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Today's
Stories
April 28, 2006
Werther
Operation Canned Meat and Its Derivatives
April 27, 2006
Winslow T. Wheeler
How Much is the War Costing? How
Many US Troops are Really in Iraq?
Robert Fisk
The United States of Israel?
Juan Santos
Immigration Endgame
Robert Jensen
Why Leftists Distrust Liberals
Dave Lindorff
Making America Safer: One Released
War Crime Victim at a Time
Jose Pertierra
Honor and Injustice:the Case of
the Cuban Five
April 26,2006
Robin Philpot
The Rich Life of Jane Jacobs
Sherry Wolf
Democrats, Their Apologists and Abortion:
the Jig is Up
Pratyush Chandra
Nepal: a Saga of Compromise and Struggle
Joshua Frank
Zig-Zagging Through the War With John
Kerry
Gary
Leupp
The Neo-Cons and Iran: No Negotiations
Bill
Quigley
Katrina: Eight Months Later
April
25, 2006
Paul
Craig Roberts
The World is Uniting Against the Bush Imperium
Linda
S. Heard
Is the US Waging Israel's Wars?: the Prophecy of Oded Yinon
Ralph
Nader
Political Science: Gingrich, "Futurism" and the Abolition
of the OTA
Mike
Whitney
Preparing for the Economic Typhoon
Michael
Donnelly
Lutherans Betray Michigan's Loon Lake Wetlands for Pieces of Silver
Sharon
Smith
Breathing New Life Into May Day
Website
of the Day
SDS Ver. 2
April
24, 2006
Tim
Wise
What Kind of Card is Race?
John
Stanton
Strike Iran, Watch Pakistan and Turkey Fall
Dave
Lindorff
Dangerous Times Ahead
Steve
Shore
Berlusconi Defeated: The Long Wait is Over ... Or Is It?
Amadou
Deme
Hotel Rwanda: Setting the Record Straight
Mickey
Z.
15 Minutes of Radical Fame: America Meets Bill Blum and Ward Churchill
Ralph Nader
Lee
Raymond's Unconscionable Platinum Parachute
Alexander
Cockburn
Obama's Game
Website
of the Day
Too Stupid to Be President?
April
22/23, 2006
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The General, GM and the Stryker
Jeff
Halper
SUMUD vs. Apartheid: the Elections in Palestine and Israel
Jeff
Klein
How to Manufacture a War Criminal: Saddam and Me, a True Story
Thomas
P. Healy
Out Now: an Interview with Anthony Arnove
David
Underhill
Stuck in Mobile with the Rev. Graham Blues Again
Lee
Sustar
"We are Going to Keep Marching": an Interview with Immigrant
Rights Organizer Martín Unzueta
Deb
Reich
The Little Mermaid on Highway Six: Rooting for Ordinary Israelis
to Wake Up
John
Chuckman
America's Gulag: Purge at the CIA
Fred
Gardner
More Suppression of Marijuana Research
Julian
Edney
Can Our Economy Run Without Fear?
Seth
Sandronsky
The GOP and California's Levees
Brynne
Keith-Jennings
The Meddlesome Ambassador Trivelli: Undermining Democracy in Nicaragua
Dave
Lindorff
Where are the Frogs?
Catherine
Ann Cullen and Harry Browne
Springsteen Polishes His Roots: First Impressions of "We Shall
Overcome"
Bill
Pahnelas
Bush Passes the Buck on Soaring Gas Prices
Jim
French
Time to Overhaul US Farm Policy
Ron
Jacobs
"I Know I'm Not Dreaming, Because I Can't Sleep Any More"
David
Krieger
The Courage of Sophie Scholl: Resisting Hitler
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week
Poets'
Basement
Buknatski, Engel and Ford
Website
of the Weekend
Eye of the Storm
April
21, 2006
Jonathan
Cook
The Sinister Meaning of Olmert's "Hitkansut":
Deporting Hamas MPs
Lawrence
R. Velvel
Physical Courage, Moral Courage and American
Generals
Evelyn
Pringle
How to Out a CIA Agent
Christopher
Brauchli
The Rich are Different
Pratyush
Chandra
Pure-and-Simple Revolutions in Nepal and Venezuela
Michael
George Smith
This is What a Movement Looks Like
Missy
Comley Beattie
Serving at the Decider's Pleasure
Sarah
Hines
The Bracero Program: 1942-1964
Website
of the Day
Hunger Strike at U. of Miami
April 20, 2006
Chris
Kutalik
As Crisis Deepens, Is Labor Finally
Showing Signs of a Comeback?
