Tomgram: Noam Chomsky, A Rebellious World or a New Dark Age? Posted by Noam Chomsky at 7:39am, May 8, 2012. If you had followed May Day protests in New York City in the mainstream media, you might hardly have noticed that they happened at all. The stories were generally tucked away, [...]
Tomgram: Ernest Callenbach, Last Words to an America in Decline Posted by Ernest Callenbach at 5:30pm, May 6, 2012. Thirty-five years later, it was still on my bookshelf in a little section on utopias (as well it should have been, being a modern classic). A friend had written his name inside the [...]
Greek fascist groups have begun to target the country’s ‘wretched and defenceless’ [AFP] New York, NY - Were one to write a pre-election analysis in the glorious days of Greece‘s ancien regime, one would most probably have to present and analyse the political positions of the main competing parties. Yet, this is one of the most outdated [...]
The Tinder-Box Society Wednesday, 02 May 2012 09:46By Robert Reich, Robert Reich’s Blog | Op-Ed Labor groups and others affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street moment march from Union Square to Wall Street in New York, May 1, 2012. Thousands of protesters gathered in New York on Tuesday as part of widespread protests coordinated by Occupy [...]
Rebecca Solnit, American Dystopia, Fiction or Reality? Posted by Rebecca Solnit at 8:49am, May 1, 2012. In my childhood years of the 1950s, apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic landscapes were a dime a dozen. In the Arctic, the first radioactivated monster, Ray Bradbury’s famed Rhedosaurus, awakened in The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and began its [...]
An Occupy Wall Street protest in New York. Photograph: Emmanuel Dunand/AFP/ Getty Images link http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/30/noam-chomsky-what-next-occupy This is the transcript of a discussion that took place earlier this year between Noam Chomsky and Occupy supporters Mikal Kamil and Ian Escuela for InterOccupy, an organisation that provides links between supporters of the Occupy movement around the world. Professor Chomsky, the Occupy movement is [...]
Ukrainians hold candles commemorating the 26th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Kiev, Ukraine,Thursday, April 26, 2012. (AP Photo/Sergei Chuzavkov) Despite Fukushima and Chernobyl Has World Learned Nothing? On Anniversary of Chernobyl Ukrainians, Greenpeace Decry Nuclear Energy – Common Dreams staff link http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/04/26-1 “The Chernobyl disaster underscored that mankind [...]
Same venom by http://www.agnostic-library.com/ma/tag/atheist/ From my balcony on Manhattan’s West side, I can see the spot on the Palisades above Weehawken New Jersey where Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton in July, 1804. Hamilton, a Federalist, had called his Democratic-Republican adversary “a dangerous man” not to be trusted with the reins of Government.” Burr responded [...]
‘Tunisia is one of our oldest friends in the world,’ President Obama said when US Peace Corps reopened operations in the country [EPA] Washington, DC - After a 16 year hiatus, the US Peace Corps is reopening operations in Tunisia. The first group of volunteers is scheduled to arrive this year and their assignments will focus on English [...]
What Rich People Fear Most By Kenneth Rapoza April 18, 2012 “Forbes” – Once again, Washington has shown just who they work for. On matters of the economy, it is a handful of favorite industries like banking and insurance. On fiscal and monetary matters, it is the ubiquitous one percenters [...]
The Shock Doctrine Video link to video http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article31113.htm An investigation of “disaster capitalism“, based on Naomi Klein‘s proposition that neo-liberal capitalism feeds on natural disasters, war and terror to establish its dominance. Posted April 18, 2012 Related articles The Shock Doctrine 2009(leftygazette.wordpress.com) Naomi Klein: ‘If You Take Climate Change Seriously, You [...]
That both conservatives and reformists have faced defeat characterises Iran‘s domestic politics [AFP] Cambridge, United Kingdom - One way of assessing what the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement is capable of is to examine whether its adversaries have a chance of being defeated. OWS has generated a great deal of debate since its inception as a [...]
