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Today's
Stories
January 3,
2008
Pam Martens
The
Free Market Myth Dissolves into Chaos
January 2,
2008
Jeff Taylor
The
Left and Ron Paul
M. Shahid Alam
The Life and Death of Benazir Bhutto: a Pakistani Tragedy
Gary Leupp
Madness Compounding Madness: Calls for Intervention in Pakistan
Paul Craig Roberts
Criminals with Badges
Heather Gray
Georgia's Racist Death Penalty
Fred Gardner
and Shobhit Arora
Dr. Strangelove's Nemesis
David Macaray
Labor Unions and Taft-Hartley
Benjamin Dangl
Fear and Loathing in Bolivia
January 1,
2008
Iain A. Boal
City
of Disappearances
B. R. Gowani
Benazir's Death in Crisistan
Shahid Mahmood
Bhutto and the Press
Linn Washington,
Jr.
Old Injustices Endure: From Crack Sentences to Racial Profiling
Harvey Wasserman
Taking Leonard Peltier to Iowa: the Moral Low Point of the Clinton
Era
John Ross
2008, Already a Year to Forget
Website of the Day
The Thrill is Gone: BB and Gladys
December 31,
2007
Alexander Cockburn
Goodbye
2007 and Good Riddance!
Tariq Ali
Pakistan, the Aftermath
Liaquat Ali Khan
The Perfidy of Pakistan's Rulers
Wajahat Ali
After Bhutto, a Nuclear Pakistan?
Robert Fisk
Who Killed Bhutto?
Ajai Sahni
Myths and Realities About Benazir Bhutto and Pakistan's Dark
Future
Marwan Bishara
You Say Talk, I Say Attack: The Middle East and the US Presidential
Election Campaigns
Uri Avnery
The Beilin Syndrome
Mark T. Harris
Does This Happen in Canada?
Brenda Norrell
Resistance and Censorship
Website of the Day
A People United Will Never Be Defeated
December 29
/ 30, 2007
Alexander Cockburn
Options
in America: Kill Yourself or Have a Baby
Tariq Ali
Indignation and Fear Stalk Pakistan
Fawzia Afzal-Khan
My Encounter with Benazir Bhutto
Gary Leupp
The U.S. and Pakistan After 9/11: Blowback from an Unholy Alliance
China Hand
Pakistan Stares Into the Abyss
Jacob Hornberger
Stop Medddling in Pakistan
John Chuckman
Pakistan and the Failure of Quick-Fix Politics
Missy Beattie
Evaluating Bush with the Bhutto Corruption Standard
Ralph Nader
Who Will Take the Next Step?
Fidel Castro
There Hasn't Been a Day in My Life When I Haven't Learned Something
Robert Fantina
The Sham of Homeland Security
Greg Moses
Beauty from the Heart of Texas
Catherine Lutz
What We Can Not See: Art and Bombing
Kristin Van
Tassel
Seeing in the Dark
Kim Nicolini
Redacted: Brian DePalma's Scream of Outrage
Phyllis Pollack
Keith Richards Runs With Rudolph Once More
Poets' Basement
Landau, Gibbons and Davies
Website of
the Weekend
Driving Karachi in Search of the Perfect Naan
December 28,
2007
Farzana Versey
The
Complex Electra
Wajahat Ali
A
Pakistani Requiem
Binoy Kampmark
Death in Rawalpindi: Bhutto and Her Legacy
Ayesha Ijaz
Khan
Not Dead Yet: The Pakistan People's Party Still Survives
Anthony DiMaggio
Turkey's Bombing of Iraq
Ray McGovern
Creeping
Fascism
Jim Goodman
Biofuels, the Biggest Scam Going
Ron Jacobs
Transcending the Colonizer's History: Iran, a People Interrupted
Russell Hoffman
Mini-Nukes by Toshiba
John Murphy
Greens Gone Wild
Website of the Day
Guiliani Campaign Official: "Only Rudy Can Defeat the Muslims"
December 27,
2007
Dilip Hiro
A
Tragedy Foretold: Will Bhutto's Death be a Boost for Her Party?
Murtaza Shibli
Who Killed Bhutto?
Stephen Soldz
Fallujah,
the Information War and U.S. Propaganda
Bill Quigley
Locked
Outside the Gates
Paul Craig Roberts
The Great American Lock-Up
Omer Subhani
Killing Bhutto: What Happens Next in Pakistan?
Marjorie Cohn
The Torture Tape Cover-Up: How High Does It Go?
Allan Nairn
Cataclysm By Money Whim
Jacob G. Hornberger
Smearing Ron Paul: Shame on the NYT
Norman Solomon
Channeling Suze Orman
Patrick Irelan
Rumsfeld Spills the Ink
Ben Tripp
Pass the Razor Blades
Website of the Day
Quagmire, For What It's Worth
December 26, 2007
Charles Tripp
From
One Saddam to Fifty
Paul Armentano
No-Knock, You're Dead
Rannie Amiri
Lebanon in Search of a Government
Stanley Heller
Brzezinski and Charlie Wilson's War
John Walsh
Two Unreasonable Men
Martha Rosenberg
The Strange Career of Scott Gottlieb
Norman Madarasz
Bolivia Amends New Constitution and Faces Mutiny from Within
Website of
the Day
Cockburn at the Battle of Ideas
December 25,
2007
Patrick Cockburn
Conscience
and Empire
December 24,
2007
Andrea Peacock
A
Dark Ride on the Border
Tariq Ali
Thinking of Edward Said
Uri Avnery
Help! A Ceasefire!