Gary Leupp
Cheney, the Neocons and China
Joshua
Frank
Stop the War! Dump the Democrats!
Diane Christian
The Authority to Kill
William
S. Lind
Sweeping Up: the Real Problem Wasn't
the Execution of the War, But the Enterprise Itself
Ramzy
Baroud
A Case for the Palestinan Government
Justin
E.H. Smith
Doctors and Lethal Injection
April 19, 2006
P. Sainath
More Kids? Pay More for Your Water
Norman
Solomon
When Diplomacy Means War: Bait-and-Switch
on Iran
Anthony Papa
When Justice Isn't Blind: Double Standards
for the Rich and Poor in New York
Mike
Ferner
Movement Blues
Stanley Heller
The Massacre at Qana, 10 Years Later:
Still No Justice
Rifundazione
"We Defeated Berlusconi"
Christopher
Reed
Secrets of the Garden of Bliss
Alexander
Cockburn
The Pulitzer Farce
Website of
the Day
Bunker
Busters: the Movie
April 18, 2006
Paul Craig Roberts
How Safe is Your Job?
Eric
Wingerter
Washington Post vs. Venezuela
Juan Santos
What Immigrants Need to Learn from
the Black Civil Rights Movement
Greg
Weiher
The Zarqawi Gambit Revisited
Sam Bahour
Is Hamas Being Forced to Collapse?
Behzad
Yaghmaian
In the Gaze of New Orleans
Website of
the Day
The
FBI and the Jack Anderson Files
April 17, 2006
Kevin Zeese
An Interview with the First Arab-American
Senator: Jim Abourezk on Bush's Lies and the Dems' Complicity
Uri Avnery
Olmert the Fox
Norman Solomon
Why Won't Moveon.Org Oppose the Bombing
of Iran?
John Ross
A Real Day Without Mexicans?
Laila al-Haddad
The Earth is Closing in on Us: Dispatch
from Gaza
Jeffrey Blankfort
A Tale of Two Members of Congress
and the Capitol Hill Police
Website of the Day
Dixie
Chicks: Not Ready to Back Down
April
15 / 16, 2006
Jeffrey
St. Clair
How Star Wars Came to the Arctic
Ralph
Nader
Remembering Rev. William Sloan Coffin
Thaddeus
Hoffmeister
The Ghost of Shinseki: the General Who Was Sent Out to Pasture for
Being Right
Kevin Prosen
/ Dave Zirin
Privilege Meets Protest at Duke
Thomas
P. Healy
Taking Care of What We've Been Given: a Conversation with Wendell
Berry
Kristoffer
Larsson
Are 40 Percent of All Swedes Anti-Semitic?: Anatomy of a Statistical
Flim-Flam
Fred
Gardner
Continuing Medical (Marijuana) Education
Edwin Krales
New York's Katrina: the Hidden Toll of AIDS Among Blacks and the
Poor
Brian
Cloughley
Don't Blitz Iran: Risking the Ultimate Blowback
John Holt
Walking Off Vietnam with Edward Abbey's Surrogate Son
Seth
Sandronsky
What Billionaires Mean By Education Reform: Oprah, Bill Gates and
the Privatization of Public Schools
Rafael Renteria
Making It Plain About New Orleans
Michael
Ortiz Hill
In the Ashes of Lament: an Easter Meditation
William A.
Cook
An Israel Accountability Act
Gideon
Levy
Shooting Nasarin: a Story About a Little Girl
Andrew Wimmer
Stopping the Bush Juggernaut: a New Citizens Campaign
Madis
Senner
Talking Points for Easter Weekend: Jesus Didn't Lie, Mr. Bush
Michael Kuehl
The Sex Police State: Women as "Rapists" and "Pedophiles"?
Mark
Scaramella
When Even God Can't Follow His Own Commandments: the Timeless Scarcasm
of Mark Twain
Nate Mezmer
187 Proof: Living and Dying Hip-Hop
Jesse
Walker
Playlist
Poets' Basement
Engel, Laymon and Subiet
Website
of the Weekend
Pink Serenades Bush
April
14, 2006
Col.
