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Today's
Stories
August 20,
2004
Diane Christian
Holy
Places
August 19,
2004
Lance Selfa
To
ABB or Not to ABB?
Christopher
Brauchli
The Edicts of President Bush
Mike Whitney
The "Rebel Cleric" and the Siege of Najaf
Jason Leopold
The
Oily Parachute: How Cheney Got Away with $35 Million Before the
Feds Launched a Probe into Halliburton
Jeff Nicholson-Owens
Why We Need "Free Software" Voting Machines
Bill Linville
If
the Republicans Are Funding Nader, Who is Funding the Democrats?
Well, Try Halliburton for Starters
Diana Barahona
In the Minds of the Rich, the Venezuelan Poor Aren't Even Members
of Society: Guess Who's Laughing Now?
Alan Cisco
The
Discreet Charm of the Venezuelan Opposition
Dave Lindorff
Gitlin
Tells Anti-Bush Protesters to "Cool It"
Sex,
Drugs & the Blues!
Serpents in the Garden
CounterPunch's
Sizzling New Book on Culture and Sex is Now Available
Click here to purchase
August 18,
2004
Amy Goodman
An
Interview with Mordechai Vanunu
Adrian Kuzminski
The
Death of American Politics: Why Perot Was the Last Serious Challenger
of the Political Duopoly
Uri Avnery
Israel
and the US Elections
Dave Lindorff
Librarians as Wimps: "Sorry, Sir, Some Readers May Find
Your Book Inflammatory"
Toni Solo
After the Venezuela Referendum: Bush's Dien Bien Phu?
John L. Hess
Laying Odds on Armageddon: a Midtown Hiroshima?
Rodney Thomas
Patti Smith, Another Take
Sean Donahue
Kerry
and Bolivia: To the Right of Bush?
Website of the Day
Presidential Polls: David Cobb (at 0%) is Exceeding Expectations
August 17,
2004
Norm Dixon
Darfuris
Made Pawns in Western Power Play for Oil
Alan Farago
In
Charley's Wake: Opportunity from Misfortune
John L. Hess
The
Meaning of Venezuela
Lisa Taraki
/ Omar Barghouti
Presbyterian Church Divests from Israel
Allen Thompson
Et Tu, Patti? An Open Letter to Patti Smith
John Ross
Mexicans
Dying in Bush's War
Website of the Day
List of Civilian Contractors Killed or Missing in Iraq
August 16,
2004
Gary Leupp
The
Attack on Najaf: the Ultimate Stupidity
Ron Jacobs
Iran
Through an Iraqi Mirror?
Mike Whitney
The
Guantanamo Mock Trials
Zvi Bar'el
Theater
of the Absurd in Iraq: Chalabi, Feith and Israel
John Blair
A
Culture of Waste
Sharmini Peries
Chavez
Triumphs; Crushes Opposition
Tariq Ali
The Importance of Hugo Chavez
Website of
the Day
Hurricane City
August 14 /
15, 2004
Justin Delacour
/ Diana Barahona
The
Venezuela Referendum: Can the Carter Center's McCoy be an Impartial
Observer?
Cockburn /
St. Clair
War
on the Poor: "A Risk No Sane Person Would Take"
M. Shahid Alam
The Civilizing Mission: Some Economic Results
Saul Landau
God and Botox
John Ross
Echoes of Mexico City, 1968
Fred Gardner
Is California Spying on Pro-Pot Doctors?
Jonah Girdin
The Opposition Strategy in Venezuela: Subvert Democracy in the
Name of Democracy
Katherine Lahey
"Uh!
Ah! Chávez No Se Va!": Democracy and Venezuela
Medea Benjamin
Hugo Chavez and the Poor of Venezuela
Yves Engler
The Media and the Venezuela Referendum
Zeynep Toufe
The NYTs and Chavez: More Than the Usual Bias
Mike Whitney
The Trouble in Najaf: What Was al-Sadr's Crime?
Eric Drooker
Gaza Stripped
Dave Zirin
Olympic Sized Horror in Greece: 150 Workers Died Building the
Facilities
Dave Lindorff
A29 Could be a Very Slow Day
Rebecca Brigham
The Aftermath of Guatemala's Strike: Promises Still Unfulfilled
Wayne Madsen
The McGreevey Scandal: an Israeli Connection?
David Krieger
Nuclear Disarmament in a Time of Globalization: the US Double
Standard
Tracy McLellan
The Illegality of Pot is a Crime: a Personal Account
Christina Gerhardt
Confronting Capitalism: What Has Changed Since Seattle 1999?
Poets' Basement
Adler, Albert Vijayalakshmi, Gilliam
August 13,
2004
Lee Sustar
Report
from Caracas
Mickey Z.
McProtests R Us: Why are the Dems Trying to Gag Anti-War Protesters?
Stan Goff
There
He Goes Again: Kerry's "Energy" Plan
Norman Madarasz
Thoughts on Najaf: How Could the US Ever Be Considered a "Terrorist"
State?
Victor Kattan
Press Freedom, Censorship and the War on Terror
Oscar Heck
Is Mendoza Off His Rocker? Chavez Opponents Pledge to Post Results
Online Before Polls Close
CounterPunch
Wire
Military Families File "Stop Loss" Suit
Milan Rai
Najaf: Bush Started It
Website of
the Day
The Yes Men
August 12,
2004
Jeffrey St.