“The propaganda system allows the U.S. Leadership to commit crimes without limit and with no suggestion of misbehavior or criminality; in fact, major war criminals like Henry Kissinger appear regularly on TV to comment on the crimes of the derivative butchers.” - Edward S. Herman, political economist and author The quote above simply shows [...]
In a few short years the term “fracking” went from obscurity, mostly mistaken for an obscenity, to a household word, now often associated with flammable tap water. The technology is not new, but the market conditions that make such reckless forays deep into the earth’s crust profitable, are new. Welcome to the [...]
Become a Fan (34 fans) — Page 1 of 2 page(s) opednews.com This article cross-posted from Consortium News Occupy protesters in a sit-down protest in solidarity with a general strike in Spain. (Photo from OccupyWallSt.org) By Phil Rockstroh (about the author) Although I have resided in New York City for many years, I was born in the Deep [...]
Ground Zero in New York City. (Photo: Karen Blumberg / Flickr)The endless war on terror in South Asia – with Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, the United States, Great Britain, Russia, India, France, Germany, Spain, all players - must seem like a senseless maze to the people forced to live with daily random violence in this region. In [...]
GETTY IMAGES 4 MONTHS AGONEW YORK, NY – NOVEMBER 02: Members of the New York City chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War and dozens of other uniformed veterans known as ‘Veterans of the 99%’ prepare to march from VietnamVeterans Plaza to Zucotti Park where the Occupy Wall Street movement is centered on November 2, 2011 in New York City. The [...]
Jessierocks (CC-BY) Young people attend an Occupy demonstration in early October 2011. By Henry Giroux, Truthout This piece originally appeared atTruthout. Link to article at Truthout http://www.truth-out.org/youth-revolt-plague-state-sponsored-violence/1331663173 Young people are demonstrating all over the world against a variety of issues ranging from economic injustice and massive inequality to drastic cuts in education and public services. At the [...]
No matter how much evil Barack Obama actually accomplishes during his presidency, people that call themselves leftists insist on dubbing him the Lesser Evil. Not only is Obama not given proper credit for out-evil-ing George Bush, domestically and internationally, but the First Black President is awarded positive grades for his intentions versus the [...]
The Finger of Fate Upon You Friday, 23 March 2012 11:06By William Rivers Pitt, Truthout | Op-Ed A protester during a rally of Occupy Wall Street demonstrators in New York, March 17, 2012. (Photo: Robert Stolarik / The New York Times)Then the morning came when I opened my eyes and felt the finger of Fate upon me, [...]
Police State Blues “Our rights do not end where the caprice of authoritarian bullies begins.” By Phil Rockstroh March 19, 2012 “Information Clearing House” — At mid-evening, on Saturday, March 17, upon the six-month anniversary of the occupation of Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan, the NYPD — because the department suffered no [...]
Posted by Stephan Salisbury at 6:04pm, March 4, 2012. [Note for TomDispatch Readers: Scott Horton writes the No Comment column for Harper’s Magazine online. He’s one of the earliest figures whose writing I began following post-9/11 (and still read regularly). Today, his column is a Q&A with me about my new book, The United States of [...]
Solitary Confinement A First-Hand Reflection On Domestic Torture In A Time Of Terror By Younus Abdullah Muhammad They locked me in this room, Alone, by myself, just me – With no one to talk to except for the walls, or the face in the mirror I see. So I sit, [...]
: Occupy Wall Street: Why Now? What’s Next? Naomi Klein and Yotam Marom in Conversation About Occupy Wall Street by Naomi Klein and Yotam Marom Naomi Klein: One of the things that’s most mysterious about this moment is “Why now?” People have been fighting austerity measures and calling out abuses by the banks for a couple of years, with [...]
Movement to Occupy Vacant Houses Spreads Bronx activists supported by Occupy Wall Street enter second month of occupation Go to story | Go to homepage On the Russian Left Boris Kagarlitsky: Young people are joining the movement but left is divided and weak Go to story | Go to homepage The Promise What you have been seeing on TRNN [...]
