silver tarp he uses as a dog collar. Whatever the reason, this snowball, nose to the ground, never complaining canine, who accompanies Emad wherever he goes—bread lines, water lines, charging …

The Revolutionary Fire in the People Starts with a Song

Mahankali Parvati (left), Moturu Udayam (middle), and Chintala Koteshwaramma (right) perform an anti-war song during World War II with the group they led, Burrakatha Squad. Credit: Praja Natya Mandali Photography Archives

Mallu Swarajyam (1931–2022) was born with an appropriate name. From deep within the mass movement against British colonialism that was initiated by India’s peasants and workers, and then shaped by M.K. Gandhi into the movement for swaraj (self-rule), Bhimireddy Chokkamma drew her baby daughter into the freedom movement with a powerful name that signalled the fight for independence. Born into …

The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns U.S. Convictions of Uhuru 3 As A Fascist Farce

After being forced to acquit Omali Yeshitela, Jesse Nevel, and Penny Hess – the “Uhuru 3” – on being agents of Russia, a U.S. federal court jury resorted to the sham conviction of “conspiracy,” in what amounted to them being guilty of internationalism and the work of liberating African people. The state’s claim is that the defendants are guilty of “planning to sow discord and inflame American political tensions at the behest of Russia,” a charge carrying a maximum sentence of five years in prison.

Although the conspiracy charge is being regarded as the less serious of the …

Childish Fantasies: Age Verification for Social Media Down Under

The Australian government has been in a banning mood of late.  In keeping with an old, puritanical tradition, the killjoys and wowsers have seized the reins of power and snorting a good deal while doing so.  In important matters such as anti-corruption and environmental protection, the government of Anthony Albanese is showing fewer teeth and no gumption.  On foreign policy, it has proved craven in its Middle Eastern policy, obsequious to the United States, to which it has handed the wealth of the land to in the event of any future conflict Washington wishes to fight.

With such an impoverished policy …

The US Attempted Coup in Venezuela uses new Cyber Tools, but cannot Break the Chavista Wall

The peoples around the world have looked to Venezuela as a vanguard leading Nuestra América in its second independence struggle, against the US. The US rulers operate as the inheritor of the European colonial empires, assuming the right to interfere in other countries’ elections, and dictate who are the winners. No other country – save US underlings in Europe, and Israel – dares to violate international law so brazenly.

The Venezuelan right-wing had no real plan to win a democratic election, but instead prepared for a coup d’etat even before the polls closed. Working with the US government and corporate media, they …

Lies about Haitians reflect racist imperialism

A crass new iteration of anti-Haitianism has recently received a remarkable amount of attention. This novel form of racism with deep anti-Black roots was even referenced in the US presidential debate.

Recently racist and ignorant social media users have circulated the idea that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets. US Vice presidential candidate JD Vance greatly boosted the anti-Haitian claim with a post to X stating, “Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio. Reports now show that people have had …

Message to Peons

The rulers speak to the ruled.

Antarctica’s Deep Vulnerability Exposed at 11th Scientific Conference

The 11th Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research conference was held in Pucón, Chile August 19-23, 2024. Fifteen-hundred academics, researchers, and scientists specializing in Antarctica met to share cutting-edge research. Reports at the conference exposed new dimensions of the Antarctic risk profile that should move the world’s leadership posthaste to mitigate society’s self-destructive dependence on fossil fuels.

Antarctica is starting to carry the brunt of too much CO2 leading to too much heat, leading to unstable ice sheets. And it’s happening much, much faster than anybody thought possible. This is a relatively new development that could have far-reaching consequences.

For example, Gino Casassa, …

The Law of Force or the Force of Law

Are the nations of the world doomed to go on fighting the brutal, horrifying wars that have long characterized human history?

We might well wonder about that as we watch, aghast, while Israeli armed forces slaughter thousands of Palestinian civilians, Russian military might relentlessly pounds Ukrainian towns and cities into rubble, and new, bloody wars erupt in numerous other lands.

Why does such widespread destruction and human suffering persist in the modern, ostensibly “civilized,” world?

A variety of explanations have been advanced.  Some observers point to capitalism, others blame dictatorial rule, while still others place the onus on xenophobia, religious differences, racism, …

Another September 11th

Rolling out of my crib before dawn today (I was in it long before the charlatans Harris and Trump began their theatrical “debate”), it being another September 11th, I wondered where Dick Cheney was.

And I was still wondering where Elmer Gantry was, having received the previous day a form message from RFK, Jr.’s faith-based engagement team leader, Rev. Wendy Silvers, that she was conducting a “pop-up” prayer service for the great Ciceronians’ debate, with Bobby Kennedy in the press room, rooting for his boy Donald.  Cheney and Harris vs. Kennedy and Trump.  A tag-team match perfect for the …

Targeting Childhood in the West Bank-By Area

From October 7, 2023–July 31, 2024, Israeli forces and settlers killed Palestinian children in the West Bank at a rate of one child every two days. We partnered with Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP) to create visuals for their new report, “Targeting Childhood: Palestinian Children Killed by Israeli Forces and Settlers in the Occupied West Bank”.

Israeli forces and settlers targeted Palestinian children playing outside, protesting in the streets, walking home from school, and even standing inside their own homes in various towns and villages in the West Bank, at distances ranging from five meters up to 300 meters …

Choice

Do we have freedom of choice?

The Collective Creativity of Workers, Part II

From Unconscious Sleeping Giant to Builder of Barricades Part II


Orientation
Summing up Part I

My purpose in this two-part article is to show how creativity can be understood not only at the micro level of the individual artist, but also at the macro level of world history. I began in Part I by describing the ways in which the individual artist is different from the other workers. But then I show how romantic theories of art get in the way of seeing creativity as also a collective process rooted in history. I discuss the creative process of the artist, but …

BAP Condemns U.S. Plans for Yet Another UN Military Occupation of Haiti

We urge people of conscience around the world to stop another United Nations invasion of Haiti.

Once again, the Haiti/Americas Team of the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) strongly denounces the latest attempts by the U.S. to push for yet another UN military occupation of Haiti. We condemn this action and the relentless assaults on Haitian self-determination by the US and its criminal allies. We also urge Caribbean and Latin American governments to stand in solidarity with Haiti – just as they have stood with one another against violations of national sovereignty in Venezuela, Cuba, Honduras, etc. – as the Haitian people continue to bear the brunt of U.S. imperial policies and actions in the region.

On …

Protecting the Merchants of Death: The Police Effort for Land Forces 2024

September 11.  Melbourne.  The scene: the area between Spencer Street Bridge and the Batman Park-Spencer Street tram stop. Heavily armed police, with glinting face coverings and shields, had seized and blocked the bridge over the course of the morning, preventing all traffic from transiting through it.  Behind them stood second tier personnel, lightly armed.  Then, barricades, followed by horse mounted police.  Holding up the rear: two fire trucks.

In the skies, unmanned drones hovered like black, stationary ravens of menace.  But these were not deemed sufficient by Victoria Police.  Helicopters kept them company.  Surveillance cameras also stood prominently to the north …

The Battle over Closed vs. Open Systems

The world is now moving through an epoch-shifting transition, and a new system will be brought online as the $1.2 quadrillion derivatives time bomb that has cancerously taken over the western economy crashes.

Now, this may not be a bad thing, as the system created over the dead bodies of JFK and his brother (which some have dubbed ‘post-industrial society’, consumerism or globalization) was always an atrocity premised around a Malthusian paradigm that rejected America’s historic tradition of morality and technological progress.

However, as the multipolar alliance races to bring a system of win-win cooperation, large scale development and long term thinking …