Clair
How
Bush Got (and Lost) His Wings
Lenni Brenner
Take
It on Faith: Kerry's See-Through-Monk's Robe
Lee Ballinger
The Coors and the Kerrys: Drink Up, Kids!
Tariq Ali
The
Handover Fiction
Yves Engler
What's at Stake in Venezuela
William S.
Lind
Seeing
Through the Other Side's Eyes
Christopher Brauchli
Getting Bush's Goat
Website of
the Day
The Sucker Puncher
August 11,
2004
Ceylon Mooney
Who
Woke Up Sen. Joe?: Watchers of the NJ Turnpike
Voices in the
Wilderness
Hands
Off Najaf
Ray McGovern
Porter
Goss as CIA Director?
Robert Jensen
US
Supports Anti-Democratic Forces in Venezuelan Recall
Annie Higgins
In Memory of Nick Pretzlik: As Good as It Gets
Alexander Cockburn
Bush
v. Kerry: Not Even a Dime's Worth of Difference
Website of the Day
Nick Pretzlik
August 10,
2004
William A.
Cook
Silencing
the Voice of the People
Todd Chretien
California Greens at the Crossroads: Will It Be Nader or Cobb?
Dave Lindorff
Chicago on the Hudson?
Richard Gott
Loathed
by the Rich: Why Chavez is Headed for a Big Win
Toni Solo
Bluebeard's
Castle: Disappearing the Right to Development
Dave Zirin
Carl Eller's Plea
Rep. Ron Paul
Police State, USA
Patrick Cockburn
If the Chalabis Were Corrupt, They Weren't Alone
Website of
the Day
The Surveillance-Industrial Complex
August 9, 2004
Tito Tricot
Pinochet
Must Still be Tried: a Murderer and a Thief on the Loose
Ron Jacobs
In
Memory of Deep Throat: the Day Nixon Was Gone
Norm Dixon
Crisis in Sudan: Oil Profits Behind West's Tears for Darfur
Kurt Nimmo
The Politics of Entrapment
Elaine Cassel
Welcome to Bush's America
Gary Leupp
Why
Iraqi Christians are Moving to Syria
August 7 /
8, 2004
James Petras
The
Anatomy of "Terror Experts": Meet the Mandarins of
Abu Ghraib
Fred Gardner
Run
Ricky Run: Football, Pot and Pain
Justin Delacour
Anti-Chavez Pollsters Panic: Fix Numbers; Reinvent Venezuela
Brian Cloughley
Persecuted by All; Supported by None: Who Would Be A Kurd?
Joshua Frank
The
Outsider: a Talk with Ralph Nader
Iain A. Boal
On "Shame": Warmed-Over Orientalism and Racist Projection
Chris Floyd
All About Eve: Open Season on Women in DC and Rome
Andrew Fenton
Fighting for Democracy and Justice in Haiti
Aseem Shrivastava
Saga of an Anguished Afghan
Neil Corbett
See Cuba: Sometimes a Cigar is Just a Cigar, Mr. Bush
Carol Miller
/ Forrest Hill
Rigged Convention; Divided Party: How David Cobb Won with Only
12% of the Vote
Tarek Milleron
Breaking the Principled Voter
Donald Macintyre
The
Battle of Najaf
Ron Jacobs
Spirits of The Dead: Why I Love My Petty Bourgeois Tendencies
Mickey Z.
Kid
Gavilan's Grave: Propaganda Scores a TKO
Poets' Basement
Adler, Ford and Albert
August 6, 2004
Joshua Frank
David
Cobb's Soft Charade: the Greens and the Politics of Mendacity
Derek Seidman
An
Interview with Stan Goff
Mike Whitney
The
Arbitrary Imprisonment of Jose Padilla
William S. Lind
Corruption in the Marine Corps
David Price
In
the Shadow of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
August 5, 2004
Mike Ferner
The Kerry Show: When Peace is Off
Message
Bruce Anderson
Two
Rejections
Robert Fisk
The Tale of Saddam's Cameraman
Todd Chretien
Florida
Comes to California: the Democrats' Plot Against Nader
Peter Linebaugh
Doing Time for Political Crime:
Paul and Silas, Bound in Jail
August 4, 2004
Mickey Z.
Two
Traditions: WMD and Disinformation
Justin Huggler
The Hunt for Bin Laden
John Ross
Mexico's
Dirty War Never Ended: Inside Puente Grande Prison
August 3, 2004
Uri Avnery
The
Oligarchs
Ray McGovern
The 9/11 Commission Chimera
Jack McCarthy
Sexual Politics in Jeb's Florida
Eric Ruder
Meet Barak Obama: the Democrats' New Liberal Star
John L. Hess
Crying Wolf: Orange Alert!
Elaine Cassel
Civil Liberties Elections: 1800 v. 2004
Jules Rabin
The Man Who Didn't Walk By
Website of the Day
No Wall
August 2, 2004
Robert Jensen
Kerry's
Hypocrisy on the Vietnam War
Joshua Frank
Greens, Kerry and the Politics of Mendacity
Mike Whitney
The 9/11 Commission and Civil Liberties: "We Need an American
Police State"
Gary Leupp
Beyond
Good and Evil: Some Thoughts on Invasions
July 31 / Aug.
1, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Kerry:
He's the (Any) One
Merlin Chowkwanyun
Five Questions with Noam Chomsky: "The Savage Extreme of
a Narrow Policy Spectrum"
David Lindorff
The Shame of the DNC
John Chuckman
The
Disturbing Words of John Edwards
Brian Cloughley
All Slam and No Dunk; All Blame and No Responsibility
Christopher Brauchli
"Being Poor is a State of Mind": the Frowning Face
of Compassionate Conservatism
Fred Gardner
A World of Pain
Michael Donnelly
How Big Pharma Bilks the Elderly
David Nally
Genocide in Darfur?
