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Why We Fight

Rob Williams January 24, 2006 Rob Williams

Documentary director Eugene Jarecki, director of the "The Trials of Henry Kissinger," has hit a triple with his new film "Why We Fight." There are many compelling reasons why the Sundance Film Festival may have decided to bestow the Jury Prize on "Why We Fight" last year. Jarecki is a talented filmmaker, with a keen aesthetic sense (his celluloid mojo - lighting, camera work, sound, artistic delivery - makes a film like Robert Greenwalt's recent "Wal-Mart" adventure look downright sloppy by comparison). He also is not afraid to serve up controversy.

Remembering the Day They Kicked Khrushchev Out of the Kremlin

Jack Goldfarb January 23, 2006 Jack Goldfarb

Castro & Khruschchev

October has ever been a fateful month in Russian history: the October Revolution (1917), launching of Sputnik I, world's first space satellite (1957), Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), and that startling day, 61 years ago, on October 16, 1964, when the Soviets announced the astonishing ouster of their top leader, Nikita Khruschchev. Khruschchev thus became the first Soviet boss removed from power in a bloodless coup.

Why the World Social Forum Needs to Be Less Like Neoliberalism

Josh Lerner January 18, 2006 Josh Lerner

January is a special month for the global left. Every year at this time, progressives and activists convene at the World Social Forum, usually in Porto Alegre, Brazil. In January 2005, I too was eagerly awaiting my first trip to the Forum, imagining a week of cross-cultural communication, strategic organizing, and inspiring celebrations. Although I didn't know exactly what to expect, I did know one thing - the Forum would be an alternative to neoliberalism. So why did I walk away from Porto Alegre worried mostly about the similarities between the Forum and neoliberalism? And is there still reason to be worried, as the 2006 Forum approaches?

A Meeting of Minds

Michele Gibbs January 17, 2006 Michele Gibbs

Feeling depressed? Downhearted? Demoralized? Terrorized? Isolated? Take one copy of "The Quotable Rebel" and call me in the morning. This new anthology of "political quotations for dangerous times" contains wisdom as old as the hills and as current as a sign declaring "Arms Are for Hugging". Its editor, Teishan Latner, a 28-year-old Philadelphia-based activist, takes his responsibility seriously. He infuses his choices with all the global awareness and urgent energy of his generation located in the 'belly of the beast' in a time of war. A radical egalitarian, he mines this tradition, emphasizing the voices of first world peoples and the living. In this process, on subjects ranging from technology to food, animal rights to empire, work, life, death, law, and revolution, spirited exchanges arise.

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King, the Revolutionary

Jeff Nall January 16, 2006 Jeff Nall

On January 16^th the vacuous lip service to Dr. Martin Luther King will begin. Ironically, much of his praise will be expressed by the kind of oppressive, rich, intolerant and prejudiced people that he fought so hard to undermine; people who now find his legacy a firm grave upon which to prop up their selfish agendas. That's why it's time for us to change the way America celebrates Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Let's relinquish the tame, PR King that the powers that be force-feed us each year. Let's resurrect the real King; the revolutionary King who committed himself to economic and social equality across all spectrums of prejudice; who unequivocally denounced warfare; repudiated neo-liberalism and an unrestrained, capricious capitalism.

Bolivia’s Trial By Fire

Benjamin Dangl January 12, 2006 Benjamin Dangl

After winning a landslide election victory on December 18th, Bolivian president-elect Evo Morales announced plans to nationalize the country's gas reserves, rewrite the constitution in a popular assembly, redistribute land to poor farmers and change the rules of the U.S.-led war on drugs in Bolivia. If he follows through on such promises, he'll face enormous pressure from the Bush administration, corporations and international lenders. If he chooses a more moderate path, Bolivia's social movements are likely to organize the type of protests and strikes that have ousted two presidents in two years. In the gas-rich Santa Cruz region, business elites are working toward seceding from the country to privatize the gas reserves. Meanwhile, U.S. troops stationed in neighboring Paraguay may be poised to intervene if the Andean country sways too far from Washington's interests. For Bolivian social movements and the government, 2006 will be a trial by fire.