Today's
Stories
July 5, 2006
Mike Whitney
Is
Cheney Betting on Economic Collapse?: the Veep's Curious Investment
Portfolio
Saul Landau
False
Axioms: Star Democrats and Iraq Massacres
Ramzy Baroud
And
Israel Shall Be Safe Again
Missy Comley Beattie
An Axis of Nuts: Ready, Aim, Fear
Arthur Neslen
A Way Out of the Gaza Crisis?
Vincent Maruffi
Party Politics in Connecticut: Lieberman, Lamont and the Greens
Paul Cantor
Aberrations:
Hell, High Water and the Moral High Ground
Paul D. Johnson
Mystery Meat: Let's Be Honest About Food's Origin
David Price
Shouting
Down Nazis in Olympia
July 4, 2006
Col. Dan Smith
Iraq
and Independence Day: Lessons from the War of 1812
Chris Floyd
American
Power in Mahmudiyah
Marjorie Cohn
Israel's
Collective Punishment of Gaza
James Brooks
Israel 9,000 Palestine 1: Destroying the Gaza Strip
Medea Benjamin
"Dictatress
of the World:" Has America Become JQ Adams' Worst Nightmare?
Matt Reichel
An Independence Day Lesson for the American Left from France
Elisa Salasin
Why I am Fasting Today
Rick Wilhelm
Will Lieberman Apologize to Ralph Nader?
Paul Craig
Roberts
Rape,
Lies and Murder
Website of the Day
A Mighty Handsome Family
July 3, 2006
Robert Bryce
Gaza
in the Dark: Poor, Frustrated and Powerless
Dr. Bouthaina Shaban
"I Hope You're Not Here to Talk About the Palestinians"
Julia Olmstead
The Biofuel Illusion: Running on Top Soil
Dave Lindorff
The Real Meaning of the Hamdan Ruling: Bush Adm. Has Committed
War Crimes
Andres Gomez
A Mockery of Justice
Alan Singer
Another Encounter with Chuck Schumer: Just as Hawkish as Hillary,
But Nastier
Alexander Cockburn
Temple
of Mammon, Planet of Doom
July 1/2, 2006
Weekend Edition
Paul Craig
Roberts
Bush's
Assaults on Freedom: What's to Stop Him?
Stephen T.
Banko
Echoes
from Vietnam; Nightmares in Iraq
Daniel Cassidy
How the Irish Invented Slang: the Bunkum of Bunkum (for Dizzy
Gillespie)
Fawzia Afzal-Khan
The Class Behind the Muslim
Jeff Taylor
The Sandy Foundation of the White House: a Bible-Believing Christian's
View of Bush
John Ross
Mexico: There's a Riot Going On
Greg Moses
Psycho-Management Hits Mexico's Maquiladoras
Laura Carlsen
Mexico's Elections: a Choice for Change
Justin E.H.
Smith
Lethal Injection and Other Fashion Trends
Brian Cloughley
Different Worlds: When Liberation is Worse Than Oppression
Anthony Papa
Punishing Addiction: No Walk in the Park for Dwight Gooden
Mike Ferner
Getting Busted for Wearing a Peace T-Shirt
Jerry Tucker
Liberalism's Long Goodbye: McGovern Hoists the White Flag
Jane Goodall / Rick Asselta
Remembering the Marshall Islands
Phyllis Pollack
Roll Over Beethoven: Chuck Berry is Back in Town
Poets' Basement
Salasin, Swindell, Ferri-Smith and Engel
June 30, 2006
Marjorie Cohn
Supreme
Rebuke: Bush Loses Gitmo Case
Heather Williams
Will
Mexicans Ignore What Bolivians Learned?
Burbach / Cantor
Yellowback
Democrats: the Party of Cut-and-Run (from Principle)
Nick Dearden
Crime in the Valley: Life on the Other Side of Palestine
Michael J.
Smith
Under the Broadcast Flag: Intellectual Property as Intellectual
Theft
Brian Concannon
The Return to Haiti: a Homecoming for Aristide?
