home / subscribe / donate / tower / books / archives / search / links / feedback / events / faq

Exclusive to CounterPunch Newsletter Subscribers! PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS ON HOW THE 'FREE TRADE' CASE FOR OFFSHORING AMERICA'S JOBS HAS COME UNGLUED Roberts on the sensational exposure of the faked "gains" and phantom stats of the free traders. Who was America's most anti-imperialist president? Try Grover Cleveland! JoAnn Wypijewski on the unlikely hero of Hawai'i's restoration movement. Alexander Cockburn reports on evangelical Christians in crisis amid fresh onslaughts by forces of darkness. The Warbler's Parable: Rosa Miriam Elizalde on the black-masked visitors to Cuba defying the US economic blockade. Get your copy today by subscribing online or calling 1-800-840-3683 Remember contributions to CounterPunch are tax-deductible. Click here to make a donation. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe Now Order CounterPunch By Email for Only $35 a Year and Receive a Free Copy of "Imperial Crusades: a Diary of Three Wars" by Cockburn and St. Clair

Today's Stories June 23 / 24, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Zyklon B on the US Border Robert Fisk The Bumbling Envoy Alison Weir USA Today and the USS Liberty Robert Fantina The Floundering Congress Dave Lindorff Exodus of the Puppets: Bush's Incredible Shrinking Coalition June 22, 2007 Andy Worthington A Tunisian in Gitmo: the Story of Prisoner 660 Sherwood Ross Corporate America's Deadliest Secret: the Big Profits in Biowarfare Research Eliana Monteforte The Torture Academy Robert Weissman Things Can Be Different Richard Rhames Farmer Preservation Christopher Brauchli Bush and the Uighurs: an Encounter in Albania Ramzy Baroud Chronicle of a Chaos Foretold Ehud Krinis, David Shulman and Neve Gordon Facing an Imminent Threat of Expulsion: Palestinians in S. Hebron Hills Need Your Help! David Michael Green If Reid Were Rove Kathryn Webber Boycotting DePaul Website of the Day Stop Me Before I Vote Again!   June 21, 2007 Peter Linebaugh The Day of the Rope Natsu Saito The Regents and Ward Churchill: Now is the Time to Speak Out Ron Jacobs The Intimidation of a Vet Saree Makdisi The West Chooses Fatah, But Palestinians Don't John Stauber Blessed Unrest: an Interview with Paul Hawken Scott Liebertz Fox News and Venezuela: an Analysis of How the Network Deliberately Misinforms Its Viewers Tom Clifford The Ghost Prisoners Robert Jensen The Last Sunday? Michael J. Smith Who Among Us Will Step Up to Destroy the Democratic Party? Jeb Sprague Pain at the Pump in Haiti Website of the Day Dion: Hey Paris June 20, 2007 Omar Barghouti A Secular-Democratic State Solution Andy Worthington Repatriated to Torture Margaret Kimberley Supreme Injustices: the Bush Court Robert Weissman Sicko, Part One: the Human Tragedy Russell D. Hoffman Time to Choose: Meltdowns or Solar Power? Rannie Amiri Mideast Alight Stephen Lendman The New York Times vs. Hugo Chavez Dave Lindorff Democratic Disconnect David Swanson Booing Hillary: Platitudes from the Drone Machine Anne Dachel Autism & Vaccines: Why are They Afraid to Look? Website of the Day Revolution By the Book   June 19, 2007 Ralph Nader Hillary's Stock and Trade: the NAFTA Two-Step Dr. Shepherd Bliss Torture's Long Reach Bill and Kathleen Christison Demostrating Against the Catholic Church in Santa Fe Jeff Leys Swarming Congress: Building a Resistance to the 2008 Iraq War Supplemental Funding Bill Dave Zirin The Unforgiven: Barry Bonds and Jack Johnson Chris Floyd Hitchens Takes a Roll in the Hay Ben Terrall Iraq Union Leaders Speak Out Against the Occupation Anthony Papa Veronica's Story: a Dying Wish to Governor Spitzer VIPS