Many thanks to Alex Munro for his generous financial contribution.
As the economy continues to weaken and the US presidential posturing strengthens, the same-old tired ideas are rehashed and repackaged in short-sighted thinking with the attention span of an election cycle and the backing of corporate dollars to ensure that with each election that's won, more and more people will lose. Changing this paradigm will require a major ideological shift, and to get us started Fabio De Propris poses the questions that must be asked if we are to exercise a wise global economic and social policy. He proposes a new ideology that cares for the greater good and not the already-thriving few, in which politics and economics are built on the philosophical principle that a community must be a part of humankind and comprehend all women and men living on earth. Applying this concept to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict might result in an actual solution. Former human rights lawyer Lynda Burstein Brayer provides a fascinating analysis of the economics of the Middle East, asserting that so long as the dispensation of capitalist power continues unrestricted in the region, Palestinian statehood is doomed to failure. Another paradigm shift that will be necessary for change to a just and equitable society is the extrication of the mainstream media from the capitalist system on which it is supposed to report. Case in point, Michael Barker's two-part critique of British journalist Jon Snow, who travels comfortably in elite circles. And for some thoughts on human nature and whether we blindly or willfully succumb to tyranny, read Barker's interview with psychology professor Alexander Haslam.
In this edition's cultural cornucopia, Gilles d'Aymery reviews Harvey Pekar and Paul Buhle's superbly edited and illustrated Yiddishkeit: Jewish Vernacular & the New Land and deems it a significant Yiddish historical and cultural book not to be missed. Bashir Sakhawarz weaves an amusing tale of Afghan women going to hamam -- the public bath; and Raju Peddada celebrates and defends his grandfather Rebbapragada Buchiraju, a true survivalist who slogged through his life in India, always taking care of others. Peter Byrne's ballad weeps for Baha Mousa who died at the hands of the Queen's soldiers in an Iraq prison camp. Finally, Guido Monte invites us into his vade mecum, and we close with your letters.
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Fabio De Propris: You Are Here
The author poses the questions that must be asked if we are to exercise a wise global economic and social policy. More...
Michael Barker: Jon Snow's Big Society: (Part II of II)
Part II of a critical review of Jon Snow's autobiography, Shooting History. More...
Michael Barker: Resistance Or Tyranny
An interview with Alexander Haslam. More...
Lynda Burstein Brayer: Palestinian Statehood – Kalaam Faadi
The author contends that within the unrestricted dispensation of capitalist power dominant in the Middle East Palestinian statehood is doomed to failure. The political solution for Palestine and the region is a unified confederation in the territory of the former Greater Syria, and the dismantling of the Jewish settler colony. More...
Gilles d'Aymery: Yiddishkeit: Fun Dor Tsu Dor
Harvey Pekar and Paul Buhle's superbly edited and illustrated Yiddishkeit: Jewish Vernacular & the New Land is significant Yiddish historical and cultural book not to be missed. More...
Bashir Sakhawarz: Hamam
A short story showing the culture of Afghan women going to hamam (public bath). More...
Raju Peddada: The Man They Called Baldy
The author lovingly remembers his grandfather Rebbapragada Buchiraju, a true survivalist who lived for others, as much as he lived legendarily for himself -- a benevolent, and an indefatigable spirit that blazed the path of action, literally siring a generation of stubborn detractors. More...
Peter Byrne: A Ballad For Baha Mousa
A poetic tribute to the death of Baha Mousa. More...
Guido Monte: Creative hints: vade mecum
Guido Monte thinks about creative fragments of things to realize, for a personal vade mecum. More...
Appreciation for Isidor Saslav's Chaconne, Anyone from a visual artist endeavoring to conceptualize the music; a donation from Canada to this classy publication, despite the dreaded PayPal; Jan Baughman's MIA NYT saga; and more. More...
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