Virginia Tilley
Israel's Appalling Act: Starving in the Dark
June 29, 2006
Bill Quigley
Gutting
New Orleans
Ron Jacobs
Killing a Nation to Rescue a Soldier
Paul Craig
Roberts
The High Price of American Gullibility
June 28, 2006
Jorge Mariscal
Mexican-American
Soldiers, Iraq and the Politics of Immigrant Bashing
Greg Moses
Down
in Pinal County: Where the Pun's on Us
Mark Weisbrot
Mexico: Their Brand is Crisis
Ramzy Baroud
Re-Interpreting
Iraq: the Latest Propaganda Campaign
Dave Lindorff
Redacting the Constitution: Why Signing Statements Matter
William S.
Lind
Neither Shall the Sword: War in a Fouth Generation World
Mike Ferner
50 Years Down the Wrong Direction: Taken for a Ride on the Interstate
Highway System
Zoltan Grossman
Military Resistance: a Brief History
June 27, 2006
Marjorie Cohn
Playing
Politics with Timetables
Benjamin /
Jarrar
Leading
Dems Froth Over Amnesty Plan
William Hughes
Roadmap to Starvation
Doug Giebel
Showdown in Montana: Burns vs. Testor
Uri Avnery
The World Cup and Middle East Peace
Alexander Cockburn
Hitchens Hails the "Glorious War"
June 26, 2006
Don Santina
American
Rituals: Massacres, Baseball and Apple Pies
Ralph Nader
Beyond Binary Politics
Dave Lindorff
CounterPunch v. CounterPunch: Taking Impeachment on the Road
Rafael Rodriguez-Cruz
An Interview with Mumia Abu-Jamal on Hispanics and Latin America
Evelyn Pringle
Big
Pharma's Big Graveyard: Drug Profits, Fraud and Death
Jonathan Cook
Israeli
"Retaliation" and Double Standards
June 23, 2006
Youmans / Erakat
Divestment, Corporate Engagement
and Israel
Dave Lindorff
Cut
and Run: a Winning Strategy
Ron Jacobs
Dogs of War Barking at the Moon
Col. Dan Smith
Iraq:
Fool Me Twice
June 22, 2006
Marjorie Cohn
Friendly Fire Ambush
Winslow T.
Wheeler
Lockheed,
the Senator and the F-22
Tanya Reinhart
A Week of Israeli Restraint
Mike Marqusee
The
Forest Gate Raid
William Blum
Why Bush's Iraq is Worse Than Saddam's
June 21, 2006
Ramzy Baroud
Zarqawi's Death: Myth vs. Reality
Patrick Cockburn
Embassy
Work as Death Sentence
Gary Leupp
Making the Case for Impeachment
Greg Moses
Elite
Logic at the Border
June 20, 2006
Fred Gardner
The Long War on Aspirin
Omar Waraich
Ode
to Joy: Watching Blair Sink
Christopher Reed
Japan Nixes Payments to Its Wartime
Slaves
CP Newswire
Coca
Cola Takes a Hit
Jonathan Cook
Israel Engineers Another Cover-Up
June 19, 2006
Bill Quigley
HUD's Bulldozers and the Poor
of New Orleans
John Walsh
Tears
of a Clown: Al Franken's War
Mike Whitney
The Zoom Lens War: Bush's Baghdad
Photo Op
Alexander Cockburn
The
Left and the Blathersphere
June 16 / 18,
2006
Weekend Edition
Kathy / Bill
Christision
The
Power of the Israel Lobby
Joseph Nevins
On the Migrant Trail: No More Walls, No More Deaths
Farrah Hassen
An Interview with Syria's Ambassador to the US, Dr. Imad Moustapha
Greg Moses
The Real Mission of the Uniformed Ghost at the Border
Nicole Colson
"There's No Hope at Gitmo"
John Scagliotti
How MoveOn Wastes Its Donors' Money
Mokhiber / Weissmann
Corporate Democrats
June 15, 2006
Kathy Kelly
Look
Them in the Eye: Honest Abe and the Residents of Ramadi
Norman Solomon
Premature Triangulation: Hillary's Big Problem
Ron Jacobs
Publicity
Stunts as Public Policy
Sam Bahour
Cover Up on Gaza Beach
Ramzy Baroud
Palestine on the Brink
CounterPunch Wire
Death Squads at Colombia's Universities
Gabriel Kolko
Why
a Global Economic Deluge Looms
Website of the Day
Antje Duvekot: Music You've Been Waiting Years to Hear
June 14, 2006
Nicole Colson
"They
Want the Fear Level at a High Pitch": An Interview with
Lawyer Lynne Stewart
Jonathan Cook
Israeli
Law and Order
Joseph Schechla
Bulldozing Palestine: an Open Letter to Caterpillar, Inc.
