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The dumbing down of America appears to be the only thing that is working effectively in the country, when one considers that the populace is at present more interested in whether Representative Anthony Weiner tweeted a photo of his bulging underwear to a female college student than if the ruling elite will succeed in destroying Medicare. From the demise of the health care system to that of education, the future does not look pretty, particularly when one considers Professor Jonah Raskin's observations that college students have become an infantilized generation of alliterates. Actually, one institution that is going strong is the prison-industrial complex. Michael Barker reports on Michelle Alexander's study that concludes "that mass incarceration in the United States had, in fact, emerged as a stunningly comprehensive and well-disguised system of racialized social control that functions in a manner strikingly similar to Jim Crow." As for the health care system, Gilles d'Aymery looks at the Randian roots and neoliberal efforts of Representative Paul Ryan, the current champion of the bipartisan anti-Medicare cause. Also threatened are rural health care centers across the country, including the Anderson Valley Health Center near Swans headquarters that lost its state funding and is months away from perhaps closing its doors, while the federal grants that could have helped were compromised away in the recent budget debate... As Charles Marowitz observes, we assume in the Middle East that the status quo must be overthrown -- whereas in America we delude ourselves that new elections will save us. According to Louis Proyect's book review, there are alternatives, and we must do everything in our power to build a world movement that understands that without democracy, there cannot be socialism and that without socialism, there cannot be democracy.
In light of the arrest of the former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic and the death of Lawrence S. Eagleburger, the former secretary of state and career foreign service civil servant, we are republishing Gilles d'Aymery's July 2005 article "Srebrenica Mon Amour." Eagleburger spent seven years of his career in Yugoslavia, whose dissolution he likened to a Greek tragedy. From Italy, Peter Byrne takes us on a trip to the buried heart of Matera -- not your typical small Italian city; while from Ghana, Femi Akomolafe calls for his fellow Africans to dream big and ask what exactly is wrong with them. Raju Peddada concludes his series on the engineers with big dreams who developed the F-1 rocket engine. In the French corner, Francesca Saieva contemplates the social aspects of Italian writer Italo Calvino's protagonist Marcovaldo, and Simone Alié-Daram's poem makes a splash with three angels. Guido Monte's blending describes the night thoughts of a Tunisian woman on a death-boat along the waves of the Sicily Channel, and we close with your letters, with thoughts on Aymery's coverage on the last edition's scandal du jour, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, and more.
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Jonah Raskin: The Rebellion Against The Book: College Students 2011
A college professor's perspective on alliteracy, the technologic generation gap, and the end of reading as we know it. More...
Michael Barker: Blinded By Jim Crow
Critical summary of Michelle Alexander's important book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (The New Press, 2010). More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Paul D. Ryan: Stealth Randian?
A look at the Randian roots and neoliberal efforts of Representative Paul Ryan, along with fellow Democrats, to "save" Medicare by destroying it. More...
AVHC: Important Message From The Anderson Valley Health Center
A message from the Anderson Valley Health Center, a rural clinic with no state or federal funding, a third of its revenue lost, and its doors months from closing, which would leave the community with no local access to health care. More...
Charles Marowitz: A House Divided
Protest has been replaced by torpor as the American social safety nets are systematically dismantled and the rich swindle the people. More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Srebrenica, Mon Amour: An Ostracized Narrative
Originally published in July 2005, this article is republished in light of the arrest of the former Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic and the death of Lawrence S. Eagleburger, the former secretary of state and career foreign service civil servant. The author examines the events that took place in Srebrenica in 1995. More...
Louis Proyect: Michael Lebowitz's The Socialist Alternative
We must do everything in our power to build a world movement that understands that without democracy, there cannot be socialism and that without socialism, there cannot be democracy. More...
Peter Byrne: Matera's Buried Heart
The author takes us on a trip to the buried heart of Matera, Italy -- not your typical small Italian city. More...
Femi Akomolafe: On Party And National Interests
Writing from Ghana, the author calls for his fellow Africans to dream big and ask what exactly is wrong with them. More...
Raju Peddada: An Engine That Lifted Our Spirits! Part II
Second part of a tribute to the engine that became the nation's promise to a dead and visionary president's goal: the F-1 rocket engine, an authentic testament to human ingenuity and perseverance. More...
Francesca Saieva: La calvinienne histoire d'un "terrestre" en ville: Marcovaldo
Francesca Saieva s'occupe des aspects sociaux du Marcovaldo de l'écrivain italien Italo Calvino. More...
Simone Alié-Daram: Dans la salle de bains
Poème sur trois angelots et une femme prenant un bain. More...
Guido Monte: On a death-boat
Guido Monte's blending describes the night thoughts of a Tunisian woman on a death-boat along the waves of the Sicily Channel. More...
Two slightly different takes on Gilles d'Aymery's Blips on DSK; a fan of Jack Shafer's music and the good times at Pier 23; and a plea from Pakistan for the West to stop its destruction. More...
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