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Fear and Loathing in Bolivia: New Constitution, Polarization

Benjamin Dangl January 3, 2008 Benjamin Dangl

Pro-Government March in La Paz
"Let's go unblock the road, compañeros!" a man in an old baseball cap yells as he joins a group of people hauling rocks and tires from a central intersection in Cochabamba. This group of students and union activists are mobilizing against a civic strike led by middle class foot soldiers of the Bolivian right. These actions in the street are part of a political roller coaster which is dramatically changing Bolivia as it enters the new year.

Photo from Baltimore.Indymedia.org

Year in Review: Progressive Good Tidings of 2007

Mark Engler December 27, 2007 Mark Engler

Understanding what is wrong in our society; speaking out against injustice; denouncing abuses by the powerful. All of these are crucial tasks. Many of us devote a large part of the year to them, and they are certainly necessary if we are to create a better world. At the same time, it is highly doubtful that these acts are sufficient. Creating positive social change takes more. It takes the knowledge that people can organize to win justice and an awareness that, even in inhospitable times, some things can go right. The holiday season provides an important moment to reflect on a few of those advances that offered hope in 2007-many of which came about just in the past few weeks.

Robert Jensen

Beyond Religion: Interview with Robert Jensen

Jeff Nall December 24, 2007 Jeff Nall

Robert Jensen
Last year, around the same time Hemant Mehta (the eBay atheist) was visiting various churches, atheist and journalism scholar Robert Jensen joined one. Jensen, a journalism scholar at the University of Texas at Austin, said he joined St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Austin as a political act of moral solidarity. Earlier this year I spoke Jensen about his personal beliefs regarding religion and how he got involved with the church. In response, Jensen challenged freethinkers to open their critical analysis to all potentially corrupt power structures, not just religion. He also urges rational minds to strip away all of their illusions, be they illusions about supernaturalism or societal constructs.

Mining in DRC, Photo: KH Snow

Congo: Three Cheers for Eve Ensler?

keith harmon snow December 24, 2007 keith harmon snow

Mining in DRC, Photo: KH Snow
A major propaganda front has swept the Western media decrying the unprecedented sexual violence in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. As this story goes to press the war in Congo-claiming 1000 lives a day in the East and more than 7 million people since 1996-is escalating yet again. More than 1.2 million were reported displaced in June, with at least 8000 additional displaced persons on October 22 after fighting escalated-as Western-backed forces perpetrate genocide and terrorism to depopulate and secure the land for multinational mining interests.