Michael Carmichael
Bolton at Oxford: Jeered and Taunted
Evelyn Pringle
Karl and George, the Teflon Partnership
Ward Churchill
My Trial By Media: Turning Quibbles Over Footnotes into Felonies
Rev. William E. Alberts
Decoding the Coders of Christ: Jesus the Political Insurgent?
Website of the
Day
Marines Iraq Snuff Film
June 13, 2006
Medea Benjamin
Take
Back America Suppresses Anti-War Dissenters at HRC Speech
Anthony Alessandrini
The
Evil of Banality: the General, the New York Times and the Gitmo
Suicides
Paul D'Amato
The
Meaning of Haditha
Dave Lindorff
The Strange Death of Zarqawi: Was He Killed So He Wouldn't Talk?
John Ross
Elections and the World Cup: If Team Mexico Advances, Will Anyone
Show Up to Vote for Lopez Obrador?
Gabriel Garcia
Venezuela and Drug Trafficking: Bush Bashes Chavez Despite Positive
Results
Hilton Obenzinger
DIvestment is a Stand for Equality in Israel
Yitzhak Laor
The Secret of Authority
Juan Antonio
Ocasio Rivera
Puerto Rico at the UN
Jennifer Van
Bergen
The
Story Behind Zarqawi's Death: What's the Legality of the Assassination?
Website of the
Day
Paul Wright: a Real American Freedom Fighter
June 12, 2006
Paul Craig Roberts
Bush's
Armageddon Wish: a Final End to History?
Patrick Cockburn
The
US Already Misses Zarqawi
Mike Marqusee
Rebranding
a Team: English Nationalism and the World Cup
Lee Sustar
"I
Never Had the American Dream:" Left with No Future by GM
and Delphi
Robert Fisk
Has
Racism Invaded Canada?
Michael J. Smith
Enter Sandman; Exit Kosland
Felice Pace
NPR's Warped Covereage of the MIddle East
Jennifer Loewenstein
Setting
the Record Straight on Hamas
Website of the Day
Our Way Home
June 10 / 11,
2006
Weekend Edition
Robert Fisk
Zarqawi's
End is not a Famous Victory
Diane Christian
Zarqawi's Face
Joe Allen
The American Way of Atrocities: Marine Corps' Killer Virtues
Ralph Nader
Let Us All Praise the Dixie Chicks
Fred Gardner
Tylenol Toxicity Terror
Dave Lindorff
Nothing New About Haditha
Dave Zirin /
John Cox
Will Racism Spoil the World Cup?
Dennis Perrin
Death is Patriotic: Necro-Porn, Live on CNN
Greg Moses
Militarizing the Border: Why Operation Jump Start Worries Me
John Chuckman
Terror in Toronto or Tempest in a Teapot?
Michael J. Smith
Babes in Kosland: Dem Blogfest, Day Two
Roger Burbach
Bachelet in DC: Chilean President Refuses to Back Down to Bush
Ira Moskowitz
Israeli Court Finds Mad-Dog US Prof Libeled CounterPuncher Neve
Gordon
Sam Bahour
The Gaza Air Strikes: Begging for a Response
Seth Sandronsky
Grocery Chains and Bush's Ownership Society: Profits Fall, Stores
Close
Michael Berg
A Father's Day Message: Both Parties Have Betrayed America
Kirsten Roberts
Desmond Dekker and the Music of the Shantytowns
Ron Jacobs
Who's Fooling Who?