Joshua Frank
Forest Battles Escalate in Oregon
Sam Bahour
Colin Powell and My Grandmother
Diane Farsetta
The IMF and the Indonesian Elections: The Invisible Hand in the
Voting Booth
Harold Gould
Was Iraq a Mutual Charade?
Van Bergen / Stephens
Election 9/11: Surreal Political Theater
Lee Sustar
A New Model for the Labor Movement?
Ron Jacobs
The Lost Art of Hitchhiking
M. Junaid Alam
An Interview with Palestinian-American Rapper, The Iron Sheik
Poets Basement
Albert, Ford, Krieger, St. Clair
Website of
the Weekend
Cross Cultural Poetics
July 30, 2004
Kolhatkar /
Ingalls
Shattering
Illusions: Kerry's Speech Tells Anti-War Activists They're Not
Wanted
Dave Lindorff
Murder
Not So Foul?
Bruce Jackson
Walt Whitman on the Sound of Wolf Blitzer's Voice
Fidel Castro
The
Pathology of George W. Bush
Maximilien Robespierre
Memo to Kerry and Bush: Why They Resist
Saul Landau
Bush
Charges Castro with Sex Tourism; JFK Rolls Over in His Grave
July 29, 2004
Cockburn /
St. Clair
Hail,
the Conquering War Criminal: What Kerry Really Did in Vietnam
Frank Bardacke
What
Michael Moore Left Out of F9/11
Tom Barry
Shallow and Formulaic: Kerry's Latin America Plan
Ron Jacobs
Kerry
and Lennon: Hawking the CounterCulture
Robert Fisk
The Unreported War
Lichtman /
Kellis-Borok
What Kerry Must Do to Win (But Probably Won't)
William S. Lind
The 9/11 Commission Report: Cashing in on Failure
CounterPunch
Wire
Doonesbury Onto John Kerry in 1971!
Website of
the Day
Jabbing JibJab: Copyright Madness
July 28, 2004
Robert Fisk
The
Occupation at 114 Degrees: Baghdad is Swamped in the Smell of
the Dead
Kevin Mink
Kerry's Misperception of Palestine
Ray McGovern
Israel and the Iraq War: How the 9/11 Report Soft-Pedals Root
Causes
United for
Peace & Justice
An
Open Letter to John Kerry: Winter Soldiers and Summer Patriots
Mike Ferner
Vets Demand End to Occupation: "Pull the Troops or Face
Impeachment Mvt."
Imraan Siddiqi
Turning Tricks with Ann Coulter
Alexander Cockburn
Candidate
Kerry
Website of
the Day
Iraq Vets Against the War
July 27, 2004
Alexander Cockburn
Why
the Democrats Deserve Nader
Dave Lindorff
Back to the 19th Century: Globalization's Coming!
Mike Whitney
Control Room: Inside Al Jazeera
Ali, Anderson, Bello, et al.
If We Were Venezuelan, We'd Vote for Chavez
Stefan Wray
Texas Plan to Grab Los Alamos Takes Hold, as DOE Shuts Down Labs
Louis Proyect
Reflections on Nicaragua: First Came the Contra Butchers, Then
the Sweatshops
Rick Giombetti
Faith in Freedom: the Challenge of Thomas Szasz
Bill and Kathleen
Christison
The
9/11 Report and Its Weak-Kneed Consensus: Dogding Israel/Palestine;
Blinkered on Causes of Terrorism
July 26, 2004
Todd Chretien
Green
Resistance: a Reply to Normon Solomon & Medea Benjamin
Robert Fisk
Terror
by Video
Richard Forno
Security
Theater in Boston: Security Expert Harrassed by DHS for Exposing
Flaws at the Fleet Center
Mitchel Cohen
Report from a Boston Demo: Arresting the Curious
Richard Moreno
Rockers
for Justice: an Interview with Tom Morello and Serj Tankian
Alexander Cockburn
Boston
Awaits a Dead Party
July
24 / 25, 2004
Alexander
Cockburn
The Democrats and Their Conventions:
Part One
Dennis
Hans
Those 16 Words Still Smell, Mr. Bush
Patrick
Cockburn
The Struggle for Iraq is Only Beginning
Josh
Frank
The War Path of Unity: Dems Reject
the Peace Movement
Justin
E.H. Smith
Christianity and the Left: the Latin
American Experience
Tariq
Ali
What's at Stake in Venezuela
Fred
Gardner
The Politics of Pot: Year of the
Antagonist
Mark
Scaramella
There's Dope and There's Dope
Ron
Jacobs
The Weather Underground's Prairie
Fire Statement...35 Years On
July
23, 2004
Lee
Sustar
Revolution in Nicaragua: 25 Years
On
Dave
Lindorff
Battle for NYC: Bush 1, Protesters
0
Saul
Landau
Zaniest President in US History: Bush
Beats Reagan
Mike
Whitney
The 9/11 Whitewash: Blaming No
One
Mickey
Z
Get On the Bus: 150 Years After Elizabeth
Jennings
Gary
Leupp
The 9/11 Commission and the Looming
War on Iran
July
22, 2004
M.