Mr. Fish By Chris Hedges “The Cross and the Lynching Tree are separated by nearly two thousand years,” James Cone writes in his new book, “The Cross and the Lynching Tree.” “One is the universal symbol of the Christian faith; the other is the quintessential symbol of black oppression in America. Though both are symbols of death, one [...]
Slums Must Go! May Day Parade, New York, c. 1936 by Joe Schwartz ‘Photo League policy discouraged them from wasting their time on the idly rich and the fatuously famous. For them, the camera’s purpose was to make social problems visible, not to flatter celebrities’ A fine example of a “picture is worth a [...]
This is the full text of the speech he gave in 2009 at the Riverside Church. Noam Chomsky, the MIT professor, author and dissident intellectual, just turned eighty years old this past December. He has written over 100 books, but despite being called “the most important intellectual alive” by [...]
12 Reasons You’ll Be Hearing More About the Commons in 2012 We Power stands at the convergence of economic and cultural trends by Jay Walljasper 1. The Commons is Essential to Our Health, Security & Survival The commons comprises valuable assets that belong to all of us. This includes clean air and fresh water; [...]
Rebecca Solnit, Occupy Your Heart Posted by Rebecca Solnit at 9:01am, December 22, 2011. [Holiday Note for TomDispatch Readers: Call it a tradition by now. Rebecca Solnit has had the last word at this website for years, looking forward, looking back, and in 2010, before our year of protest even began, considering “alternatives” to what is. This [...]
Celebration: Protesters returned to the park en masse shortly before midnight in downtown Manhattan.The Occupy Wall Street movement made a surprise invasion of Zuccotti Park last night while the police focused on New Year‘s Eve celebrations elsewhere in New York. Around 800 demonstators piled up metal barricades, hoisting American flags and banners while scuffles broke [...]
Barbara Ehrenreich, Homeless in America Posted by Barbara Ehrenreich at 8:30am, October 23, 2011. Last weekend, at the dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the Washington Mall, two of King’s children gave shout-outs to Occupy Wall Street, now spreading around the country and the world. His daughter Bernice spoke of it as [...]
A Christmas Message From America’s Rich by Matt Taibbi It seems America’s bankers are tired of all the abuse. They’ve decided to speak out. True, they’re doing it from behind the ropeline, in front of friendly crowds at industry conferences and country clubs, meaning they don’t have to look the rest of America in the eye [...]
Rebecca Solnit, Occupy Your Heart Posted by Rebecca Solnit at 9:01am, December 22, 2011. [Holiday Note for TomDispatch Readers: Call it a tradition by now. Rebecca Solnit has had the last word at this website for years, looking forward, looking back, and in 2010, before our year of protest even began, considering “alternatives” to what is. This year, [...]
Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu called called the Occupy movement a ‘voice for the world.’ Photograph: Mohammed Salem/Reuters Archbishop Desmond Tutu has waded into an ecclesiastical row over aNew York church’s refusal to allow protesters from Occupy Wall Street to camp on a vacant lot it owns. The South African activist and retired church leader urged Trinity Church to [...]
Newburgh Four member James Cromitie is led away by police. At trial, the judge said Cromitie was a man ‘whose buffoonery is positively Shakespearean in its scope’. (Photograph: Robert Mecea/AP)Hussain was flash, drove expensive cars and treated people to gifts of cash and food. He also had radical opinions that stood out in a mosque [...]
Engelhardt, The 1% Election Posted by Tom Engelhardt at 5:58pm, December 11, 2011. How to Turn Election Year Into Election Life Their Bread, Our Circus By Tom Engelhardt Sometimes words outlive their usefulness. Sometimes the gap between changing reality and the names we’ve given it grows so wide that they empty of all meaning or retain [...]