Jeffrey St. Clair
Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week
Poets' Basement
Jones, Davies, Engel and Louise
Website of the
Weekend
Miles and Trane, So What?
June 9, 2006
Alexander Cockburn
Make-Up
for a Corpse!: In a Month Zarqawi will be Forgotten and the War
Will Rage On
Paul Craig Roberts
War Criminal Nation: You'd Better Shut Up!
Gary Leupp
The
Iran Deal: Come Down or Set Up?
Eric Ruder
Police Torture in America: the Chicago Files
Evelyn Pringle
The Noe Drama: Was the Ohio Vote Rigged?
Mickey Z.
America: Land of Denial
Michael J. Smith
Our Man in Kos; They're Not in Kansas, Anymore
Patrick Cockburn
The
Short, Strange Career of Abu Masab al-Zarqawi
Website of the
Day
Georgia ... Bush
June 8, 2006
Chris Floyd
Hubub
in Hibhib: the Timely Death of al-Zarqawi
Michael Dickinson
Criminal
Collage: the Bush Dog Case
Ron Jacobs
You
Can't Call Me Zarqawi, Any More
William S. Lind
The Power of Weakness, Again: Haditha, 4GW and the Abu Ghraib
Precedent
Joshua Frank
From Bush to Hillary: Holding the War Parties Accountable
Missy Comley Beattie
Ann Coulter and Rev. Fred Phelps: a Romance
Lloyd Williams
Ann Coulter's Blood Lust
Bill Christison
Proviing
the Case: What Bush Wants is More War
Website of the Day
Bedtime for Bono?
June 7, 2006
Dave Lindorff
The
Iraq Money Trail: the Case of the Missing $21 Billion
Sunsara Taylor
CDC to Women: Prepare to Give Birth!
John Walsh
Flunking
the Art of War: Master Sun-Tzu, President Hu and Bush
David MacMichael
No More Hadithas
Mickey Z.
Haditha and Rumsfeld's Ratio
Evelyn Pringle
Gagging Public Employees
Myles Palmer
Dark Star Chasm: a Sneak Peak at Roger Waters' Dark Side of the
Moon Tour
Laura Ribeiro
The
Israeli Boycott of Palestinian Education
Website of the Day
Thank You, Lt. Ehren Watada
June 6, 2006
Diane Christian
Negatives:
Torture, Massacres and Denial
Paul Craig Roberts
Outsourcing
Smarts: the Death of US Engineering
Ralph Nader
The Battle for South Central Farm
Norman Solomon
The Urbanity of Evil: Tariq Aziz and Bush's Enablers
Darmont / Genovali
Wolf Sterilization Scheme Backfires
Manuel Garcia,
Jr.
Blacks, Hispanics and Immigrant Bashing for Colonial Control
Subcomandante Marcos
The Other Campaign: a Plan for Action on June 11, 2006
Patrick Cockburn
Bloodbath
Beyond the Green Zone
Website of the Day
Greatest Music Video?
June 5, 2006
Bruce Jackson
Why
Haditha Happened
Chris Floyd
Return
to Ishaqi: the Pentagon's Shaky Self-Exoneration
Michael Neumann
Jewish
Opposition to Zionism
Heather Gray
War in the 20th Century: a Canadian Family's Experience
William Hughes
Bipartisan War Profiteers
David Swanson
Should We Stay or Should We Go Now?
Alexander Cockburn
Palestine:
It's All Over
Website of the Day
Klamath Spring
June 3 / 4, 2006
Weekend Edition
Robert Fisk
Liberators
as Murderers
James Petras
Is
Latin America Really Turning Left?