Dan Smith
Candor or Career?: Why Few Top Military Officials
Resign on Principle
Saul Landau
Ho Chi Minh City Moves On Without Regrets
Stan
Cox
The Real Death Tax
Kevin Zeese
Hersh vs. Bush on Iran: Who Would You Believe?
Brian
McKinlay
Bad Times for Bush's Buddies
Howard Meyers
Dwarves, Knives and Freedom: Bush, Jr. is No LBJ
Ishmael
Reed
The Colored Mind Doubles: How the Media Uses Blacks
to Chastize Blacks
Website of
the Day
Asshole: a Film Strip
April
13, 2006
CounterPunch
News Service
Powell's "Bitch"?
Norman
Solomon
The Lobby and the Bulldozer
Stanley Heller
Time to Shake Up the Peace Movement
Jeff
Birkenstein
Bush and Freedom of Speech
Evelyn J.
Pringle
Not So Fast, Mr. Powell
Michael
Donnelly
The Week the Bush Administration Fell Apart
Kamran Matin
Synergism of the Neo-Cons: What's Going On In Iran?
Website
of the Day
"Don't Be Afraid of the Neo-Cons"
April
12, 2006
Vijay Prashad
Resisting Fences
Alan
Maass
The Suicide of Anthony Soltero
Dave Lindorff
Bush's Insane First Strike Policy: If You Don't Want to Get Whacked,
You'd Better Get Your Nation a Nuke ... Fast
Ron
Jacobs
Resistance: the Remedy for Fear
Ramzy Baroud
The Imminent Decline of the American Empire?
Randall
Dodd
How a Wal-Mart Bank will Harm Consumers
Missy Comley
Beattie
The Boy President Who Cried "Wolf!"
P. Sainath
The Corporate Hijack of India's Water
Website of
the Day
"The System is Irretrievably Corrupt"
April
11, 2006
Al
Krebs
Corporate Agriculture's Dirty Little Secret: Immigration
and a History of Greed
Lawrence
R. Velvel
The Gang That Couldn't Leak Straight
Sonia Nettinin
Palestinian Health Care Conditions Under Israeli Occupation
Willliam
S. Lind
The Fourth Plague Hits the Pentagon: Generals as Private Contractors
Robert Ovetz
Endangered Species in a Can: the Disappearance of Big Fish
Pratyush
Chandra
Nepalis Say, "Ya Basta!"
Grant F.
Smith
The Bush Administration's Final Surprise?
Laray
Polk
Loud, Soft, Hard, Quiet: Marching Through Dallas for Immigrant Rights
Francis Boyle
O'Reilly and the Law of the Jungle: How to Beat a Bully on His Home
Turf
José
Pertierra
A Glimpse into the Mindset of Terrorists: Posada Carriles, Orlando
Bosch and the Downing of Cubana Flight 455
Website of
the Day
The Dead Emcee Scrolls
April
10, 2006
Ralph
Nader
Tinhorn Caesar and the Spineless Democrats
Heather Gray
Atlanta and the Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Uri
Avnery
The Big Wink
Joshua Frank
Big Greens and Beltway Politics: Betting on Losers
Seth
Sandronsky
Immigration and Occupations
Michael Leonardi
The Italian Elections: "Reality is No Longer Important"
Evelyn
Pringle
Did Bush Pull a Fast One on Fitzgerald?
Tom Kerr
FoxNews Does Ward Churchill
Lucinda
Marshall
The Lynching of Cynthia McKinney
Website of
the Day
Brown Berets
April
7 -9, 2006
Alexander
Cockburn
If Only They'd Hissed Barack Obama
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Saga of Magnequench: Outsourcing US Missile
Technology to China
Patrick
Cockburn
The War Gets Grimmer Every Day
David Vest
The Rebuking and Scorning of Cynthia McKinney
Dave
Lindorff
The Impeachment Clock Just Clicked Forward
Gary Leupp
"Ideologies of Hatred:" What Did Condi Mean?
Elaine
Cassel
The Moussaoui Trial: What Kind of Justice is This?