Jill Jameson
Burma is Not Back to Normal: A Trip from Rangoon to Mae Sot
Steve Melendez
Russell Means Goes to Washington
Mike Whitney
The Big Fix
Chuck Munson
Not Getting It About New Orleans
John Walsh
Clueless Crusaders
Farzana Versey
Tony Blair and the Hawking of Religion
Richard Neville
Dreaming of a White House Christmas
Website of the Day
Back in the USSR
December 22 / 23, 2007
Alexander Cockburn
Mike
Huckabee's Ascending Chariot
Ralph Nader
Politics
and Profits: How the Oil Cartel Gets Its Way
Andy Worthington
Intelligence Failures, Battlefield Myths and Unaccountable Prisons
in Afghanistan
Ahmad Faruqui
The Comedian of Pakistan
Bill Moyers
Society on Steroids
Rev. William
E. Alberts
Blessed are the Peacemakers
Timothy J. Freeman
From Kant to Lennon: Can War Really be Over?
Anthony DiMaggio
Democrats Continue to Capitulate on Iraq
Fred Gardner
Molecule of the Year, Cannabiodiol
Paul Krassner
Enhanced Hazing Techniques
Seth Sandronsky
17 Years of Meanness: Repealing California's Three Strikes Law
William Loren
Katz
Christmas Eve Freedom Fighters: Recalling the Battle of Lake
Okeechobee
Michael Dickinson
In the Dungeon of the Zabita
Ron Jacobs
Why Leon Russell Still Matters
David Vest
Doyle Bramhall's "Is It News?"
Poets' Basement
Orloski, Davies and Ford
Website of the Weekend
George W. Hates Santa
December 21,
2007
John Ross
New Massacres Loom in Mexico
Jacob Hornberger
Nothing Can Morally Justify the Invasion of Iraq
Dick J. Reavis
A
Way Out of the Newspaper Abyss
Jeff Cohen
and Norman Solomon
The 2007 P.U.-litzer Prizes
Peter Morici
Business as Usual as Recession Looms
Jack McCarthy
Let Us Now Praise Judith Regan (Even If She Did Sleep with Bernie
Kerik)
Raúl Zibechi
Sex and Revolution
Steve Early
How the Presidential Candidates Made Me an Atheist
David Macaray
Union Aftermath
Patrick Bond
Zuma, the Center-Left and the Left-Left in S. Africa
Lakota Freedom Delegation
A Declaration of Independence from the USA
Website of
the Day
Solomon v. Beck: Tale of the Tape
December 20,
2007
David Rosen
Mitt
Romney's Secret Life as a Pornographer
Alan Farago
The
Huckster and the Wreckage: Jeb Bush and the Subprime Mortgage
Crisis
Laura Carlsen
Standing Up to NAFTA
Ashley Dawson
The Return of the Bread Riot
Wayne Smith
and Jennifer Schuett
Cuba Changes, US Policy Stagnates
Website of
the Day
How to Talk to a FoxNews Reporter
December 19,
2007
Saul Landau
Is
the NIE Bush's Watergate?
Paul W. Lovinger
Hillary the Hawk
Norman Solomon
The Mad Corporate World of Glenn Beck
Dave Zirin
George Mitchell's Drugs of Choice
Marjorie Cohn
Bush Still Spinning Iranian Nukes
Sen. Russell
Feingold
The Iraq War is Exhausting Our Nation
Sonja Karkar
A Christmas Reflection on Palestine
Anthony Papa
Open the Drug Gulags
Christopher Ketcham
Pave the Holy Lands with Good Intentions
Davey D
Britney's Little Sister is Pregnant: Should We Blame Hip Hop?
Website of
the Day
When Republicans Use the F-Word on TV
December 18,
2007
R. F. Blader
The
Politics of Teen Pregnancy
George Wuerthner
Gunning for Wolves in Idaho
Steven Higgs
Can the NAFTA Superhighway be Stopped?
Vijay Prashad
Encounters with Ghadar
David Macaray
The Free Rider Problem
Ralph Nader
Nine Books That Make a Difference: a Reading List for the Holidays
Eva Liddell
Privatizing War Abroad, Invading Privacy at Home
Martha Rosenberg
While the Bodies are Still Warm: Drugs, Shrinks and Shooters
Dave Lindorff
When Impeachment is Out of Print
Peter Morici
The Consequences the Trade Deficit
Website of
the Day
Ron Paul: How Fascism Will Come to America
December 17,
2007
Mike Whitney
Staring
Into the Abyss
Tom Barry
Planning
the War on Immigrants
Uri Avnery
A
Gaza Masada?
