Z Nightly Commentaries
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Recent Z Nightly Commentaries
Peters: Citizen Consumer
Dec 29, 2005
There is no such thing as too much detail when it comes to the corporate press directing its readers in how to shop, how to avoid engaging in civic life, and how to celebrate the trivial as the main source of respite from a harsh world. Having just finish
Pilger: The Rise Of America's New Enemy
Nov 11, 2005
I was dropped at Paradiso, the last middle-class area before barrio La Vega, which spills into a ravine as if by the force of gravity. Storms were forecast, and people were anxious, remembering the mudslides that took 20,000 lives. "Why are you here?" ask
Prashad: Primacy
Oct 30, 2005
Finally, from an unlikely direction, the US media has asked the question:
Pilger: The Epic Crime That Dares Not Speak Its Name
Oct 28, 2005
An RAF officer is about to be tried before a military court for
Parenti: Right-Wing Judicial Activism
Oct 13, 2005
Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee as nominee for Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Roberts assured the senators that he would not be one of those noisome activist judges who inject their personal values into court decisions.
Prashad: Socialism is a Wise Old Shepard
Sep 23, 2005
As I travel across the US, I meet young people who are in this or that progressive organization. They are busy doing the necessary everyday work of building our movement. Most of them work in the non-profit sector, doing some kind of single-issue organizi
Pilger: News From Behind The Facade
Sep 20, 2005
When I lived in the United States in the late 1960s, my home was often New Orleans, in a friend's rambling grey clapboard house that stood in a section of the city where civil rights campaigners had taken refuge from the violence of the Deep South. New Or
Parenti: How the Free Market Killed New Orleans
Sep 03, 2005
The free market played a crucial role in the destruction of New Orleans and the death of thousands of its residents. Armed with advanced warning that a momentous (force 5) hurricane was going to hit that city and surrounding areas, what did officials do?
Pandya: Citigroup, China and Hugo Chavez
Aug 31, 2005
New YorkÕs Citigroup, the worldÕs largest financial services company, is hungry and has no problem taking food from othersÕ plates. The corporate behemothÕs chief executive, Chuck Prince, publicly disclosed news of his foreign investment appetite in a Fin
Prashad: Every Generation Does Not Get Its 1968
Aug 21, 2005
I recently read Tariq Ali's spectacular telling of his political coming of age, Street Fighting Man: An Autobiography of the Sixties (Verso, 2005).
Peters: Curvy Women Can Sell Products Too!
Aug 20, 2005
Like any random American, I have consumed mountains of advertising featuring women's cleavages, women's tongues, women's asses, and women's firm and supple flesh -- sometimes draped in a sliver of lemon peel, suggesting that a woman is -- what? -- a fruit
Peters: WASP Values and Political Work
Aug 03, 2005
At a recent funeral of an African American family member, people took turns standing up to eulogize him. But they didn't stand up alone. There was always one person, sometimes two, at their side, the assumption being that they might not be able to stand t
Pilger: Truth Struggling
Jul 21, 2005
In all the coverage of the bombing of London, a truth has struggled to be heard. With honourable exceptions, it has been said guardedly, apologetically. Occasionally, a member of the public has broken the silence, as an East Londoner did when he walked in
Prashad: The Bastards Love America
Jul 13, 2005
The Pew Global Attitudes Survey (June 23) is remarkable for one statistic. Seventy-one percent of the Indian population surveyed this year loves the United States, and fifty four percent have a high regard for Bush. Sixty-three percent of Indians who talk
Pilger: Blair's Bombs
Jul 12, 2005
In all the coverage of last week's bombing of London, a basic truth struggled to be heard. It has been said quietly, politely, guardedly, as if it might somehow dishonour the dead, instead of speaking truth to the cause. While not doubting the atrocious i
Podur: People of Color Talk is Cheap
Jul 05, 2005
Any category or concept is going to leave important things out. ItÕs the nature of abstraction. Using the term ÔBlackÕ to describe a group of people can obscure more than it reveals. As a biological category it is meaningless, as is the concept of race ge
Pilger: The G8 Summit: A Fraud And A Circus
Jun 24, 2005
The front page of the London Observer on 12 June announced, "55 billion Africa debt deal 'a victory for millions'." The "victory for millions" is a quotation of Bob Geldof, who said, "Tomorrow 280 million Africans will wake up for the first time in their
Pilger: Sleeping With The Enemy
Jun 11, 2005
The National Union of Journalists and the Blair government are planning a "launch" ceremony, at which they will announce their "partnership". According to John Fray, the NUJ's deputy general secretary, this collaboration will "promote awareness among jour
Prashad: The *Social* in Social Security
May 31, 2005
I find it hard to follow the national "debate" on social security. There is something like a discussion ongoing, but it all seems to be about "solvency" of the system, with great disagreements on whether there really is a crisis.
Dec 31, 2005
In December 2005, the reactionaries who are running the government and ruining the country decided to cut about $42 billion from the human services budget over the next few years. Most of the cuts will come out of the hides of the very poorest among us. T