Countering Terrorism: How Not to Do It Linda Flores Criminalizing the Classroom Website of the Day Sign On to the Iraq Moratorium June 18, 2007 John Ross The Annexation of Mexico Paul Craig Roberts The Reign of the Tyrants is at Hand Martha Rosenberg Let Cheney at Him: Richardson the Oryx Hunter Norman Solomon War at the Remote Don Santina Memo to the Queen: Bobby Sands Died for Your Sins Isabella Kenfield Landless Rural Workers Confront Lula James Brooks America's Guilty Silence Eva Liddell Planning to Lose: Democratic Stratagems Sam Husseini Clinton Health Care Scam Revisited Akiva Eldar Ariel Sharon's Dream Website of the Day Frank Zappa: the Cop Interview   June 16 / 17, 2007 Alexander Cockburn The Psychopathology of Shrinks John Halle Finkelstein and "The Progressive" Robert Fisk Welcome to "Palestine" Andy Worthington Return to Torture? Uri Avnery The Gaza Cage Fred Gardner Paris Hilton's Punishment: a False Parable Saul Landau Our Gang of Thugs: The 1970s as a Context for Terrorist Violence P. Sainath Heaven Can Wait: Creditors and the Widows of Vidharbha Missy Comley Beattie Calling Evil Its Name Alan Gregory When ADM Comes to Town: Killer Tax Breaks for Wildlife Destruction Walter Brasch Bush and the Philosophy of Swiss Cheese Website of the Weekend Obama Girl   June 15, 2007 Alan Farago View from the Construction Crane: Sex, Taxes and Real Estate Scams in Miami Andy Worthington The Ordeal of Ali al--Marri Michael Simmons Terrorizing Artists in the USA Franklin Lamb Blowback Across Lebanon: The Failed Sunni Army Solution Gary Leupp The Day After We Attack Iran John Ross Ballot Burning Time in Ol' Mexico Website of the Day The American Rationalist   June 14, 2007 Michael Donnelly Charred SUVs and the End of Citizen Eco--Activism Faisal Kutty Scare Canada: The No--Fly List's False Sense of Security Harry Browne Ireland's Green Party Sells Out Charles Jonkel From the Arctic to Yellowstone: Bears in a World of Indifference Steven Higgs Murder in a Small Town: "Gay Panic" in Indiana? Bruce Dixon Black Power Through Low Power Radio Bruce K. Gagnon What Do We Do Now? A 10--Step Plan for Antiwar Activists Website of the Day Finkelgate June 13, 2007 Glen Ford Obama's Siren Song Marjorie Cohn Repression in Oaxaca Bill Christison A Grave Injustice at DePaul University Charles Jonkel Bears in a World of Indifference Silvia Cattori "I Was Not Prepared for the Horrors I Saw": an Interview with Hedy Epstein Richard Gott Racism and TV in Venezuela Firmin DeBrabander How the Neocons Misread Machiavelli William S. Lind The Perfect (Sine) Wave: Bombing Railroad Stations in Iraq Keith Rosenthal Workers Score a Victory at Harvard Website of the Day GOP and Monty Python Explain: "Enhanced Interrogation Techniques" June 12, 2007 Jeffrey St. Clair How to Sell a War Paul Craig Roberts The Neocon Threat to American Freedom P. Sainath India's Plutocrats and the Press Ralph Nader The Biggest Scam in the World Omar Waraich A Black Day for Pakistan's Press Dave Lindorff Things Your Media Momma Didn't Tell You Harvey Wasserman Confessions of an Anti-Nuke Jerk Malini Johar Schueller It Takes a Bomb Ramzy Baroud War Foretold: Mark Twain and the Sins of Empire Website of the Day Palestinian Chronicle Needs Our Help!   