Mexicos tortilla crisis: harvest of NAFTA
More than 120,000 people protested in Mexico City, Jan. 31, against massive hikes in the price of white maize (called “corn” in the U.S.) and other basic foodstuffs — up nearly 100 percent since Christmas on top of a 700 percent increase since 1994.
Yugoslavia past, present and future
When the term “balkanization” is used, it has long meant to break a territory or a region up into hostile, unmanageable parts. The Balkans have long been portrayed in imperialist ideology as a region filled with colorful, violent, backward people, the “hillbillies” of Europe.
Another Virginia politician goes ape
Virgil Goode is the congressman for Virginia’s conservative 5th district. One would expect that it would elect conservative representatives to Congress, but there is no law requiring it to elect fools.
Killed by NYPD: The system, its problems and the fightback
NEW YORK — “No justice, no peace! No justice, no peace!” protesters chanted Dec. 6 as they rallied in Manhattan’s Foley Square. The event was planned months in advance to bring attention to the issue of police brutality in New York City. But following the shooting death of groom-to-be 23-year-old Sean Bell, the event took on new meaning and urgency.
Ellison win a rebuff to Bushs policies
MINNEAPOLIS — The success of the Keith Ellison congressional campaign here was noteworthy from several perspectives.
Beyond South Dakota
With all the attention on Ohio, Virginia, Montana and a few other states, it would be easy to miss something very significant that happened in South Dakota on election night: a victory that just might point the way forward for progressives on a broad constellation of personal liberties.
Carrying the victory forward
Voters made history Nov. 7. Exhausted and angered from a record number of deaths in Iraq, an economic recovery benefiting millionaires but not workers, and unchecked corruption, the voter upsurge rejected the Bush administration and its right-wing agenda.
The border wall: who will build it?
DALLAS — All over Texas, people are incredulous about the Republican election ploy to build a 700-mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border — from Columbus, N.M., to El Paso, Texas.
GOP swamps Michigan in racism, dirty tricks
Voters in Michigan can deliver a knockout punch to the Bush agenda. But to do so, they will have to find their way through a Republican minefield that works to scapegoat the victims of an economic crisis that has Michigan autoworkers and the communities they live in reeling.
Missourians shifting away from GOP
ST. LOUIS — With less than three weeks to go until the Nov. 7 midterm elections, many Republicans are defensively licking their wounds and trying to distance themselves from the Mark Foley scandal. Democrats, on the other hand, feel the shift in the winds and are cautiously taking the offensive.