Greg Moses
Crossing the Line in Texas
Allan Nairn
Terrorism; Counter-
Terrorism: Excuses for Murder
Patrick Bond
South Africa's Fight Between Hostile Brothers
Stephen Lendman
Police State America
Charles Jonkel
Grizzly Right of Way
Laray Polk
An Inside-Out Crisis in Gaza
Stephen Fleischman
Pawns in Their Game
December 15
/ 16, 2007
Peter Linebaugh
A
People's Penny for the Magna Carta
Howard Zinn
Bomb After Bomb
Standard Schaefer
The Greening of Big Tobacco
Raymond J.
Lawrence
Let's Take Christ Out of Christmas
Alan Farago
Down on Desolation Row: the Vultures and the Growth Machine
Saul Landau
Lord Byron and the Bad Tourists
Jenna Orkin
Lying to "Reassure" the Public: Bush's EPA and the
Post-9/11 Toxic Air Cover-Up
Ahmad Samih
Khalidi
Why a Palestinian "State" is a Punitive Construct
Robert Fantina
Politics By Photo-Op
Missy Comley
Beattie
Resistance Amid the Ruins
Ramzy Baroud
Of Mormons and Muslims
James L. Secor
A Vision for China's Future
Elijah Wald
Ike Turner's Music Won't be Forgotten
Website of
the Weekend
The Alliance for the Wild Rockies Needs (and Deserves) Your Support
December 14,
2007
JoAnn Wypijewski
The
Dirty Cad: What Giuliani's Sex Life Tells Us About Him
John Ross
Iraqi
Refugees Return: One Cruel Hoax
Jacob Hornberger
Terror Suspects Belong in Federal Court
Andy Worthington
Guantánamo and the Supreme Court: What Happened?
Allan Nairn
"Shoot Them on the Spot": Rewarding War Crimes
Dave Zirin
The Mitchell Report: Absolving the Owners
Dave Lindorff
The First Cut is the Deepest
Misty MacDuffee
Toxic Grizzlies
Ben Terrall
What Happened to Lovinsky Pierre-Antoine?
Dr. Mustafa
Barghouthi
Prerequisites for Peace
Website of the Day
Sen. Kit Bond: "Waterboarding is Like Swimming"
December 13,
2007
Paul Craig
Roberts
Shrinking
the Dollar from the Inside-Out
Mike Whitney
Dershowitz for the Defense--of Waterboarding
Ron Jacobs
Blank Check DemocratsL the Great War Funding Conspiracy
Norman Solomon
The USA's Human Rights Daze
Peter Morici
The Dragon and the Toothless Dog: China Doesn't Flinch
Sandy Mayes
Blocking the Strykers: 13 Days of War Resistance at Port Olympia
Franklin Lamb
The UN in Lebanon: Whose Mission Is It Fulfilling?
Jacob Hornberger
Don't Reform the CIA, Abolish It
Nadim Rouhana
An Interloper in My Own Land
Dave Zirin
On Pigskin and Petrol
Website of the Day
Rachel's Needs (and Deserves) Your Support!
December 12, 2007
Allan
Nairn
US Intelligence is Tapping Indonesian
Phones
Alan
Farago
How Sprawl Eats Its Young
Ray
McGovern
Torture, Lies and Videotape
Winslow
T. Wheeler
The Phony Pentagon Budget Cuts
Evan
Jones
The Raid on Great Western: Why an Australian Bank Might Spell
Doom for the US Farm Belt
James
Petras
An Open Letter to Sarkozy on the Exchange of Political Prisonsers
Joel
Hirschorn
The Horserace Fiction: Clinton, Obama and the Democratic Machine
Joshua
Frank
Why Ron Paul Deserves Our Attention
Sherry
Wolf
Why the Left Should Reject Ron Paul
Dan
Bacher
Survey of a Fish Graveyard
Website
of the Day
Men Eating Bugs
December
11, 2007
Patrick
Cockburn
What's Really Happened During
the Surge?
Diana
Johnstone
The Next Kosovo War
Paul
Craig Roberts
It's Waco All Over Again: Preventive Detention and the Constitution
David
Macaray
Impasse in Hollywood
Ralph
Nader
Gail Collins Versus the Underdogs
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo Britons to be Released: a Mixed Result
Martha
Rosenberg
No Holiday for High Risk Sex Workers
Steve
Champion /
Anthony Ross
Words for Our Brother, Tookie Williams
Kim
Nicolini
Tangled Up in Dylan
Michael
Dickinson
Say Goodbye to Purgatory: Pope Rat Gets Indulgent
Website
of the Day
A Charming (and Worthy)
Pitch
December 10, 2007
Uri
Avnery
How They Stole the Bomb From Us
Debbie
Nathan
The Perils of Journalism and Child
Porn
JoAnn
Wypijewski
Is There a Left Here Left?
If So, What Can It Do?
Steve
Kelly
Cheap Chips, Counterfeit Wilderness
Donna
J. Volatile
Welcome to the Revolution
December
8 / 9, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
The Coup Against Bush and Cheney
Brenda
Norrell
Seize the Land, Chain the Peace Activists
Saul
Landau
The Ruins of Empire
R.