Junaid Alam
Ten Ways to Build a Better Democrat
Brian
McKinlay
Rusted On Down Under: Howard, Bush and Sharon
Jason
Leopold
Cheney Lobbied for Easing of Sanctions on Terrorist Regimes While
CEO of Halliburton
Chris
Floyd
Mob Rule: Ripping the Lid Off of America's Pious Myths
Uri
Avnery
Chirac v. Sharon
July
21, 2004
Paula
J. Caplan
The Emotional Casualities of War:
Psychologists Can't Heal All the Damage
Joshua
Frank
Nader Sleeping with the Enemy? Let's
be Fair
Ron
Jacobs
American Exceptionalism
Reza
Ghorashi
The Elections, Iran and al-Qaeda
Amy
Martin
Will Congress Rearm the Guatemalan Generals?
John
Ross
Bush May Lose, But His Wars Will Go
On and On
July
20, 2004
Stan
Cox
The Bush / Kerry War Ticket
Chris
Randolph
An Open Letter to Dr. Ehrenreich: It's Over, Barb!
Forrest
Hylton
The Ghosts of Gonismo: "Popular
Patricipation" and Bolivia's Gas Referendum
Mark
Scaramella
It's Official! Mendocino County is Crazier and Fatter Than the
Rest of California
Sam
Bahour
The World is Knocking on Israel's Door
George
Reiter
A Defense of David Cobb
John
Ross
Burying Iraq, Burying Bush
John
L. Hess
Girlie Stuff: Media Tolerance of Arnold & Co.
Website
of the Day
This Land is Your Land
July
19, 2004
Uri
Avnery
Marie and the Ghosts: the Hoax of
Paris
Col.
Dan Smith
What Has Been Accomplished?
Mike
Whitney
Allawi: Our Puppet with a Pistol
Karyn
Strickler
Just Marriage, Not Gay Marriage
Robert
Fisk
The Crisis of Information in Baghdad
David
Swanson
Media Blackout of US Labor Opposition
to Iraq War
Jennifer
van Bergen
The Death of the Great Writ of Liberty
July
17 / 18, 2004
Gary
Leupp
Apocalypse Now: Why the Book of Revelations
is Must Reading
Ghada
Karmi
Vanishing the Palestinians
Lenni
Brenner
When Cattle Unite, Lions Go Hungry: Notes for Ralph Nader
Ben
Tripp
Man on a Bridge: a Ghost Story
Brandy
Baker
What Would Elizabeth Cady Stanton Make of John Kerry?
M.
Shahid Alam
Israel Builds Another Wall
Sasan
Fayazmanesh
Nuclear Hypocrisy: Israel, Iran and the IAEA
Patrick
Bond
The George Bush of Africa
Fred
Gardner
Politics of Marijuana: Cannabiniod Therapuetics
William
Blum
Bush and Thucydides
Ben
Terrall
Carter and the Indonesia Elections: "I Don't See Anything
Wrong with a General Running the Country"
Tom
Barry
John Lehman on the War Path
David
Vest
Dylan Without the Music
Phyllis
Pollack
Return to Sin City: Keith Richards Does Gram Parsons
Ron
Jacobs
Smearing Muhammad Ali: Bob Feller Strikes Out
Joshua
Frank
Kerry to Edwards: "Let's Lose!"
David
Nally
A Call for Sudan: Our Georgraphical Blindspot
Toni
Solo
Bolivia's Gas Referendum
Landau,
Hassan, Prashad & Lindorff
Three Reviews of Moore's F911
Poets's
Basement
Ford, Smith and Albert
July
16, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Adonal Foyle: Master of the Lefty Lay-Up
Shervan
Sardar
Dershowitz, the ICJ and Jim Crow Laws
Ron
Jacobs
The Lil' Engine That Couldn't: Kucinich Surrenders on Anti-War
Plank
Robert
Fisk
Iraq, According to Edgar Allen Poe:
Coffin Bombs in Baghdad
Greg
Moses
The Forts of Iraq
Mickey
Z.
Ad Infinitum?: Presidential Campaigns in the Age of TV
Dan
Bacher
A Landmark Win for Salmon and the Tribes
Dave
Lindorff
The Mumia Case: Support from NAACP,
But a Movement in Shambles
Paul
McGeough
Did Allawi Shoot Inmates in Cold Blood?
Website
of the Day
10 Reasons to Fire Bush (and 9 Reasons Kerry Won't Be Any Better)
July
15, 2004
Heather
Williams
McMissing
the Point: Supersize Me Crashes on Its Message
Werther
Iraq: Follow the Money
Tom
Crumpacker
The Birds of Guantanamo
Brian
Cloughley
What Does the Bush Regime Object To?
Bill
Christison
Reorganize the CIA? Of Course,
But...
July
14, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Chronicle of a Nomination Foretold:
the Green Deceivers
Neve
Gordon
Of Socrates and the Apartheid Wall
Diane
Christian
The Priesthood of Death
Stefan
Wray
Who Benefits from Missing Data at Los Alamos Nuclear Lab?
Josh
Frank
The Nader / Dean Debate
Conn
Hallinan
Divide and Conquer as Imperial Rules
Elizabeth
Weill-Greenberg
Bring My Brother Home!: Class, War
and Education
Website
of the Day
Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear and the Selling of US Empire
July
13, 2004
Ray
McGovern
The CIA and Iraq: an Intelligence
Debacle...and Worse
Mark
Donham
The Sierra Club's Inexplicable Treatment of Cynthia McKinney
Ben
Tripp
Politus Interruptis: With Friends Like
These, Who Needs Electorates?