Rosemary Radford Ruether
"We Have No One to Talk To:" Israel's Targeted Assassination
Policy
Harry Clark
Truman and Israel: How It All Began
Jeffrey St. Clair
What a Miner's Life is Worth
Ron Ridenour
Return to Cuba
Ron Jacobs
Hand Wringing and Warfare: What Do Owe Iraq
Fred Gardner
Dr. Tashkin Makes the News
Peter Montague
The System in Crisis
John Walsh
MoveOn Rigs Its Own Vote; Betrays Its Membership
Greg Moses
Eyes of Texas: Neocon Border with Mexico Begins Next Week
Sean Donahue
Atlantica: Mainer's Won't Be Fooled Again
Mike Whitney
Swan Song for the Greenback?
Dave Patten
Final Examination
Ali Khan
Story of the Two Kings
Robert Dotson,
MD
Couch Time for America
Hammond Guthrie
Revisiting Mondo Hollywood
St. Clair / D'Antoni
Playlists: What We're Listening to This Week
Poets' Basement
Bina, Engel, Ford and Landau
Website of the
Day
Send Dr. Suzy Your Love
June 2, 2006
Kathy Kelly
Right
Livelihood
Alan Maass
"A
Mercenary Army": an Interview with Jeremy Scahill on Blackwater
in New Orleans
Mickey Z.
Haditha
Massacre was Inevitable
Dave Lindorff
Don't
Think Twice: Bush and Rumsfeld as Ethics Advisers
Chris Kutalik
Troqueros Flex Muscles at Long Beach
Sunsara Taylor
Countdown
to a Betrayal: Making Change Without Democrats
Sam Husseini
Can Pacifica Live Up to Its Promise?
Mike Ferner
More, Lots More
Website of the
Day
Free Daniel McGowan!
June 1, 2006
Brian Cloughley
Haditha
and the Farrago of Lies: War Crimes Start at the Top
David Peterson
Iran: a Manufactured Crisis
Lee Ballinger
Media
Myths About the South: What Backlash Against the Dixie Chicks?
Jonathan Cook
Olmbert
in DC: Bold Ideas and Ugly Intentions
Mike Whitney
Offers and Ultimatums: Endgaming Iran
Paul Rockwell
Smearing Ron Dellums
Clifton Ross
Millennium Blues
Kevin Zeese
Return of the Petri Dish Warriors: a New Biowar Arms Race Begins
in Maryland
Website of the
Day
The Monkees and Johnny Cash
May 31, 2006
Dave Lindorff
DNC
Death Wish 2006: the Do Nothing Party
Joshua Frank
Al
Gore, Environmental Titan?: Some Inconvenient Truths About the
Ozone Man
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
Stop
Saying This is a Nation of Immigrants!
P. Sainath
Three Weddings and Funeral: Farmer Suicides in Vidharbha
Ramzy Baroud
On Palestinian Violence
Seth Sandronsky
The War on Nurses: a Joint Attack by US Senate and NLRB
Mickey Z.
Scapegoating Mexicans is an American Tradition
Ralph Nader
Breakaway Bases: Keeping LIttle Leaguers Safe
Jeffrey St. Clair
Dirk's
Dirty Money: Gale Norton in Slacks
Website of the Day
Storm Cloud Over New Orleans
May 30, 2006
Lee Ballinger
The
Real Reason Rock the Vote is Falling Apart
Jonathan Cook
Shin
Bet and the Israeli Academy: Partners in Human Rights Abuses?
Gary Leupp
Now Introducing, the Office of Iranian Affairs
John Ross
Disappearing
the Disappeared
Robert Jensen
The Four Fundamentalisms
Michael Dickinson
Silencing the Peace Protester of Parliament Square
Michael Carmichael
Zionist Democrats: the DLC and Israel
Tim Wise
Of Immigrants and "Real Amurkans"
Harry Browne
Ken Loach's History Lesson
Website of the
Day
Louisiana
May 27 / 29,
2006
Weekend Edition
Paul Craig Roberts
The
Evil Within
Kathleen Christison
Surrender
vs. the Right to Exist
Kathy Kelly
Fear of Flowers in Iraq: a Report from Sulaymaniyah
Christopher
Reed
The Abominable Dr. Ishii: the Pentagon and the Japanese Mengele
Lawrence R. Velvel
The Moral Rot in Congress: a Constitutional Right to Graft?
