Month: January 2006

Letters From Young Activists Book

Dear Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice

Kenyon Farrow January 10, 2006 Kenyon Farrow

When I first decided to write you, I was ready to go for the jugular. I wanted to let you know, in no uncertain terms, just how much I disagreed with your political positions, abhorred your relationship with the Bush clan, and anything else I could think of. I decided I was going to look through every nook and cranny, leave no stone unturned in search of what would be some faulty move, a misspoken word, or some sort of flaw that I would use to turn you out on paper. I downloaded whatever I could find on you: commencement addresses, interviews, speeches, and your famous remarks to the 9-11 Commission. I even went to the bookstore, and purchased some right-wing puff piece posing as a biography. Just as I was preparing to write, you were nearing the end of your tenure as National Security Advisor, and nearing your Senate confirmation as the new Secretary of State. And I was poised to give you what the Black gay children call a “read.” read more

Protests Against US in Haiti

Before the Coup: Haiti’s Achievements Under Aristide and Lavalas

Stephen Lendman January 5, 2006 Stephen Lendman

The long-suffering people of Haiti suffered a catastrophic blow in February, 2004 when U.S. Marines kidnapped and deposed democratically elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.  The U.S., supported by Canada and France, forced him into exile, forbade him from even returning to the hemisphere, and reestablished a despotic interim puppet government backed and enforced by so-called UN peacekeepers and a brutal Haitian National Police.

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A Timely Study Highlights Violence Against Thai Women

Elayne Clift January 4, 2006 Elayne Clift

The first World Health Organization (WHO) study on domestic violence couldn't have come at a better time for women's advocates in Thailand. As they scrutinized a pending domestic violence law - against the backdrop of the United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on Nov. 25 - WHO's report, "Women's Health and Domestic Violence against Women Study," underscored the extent of the problem in this southeast Asian country, one of 11 included in the research.

Spitting Image

The Vietnam War: Getting Behind the Spitting Image

Benjamin Dangl, Transcribed by April Howard January 3, 2006 Benjamin Dangl, Transcribed by April Howard

Jerry Lembcke is the author of "The Spitting Image: Myth, Memory, and the Legacy of Vietnam". In 1969, he was assigned to the 41st Artillery Group in Vietnam as a Chaplain's Assistant, and joined the Vietnam Veterans Against the War when he returned in 1970. As an associate professor of sociology at Holy Cross College during the Persian Gulf War, Lembcke began to research the origins of stories about Vietnam Veterans being spit on by female antiwar protesters. Not only did the stories conflict with Lembcke's experiences as a veteran and member of the anti-war movement in the 1970's, he could not find a single documented case of a veteran being spit on.