Mark
Gaffney
Slipping Towards Armageddon: Israel
in Iraq
Dave
Lindorff
Osama Wins! Election Postponed!
Chris
White
Double Think: the Bedrock of Marine
Indoctrination
July
10 / 12, 2004
Kathleen
Christison
The Problem with Neutrality Between
Palestinians and Israel
Janine
Pommy Vega
Trail of the Comet: a Gathering of the World's Poets Against
War
Sherry
Wolf
From Maverick to Party Attack Dog: Howard Dean Gay-Bashes Nader
Saul
Landau and Farrah Hassen
A Transfer of Power, Sort Of
Michael
Donnelly
How to Steal an Election: the Green Version, 2004
Stanton
/ Madsen
Iraq Survey Group: Rumsfeld's al-Qaeda?
Richard
Lichtman
The End of Innocence: Reflections on American Pathology
Gila
Svirsky
Thank You, Your Honors: a Legal Blow to the Wall
Kurt
Nimmo
Clinton's Life
Toni
Solo
Empire-Speak: What Roger Noriega Really Means
Ron
Jacobs
The Black Panthers and the Rest
Camelo
Ruiz Marrero
Gene Warfare in Oaxaca: Genetic Mutation of Mexican Maize
Omar
Barghouti
Wither the Empire: Rise of a Global Resistance
Poets'
Basement
Curtis and Albert
July
9, 2004
Dave
Zirin
Carlos Delgado on Deck: Blue Jays Slugger
Stands Up Against War
Justin
Delacour
Wishing Kerry Would Shut Up About
Latin America
Robert
Fisk
Iraq in Reverse: Martial Laws Fuel Insurgency
Boris
Kagarlitsky
Two Congresses and a Funeral
William
S. Lind
The October Surprises
Sibel
Edmonds
Our Broken System: John Ashcroft's War on Truth
Ron
Jacobs
Reading Tea Leaves: What Vietnam Tells Us About Iraq's Future
Gary
Leupp
The Lie That Will Not Die: Cheney and
the Iraq/al-Qaeda Link
July
8, 2004
Niranjan
Ramakrishnan
The Inexplicable John McCain
Toufic
Haddad
Protesting Israel's Apartheid Wall:
a Letter from the Hunger Strikers' Tent
Dave
Lindorff
Liberation as Martial Law
Joshua
Frank
The Fall: How Beltway Dems Sank Howard
Dean
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush & Cheney Play the Hitler Card
James
Petras
The Truth About Jimmy Carter
July
7, 2004
John
Chuckman
Kerry's BBQ: a Deafening Silence
of Meaning
Virginia
Tilley
A Line in the Sand: Azmi Bishara's
Hunger Strike
Susan
Martinez
A Letter to Bill Cosby
Mickey
Z
Elie Wiesel's Strange Parade
Michael
Donnelly
Our Own Private Wilderness: Trusting the Land in the Inland Empire
Sean
Donahue
Boston Social Forum: the Dems aren't the Only Show in Beantown
Diane
Christian
Sovereignty and Freedom in Iraq
July
6, 2004
Lisa
Viscidi
Fleeing Guatemala: Central Americans
Risk Lives to Reach El Norte
Marc
Norton
The Felonious Five Ride Again: the
Supreme Court and Enemy Combatants
James
Brooks
Chemical Warfare on the West Bank?
Ray
McGovern
Porter Goss as CIA Director?
William
Cook
Legacy of Deceit: If Dante Knew of Bush and the Neo-Cons...
July
5, 2004
Forrest
Hylton
US Imperialism in Latin America: Sept.
11, July 4 and Systematic Torture
Chris
White
A Former Marine Sgt. on the Meaning
of Independence Day
Joe
Bageant
Cranky Reflections on the 4th of July
Robert
Jensen
Stupid White Movie: What Michael Moore
Misses About the Empire
Kathy
Kelly
"Two Days an' a Wake-Up"
July
3 / 4, 2004
Elaine
Cassel
Bush's Police State and Independence
Day
Stan
Goff
ABC of Opportunism: "Progressive"
Latin American Leaders Support the Coup in Haiti
Snehal
Shingavi
"We Want Real Justice for Bhopal": Two Survivors Speak
Out
Bruce
Anderson
The Cheney-Leahy Metaphor and the Greens
Sharon
Smith
Twilight of the Greens: the Chokehold of "Anybody But Bush"
Josh
Frank
Ralph Nader's Revolt: an Interview with Greg Bates
Robert
Fisk
Pentagon Tried to Censor Saddam's Hearing
Joe
Bageant
Sons of a Laboring God: Leftnecks Unite!
Brian
Cloughley
Fortress Bush and the One Law Doctrine
Justin
Delacour
The Anti-Chavez Echo Chamber: Venezuela's Media Tycoons
William
S. Lind
Saudi Spillover
Linda
S. Heard
A Joke Called "Justice"
Greg
Moses
"It's Illegal, But It's Our Right": Korean Labor Won't
Back Down
Ron
Jacobs
"Ain't You Proud to be White on Independence Day?"
Toni
Solo
Weary of Indigenous Resistances? Just Pretend They're Not There
Dan
Nagengast
Chicken Manure as Cattle Food: Safe, But Do We Want to Eat It?