Tom Barry
The Politics of Tom Tancredo
Gary Leupp
The Latest Neocon Lies About Iran
Col. Dan Smith
Freezing History: Iran and the Uses of "Preventive"
War
Ron Jacobs
Blocking Military Ports: One, Two, Three Many Olympians
Don Fitz
EPA Goes Lead Wild: Acceptable Levels of Poisoning
Fred Gardner
What's the Matter with Oregon?
Peter Montague
Radioactive Troika: Bush, the Nuclear Power Industry and the
New York Times
Raymond Garcia
Teens as Political Scapegoats
John Farley
Euston Manifesto: the Latest Gameplan from the Pro-Imperialist
Left
Seth Sandronsky
Mexico After NAFTA: the Washington Post's Trouble with Numbers
Tia Steele
A Gold Star Mother's Memorial Day Plea
Lenni Brenner
"Howl", 50 Years Later: Allen Ginsberg's Silly Liberal
Politics
Dr. Susan Block
God Has Sex, Makes Big Box Office
Scott Michael Perey
An Open Letter to Bono: Why are You Financing a Video Game Promoting
the Invasion of Venezuela?
Jeffrey St. Clair
Playlist: Please Help Hilton Ruiz
Poets' Basement
Davies, Smith-Ferri, Mickey Z,, Buknatski, and Engel
Recipe of the
Weekend
Impeach-Mint Punch
Website of the Weekend
Trojan Syndrome
May 26, 2006
Col. Douglas
MacGregor
Fire
the Generals!: the Failure of Military Leadership in Iraq
Brian J. Foley
Who Will Stand Up to Bush's Drive to Attack Iran?
Michael Dickinson
Mining Glaciers: Water or Gold?
Missy Comley Beattie
Stuck in a Cake-Walk War
Pierre Tristam
The Few, the Proud, the Murderers
Joe Allen
Put a Disclaimer on the Bible, Not the Da Vinci Code
Kona Lowell
Thank You, Fox News
Roger Burbach
Bush Targets Chavez and Morales
Website of the
Day
Women Resisting War from Within
May 25, 2006
Les AuCoin
Faith-Based
Missile Defense: the Folly of Star Wars
Jeff Halper
Countdown to Apartheid
Dave Lindorff
Bombing Without Regrets
Ron Jacobs
Voting Rights and Multilingual Ballots
Bob Wing
Finding
Common Ground in New Orleans: an Interview with Malik Rahim
Elise Gould
College Grads Face Weak Labor Market
Robert Bryce
Iraq's
Fuel Crisis
Website of the Day
Oh Lay!
May 24, 2006
Michael Donnelly
Operation
Backfire: Criminalizing Eco-Dissent
Patrick Cockburn
Why
the US May Have to Quit Iraq Sooner Than It Planned
Lucinda Marshall
Involuntary Motherhood: the Cacophony Over RU 486
Dave Lindorff
A Winning Impeachment Argument
Shmuel Rosner
Israeli Advice on Wall-Building: Be Ruthless
Moshe Adler
The Promised Land: Immigration, Israeli Style
Heather Gray
Land Reform and American Agriculture
Pratyush Chandra
Angels and Demons in Nepal
Paul Craig Roberts
In Memoriam: Lloyd Bentsen
Floyd Rudmin
Why
Does the NSA Engage in Mass Surveillanc of Americans?
Website of the Day
Presentensing the Future
May 23, 2006
Paul Craig Roberts
Paranoia
as Policy: How Bush Brewed the Iran Crisis
Sharon Smith
Shooting to Kill on the Border
Sunsara Taylor
Meet the New Christian Conquistadors: Ron Luce's Holy Warriors
Joel Whitney
The Most Tenacious Man on Capitol Hill?: an Interview with John
Conyers
Alice Cherbonnier
Total Information Awareness for Whom? FOIA, the Press and the
Spooks
Ron Jacobs
Optimism of the Will
Kristen Ess
The Crisis for Palestinian Political Prisoners
Patrick Cockburn
Which
is the Real Iraq?
