British Foreign Office Says Committed to Dialogue by Jason Ditz Ecuador President Rafael Correa is reporting that Britain has formally withdrawn its threat to attack the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, saying that his government “consider this unfortunate incident over.” Britain’s… Read More ›
Media & Culture
Working Class perspective on books, movies, video games and other art.
Slap on the Wrist for Troops in Corpse Urination Video
Common Dreams staff Three of the Marines involved in the video that surfaced in January of soldiers urinating on the corpses of Afghans have received “nonjudicial punishment” on Monday for their roles in the incident. Because they received “nonjudicial punishment,”… Read More ›
80 Percent of Public Schools Have Contracts With Coke or Pepsi
Schools That Limit Junk Food and Soda on Campus Have Lower Obesity Rates By Tom Philpott Is your kid’s public school a Coke school or a Pepsi school? If you don’t know what I mean, consider yourself lucky. Starting in… Read More ›
Neo-Nazi flash mobs strike German cities, aim to become ‘immortal’ on YouTube
The racist group takes to the streets at night carrying torches. They organize via text message so that authorities won’t know where they’ll appear next. A German neo-Nazi group has been harnessing 21st century technology to stage terrifying flash-mob protests… Read More ›
“Iran and Everything Else” by Michael Parenti
Occasionally individuals complain that I fail to address one subject or another. One Berkeley denizen got in my face and announced: “You leftists ought to become aware of the ecological crisis.” In fact, I had written a number of things… Read More ›
Handcuffed man shot twice by San Francisco police – witness reports
Officers with the San Francisco Police Department in Northern California shot a man believed to have a knife this morning, but preliminary reports suggest that the victim was in handcuffs while the authorities opened fire. Police officers with the SFPD… Read More ›
Al-Qaeda Taking Deadly New Role in Syria’s Conflict
By ROD NORDLAND CAIRO — It is the sort of image that has become a staple of the Syrian revolution, a video of masked men calling themselves the Free Syrian Army and brandishing AK-47s — with one unsettling difference. In… Read More ›
Review of “Animal Farm” (1954 & 1999 Films)
Introduction Hailed by capitalist literary critics, Trotskyites and anarchists as a masterpiece, the mediocre book Animal Farm has served a very important role in distorting the history of socialism in the Soviet Union. Modern editions of the book hail author… Read More ›
Under Israeli blockade of Gaza, books are a rare, cherished commodity
Israel does not explicitly ban importing books to Gaza, but the blockade makes it extraordinarily difficult to do so. The shortage amounts to a kind of censorship, Gazans say. By Ruqaya Izzidien, Contributor Gaza City, Gaza The Israeli blockade of… Read More ›
Alexander Cockburn, Acerbic Writer and Critic, Dies at 71
By COLIN MOYNIHAN Alexander Cockburn, the mordant left-wing journalist and author who though born in Scotland thrived in the political and cultural battlegrounds of the United States, died on Saturday in Bad Salzhausen, Germany, where he had been receiving medical… Read More ›