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Recent Z Nightly Commentaries
Hoodbhoy: EQBAL AHMAD: POST-POKHARAN DAYS
May 11, 2000
He fought for Kashmiri self-determination in 1948, against French imperialism in Algeria in the early 60's, roused students on American campuses in the early 70's against their government's immoral war in Vietnam, dodged arrest by the CIA in a case trumpe
Wise: "Seeing the System: Alan Greenspan, Unemployment, and the Validation of Radical Analysis
May 10, 2000
"What's the difference between a radical and a liberal?" It is a question I'm regularly asked at lectures, usually by college students struggling with their own sense of the world, trying desperately to figure out where they stand on the seemingly endless
Peters: Cure `em or Kill `em
May 09, 2000
Disability rights activists have been waiting for Christopher Reeve to get over his ÒI-will-walk-againÓ thing. But itÕs been 5 years since the actor, best known for his role as ÒSuperman,Ó became a quadriplegic after a horse-riding accident, and heÕs show
Landau: REPORT FROM SANTIAGO: DEJA VU
May 08, 2000
History repeats itself, wrote Marx, first as tragedy and then again as farce. First time: Chile, November, 1970. In one photo, a helmeted officer just to the right of and behind Allende's car wears a bored, or maybe slightly pained, expression. General Ca
Zinn: THE HEROES AROUND US
May 07, 2000
Recently, meeting with a group of high school students, I was asked by one of them: "I read in your book, A PEOPLE'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES, about the massacres of Indians, the long history of racism, the persistence of poverty in the richest coun
Dowd: THE GREAT BRAIN ROBBERY
May 06, 2000
Let not young souls be smothered out before They do quaint deeds and fully flaunt their pride. It is the world's one crime its babes grow dull, Its poor are ox-like, limp and leaden-eyed. Set those words beside these: I am somehow less interested i
Weisbrot: Four Dead in Ohio: Thirty Years Later
May 05, 2000
May 4 will mark thirty years since four students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University were murdered by Ohio National Guardsmen. It is no exaggeration to call it murder, since the students were unarmed and-- given how far they were from the
Solomon: THE POWER AND LIMITS OF PHOTOJOURNALISM
May 04, 2000
Despite all the emphasis on new media, photography has never lost the power to move us. Some recent photo essays in major American magazines, focusing on the poor and dispossessed, are efforts to break through abstraction and indifference. They tell us a
Hightower: WHAT'S MISSING IN CAMPAIGN 2000
May 03, 2000
Well, there we have it: Gore-Bush. Dull versus dullard. The political establishments of the two-party duopoly successfully rose up to surround, defend, and shove forward their chosen ones, both girded with tens of millions of dollars from the exact same s
Herman: THE LEFT AND ELECTORAL PARTICIPATION
May 02, 2000
The left always has a problem at election time, and embattled left pens are already trying to demonstrate that we should: (1) forego voting; (2) vote for Ralph Nader; or (3) vote for the lesser evil (Gore). The fact that there is always such vigorous disp
Hartmann: Population Policy: Will Coercion Come Back in Vogue?
May 01, 2000
In February of this year the Indian government announced a new population policy based on a two-child norm. While social activists have welcomed certain elements of the policy, such as free and compulsory elementary education and improvements in health in
Shah: Social Alienation and the School of Fish Theory of Social Change
Apr 30, 2000
Did you miss me? YouÕve been busy, with world-shaking, front-page social change happenings. In my sleep-deprived fog even I noticed that things were getting exciting, and I missed you. My six-month leave from work to look after my 2 kids, aged 3 and 10 we
Schechter: The News Dissector In Berlin: Media Mergers And Personal Memories
Apr 29, 2000
In my travels to the "Old World," I often discover how "old" some of my own ideas are. In Berlin last week to speak at a media conference, I learned about Tobias Peucer who, as a student at the University of Leipzig, wrote what may have been the world's f
Bond: Zimbabwe's Crisis Showcases Reasons for Bank/IMF Protest
Apr 28, 2000
In Zimbabwe, President Robert Mugabe appears to have taken leave of his senses, potentially plunging his country of 12 million into civil war. What does this have to do with the mid-April protests against the World Bank and International Monetary Fund?
Gonsalves: Joseph Campbell's Mythical Soup
Apr 27, 2000
Joseph Campbell reminded us how important myths are in shaping human culture and our own individual world-views. Of course, mythology cannot be truly understood in the narrow way it is commonly (mis)used today. In contemporary popular lingo a myth is an u
Guellec: Denial of Food and Medicine
Apr 26, 2000
The embargo is driving Cuba toward crisis and is causing significant suffering and death. Obtaining licenses from the departments of Commerce and Treasury to sell goods to Cuba (Cuban Democracy Act of 1992) on a contract-by-contract basis is a laborious p
Chomsky: Colombia – Part Two of Two
Apr 25, 2000
The sharp increase in arms shipped to Colombia is officially justified in terms of the "drug war," a claim taken seriously by few competent analysts, even apart from the instructive historical pattern, barely sampled here. As many have observed, the military themselves are heavily involved in narcotrafficking, and their paramilitary associates -- who openly proclaim their reliance on narcotrafficking -- are not the targets of the planned operations.
Chomsky: Colombia Ð Part Two of Two
Apr 25, 2000
The sharp increase in arms shipped to Colombia is officially justified in terms of the "drug war," a claim taken seriously by few competent analysts, even apart from the instructive historical pattern, barely sampled here. As many have observed, the milit
Chomsky: Colombia – Part One of Two
Apr 24, 2000
In 1999, Colombia became the leading recipient of US military and police assistance, replacing Turkey (Israel and Egypt are in a separate category). The figure is scheduled to increase sharply for the next two years. Through the 1990s, Colombia has been the leading recipient of US military aid in Latin America, and has also compiled the worst human rights record, in accord with a well-established correlation.
May 12, 2000
There has been a general assault in the last 25 years on solidarity, democracy, social welfare, anything that interferes with private power, and there are many targets. One of the targets is undoubtedly the educational system. In fact, a couple of years a