Photo courtesy Jim Gerritsen Jim Gerritsen of Bridgewater made his first trip to New York City to address the Dec. 4 “Farmers’ March” to Zuccotti Park Maine Farmer the Face of Organic Growers’ Fight Against Monsanto by Kathryn Olmstead I have wanted to catch up with Bridgewater organic farmer Jim Gerritsen [...]
Dear George, This Saturday, December 10, we join the international community in celebrating Human Rights Day. Looking back on the year, Human Rights Watch accomplished so much, thanks to supporters like you. Here are the ways you helped us hold tyrants accountable and ensure the rule of law. Middle East & North Africa During the [...]
The US state of New Yorkis considering whether to go ahead with a controversial form of gas drilling.Activists want to keep a moratorium in place on hydraulic fracturing – also known ”fracking”. Supporters say it will be good for the economy, but opponents say the practice puts the environment at risk. Al Jazeera‘s Kristen [...]
President Barack Obama greets well wishers as he arrives at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011, on his way to attend fundraisers in New York City. (AP Photo/David Karp) NEW YORK—President Barack Obama is reassuring Jewish supporters that his administration is committed to the security of Israel. He says: [...]
Josef Stalin holding his daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva Stalin who defected in 1967 and settled in the US. Photograph: AP Stalin’s daughter who defected to US dies at 85 Svetlana Peters, who denounced communism after the cold war, has died after living out her remaining years in seclusion reddit this Staff and agencies The Guardian, Tuesday 29 [...]
The NYPD and FBI have indiscriminately spied on Muslim communities in the US, angering many American Muslims [EPA] New York, NY – The Associated Press recently reported on know-your-rights trainings happening in New York City’s Muslim communities. This was one of the latest installments in the wire agency’s series confirming what Muslim New Yorkers had long [...]
Peter Van Buren, Thought Crime in Washington Posted by Peter Van Buren at 9:01pm, November 27, 2011. When I arrived at Zuccotti Prison one afternoon last week, the “park” was in its now-usual lockdown mode. No more tents. No library. No kitchen. No medical area. Just about 30 leftover protesters and perhaps 100 of New York’s finest [...]
A demonstrator from Occupy Wall Street is arrested in lower Manhattan on November 17th. Photograph by Ashley Gilbertson. PRE-OCCUPIED The origins and future of Occupy Wall Street. by Mattathias SchwartzNOVEMBER 28, 2011 PRINT E-MAIL RELATED LINKS News Desk: A map of possible sites for the original Occupy Wall Street encampment. Ask the Author: Join a live [...]
Brennan Cavanaugh (CC-BY) A scene from one of Occupy Wall Street’s N17 rallies on Nov. 17 in New York City. The writing on the wall reads: “This revolution will not be privatized.” OWS Organizer Questions Intentions of Secretive Affinity Group EMAIL PRINT SHARE SHARE Posted on Nov 22, 2011 By Alexander Kelly NEW YORK CITY—At six o’clock on [...]
Nestle‘s director of corporate communications admits that it markets bottled water to minority communities [EPA] New York, New York – Water is the lifeblood of this planet, whose inhabitants are watching its accelerated spiral into crisis mode even as they struggle to address the issues and lifestyles that are stretching the earth’s resources thin. Outwardly, [...]
Rebecca Solnit, Ms. Civil Society v. Mr. Unaccountable Posted by Rebecca Solnit at 8:32am, November 22, 2011. [Note for TomDispatch Readers: TomDispatch now closes for Thanksgiving. We’ll be back next week, of course. In the meantime, those of you who would like to offer support to this site can still contribute $75 and get [...]
Occupy protesters erected a ‘bat signal’ in New York that projected ’99%’ instead of the familiar bat [GALLO/GETTY] New York, NY – We live in an age of Superbowls and Super Committees with millions hoping that some new superheroes will turn up to save us from a downward spiral of intractable problems. A week ago, [...]
Today is a national day of action to mark the start of the third month of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Here in New York, organizers have been distributing posters reading “Shut Down Wall Street! Occupy the Subways! Take the Square!” As we broadcast protesters marched in various parts of the Financial District in an [...]