June 11, 2007 Patrick Cockburn The War on Journalists Paul Craig Roberts Losing the Economy to Mythology Uri Avnery 40 Bad Years: the Rot of Occupation Norman Solomon The Silence of the Bombs Eva Liddell Paris Hilton Doesn't Do Dishes: How Barbie Stood Up to Allen Ginsberg Rannie Amiri Groundhog Day in Pakistan Rachel Voss Poetry and Politics in Nassau County Christopher Brauchli A Wild West Tale, Starring Rev. Dobson and Bill O'Reilly D. K. Wilson Untangling Michael Vick from the Dogs Website of the Day Paris, Mixed Up June 9 / 10, 2007 Alexander Cockburn Dissidents Against Dogma George Ciccariello-Maher Behind Venezuela's "Student Rebellion": Who's Pulling the Strings? Saul Landau An Interview with Ricardo Alarcon, Vice President of Cuba Robert Fisk Believe It or Not in the Middle East Brian Cloughley Troop Support: Deceptions and Insipid Sentiments Ron Jacobs Condoleezza Rice Names the System Ward Boston Searching for the Truth About the USS Liberty Conn Hallinan Dark Plots in Byzantine Beirut Leonard Peltier The Ongoing War on Native American Religious Practices Lawrence Davidson Israel's New Anti-Boycott Task Force John Ross Mass Nude-In Complicates Church-State Scuffling in Mexico Kate Allan Some People Think the Internet is a Bad Thing Fred Gardner Ignorance Marches On Stephen Fleischman Little Boy, Fat Man and Iran Monica Benderman Reading Tom Paine in a Time of Crisis Geoff Bailey A Real Oil Conspiracy: Gouged at the Pump Missy Beattie Faith and War Patrick Dyer A Democrat Revs Up Ohio's Death Machine Tim Lengerich Dispelling the Cowboy Myth: an Interview with George Wuerthner James Irani and David Rahni Perspectives on the Arrests of Iran-Americans in Tehran Gary Leupp The Unfair Treatment of Paris Hilton Michael Tillery The Heart of a Sportswriter: an Interview with David Aldridge Michael Simmons Beating Off the Squares: the Hipness of Anton Rosenberg Poets' Basement Laymon, Davies and Ford Website of the Weekend This is Sea Shepherd!   June 8, 2007 Serge Halimi What Sarkozy Learned About Politics from the US Patrick Cockburn The Turkish Incursion Jeffrey St. Clair Israel's Attack on the USS Liberty, Revisited   Paul Craig Roberts The Secret War William Blum What If NBC Cheered on a Military Coup Against Bush? Joshua Frank Swing-State Strategy: Looking for a Spoiler Lance Selfa How the Six Day War Changed the Middle East Dave Lindorff A "Criminal Conspiracy" in the White House Lawrence Ferlinghetti The Summer of Love: Flashbacks of a Human Be-In Website of the Day Robert Pollin: "Making the Federal Minimum Wage a Living Wage" June 7, 2007 Marjorie Cohn The Prison is the War Crime Soldz, Reisner and Olson: A Q & A on Psychologists and Torture Soldz, Reisner and Olson, et al: An Open Letter to Sharon Brehm, President of the American Psychological Association Paul Craig Roberts Losing Iraq, Nuking Iran Bill Quigley "How Long Must We Support a Mistake?" Silvia Cattori Sailing to Gaza Carl G. Estabrook What the June Bug Is: Politics in the Dismal Season Ellen Taylor Free the Tweakers!: The Good News About Meth Corporate Crime Reporter BAE Systems, Prince Bandar and the $2 Billion Account at the Riggs Bank Brenda Norrell Torture Training at Ft. Huachuca: Two Priests Face Prison for Exposing Torture in Arizona D. K. Wilson What Gary Sheffield Really Said Kevin Zeese Iraq Occupation Coming to a Head Over Oil Website of the Day How the Press Expired June 6, 2007 Alain Gresh Countdown to War on Iran Gary Leupp Poddy's Crazy Prayer: Bomb Iran, For Israel and America! Steven Sherman The Perils of Humanitarian Intervention Bruce Dixon Is Bill Gates Trying to Hijack Africa's Food Supply? Corporate Crime Reporter The Professor and the Nukes Brian M. Downing The Iraq War and Presidential Politics Ron Jacobs Luv n' Hate: a Different Take on the Summer of Love George Bisharat The Mirage of the Two State Solution Nicole Colson Over to You, Dante: Falwell's Ministry of Hate Bruce K. Gagnon From Italy to Guam: A Global Peace Movement is Taking Shape Website of the Day How the Democrats Should Treat Bush   June 5, 2007 Michael Neumann Canada in Afghanistan Jonathan Cook The Shin Bet and the Persecution of Azmi Bishara David