F. Blader
A Rape in Every Drink?
Ray
McGovern
Spinning Iran's Centrifuges
Allan
Nairn
Imposed Hunger in Gaza, the Army in
Indonesia
Linn
Washington, Jr
Spotlight on Death Row
Paul
Craig Roberts
When Will Bush Come Clean?
December
7, 2007
Sean
Penn
Piano Wire Puppeteers
Arthur
Versluis
Mining Water in the Desert
M.
G. Piety
Racism and the American Psyche: Some
Thoughts on Race and Intelligence
Pam
Martens
Banksters Gone Wild
Alan
Farago
Will the Free Market Kill Suburbia?
Sprawl and the Credit Crisis
Allan
Nairn
It Takes (Out) a Village
Col.
Dan Smith
Bush, Iran and the Politics of Doomsday
Alice
Slater
The Iran Opening
Robert
Weissman
The Story of Stuff
Website
of the Day
Something
About Mitt
December
5, 2007
Mike
Whitney
Why the CFR Hates Putin
Sharon
Smith
The Anti-War Enablers: Tom Hayden
and the Dead End Democrats
James
Petras
Venezuela in the Aftermath
Ron
Jacobs
The Iran Charade
Dave
Zirin
Kicking a Dead Man: the Sliming of Sean Taylor
John
V. Whitbeck
Two States or One? Time to Choose
Peter
Zinn
Covered in New Orleans
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
Impeach Pelosi Instead
Alan
Farago
The Credit Bomb Detonates in Florida
Heather
Gray
US Meddling in Australian Politics
Website
of the Day
A Donner Summit Night Before Xmas
December
4, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Jackboot State Stubs Its Toe in
Ann Arbor
Andy
Worthington
Guantánamo and the Supreme
Court
Paul
Craig Roberts
The Lies at the End of the American
Dream
Ray
McGovern
No-Nuke Iran
Winslow
T. Wheeler
Admiral Mullen and the Defense Budget: When White Elephants are
Too Small
Allan
Nairn
The Regime Still Stands in Burma, Where "the People Just
Want Food"
Russell
Mokhiber
The USA v. Al Arian
Nikolas
Kozloff
As Chávez Falters: Raising the Stakes for the South American
Left
John
V. Walsh
Peace Movement Paralyzed
Ghada
Ageel
Will Peace Cost Me My Home?
Stephen
Soldz
The Facts be Damned!: Psychologists' President Defends Psychologist
Involvement in Interrogations
Website
of the Day
Hands Off the People of Iran
December
3, 2007
Tariq
Ali
Venezuela After the Referendum
Bill
Quigley
New Orleans: Bulldozers for the Poor,
Tax Credits for Developers
Eric
Walberg
The Bible and Middle East History
Uri
Avnery
After Annapolis
Marjorie
Cohn
Operation Iraqi Freedom Exposed
Dave
Lindorff
Vengeance Isn't Sweet
Stephen
Fleischman
Homeless in Paradise
Martha
Rosenberg
Perp Walks for the Mink Clad on Chicago's Mag Mile
Website
of the Day
So Just Lead!
December
1 / 2, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
Emblems of the Bush Age: Adrift
in a Sea of Booze
Jeffrey
St. Clair
The Bear Minimum: the Grizzly and
the Future of the Rocky Mountain West
Mike
Whitney
"Iraq Doesn't Exist Anymore": an Interview with Nir
Rosen
Shemon
Salam
A Visit From the FBI
Roger
Burbach
The Battle in Bolivia
Benjamin
Dangl
New Politics in Old Bolivia
Brian
M. Downing
The Quiet on the Middle Eastern Front: How Much Credit Goes to
the Surge?
Greg
Moses
Night of the Living Redneck: a Texas Horror Story
Sonja
Karkar
The "Never-Never" Peace Conference
Saul
Landau
Ethics and Evil in South Boston
Margaret
Kimberley
Black America Left Behind
John
Ross
What are the Prospects for a New Mexican Revolution?
Reza
Fiyouzat
Exit on the Left: When Che's Children Visited Iran
Judith
Scherr
Berkeley Turns Right for the Holidays
Lance
Olsen
Of Forests and Finance: Logging for the Wealthy
Christopher
Brauchli
Mr. Bush and the Despots
Robert
Fantina
Iraq as U.S. Colony
Dan
Bacher
Fish Triage on Prospect Island
Michael
Donnelly
Remembering How to be Human: John Trudell and the Music of Urgency
Website
of the Weekend
Appalachian Voices
November
30, 2007
Peter
Stone Brown
The Re-Packaging of Bob Dylan
Wajahat
Ali
The Volatile Mistress: an Interview with Javed Jabbar, Pakistan's
Former Minister of Information
Allan
Nairn
Cold-Blooded Celebrity: Thomas L. Friedman and the Bali Bombers
Alan
Farago
The Sorrows of Suburbia: Politics, Sprawl and the Housing Crash
John
Ross
The Death of Latin America's First Revolution
Corporate
Crime Reporter
America's Corporate Crime Capitals
Lucia
Alvarez
Diego Gonzalez
Argentina's Political Future
James
Rothenberg
The Iraqi Miracle
Website
of the Day
Bio-Bling?