Website of the
Day
Pearl Jam: Life Wasted
July
5, 2006
But
What About Their More Sharply Dressed Allies?
Shouting
Down Nazis in Olympia
By DAVID PRICE
O n July third, eleven Nazis from the
National Socialist Movement held a rally here in Olympia on the
steps of the Washington State Capitol. Twelve uniformed Nazis
stood by a podium, secure behind a six foot hurricane fence protected
by two-hundred officers from the Washington State Patrol and
over one-hundred feet of secured space between them and an audience
apparently only comprised of protestors and the press.
About 850 protestors supplied
some nice political theatre, complete with a Nazi clown brigade
and creative chants and signage. Protestors used a public address
system to drown-out and heckle the Nazis as they made speeches.
One protestor took to the microphone and rhetorically asked the
police why they came out in such force to protect Nazis when
they attack protestors during our peace rallies. In a town where
the police have rammed peaceful protesters with motorcycles and
freely used pepper spray on grandparents and children, this seemed
like a pretty good question to the crowd. Between the protestors'
PA system, several megaphones, organized chants and a drum set,
the protestors successfully drown-out the Nazis.
After an hour in the heat of
the direct sun I looked for some shade and saw a small group
of protestors beneath the trees surrounding our supreme court's
temple of justice at the back of the protest area. In the shade
I discovered that the acoustics perfectly projected the Nazi's
speeches to this shady area so that we could hear what they were
saying.
It was pretty much what I expected:
the usual Nazi anti-Semitic conspiratorial drivel, rants about
the racial purity and claims that the "white race"
was responsible for all historical technological progress. The
speaker was nervous and inarticulate and I wondered if he wasn't
even a little glad that almost nobody there could even hear what
he was saying.
But then he argued that it
didn't matter that the day's rally brought far more protestors
than acolytes because, he argued, "history always repeats
itself." He listed rising gas prices, declining wages for
workers, and the flight of capital abroad as signs of a coming
economic decline that would empower his movement. He finished
his speech by saying that when the next collapse came his ideas
would be welcomed by our leaders and a betrayed populous. It
didn't matter that almost no one could hear his point over the
protest clatter, his point that fascism's solutions have a recurrent
attraction was a good one-despite how poorly this had worked
out last time for his Fuhrer.
In the late 1980s, among the
bookstalls of Cairo's Medan Opera I found a copy of the book,
Ezra Pound Speaking, which had transcriptions of some of Ezra
Pound's wartime radio broadcasts for the Italian fascists. Many
of these broadcasts were boring in their plodding arguments while
others were almost Dadaist performances-in one broadcast Pound
advocated that the world leaders could resolve their differences
by viewing an elaborate and lengthy production of kabuki theatre,
in another he proposed a new global writing system combining
Latin, English and Chinese ideograms. But beyond Pound's delusions,
there was a clarity that the Great Depression had left leaders
to choose between FDR's soft-socialism limiting the power of
capital or Mussolini's fascism embracing it. Pound joined the
millions who embraced fascism's orderly solutions as a rational
way to create economic order by strengthening corporate power
and weakening worker's rights.
The silly uniforms and salutes
of the Nazi's on Washington's Capitol steps marked them as absurd
spectacles; uniformed Nazis act like rodeo clowns in the current
crisis, drawing our attention (as they must) and bringing a community's
focus of scorn wherever they appear. The inevitable shortcomings
of markets to meet human needs continues to make fascism alluring
to some, and while goose-stepping uniformed Nazi's easily draw
crowds of outraged protestors, their better dressed allies embracing
corporate solutions to capitalism's problems make headway.
David Price is author of Threatening
Anthropology: McCarthyism and the FBI's Surveillance of Activist
Anthropologists (Duke, 2004). His next book, Weaponizing
Anthropology: American Anthropologists in the Second World War
will be published by Duke University Press. He can be reached
at: dprice@stmartin.edu