Month: February 2006

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The Demise of a President, Constitutional Irrelevency and the Media That Failed to Notice

Sandy Leon Vest February 8, 2006 Sandy Leon Vest

January 20, 2006 should have been heralded in headlines across the nation as a historical turning point in US history. Instead, Conyers et Ors Hearing on Domestic Spying, headed by Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich), was literally and figuratively held underground in the dark recesses of the nation's capitol building. The hearings, which featured a politically variegated roster of witnesses, took place in room B339 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The 'B' stands for basement. According to the Majority party, it was the only room available. This despite the fact that the briefing was held on a day when no other hearings were being held and the rest of Congress was on vacation.

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The World Social Forum and the Streets in Caracas, Venezuela

April Howard and Benjamin Dangl February 7, 2006 April Howard and Benjamin Dangl

Caracas, Venezuela is a city made up of skyscrapers, colonial architecture and, wherever possible, the do-it-yourself tile and cement houses of poor neighborhoods, known as barrios. Though the local mainstream media ignored the coming of the 2006 World Social Forum, Caracans themselves found out quickly as they watched a parade of activists from across the globe pour into their city waving banners, setting up tents and discussing the state of the world on park benches and hotel lobbies. 

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A People’s History of Iraq: 1950 to November 1963

Bob Feldman February 2, 2006 Bob Feldman

Most people in the United States would like to have seen the 140,000-plus U.S. troops who are still occupying Iraqi soil (in support of special U.S. corporate interests) to be finally withdrawn from Iraq by Christmas 2005. Yet neither Bush Administration officials nor Democratic Party establishment politicians appeared willing to bring U.S. troops in Iraq back to the U.S. any time soon. They still apparently do not want to admit that the demand by U.S. anti-war movement demonstrators that no U.S. troops be sent to Iraq was a wiser foreign policy option to implement than their bipartisan foreign policy of "authorizing the use of United States Armed Force against Iraq."

Political Prisoners

Indigenous Political Prisoners Struggle for Justice in Honduras

Sandra Cuffe February 1, 2006 Sandra Cuffe

Political Prisoners*
"With the good intentions of transmitting a message of hope to all the compañeros in different communities, to indigenous peoples, to those of us struggling for justice, those of us who are always characterized by our work to defend the rights of the people, especially the right to our lands and all the resources our communities possess…"

These words, spoken by political prisoner Marcelino Miranda, reflect the unshakeable hope and courage that three years in jail have not been able to tarnish. Last Monday marked the three-year anniversary of the violent police attack on the remote Lenca descendent community of Montaña Verde, in southwestern Honduras, which led to the unjust imprisonment of Marcelino and his brother Leonardo.