November
29, 2007
R.
F. Blader
The Most Dangerous Kind of Bribe
Ismael
Hossein-Zadeh
Distorting Fascism to Demonize Iran
Stephen
Soldz
War on the Couch: Fear, Aggression and Empire
Sheldon
Richman
Iraq 3.0
George
Wuerthner
Forest Fires, Lies and Chainsaws
Felice
Pace
Did All Things Considered Self-Censor on Annapolis?
Col.
Dan Smith
The Meaning of Annapolis
Harvey
Wasserman
Terror Target Nukes
Nikolas
Kozloff
Primetime Hate Debate: Lou Dobbs, Immigration and Campaign '08
Paul
Krassner
Huffington Post Bloggers Go On Strike!
Dave
Lindorff
News Not Fit to Print: US Coup Planned for Venezuela?
CP
News Service
The One State Declaration
Website
of the Day
A Native View of Yellowstone Bison Slaughter
November
28, 2007
James
Petras
CIA Destabilization Memo Surfaces
on Venezuela
Jeff
Halper
Annapolis: When the Roadmap is a One
Way Street
Pam
Martens
Crashing Citigroup
Peter
Morici
Economy in Crisis: Avoiding a Recession
Mohammed
Khatib
Separate and Unequal in Palestine
Helen
Redmond
The Horror and the Hope: Health Care in America
William
S. Lind
In the Fox's Lair: Quiet Before a New Iraq Storm?
Ben
Tripp
We, the People: a Trope for All Seasons
Liaquat
Ali Khan
Pakistan: First, Restore the Constitution and Reinstate the Judges
Jeff
Berg
Holbrooke Says Bush Won't Attack Iran
Website
of the Day
The Lies of Joe Klein
November
27, 2007
Joe
DeRaymond
On the Road to the Torture School
Paul
Craig Roberts
Meet the Only Two Candidates Worse Than Bush and Cheney: Hillary
and Rudy
Marjorie
Cohn
Remembering Victor Rabinowitz
Mike
Whitney
A Dollar the Size of a Postage Stamp
Ron
Jacobs
The Myths of Military Progress
Col.
Dan Smith
The Pentagon's "People System" Still Doesn't Work
Ralph
Nader
Family Learning
Karim
Makdisi
Annapolis and the Unholy Alliance: the View from Beirut
Christopher
Ketcham
Memo to Hollywood Writers: Strike Until You Drop
Ronan
Bennett
Martin Amis Does a Coulter
Website
of the Day
Celebrating the Uncensored Media
November
26, 2007
Kathleen
and Bill Christison
Heading for Annapolis
Paul
Craig Roberts
The End of All That
David
Macaray
Enter Mediator
Sameer
Dossani
Pakistan's Wounded Dictator
Roger
Burbach
The Final Battle in Bolivia
Mark
Scaramella
Guns and Greed in the Emerald Empire
Brian
McKinlay
Howard's End
Rick
Kuhn
The Fall of a Racist Union Buster
Binoy
Kampmark
Ruddslide and Dull Alec
Monica
Benderman
What Do You Know of War?
Brenda
Norrell
Return to Alcatraz
Website
of the Day
Ghostworld by DJ Spooky
November
24 / 25, 2007
Alexander
Cockburn
The Ordeal of Catherine Wilkerson,
MD
Robert
Fisk
Darkness Falls on the Middle East
Saul
Landau
Norman Mailer will Not R.I.P.
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Justice Stephen Breyer, Cancer Bonds and the Origins of Neoliberal
Environmentalism
Rannie
Amiri
Beirut's Black Friday
Christopher
Brauchli
Iraq Embassy as Gilded Palace
Daniel
Gross
The Gap and Black Friday
Mike
Whitney
"A Generalized Meltdown of Financial Institutions"
Marjorie
Cohn
Iran and the 2008 Elections
David
Rosen
Senior Sex: the Real Sexual Life of Aging Americans
David
Michael Green
If Conservatism is the Ideology of Freedom ....
Kenneth
Rexroth
When Euripides Played the Hindu Kush: Greeks and Buddhists in
Afghanistan
Muhammad
Iqbal
Trans. Shahid Alam
Ghazal
Website
of the Day
Aerial Footage of Delta Fish Kill
November 23, 2007
Gary
Leupp
Killing the Buddha in Pakistan's Swat
Valley
Laura
Carlsen
Coming to Terms with Diversity in
Bolivia: an Interview with Alvaro Garcia, Bolivia's VP
David
Macaray
Keeping Labor Unions Out
Andy
Worthington
Former Guantánamo Detainee Seeks Asylum in Sweden
Clifton
Ross
Trashing Chavez: Keith Olberman's Toxic Rant
Seth
Sandronsky
Battling Sodexho
Dan
Bacher
Death in the Delta: Thousands of Fish Stranded by Bureau of Reclamation
William
A. Cook
The Myth of Middle East Peace
Website
of the Day
Waiting for the Guards: Stress Techniques as Torture, a Short
Film
November
22, 2007
Alan
Farago
Who Lost America's Everglades?