Saul Landau
Vietnam Diary: Hue Without Rules
James
Ridgeway
"This is Betty Ong Calling": a Short Film
Ron Jacobs
Why Iran was Right to Refuse US Money
John
Walsh
Kerry Advocates Iraqization: Too Little, Too Late
Ramzy Baroud
The US Attitude Toward Hamas: Disturbing Parallels with Nicaragua
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush Finds Democracy Has Its Limits
Todd Chretien
What the Pentagon Budget Could Buy for America
Jonathan
Scott
Javelins at the Head of the Monolith
John Bomar
What They're Saying About Bush in Arkansas
Michele
Brand
Iran, the US and the EU
Ronan Sheehan
Remember When the Irish First Met the Chinese?
Mickey
Z.
Let Us Now Praise OIL
Don Monkerud
March of the Bunglers
Michael
Dickinson
The Rich Young Man: a Miracle Play
Website
of the Weekend
The Case Against Israel and Munich: Compare and Contrast
| April
28, 2006
An Interview with Nativo Lopez
About the May Day Protests
"You Get What
You're Ready to Fight For"
By SARAH
KNOPP
Nativo
López is president of the Mexican American Political Association
and a spokesperson for the Great American Boycott 2006--a national
day of action for immigrant rights on May 1.
Where
did these protests come from? They seemed to explode without anyone
predicting it. Why are people so angry and ready to protest?
I
have observed that the current protests are the cumulative effect
of years of bashing and denigrating immigrants generally, and Mexicans
and Latinos in particular. But most poignantly, HR 4437--the Sensenbrenner
legislation--proposes to eliminate all social space within which
undocumented immigrants could accommodate themselves, work, survive
and provide for their families.
Their
backs are against the wall, and we are now seeing a massive response--a
fightback as never before. Not to be underestimated, however, are
the cumulative effects of organizing, educating, agitating, etc.,
over the years, which allowed immigrants to have confidence in certain
organizations to lead them into direct mass action.
Some
people say the compromise bill in the Senate is the best that we
can expect and at least a positive step, as opposed to the Sensenbrenner
bill. Do you agree?
The
Senate version has Sensenbrenner-type measures embodied in it, and
therefore, we find this completely unacceptable and tantamount to
compromising the social interests of all immigrants and all workers.
I’m not convinced that this is the best that we can get or
hope for.
You
get from life what you are ready to fight for. This is the message
we have constantly conveyed to our base, and they have internalized
this. They are ready and willing to fight for the whole enchilada.
Why not? They have nothing to lose.
What
would be the effect of the three tiers in the Hegel-Martinez proposal?
The
three-tier legalization program offered by Hegel-Martinez in the
Senate is a codified caste system--a sort of bantu apartheid system
that is tacitly un-American and unacceptable. It would result in
the complete division of families, and that’s why our families
find it so repugnant and unacceptable.
However,
our greatest fear is that the Democratic Party will be unwilling
to make a complete fight to oppose this version--in its haste to
make a deal and impede the growth of this new civil rights movement.
Second,
there are already national “Hispanic” and other advocacy
organizations moving in the direction of softening their position
on the question. This is a danger that we must prevent.
What
do you think of the role of the LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa? And
Cardinal Mahoney and some of the labor groups and NGOs?
Mayor
Villaraigosa has attempted to position himself as a centrist in
the debate and has endorsed the McCain-Kennedy immigration proposal,
which we find unacceptable.
This
is the Democratic Party’s answer to the Sensenbrenner bill.
We believe that the people are willing to fight for more, and therefore,
our demands are more far-reaching. The immigration debate must be
resolved by immigrants themselves, and their voice must be paramount--not
the voice of the hierarchies.
Much
of the leadership of such hierarchies have already accepted the
compromise without a thorough consultation with the immigrant workers.
I believe that this is wrong and elitist.
Also,
we recognize that much of this leadership is itself compromised
by its ties to political parties, financial elites and corporate/private
foundation funding. They have inherent limitations which they never
honestly divulge to the immigrant communities, or even to their
respective base constituency. Many of the NGOs are not membership-based
nor driven, and therefore, operate from a different model of accountability.
These are also their limitations in terms of the tactics they are
willing to deploy.
Why
do all undocumented workers deserve legalization or amnesty?
All
undocumented workers deserve legalization because of their inherent
contributions to this society.
