Archive | Commentary

For today I have been asked to speak a bit about my country, Puerto Rico, and the socioeconomic crisis that is currently developing there.1 Given the time constraints, I want to provide you with a brief overview of what is being experienced there by the victims of the crisis. I want to also speak a […]

In the early decades of the twenty-first century, education has become a frontline in the ideological struggle over the future of global capitalism. The coordinated assault on teachers, curriculum, and institutions of public learning is not an isolated culture war but a structural feature of neoliberal governance. In this context, the pedagogical philosophy of Paulo […]

The U.S. is in desperate economic and military “competition” with China and has lost a lot of ground fast.

Mandy Tröger, Richard Maxwell, Ben Scott, Sut Jhally, Des Freedman, Deepa Kumar, and Victor Pickard on Robert W McChesney

A number of notable parallels run through the histories of Israel and the United States.

The Classroom Is a Battleground Teaching U.S. history in a public high school today is a subversive act. In the face of mounting attacks on education, educators like me are caught between the curriculum we are allowed to teach and the truth students desperately need to understand. It is no exaggeration to say that the […]

On October 7th, 2012, after hearing of his victory as the nation‘s candidate with 56 percent of the vote, President Hugo Chávez Frias announced from a balcony in his hometown that a new cycle was beginning the very next day, October 8th.

Germany, long a synonym for economic brawn and muscle, is beginning to recall words like lumbago or sciatica instead. Though still leading in Europe, and fourth in the world, it faces an economic mess, a political mess, and a mood of general stress. Schools lack repairs and teachers, clinics and hospitals lack staff, its key […]

Popular backlash against France’s brutal yet ineffective counter-terrorism operations is compelling President Emmanuel Macron to withdraw forces from across Africa.

Part 1. On the Courage to Remember The first demonstration I ever went on was at the age of twelve, against the Vietnam War. The first formal history lesson I received came a few months later, when I commenced high school. That day the old history master, Mr. Griffiths, chalked what I later learned was […]

We keep hearing that Israel’s genocide in Gaza is “AI-powered.” Many pundits warn that this marks a new era in warfare, the first time that “automated” war has been waged. Foreign Policy declares that “AI Decides Who Lives and Dies.” Vox reports that “AI tells Israel who to bomb.” The Washington Post claims “Israel offers […]

A cornerstone of Donald Trump’s economic policies is tariffs. Claiming that just about every country in the world has ripped off the United States—even stating that the European Union was established to do this—he sees tariffs as a way for the U.S. to get even.

Capital Is Murder Capital was soaked in blood, steeped in urine, and “dripping from every pore” as it emerged from myriad colonial genocides perpetuated by white Europe.1 With the colonization of the Americas, the world was divided in two: the “white” and civilized European versus the “dark” and uncivilized savage. With the color line and […]

The contradiction in the geographical distribution of Iraq’s population precisely reflects the contradiction in the distribution of wealth in capitalist society.

As a law firm under attack from the Trump Administration, you face an impossible choice.

In 1955, the leaders of former Global South colonies met in Bandung, Indonesia, brought together by a common spirit for national liberation and cooperation. Seventy years later, is there any trace of it left?

On March 18, Ekrem İmamoğlu, the mayor of Istanbul and the main opposition Republican People’s Party’s (CHP) presidential candidate, had his university diploma revoked. The decision was made by a committee at Istanbul University, where İmamoğlu had graduated, with a majority vote. Under Turkish law, a university degree is required to run for president, so […]

To then ascertain which policies would be necessary to speed up the U.S. economy it is necessary to analyse the underlying relation between changes in the structure of the U.S. economy and changes in U.S. GDP growth rates.

The term ‘zero distance’ became famous after it was used by Palestinian resistance fighters in Gaza to illustrate the strength and courage of Palestinian resistance in the face of Israeli tanks.

Karl Marx wrote, “Prostitution is only a specific example of the general prostitution of the laborer.”