Greg
Moses
A Thanksgiving Basting
Dave
Lindorff
Impeachment is Back on the Table
Mike
Ely
Native Blood: the Myth pf Thanksgiving
Omar
Azfar
Gore for President of Pakistan?
November
21, 2007
Vijay
Prashad
Our Dictator, Their Democracy
Martha
Rosenberg
Undercover at a Turkey Slaughtering Plant
Manuel
Garcia, Jr.
Epiphany on the Glacier
John
Ross
The Last Days of Mexican Corn
Brian
McKenna
Cancer Terrorists Unmasked
Stephen
Soldz
Isolation Torture Routine at Guatánamo
Monica
Benderman
Needing Peace
Ben
Terrall
Slavery in the Fields: The Real Price of Sugar
Website
of the Day
Mercy for Animals
|
January
3, 2008
Social Movements
Between Woodstock and the Web
Remember
the '80s
By ZOLTAN GROSSMAN
In the coming year, we will see a deluge
of observances of the 40th anniversary of 1968. TV specials,
t-shirts, conferences, websites and reunions will mark this defining
year in U.S. history, and try to define its legacy. I certainly
respect the movement activists who fought for a better world
in the 1960s, and we still have much to learn from them. But
I am also troubled that successful social movements are being
situated only in a decade that is (for young people) in the distant
past.
I was only six years old in
1968, and came into activism in the early 1980s. Today I'm teaching
in a relatively progressive college, watching a new generation
of antiwar and social justice activists come of age. Many of
the students are learning about movements of the '60s and early
'70s, and are finding plenty of books, websites and other sources
about Vietnam, civil rights, women's liberation, and other movements.
But recently I've gotten some
questions about the upsurge of activism that took place in the
1980s. Students want to know more about Ronald Reagan, Rambo,
and the Iran-Contra Scandal. But when they try to find any relevant
information, it's simply not there. For one class I searched
the web to find photos and stories of the anti-apartheid and
Central America solidarity movements, and was shocked by how
little I found. A library search was even less useful.
There are specific reasons
why the generation of 2008 knows more about 1968 than about 1988.
The problem is partly technological, because the period before
the Internet took off in the 1990s was simply not recorded or
archived as it happened. The problem is also cultural, since
the 1960s have been so ingrained into the popular consciousness
that its memory (or at least the accepted version of its memory)
has not been lost.
But there is a "black
hole" in public memory after Woodstock and before the Web.
The late '70s and the '80s were not as cool as the '60s, but
not as digitized as the '90s. True, we didn't invent tie-dye,
but we did have punk Mohawks. We didn't give Hendrix or the Dead
to the world, but we did have the Clash and Grandmaster Flash.
We can compare Papa Bush to Baby Bush, or Cheney, Gates and Rumsfeld
toCheney, Gates and Rumsfeld. And we can tell you how much Mitt
Romney reminds us of Max Headroom.
The implicit message of much
of the 1968 nostalgia is that the world needs a massive political
mobilization and countercultural revolution in order to create
any real social change. Pundits are, for example, constantly
comparing the current movement against the Iraq War to the much
larger movement against the Vietnam War. In the '80s, movements
were definitely smaller and less vibrant than in the '60s, and
the mood was more conservative and apathetic. In other words,
the 1980s were more like today.
Nevertheless, the '80s movements
had some notable successes that resonate today, and can provide
some positive inspiration. Activists were able to persevere against
great odds and win victories (or partial victories) that remain
very relevant in the 2000s. Several examples come to mind, but
there are certainly many more.
Successes
of the '80s
* Anti-apartheid. The
African American community joined with student groups to form
a powerful movement to end government and corporate collusion
with the apartheid (racial separation) regime in South Africa.
In the mid-'80s, they held rallies and sit-ins to pressure campuses
and city councils to divest from companies doing business on
the backs of black South Africans. By kicking out the U.S. buttress
supporting apartheid, they can claim part of the credit for the
final collapse of the white dictatorship, and the 1994 election
that brought the African National Congress (ANC) to power.
*Central America solidarity.
The peace movement opposed U.S. support for the right-wing death
squad regime in El Salvador fighting leftist FMLN rebels. It
also opposed aid to the right-wing Contra rebels fighting the
Sandinista revolutionary government in Nicaragua. The powerful
movement against "another Vietnam" won a congressional
cut-off of aid to the Nicaraguan Contras (forcing the Reagan
Administration to use surreptitious means to fund the rebels).
Through the Witness and Sanctuary programs, the solidarity movement
gave a human face to Central American refugees. It did not prevent
the invasions that toppled nationalist governments in Grenada
and Panama, but did help to prevent full-scale U.S. invasions
of Nicaragua and El Salvador.