Vest The Democrats' War Robert Fantina America's Cuba Policy Hoffman, Parsneau and Chowdhury CounterTerrorism as International Healthcare John V. Walsh Shaming the Official Antiwar Movement Richard Cretan Yellow Dog: The Strange Love of Martin Amis and Tony Blair Adam Engel Days of Dread: an American Tale William S. Lind The News from Anbar: Has Al Qaeda Over-Reached? Myles Hoenig Free the Oaks! Cut Down Those Yellow Ribbons! Jim Minick Lead-Foot Nation Website of the Day Punk Rock Soap Opera June 4, 2007 Nizar Latif An Interview with Moqtada al-Sadr Diana Johnstone Sarko and the Ghosts of May, 1968 Gregory Wilpert RCTV and Freedom of Speech in Venezuela Paul Watson The Anchorage Whale Killing Bureaucrats Summit Susan Rosenthal, MD How Cindy Sheehan Unmasked the Democrats Richard Ward The Right of Return to New Orleans Eva Liddell Don't Support the Troops Zahi Khouri Four Decades of Occupation Evelyn Pringle The FDA, GlaxoSmithKline and the Avandia Disaster China Hand About Those North Korean Benjamin Franklins ... Karyn Strickler George W. Bush: a "Ficeist" Leader Website of the Day The Guantanamo Files   June 2 / 3, 2007 Alexander Cockburn The Last of the Texas Outsiders Marc Levy Iraq Dead Ahead: a Brief Military History and Civilian Guide to Arlington National Cemetery Martin Smith Camilo Mejía's War: From Foot Soldier for Empire to Rebel for Peace Diana Johnstone Great Power Meddling in Kosovo John Ross The Oaxaca Volcano Stews Uri Avnery On Generals and Admirals Sunsara Taylor This is Not a Story About Cindy Sheehan Richard Neville Were the Hippies Right? P. Sainath The Farm Crisis and 100,000 Indian Widows Missy Comley Beattie Let's Roar Nisrine Abiad and Victor Kattan The Hariri Tribunal: a Fait Accompli? Rannie Amiri Lebanon, Bush and the Three Stooges Margot Pepper Deconstructing "Return to Sender" Eric Stewart Censorship and Cop Brutality in the New Bison Wars Ralph Nader The Halberstam Camp Dan Bacher A Victory for the Fish Shaun Harkin and Sandy Boyer Irish War Protesters on Trial Richard Rhames Selling Five Acres in Crawford Frederick Hudson The Rediscovery of Ella Fitzgerald Poets' Basement Lindorff, Landau and Buknatski Website of the Weekend Gimme Shelter June 1, 2007 Dave Marsh The FBI and the Godfather (of Soul): James Brown's FBI Files Saul Landau Return to Cuba: 47 Years Later in Havana David Phinney How the Baghdad Embassy Was Built: Forced Labor and Worker Abuse Robert Jensen The Bigot and the Boycott Stanley Heller Arrest Robert McNamara Yifat Susskind Indigenous Women Fight Back Robert Weissman Corporate Power Since 1980 Paul Buchheit Africa and Its Discontents William S. Lind The Folly of Maximalist Objectives Sherwood Ross 78,000 Iraqis Have Been Killed by Coalition Airstrikes Stephen Lendman Terrorism Defined Website of the Day Desert Autonomous Zone May 31, 2007 Robert Bryce The Language Barrier Patrick Cockburn Killing with Impunity: Iraq's Militias Under the Surge Gary Leupp Appropriate Disillusionment: the Despair of Cindy Sheehan and Andrew Bacevich Kathy Kelly Being Hope Marjorie Cohn The Unitary King George Chris Kutalik and Tiffany Ten Eyck Fallout from the Sale of Chrysler: Jobs, Health Care, Pensions, All in Jeopardy Corporate Crime Reporter Zheng Xiaoyu Meet Lester Crawford Dave Lindorff Our Monica: a Hero of the Constitution Website of the Day Know Your Rights!   