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At the risk of dignifying the shabby comment in response to my previous post, I’ll state for the record that I’m 100 percent opposed to any military strike on Iran. The women’s activists beaten on March 8 are among those who will abolish the rule of the clerics, in time. For Cheney & Co. to run amok right next door
Iran beats feminists
Doug Ireland carries a report from Janet Afary about the International Women’s Day gathering in Tehran on March 8: The peaceful gathering of women’s rights activists, women’s groups and human rights defenders who had gathered in Park Daneshjoo (Student Park) yesterday, in commemoration of March 8th, International Women’s Day, ended in violence, when they were attacked and assaulted by plain
Bravo, Roger Waters
The ex-Pink Floyd singer refuses to cancel his show in Israel. He condemns the separation wall and the occupation but tells the Guardian: I have many fans in Israel, many of whom refuse to serve in the military. I won’t cancel my trip to Israel because I don’t agree with the government’s policies, just as I won’t stop performing in
Now that’s a lede
Just got around to reading Lawrence Kaplan’s attack on the Hummer, which begins: At first glance, Route 27, which winds its way into the Hamptons, and Route Irish, which winds it way into Baghdad, appear to have basically nothing in common. But they do. On both roads, today’s vehicle of choice is the Humvee. Needless to say, they serve vastly
A letters exchange on Chavez
I have a letter in Jewish Currents magazine (March-April ’06) responding to Bob Cartwright’s adulatory article on Hugo Chavez in the previous issue. In my letter I argue that Cartwright glossed over Chavez’s professed admiration for dictators on the order of Robert Mugabe and Fidel Castro. I also noted that Chavez traveled to Libya in 2004 to accept the grotesquely
A reader responds
Back in November I harshly criticized The World Can’t Wait, an activist “coalition” fronted by the Revolutionary Communist Party. Just the other day I discovered that this comment had come in from a reader: I am not a communist, i am a part of this organization. Our organization is united around “The Call”, the call is not communist at all,
Book review — addendum
Space didn’t permit me to mention, in this book review, an arresting statement from author and UK-based jazz critic Stuart Nicholson. In his introduction he conveys “grateful thanks” to, among many others, “Saxophonist Gilad Atzmon for our conversations about the issue of identity in jazz….” Atzmon’s views on identity are interesting indeed, and I’ve discussed them on numerous occasions. A
South Dakota’s abortion ban
Good segment about this on last night’s Newshour, transcript here. The most revealing exchange was this one, in which Fred De Sam Lazaro (I’ve always loved his name) puts a question to state senator Bill Napoli: FRED DE SAM LAZARO: Napoli says most abortions are performed for what he calls “convenience.” He insists that exceptions can be made for rape