Stew
Albert
Brando, a Personal Recollection
Dave
Zirin
From the Black Panthers to Sacheen Littlefeather: a Eulogy for
Our Brando
Patrick
W. Gavin
The Progressive Case for Dodgeball
Steven
Rosenthal / Junaid Ahmad
The Problem is Bigger Than the Bushes: a Review of F911
Poets'
Basement
Kearney, Ford and Davies
Website
of the Day
Global Peace Solution
July
2, 2004
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Suicide Right on the Stage: the Demise
of the Green Party
Douglas
Valentine
Fahrenheit 911: Mocking the Moral Crisis of Capitalism
Gary
Leupp
"Just Because I Could": On Obscenities and Opportunities
Lee
Ballinger
Illegal People: Kerry Opposes Immigrant Rights
Robert
Fisk
Saddam in the Dock: Confused? Hardly
CounterPunch
Wire
"What Law Formed This Court?": a Transcript of Saddam's
Arraignment
Christopher
Brauchli
Bush's Drug Card Lottery: the Price Ain't Right
Saul
Landau
Buzz Words and Venezuela
July 1, 2004
Katherine
van Wormer
Bush's Damaged Mind: the Madness in
His Method
Joe
Bageant
Is Our President a Whackjob? Does It Matter?
William
James Martin
The Dogma of Richard Perle
Dave
Lindorff
Bush's Evacuation Moment
Robert
Fisk
Bread and Circus Trials in Iraq
Alan
Maass
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August
20, 2004
Why It is Necessary
Boycotting
the Israeli Academy
By
LISA TARAKI
Calls for the boycott of Israeli academic
institutions have generated a great deal of controversy in some
quarters, notably among Israeli academics and their supporters
in Europe and the United States. The Palestinian voice, the voice
of the Palestinian academy and of Palestinian public intellectuals,
has not been heard in the raging debates about the boycott.
I hope to be able to address some of the frequently raised objections
to the boycott, and in so doing, to clarify how we view things
from our vantage point in the Palestinian academy.
The boycott movement was not
initiated by Palestinians, although it has widespread support
among Palestinian academics. The initial call was made in the
UK in April 2002, at the height of the Israeli assault upon Palestinian
cities and towns. During this assault, Palestinian governmental
and civil institutions--including schools and universities--sustained
tremendous losses, ranging from the destruction of facilities
and infrastructure to the severe curtailment of operations as
a result of long curfews, army raids, and the system of checkpoints
that continues to this day. The British initiative was not a
call for a blanket boycott of the Israeli academic community,
but was a restricted call for a moratorium on European research
and academic collaboration with Israeli institutions.
This call for a moratorium
was followed by other initiatives in Europe, Australia, and the
US (in the US, divestment campaigns have been the main form of
activism). In August 2002, a group of Palestinian organizations
in the occupied territories, including the Palestinian NGO Network,
issued a statement calling for a comprehensive boycott of Israel,
including a boycott of academic and cultural institutions. This
was followed in October 2003 by a statement by Palestinian academics
and intellectuals in the occupied territories and in the diaspora
calling for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.
Encouraged by the growing international
boycott initiative, a group of Palestinian academics and intellectuals
launched the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural
Boycott of Israel in Ramallah in April 2004. The Campaign's
statement of principles was met with widespread support, and
has to date been endorsed by nearly sixty Palestinian academic,
cultural and other civil society federations, unions, and organizations,
including the Federation of Unions of Palestinian Universities'
Professors and Employees, the Palestinian NGO Network in the
West Bank, the Teachers' Federation, the Palestinian Writers'
Federation, the Palestinian League of Artists, and many other
professional associations. The campaign has also established
an advisory committee comprised of well-known public figures
and intellectuals. Briefly, the Campaign calls upon international
academics to refrain from participation in any form of academic
and cultural cooperation, collaboration or joint projects with
Israeli institutions; advocate a comprehensive boycott of Israeli
institutions at the national and international levels, including
suspension of all forms of funding and subsidies to these institutions;
promote divestment and disinvestment from Israel by international
academic institutions; work toward the condemnation of Israeli
policies by pressing for resolutions to be adopted by academic,
professional and cultural associations and organizations; support
Palestinian academic and cultural institutions directly without
requiring them to partner with Israeli counterparts as an explicit
or implicit condition for such support; and finally, to exclude
from the actions against Israeli institutions any conscientious
Israeli academics and intellectuals opposed to their state's
colonial and racist policies.
The boycott campaign statement may be an appropriate point of
departure for dealing with some of the points raised by critics
of the boycott. In particular, I wish to take up claims about
the nature of the Israeli academy and the fear that the boycott
will hurt the forces of peace in Israel. One Israeli critic
of the boycott has claimed that it plays into the hands of right-wing,
neo-McCarthyist forces who have stepped up their attacks on "pro-peace"
and left-of-center academics and intellectuals in Israel. In
doing so, I will be underlining what I see as a remarkable aspect
of the Israeli and pro-Israeli polemic against the boycott: the
tremendous agency with which the Israeli left (academic or otherwise)
is invested by its members and supporters. This stems from a
self-centered--I daresay narcissistic--worldview, nourished,
in my opinion, by the deep-seated and pervasive exceptionalism
with which Israel is treated by the world's powerful and hegemonic
institutions. The same exceptionalism that has shielded Israel
from censure in world bodies such as the United Nations Security
Council through automatic US vetoes is also at work here among
apologists for the Israeli academy.