May 30, 2007 James Ridgeway The Bi-Partisan Con on Synthetic Fuels Franklin Lamb Lebanon and the Planned US Airbase at Kaleiaat Terrence E. Paupp Withdrawal Symptoms Uri Avnery To the Shores of Tripoli Alan Maass and Jeffrey St. Clair The Green Masquerade: Corporate America's Latest Counter-Attack Rock and Rap Confidential Watching the Detectives: the Political Censorship of Hip Hop Ralph Nader Taming the Giant Corporation Nirmal Ghosh China, CITES and the Fate of the Tiger Jean Daniels Dealing Democrats: Folding to Mr. 28% Tom Barry Meet Robert Zoellick: Bush's Pick to Head World Bank Website of the Day Petuuche Gilbert on the Rights of Indigenous People May 29, 2007 Stephen Soldz Shrinks and the SERE Technique at Guantanamo Eliza Ernshire Refugees Forever: Inside Bedawi Camp Ron Jacobs The Exit of Cindy Sheehan Dave Lindorff Whatever Happened to Signing Statements? Evelyn Pringle What Qualifies Bush to Lead Iraq War Mike Whitney Bush's New Middle East David Swanson How We Got Here: The Democrats and the Antiwar Movement John Holt Gating Montana, Part Two: the Feedback Loop Cynthia McKinney Dreaming of a True Memorial Day Martha Rosenberg Mad Cows, Mad Pigs and the Horse Slaughter Lobby Website of the Day The Ruminant May 28, 2007 Bill Quigley Katrina Activists: "Less Meeting, More Fighting" Col. Dan Smith The Paranoid and the Dead Cindy Sheehan Why I Am Leaving the Democratic Party Dr. Susan Block Dr. Laura's Little Monster Jeeni Criscenzo What I Learned About Being a Dickhead Douglas Valentine Memorial Day: a Poem Website of the Day Peace TV     Subscribe Online

Weekend Edition June 23 / 24, 2007 A Profile of Worker Control in Argentina Cerámica de Cuyo By BENJAMIN DANGL In the worn out meeting room of worker-run Cerámica de Cuyo, Manuel Rojas runs a rough hand over his face. The mechanic recalls forming the cooperative after the company boss fired the workers in 2000: "We didn't have any choice. If we didn't take over the factory we would all be in the streets. The need to work pushed us to action." After working at the ceramic brick and tile factory for nearly 35 years, Rojas joined the other two dozen workers at Cerámica de Cuyo and began to organize into a cooperative. These workers were part of national movement at a time when Argentina was in an economic crisis. Across the country, hundreds of factories, businesses and hotels shut their doors and sent their employees packing. Many workers, like those at Cerámica de Cuyo, decided to take matters into their own hands. As the stories of these workers illustrate, the cooperatively-run road hasn't been easy. Cerámica de Cuyo is surrounded by vineyards and artists' homes in the bohemian community of Bermejo, Argentina , right outside Mendoza. Dust blows around the sun burnt factory yard as I sit down with Rojas and his co-worker Francisco Avila. Rojas wears a weathered blue plaid shirt while Avila has a baseball cap resting on a head of gray hair. We're in the Cerámica de Cuyo meeting room. The ancient chairs have crumbling foam cushions. Phone numbers and Che Guevara slogans are scrawled on the walls. It's easy to sense the wear and tear that lifetimes of labor have had on the place. In August of 1999, the Cerámica de Cuyo owner cut wages. Though he promised it was only temporary, the lack of money pushed many employees to search for work elsewhere. Some left the country in desperation. "The boss kept promising money, so we waited," Rojas says. "We worked on weekends, waiting and waiting, but no paychecks arrived. We had to support our families, pay the bills and everything." In February, 2000, all the workers were fired. A year later they decided to form a cooperative and run the factory themselves. While organizing the cooperative, they had to guard the factory to prevent the robbery of expensive equipment and machinery. Neighbors helped the workers out at this critical time, providing food, firewood and blankets. "Workers from other cooperatives came to the factory with classes, informing us how to organize a cooperative," Avila says. "This kind