* Nuclear freeze. When
medium-range missiles were stationed in Europe by the Carter
Administration, an enormous global movement erupted against the
growing threat of nuclear war. The widespread sentiment later
pressured President Reagan to make an agreement with Soviet leaders
to slowly withdraw the Euromissiles. The European movement against
the nuclear arms race fueled the growth of Green parties opposing
corporate globalization--long before anti-globalization was cool.
*Anti-nuke. The nuclear
power plant accidents at Three-Mile Island and Chernobyl galvanized
horror and opposition to civilian nuclear energy. Huge rallies,
concerts and local site occupations effectively halted construction
of new atomic reactors and uranium mines in the U.S. (though
construction continued in some other countries). Reviewing the
anti-nuke literature of that era can remind us that more radioactive
waste would not be a solution to global warming.
*Act Up. In the early stages of the HIV epidemic,
the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power (ACT UP) began to use creative
direct actions to create public awareness, using the slogan "Silence
= Death." The activism was obviously unsuccessful in halting
the epidemic, but after Reagan it helped direct some government
resources toward medical research, and may have slightly alleviated
the homophobic ostracism that patients received. Act Up became
the most visible example of the larger LGBT movement (remaining
active to the present), and sparked more organizing in the community.
*Clinic defense. When the fundamentalists of Operation
Rescue harassed, blocked, and sometimes attacked women entering
abortion clinics, feminists around the country rallied to escort
the women. The pro-choice movement successfully defended many
women's rights to a safe and legal abortion, yet many poor, rural
and young women lost access to that right.
Whether it was pro-choice,
Act Up, Witness, Sanctuary, anti-nuke or divestment, the '80s
movements did not rely on lobbying or presidential elections
to pressure for change, but took direct action on a grassroots
level. Before the Internet, we had to organize through mailings,
phone trees, and something called face-to-face contact (not to
be confused with Facebook). By relying on listserves and on-line
petitions, we sometimes forget the powerful combination of personal
organizing and direct action.
Why Study
the '80s?
When a historical era is ignored
and not accurately taught, the vacuum will inevitably be filled
with lies. The late Carter Administration activated the doctrine
for Middle East interventions, yet today Carter is hailed as
peacemaker. The Reagan-Bush Administration rationalized the secrecy
and militarism we now see in the Bush-Cheney Administration (with
some of the same leading figures), yet today Reagan is credited
for ending the Cold War. Most of our current crises can be traced
to the policies of the 1980s, and studying the lessons of that
era can help guide decisions we make today: "Same Shit,
Different Century."
Vietnam Syndrome. After the U.S. lost the Vietnam War
in 1975, the American public was reluctant to intervene in another
debacle. The late Carter and Reagan Administrations defined this
reluctance as the "Vietnam Syndrome," and began treating
the "disease" with fearmongering, Rambo movies, and
a series of interventions against Iran, Grenada, Lebanon, Libya,
etc. We can anticipate a healthy "Iraq Syndrome"
following the current disastrous war, but should not relax if
the U.S. withdraws from Baghdad. For example, there are direct
parallels between support for right-wing death squad governments
in El Salvador in the '80s and in Colombia today, and between
the destabilization of socialist governments in Nicaragua in
the '80s and in Venezuela today.
Scare tactics and lies. If you think that "War on Terror"
scare tactics are harmful to civil liberties today, you shoulda'
seen the anti-Communist hysteria of the late Cold War. Instead
of possibly building a single dirty bomb, the "Evil Empire"
had thermonuclear missiles aimed at our cities, with both sides
always on a hair-trigger alert. After the Soviets occupied Afghanistan
and Iranians ousted the Shah in 1979, the "Carter Doctrine"
created the Central Command to defend Middle Eastern oil fields
for U.S. corporations. Since anti-Communism was not as potent
an excuse as it had been earlier in the Cold War, the media and
Hollywood resorted to a demonization of Muslims, which proved
more effective to psych-up Americans for war.
Military pressure and democracy. Reagan followed Carter in 1981 with
a massive military build-up, which his supporters credit for
bringing down the Soviet Union ten years later. Yet media histories
largely overlook the movements of Polish Solidarity workers and
Soviet "national minorities" who internally cracked
the Soviet bloc. We forgot that peoples are perfectly capable
of overthrowing their own dictators, without being undermined
by outside military intervention. This lesson, had we learned
it, may have later proven useful in Saddam Hussein's Iraq.
War with Iran. From the moment of the Iranian Revolution
and seizure of hostages in the U.S. Embassy, Washington has tried
to topple the Shi'ite government in Tehran. In the current Iran
hysteria, how many Americans realize that the U.S. has already
been at war with Iran? In 1987-88, the U.S. Navy actively sided
with Saddam Hussein in his war with Iran, by escorting tankers
carrying Iraqi oil, attacking Iranian oil rigs, sinking Iranian
boats, and "accidentally" shooting down an Iranian
civilian jetliner. A war with Iran is not a hypothetical future
possibility, but a continuation of a long-simmering conflict.