Left-leaning Israeli academics and some of their international
allies have argued that the boycott will isolate the forces of
peace in Israel and will compromise their ability to fight against
the occupation and work for a just peace between Palestinians
and Israelis. Israeli academic David Newman reports that many
left-wing Israeli academics are "opposed the boycott on
the grounds that it would cause irreparable harm to those who
constituted the voice of protest inside Israel, who worked closely
with Palestinian academic and human rights organizations, and
who promoted joint Israeli-Palestinian dialogue and scientific
activities."
There are a number of issues
that need to be unpacked here. First, it is not clear why the
boycott should necessarily delegitimize the forces of peace.
This may be the time to ask some uncomfortable questions: do
the anti-boycott academics mean that if the Israeli peace forces
are provoked they may jump the peace ship? If so, what does
this say about their commitment to peace? Another possibility,
generally not considered by them, is that Israeli peace forces
truly dedicated to an end to colonial rule may actually be encouraged
to do more because of the boycott. It is possible, in
the words of a pro-boycott Israeli professor in a personal communication,
that they will "not feel more righteous when condemned by
the world, but more ashamed." Would not some outside pressure
in the form of sanctions and boycotts aimed at isolating Israel
in the international arena and rendering it a pariah state help
in the process of making people come to terms with the hard facts?
May this not spur action on the part of the peace camp rather
than demoralize, alienate, or isolate its members? After all,
the pro-peace forces in Israel have had several decades' worth
of experience in persuasion, and their dismal record in this
regard shows that it is time for some external intervention.
In the face of collusion by world powers in the maintenance
of the status quo, international civil society should be given
a chance to exercise pressure with the tools at its disposal.
Boycott is among the few nonviolent tools available to world
activists, and must be given the opportunity to prove its potential
for effecting positive change in the status quo, as it undoubtedly
did in the dismantling of the system of apartheid in South Africa.
This brings us to the issue of the record of the Israeli academy
in the fight against Israeli colonial rule over the Palestinians.
It has often been claimed that Israeli academics have been at
the forefront of anti-occupation activities, and that targeting
them and their institutions is at best unfair and at worst unethical
or hypocritical. If we examine the record of the most enlightened
of Israeli academic institutions (leaving aside the right-wing
think tanks, strategic studies centers, and some university departments),
we find that there is little that they can be proud of when it
comes to their contribution to the struggle against the regime
of colonial rule. The question that needs to be asked is what
these "progressive" Israeli institutions and their
members have done against the system of colonial control? How
many of these individuals have written, lectured or otherwise
acted against the occupation and racial discrimination inside
Israel? How many of them have refused to serve in their state's
colonial army on conscientious grounds? It is worth noting that
hardly any of them have worked to pass resolutions in their faculty
senates and other academic forums condemning Israeli colonial
policy in general and the war being waged on the Palestinians
in the past three years, not to mention raise their voices to
protest the damage done to Palestinian educational institutions
over the years. Whereas the anti-boycott movement is in full
force in Israel, with hundreds of academics signing anti-boycott
petitions and setting up committees to fight the boycott, the
academics who claim they are fighting for their academic freedom
are nowhere to be found when it comes to protecting the academic
freedom of Palestinians, which has been all but obliterated by
the occupation.
I wish to relate a very telling
incident involving the Truman Institute, since this institution
has been often singled out as a model of Israeli-Palestinian
cooperation in research and academic activities in general.
In November 2002, several months after the concerted Israeli
military attack against the whole of Palestinian society launched
in March of the same year, a letter was sent to Palestinian academics
by the Truman Institute library offering some library services
to "Palestinian scholars captured by the difficult circumstances
of wartime" due to the continuing curfews and restrictions
on movement. As I said in a letter to the Truman Institute library
in response, if concern for Palestinian scholars' inability to
carry out their work was what lay behind this offer, how was
it that we had not heard their voice protesting the near-destruction
of Palestinian universities through the military system of total
control and obstruction of normal life? What, besides providing
journal articles, were they doing for the Palestinian scholars
"captured by the difficult circumstances of wartime?"
Had they asked what was the role of their state, of which their
institution is a part, in this war that had kept Palestinian
scholars "out of touch" and at home? Why were they
not protesting the fact that these colleagues were at home to
begin with? Needless to say, I did not receive an answer from
the Institute's leadership. They knew full well that aside from
throwing a few crumbs our way they had done nothing for Palestinian
academics. For to do so would have meant taking a courageous
and public stand against their government's war on Palestinian
civil society, not to mention the decades-long assault on Palestinian
educational institutions through repeated closures and the detention
and deportation of tens of thousands of students and faculty.
The recent killings by the Israeli army of two Palestinian university
professors, Dr. Yasir Abu-Laimun and Dr. Khalid Salah (and the
latter's 16-year-old son), did not elicit any condemnation, either
from the Truman Institute or any other academic institution or
body in Israel.
From our vantage point here
in Palestine, we consider the Israeli academy as a whole to have
been complicit in the perpetuation of colonial rule over the
Palestinians, either actively (as in the case of certain scholars
directly involved in colonial rule such as Menahem Milson, Shlomo
Gazit, and Moshe Ma'oz), or else passively, through its silence.
