TeleSur English, November 23, 2014. “The hand-mill,” a young Karl Marx once wrote, “gives you society with the feudal lord; the steam-mill society with the industrial capitalist.” The sentence has often been cited to show that Marx was a “technological determinist.” One can certainly see why. In reality, for what it’s worth, Marx was no [...]
Originally published on ZNet, November 22, 2014. If you publicly dissent from and act against prevailing United States orthodoxies and the reigning US power structure, chances are good you will face personal and/or professional defamation and the charge of psychological unreliability and instability. It will be said that there’s something wrong and untrustworthy about you. [...]
Paul Street's book talk on his latest volume They Rule: The 1: v. Democracy (Paradigm, 2014) can be viewed on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/OpenUnivoftheLeft/
Originally published on TeleSur English, November 12, 2014 Government Works Only for the Rich and Powerful” Last Thursday’s New York Times (I am writing on Monday, November 10, 2014) contained two instructive and curiously contrasting reflections on the Republican Party’s sweeping victory in last week’s United States midterm Congressional and state elections. The first reflection came from Frank Luntz, [...]
Interview with Paul Street (October 26, 2014) by FARS News Agency (Teheran), published November 5, 2014 at http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13930803001434 Q: Reports suggest that Turkey’s border with Syria has been the main entry point for foreign militants who seek to join ISIL. Also, Turkey has demanded a no-fly zone, a buffer zone in Syria and greater efforts [...]
Originally published on TeleSur English, November 7, 2014. One of the fundamental principles behind “mainstream” media coverage and commentary on United States foreign policy is that the criminal and imperial nature of Washington’s actions abroad can never be acknowledged. Also beyond the parameters of acceptable reporting and opinion in that media is the real depth [...]
Sooner or later, any progressive activist trying to make headway on the interrelated causes of democracy, social justice, and peace in the United States comes up against six barriers that I recently confronted within three minutes at the Iowa City Public Library. “You Can’t Complain if You Don’t Vote” Outside my local library last week, [...]
When told the Pope thought he should stop repressing Catholics under his yoke, the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin famously asked, “The Pope? How many divisions has he got?” A different version of the same put-down, typically issued in response to someone who says they are going to make you do something: “on yeah, you and [...]
TeleSur English, October 24 2014. When told that the Pope thought he should stop repressing Catholics under his yoke, the Soviet dictator Josef Stalin famously asked, "The Pope? How many divisions has he got?” A different version of the same put-down, typically issued in response to someone who says they are going to make you [...]
ZNet, October 25, 2014. Having spent much of 2012 and some of 2013 writing a book on the wealth and power of the United States economic elite and the conflict between capitalism and democracy, I’ve followed current events ever since with a certain amount of selfish apprehension. “Wow,” I’ve caught myself ruminating, “wouldn’t it be [...]