All
workers create value in the process of production. They create wealth
that is appropriated and used for other purposes, but never to completely
remunerate them for their contributions. Value is never considered,
nor designated, as illegal. Therefore, those who produce value cannot
either be so designated or characterized.
The
value that immigrant workers create is actually greater than your
average worker, because he/she is also denied many of the union-related
benefits accorded to other native-born workers. The average number
of years of an undocumented worker in the U.S. currently is five.
We
believe that for these reasons all undocumented workers have more
than paid their way to legalization and deserve it immediately.
Lastly,
even if they did not have these number of years, due to the former
argument of their role in the production process, if value is legitimized
in this process, why should not the producer of such value be so
legitimized--immediately upon his/her introduction into the production
process?
What’s
the significance of the May 1 call?
May
1st represents the ability of the immigrant worker to demonstrate
his/her power in the economy, and an exercise to show that his/her
voice must be paramount in the national immigration debate. His/her
absence from the workplace and consumption will send a powerful
message to the political-economic elites that that immigrant workers
must be taken into consideration, and that the national corporate-funded
agencies and organizations do not represent the immigrant.
The
political elite will have to contend with the immigrants on their
own terms and turf. It will place the political elites in a situation
of uncertainty--and herein lies the leverage that the immigrant
can employ.
It
also rescues from anonymity the struggle for the 8-hour day by immigrants
of yesteryear, and the glorious traditions of all working people
in the U.S. and the world--of all races, nationalities, creeds and
flags. The voice of the immigrant will be heard around the world
on May 1st.
Some
people have said that the May 1 action is “premature,”
and that it will create a backlash. What’s your response?
This
is certainly a valid question. However, those who raise this concern
have never been sympathetic to utilizing such tactics. They raise
this concern in the abstract. But they have never employed the tactic
in practice--therefore, their counsel must be measured by their
historical practice.
The
use of such tactics are never universally accepted as viable by
all political forces in a given social movement. This was demonstrated
in South Africa, the 1960s civil rights movement, and others.
Is
there an ideal time to employ such tactics?
It
all depends on what workers are willing to fight for, and how they
are willing to conduct that fight. Everything is a test of a theory,
which will be validated by practice. We will see what the workers
say on May 1st.
What
are you saying to the media types who suggest in their stories that
“cooler heads” or more “realistic” political
types--or people who bring up concerns about people being fired--are
prevailing?
We
defend workers every day of the week against unjust dismissals.
Those who raise such concerns have no real daily experience defending
workers in such circumstances, and therefore, most of their utterings
are merely patronizing.
I
say, let the workers decide what they are willing to fight for and
how they desire to conduct that fight. They are not children who
need to be coddled. The “cooler heads” are the ones
most distant from the reality of the workers, and they did not have
a clue about the millions people’s marches.
What
should people know about Anthony Soltero?
They
should know that Anthony Sotero fought for his rights and the rights
of others, and he was repressed by the school authorities, criticized
by the corporate media, sent back to school by political leaders,
chastised by adults and patronized by too many other social hierarchies.
He was the first victim and martyr of this new movement.
What
would justice for immigrants really be? What are possible next steps
for the movement?
Justice
for immigrants would be the acceptance of the voice of immigrants
as paramount in all debates about social policy and legislation--not
much different from what is advocated for by women, gays, African-Americans
and other constituencies.
Workplace
justice, union organization and collective bargaining agreements
are a must in any equation of justice for immigrants.
The
next possible steps for the movement by immigrants is organization,
organization, organization--of a permanent and politically independent
character, where leadership can be developed, groomed, and prepared
for the future fights that are sure to come.
Lastly,
I would like to acknowledge that much of the movement we are observing
today is the legacy of Bert Corona, the modern-day pioneer of immigrant’s
rights and organization in the U.S., and the founder of most of
the mainline national Latino organizations and certainly those that
currently fight for immigrant rights.
He
literally trained thousands of immigrants to fight, taught the value
of political independence, the importance of building a base and
constant consultation, and that the fight for immigrant’s
rights must be conducted by the immigrants themselves. Much of the
current leadership in the movement were students and disciplines
of Bert Corona.
SARAH
KNOPP is a Green Party candidate for state superintendent
of schools in California.
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