We do not have a catalogue of this active complicity; assembling
that promises to be an eye-opening exercise if it were to be
undertaken systematically and comprehensively. Suffice it to
say that Israeli academics have been at best uncaring about the
deeds of their colleagues actively in the service of the colonial
machine. For example, very few professors of medicine have raised
their voices over the years to protest the corruption of the
medical ethics they teach their students when their former students
and colleagues have been implicated in the torture and mistreatment
of Palestinians in Israeli jails. Hardly any law professors
have challenged the system of "justice" meted out to
Palestinians in Israeli military courts since 1967. Nor have
we heard from the professional associations of physicians and
lawyers on the way their professions have been used by the military
and the intelligence services in the service of the occupation
(many military prosecutors and judges are reservists; it is quite
likely that, in the many years since 1967 when the military courts
have been in existence, some or many of them may actually have
been academics). On the contrary, the vast majority of Israeli
academics have hardly said a word in public by way of censuring
colleagues in the service of the colonial apparatus or espousing
racist opinions cloaked in scholarly language (just as an example,
there has been no public outrage by Israeli philosophers and
their association at the work of Tel Aviv University philosophy
professor Asa Kasher, who provides an "ethical" defense
of the government's assassination policy).
The role of Israeli academics
and their institutions in maintaining the system of apartheid
against Palestinian citizens of Israel by buttressing its ideological
scaffolding hardly needs to be mentioned here, and is a vast
topic that cannot be dealt with adequately in this short space.
But it is clear that academic disciplines such as history, archaeology,
demography, psychology, and sociology have always been highly
politicized in Israel, and there has been very little public
censure of racist and ethnocentric theses, findings, and positions
espoused by scholars. For example, very few academics providing
think tanks, political parties and the government with ammunition
on the "demographic question," itself a racist construct,
have been called to task by their colleagues in the Israeli academy.
Writing about "demographic balance" and "the
demographic threat" is a routine and normal preoccupation
among many academics, and hardly raises an eyebrow in the Israeli
academy for its horrific implications, not least for what it
says about licensed racism in dealing with the Palestinian citizens
of Israel.
The silence of the organized
scholarly community on the pronouncements of scholars justifying
ethnic cleansing and extreme measures by the army is remarkable.
Aside from condemnations and critiques from a handful of critical
scholars, I know of no position adopted by an academic body,
university senate, or other representative or professional group
criticizing or censuring academic work in the service of colonial
or racist policies.
In short, it is clear that
the Israeli academy--as an institution--has failed miserably
in upholding the ethical principles which the status of its members
as scholars and intellectuals demands of them. As such, we believe
that academics have no special immunity, and cannot be treated
differently from Israeli workers, growers, businesspeople, and
manufacturers negatively affected by economic and trade boycotts.
I am mentioning these sectors in particular since for some left-leaning
Israeli academics, economic and trade boycotts are understandable
and perhaps even permissible, while academic boycotts are regarded
as immoral and self-defeating. But we believe that Israeli academics
have not as a group distinguished themselves as fighters for
the cause of justice. I may add that some of them, admittedly
a handful, are supportive of sanctions and boycotts against their
institutions, and are aware that the funding for their research
and the training of their students will be hurt by the withdrawal
of outside funding. It should also be made clear here that we
know of many Israeli scholars and intellectuals who have devoted
their life work to the struggle against the occupation. We encourage
all Palestinians and their supporters to work with these courageous
individuals.
The last point I wish to take
up is the claim that the boycott hurts joint Palestinian-Israeli
cooperation in research and other academic pursuits. Let me
point out here that most Palestinian universities have a policy
of non-cooperation with Israeli institutions, and thus the scope
of joint projects is in reality very limited. Those projects,
where they existed, were severely compromised after the eruption
of the intifada in late 2000, when for practical and political
reasons many Palestinian partners in joint projects terminated
their involvement in them. It is important to note here for
those who do not know that not all funds for Palestinian research
come without a price tag; support from many European, American
and other international foundations and governments is available
only if Israeli and Palestinian scholars enter into partnerships.
Palestinians view such schemes as highly political, aiming at
politicizing research by luring Palestinian (and Israeli) scholars
into joint projects with the promise of funds and prospects for
publishing and scholarly advancement. We believe that if international
funding institutions are really interested in developing the
scientific and research capacity of Palestinian institutions
and scholars, they should offer direct assistance and not politicize
their support. We are happy to note, however, that many respectable
foundations in the United States, Canada, and in Europe appreciate
this and have steered clear of politicizing research by stipulating
joint projects with Israelis.
I will end this discussion
of Palestinian-Israeli cooperation with an excerpt from an open
letter issued by Birzeit University in the West Bank in February
2004 and addressed to members of the European Parliament debating
ratification of a scientific and trade agreement between the
European Union and Israel: "[C]ooperation between Israeli
and Palestinian Universities is either not possible or is at
the absolute minimum. That lack of cooperation is a direct result
of the political situation and it is hoped that the international
community would understand the dynamics of the relations between
the occupier and those who are under occupation. Within these
dynamics, cooperation is neither encouraged nor welcomed. This
is not bigotry or prejudice, but a position dictated by the severe
realities of military occupation. It is not a position that
is taken uniquely by the Palestinians. During most, if not all
military occupations, people under occupation steered away from
cooperating with the occupier or its institutions whether
they are civil or governmental. It is within this context that
Birzeit University and most other Palestinian universities do
not find it appropriate to cooperate with Israeli institutions."
While we encourage our colleagues
abroad to expand their boycott of the Israeli academy, we extend
our hands to those Israeli academics and intellectuals who find
it possible to join us in the fight against the system of colonial
rule and apartheid. Only when the colonial apparatus has been
dismantled can we meet as equals and engage in the normal business
of institutional academic collaboration and cooperation.
Dr. Lisa Taraki is the coordinator of Palestinian
Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
and teaches sociology at Birzeit University in Palestine.
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