Americas

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Reading The Grapes of Wrath in 2010: Capitalism and Immigration

Alex Knight May 31, 2010 Alex Knight

One of the most popular and well-written American books of all time, The Grapes of Wrath gives a very human perspective on the harsh lives of migrants, personified by the Joads - a family of poor sharecroppers from Oklahoma. Evicted from their family farm, just as the millions of Mexicans who have suffered enclosure from their land and become homeless and jobless because of NAFTA, the Joads travel to California in a desperate search of work, only to encounter the harassment of authorities and the hatred of the local population.

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Environment and Food in Haiti: Two Crises, One Solution

Beverly Bell May 26, 2010 Beverly Bell

Peasant Movement Garden
In this interview, Haitian peasant movement leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste discusses the role that agriculture can play in Haiti in addressing both the environmental and food crises. The solutions he and many other Haitians propose reside in part in one set of policies and programs which can restore land and other riches of nature, and another set which can protect small-scale, sustainable agricultural production from agribusiness.

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Haitian Farmers Commit to Burning Monsanto Hybrid Seeds

Beverly Bell May 19, 2010 Beverly Bell

Farmer Jonas Deronzil
"A new earthquake" is what peasant farmer leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) called the news that Monsanto will be donating 60,000 seed sacks (475 tons) of hybrid corn seeds and vegetable seeds, some of them treated with highly toxic pesticides. The MPP has committed to burning Monsanto's seeds, and has called for a march to protest the corporation's presence in Haiti on June 4, for World Environment Day.

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Obama Myths & Realities

Greg Guma May 17, 2010 Greg Guma

It was a fairy tale premise: Once upon a time a charismatic prince appeared magically and gave an inspiring, instantly famous speech. Four years later he was leading the most powerful kingdom in the world from the brink of disaster.

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The Oil Spill: Accident or Cyber Attack?

Greg Guma May 11, 2010 Greg Guma

The Oil Rig Explosion
Before the massive oil drilling disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, experts and politicians confidently said that it couldn't happen. Or, if something did go wrong, the impacts would be swiftly contained with minimal leaking. Now that those assurances have been proven wrong, they claim that it was an accident that couldn't have been predicted, and meanwhile avoid the elephant in the room - how and why.

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Haiti: Government Destroys Refugee Camps

Beverly Bell, Photo by Roberto (Bear) Guerra May 10, 2010 Beverly Bell, Photo by Roberto (Bear) Guerra

Getro Nelio, Top Tight
"Everything we owned got smashed. We lost everything." Getro Nelio was not referring to the devastating earthquake of January 12. The unemployed, 24-year-old Haitian was speaking about losing his home a second time in three months, on this occasion due to the government. Since late March, armed Haitian police have been closing camps and destroying the shelters that quake victims created out of whatever supplies they could scavenge, from cardboard to small strips of tin. U.N. troops sometimes aid in the evictions.