of solidarity is common." Cerámica de Cuyo produces roofing tiles and bricks, and now employs around 32 people. Before the formation of the cooperative, the pay scales were typical, with the owner earning a lot more than the workers. Now everyone is paid the same amount and all workers have one week of vacation. Regular assemblies are organized to discuss administrative and financial topics, or to hire a new employee. Since the formation of the cooperative, they have also been able to buy newer machines. "Before, the boss wouldn't let us into the main administrative office. Now it's ours," Rojas says. "We go in there anytime to check on orders and be involved with that side of the business." We walk outside into the now scorching sun. One truck dumps off a load of dirt while clay is formed into bricks and tiles and sent inside to a massive kiln. Rojas works as an all around mechanic, fixing everything from fork lifts to conveyor belts. When we enter the main factory room, he is called from three directions at once with questions to answer and problems to fix. Steam rises from the hot, wet, recently cut bricks. The whole place smells like a potter's kiln. While Rojas works on a control panel for the conveyor belt, Avila takes me upstairs to his work area at the top of the kiln. Here the temperature rises by about 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Though it feels like a sauna, Avila is comfortable and turns up the radio to a popular cumbia song. It's a dangerous job: "Sometimes when the electricity is shut down, and the gas keeps going, there can be an explosion, so I have to pay attention." "It hasn't been easy," Avila says. "Before, we were workers. Now we have to be lawyers, accountants and everything. Before, we didn't worry about the machines. Now they're all ours, so we care more about them. Now when a machine breaks down we have to wait for money and parts." Both admitted that one of the hardest things about working in a cooperative was that all workers, young and old, received the same wages. Rojas says, "Some people who have no experience at all are making the same per hour as those working as mechanics with 35 years of technical experience." Avila agrees. "Some workers want to earn more for working less. At the beginning it was all compañero this and compañero that, very glorious. But when we started working more, a lot of the conflicts broke out about salaries." Back in the meeting room, Rojas explains that now, whenever there is a problem, they all discuss things in the open, in assemblies. "There are always conflicts, but what's good about it now is that we solve it together, right here." He pounds his fist on the battered meeting table. Benjamin Dangl is the author of The Price of Fire: Resource Wars and Social Movements in Bolivia, (AK Press, March 2007). See www.boliviabook.com

New From CounterPunch Books The Secret Language of the Crossroads: HOW THE IRISH INVENTED SLANG By Daniel Cassidy Click Here to Buy!   Now Available! How the Press Failed The Gang's All Here: Judy Miller, Bob Woodward, Rupert Murdoch, Bill O'Reilly...End Times Leaves No Reputation Unstained! Buy End Times Now! Now Available from CounterPunch Books! Saul Landau's Bush and Botox World with a Foreword by Gore Vidal Click Here to Order!   "The Case Against Israel" Michael Neumann's Devastating Rebuttal of Alan Dershowitz WHAT'S INSIDE Grand Theft Pentagon: Tales of Greed and Profiteering in the War on Terror by Jeffrey St. Clair       The Occupation by Patrick Cockburn Humanitarian Imperialism By Jean Bricmont   CITY BEAUTIFUL By Tennessee Reed   Bruce Springsteen On Tour By Dave Marsh   The Book on 9/11 the White House Denounced as "ABSOLUTE GARBAGE"