Detail of massive ferry, while still in Piraeus port All but two of the dozens of flat-screen TVs on the many upper decks of the giant ferry E. Venizelos (now en route from Piraeus to Chania) were tuned to the …Continue reading “Notes from Europe: Rosa Nera”

Under Review: David Graeber, Debt: The First 5,000 Years. Melville House Publishing: NY, 2011 ‘Tis to be a slave in soul, And to hold no strong control Over your own wills, but be All that others make of ye. –The Mask …Continue reading “A History of Debt”

Michael Truscello’s new documentary, Capitalism Is The Crisis: Radical Politics in the Age of Austerity, which is excerpted above, can be viewed in its entirety here. It features commentary by Chris Hedges, Michael Hardt, and many more.

The IMF/EU imposed Greek austerity program has and will generate human rights violations in the areas of health, nutrition, education of children and youth, life expectancy, welfare of the elderly and disabled, right to shelter, right to public transport and related social safety nets. Many countries forced to follow IMF discipline experience 5-10 year decreases in adult life expectancy after the imposition of equivalent measures.

The news today carried tidings of another huge setback for working people in the US. The legislature in New Jersey, one of the most heavily Democratic and pro-union states in the country, has passed a bill rolling back benefits such …Continue reading “Age of Austerity”

On arriving in Madison some years ago, I went to the huge farmers’ market that winds round the Capitol. Startled by the slow-moving procession of orderly, white shoppers all pacing in the same direction, I dubbed the market throngs “The …Continue reading “Which Way Wisconsin? The Meaning of the Madison Movement”

The entire world is watching as the future of Greece, and with it that of the global economy, is hanging in the balance.  As journalists and commentators worry over the prospect of a Greek sovereign default triggering a chain reaction …Continue reading “Greeks on the Move: Capitalism's Wreckage and the Demand for Real Democracy”

This feature in today’s The Observer newspaper on Britain’s relationship to ‘public intellectualism’ is at times illuminating, and at times frustrating in the most productive of ways. Indeed, some of my frustration with it connects directly to a theme that …Continue reading “On Public Intellectualism in the UK”