Iran-Contra Scandal. Reagan armed both sides in the Iran-Iraq
War, providing naval escorts and intelligence for Iraq, while
selling missiles to Iran. Col. Oliver North secretly sold the
missiles to Iran, to raise funds for the Contra rebels fighting
the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. Henry Kissinger advised Reagan
to "bleed both sides" in the Iran-Iraq War, much like
Bush in Iraq today arming both the Shi'ite-led government and
Sunni militias. The secrecy of the Reagan years also laid the
basis of the PATRIOT Act after 9/11. Some activists saw Reagan's
"shadow government" as a Republican aberration, while
others saw it as an inevitable outcome of imperial expansion-much
the same debate as we have about Bush and Iraq today.
Jihadists in Afghanistan. Carter armed the Islamist mujahedin
rebels fighting against the pro-Soviet government of Afghanistan,
triggering the Soviet invasion in 1979. Carter's national security
chief Zbigniew Brzezinski knew he was drawing the Soviets into
their own "Vietnam," which they lost within a decade.
Part of the U.S. aid went to the northern Afghan groups that
later controlled and fought over Kabul in 1992-96. But most U.S.
aid went to Pashtun jihadist groups supported by the Pakistanis
and Saudis, who sent in a young engineer named Osama bin Laden.
In this way, the U.S. helped lay the groundwork for Taliban rule
in 1996, and the jihadist "blowback" in 2001, when
Bin Laden successfully drew another superpower into the Afghan
quagmire.
Military rule in Pakistan. Much as Reagan backed Pakistani dictator
Zia ul-Haq as a key ally against the Soviets in Afghanistan,
Bush has backed Pervez Musharraf as a key ally against the Taliban.
But in both cases, undermining democracy in Pakistan has only
exacerbated the regional crisis. Benazir Bhutto has lost her
life under Musharraf's watch, just as Zia executed her father,
also a former prime minister. In the 1980s, Pakistani intelligence
aided the jihadists who would later become al-Qa'ida (though
you wouldn't learn this by viewing the new film Charlie Wilson's
War). If you're looking for "9/11 Truth," stop
looking for phantom missiles shot at the Pentagon in 2001, and
start looking at the real missiles that the Pentagon sent to
Afghanistan two decades earlier. The true "conspiracy"
was part and parcel of U.S. imperial history, not outside of
that history.
Failures
of '80s movements
Like the '60s movements, the
'80s movements made some critical mistakes. The peace movement
floundered as U.S. interventions targeted Middle Eastern countries,
where there were few leftist "good guys" like the ANC
or FMLN, and even fewer Christian "good guys" like
Archbishops Tutu or Romero. As we expressed solidarity for popular
revolutions, we didn't adequately support civilians caught between
two "bad guys," particularly in the 1991 Gulf War.
We had also hoped that an independent
leftist alternative to the superpowers was possible in countries
such as Nicaragua and East Germany. Yet their peoples feared
the West's military power or were drawn its consumerism, leading
to conservative victories in 1990 elections. It wasn't until
recently that progressives won electoral victories in Latin America,
and could again criticize capitalism in Eastern Europe.
Movements in the 1980s had
trouble integrating class and anti-imperialist politics with
racial/ethnic "identity politics" and the "new
social movements" (feminist, LGBT, environmental, cultural,
etc.). Like in the 1960s and today, white straight males held
social advantages that prevented the growth of progressive movements.
When activists turned to more domestic issues in the early Clinton
Administration, and another upsurge of activism began against
WTO globalization in the late Clinton years, these problems were
carried forward.
Revisiting
the '80s
Mindful of these and other
failures, veterans of 1980s movements have never drawn much attention
to our experiences. We've been reluctant to tell the stories
of the '80s, lest we sound like the '60s movement veterans who
rest on the laurels of their past glories. But it has become
important to revisit our memories of the '80s, as the media focuses
on memories of 1968.
It's time to look in the basement and garage for those old boxes
crammed with treasures found nowhere on the Internet. Dust off
those old glossies and xeroxed newsletters and 'zines, and warm
up the scanner. Get those stories and images on the web or, better
yet, set up websites where people can post their own memories,
and apply past lessons to the present day. Assign students to
interview 1980s activists and community organizers, and search
for documents in library archives to summarize and put on-line.
Hold reunions of old activist groups, and videotape them to capture
the stories and strategies for new generations.
But ultimately, neither 1968
nor 1988 can really provide models for the generation of 2008.
Today's generation shouldn't have to recycle the images of by-gone
eras, or follow the templates of past student groups. Instead
of always chanting the golden-oldie slogans from the Vietnam
era or the WTO rallies, they can be creating their own new forms
of protest, more appropriate to these wired times. But it always
helps to have a fuller view of the past, to figure out what to
keep and what to discard.
For those of us who experienced
the 1980s, we should study our past in order to renew our own
involvement in social change, to keep trying to make the world
a better place. And we'd better hurry up to define our own history,
before Tom Brokaw produces a special on the "'80s Generation."
Zoltan Grossman is a member of the faculty at The Evergreen
State College in Olympia, Washington, and a longtime justice
and peace organizer. His website is at http://academic.evergreen.edu/g/grossmaz
and he can be reached at grossmaz@evergreen.edu
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