Last Release: Saturday, March 27, 2004

Israel, Suicide Nation

| M. Junaid Alam |

Politics, being the art of deception, must certainly recognize Israel as its Da Vinci. Its smug self-portrait as a 'civilized democracy', rendered with brushes dipped deeply in the oil paint of antipathy for Arabs, has won much admiration among impressionable Americans. Galvanizing and amplifying latent Western hatred of Muslim Arabs in order to rally the West under the banner of 'Judeo-Christian civilization', and intimidating doubters by abusing the memory of the Holocaust to claim special 'unique victim' status, Israel intones, 'Stand with us because we are white and bomb towel-heads in F-16s just as you do, and don't dare stand against us because you once persecuted our forefathers and should atone for your sins - by abetting ours.'

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A Canadian Look at U.S. Healthcare

| Yves Engler |

Watching the U.S. presidential campaign get under way from north of the border, I sometimes feel like shouting "It's healthcare, stupid."

While the economy will always be an important issue, one reason for the current "job loss recovery" is rising health costs. Companies prefer to increase existing employees' hours, even if they have to pay overtime, rather than cover new workers' health insurance.

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Reflections on Welfare

| Morgan Southwood |

I don't understand why there's so much public outcry against welfare.

I myself come from a somewhat comfortable upper working-class background. I attend a public state University that is subsidized by taxes (federal welfare!). My undergraduate tuition is generously subsidized by my relatives (subsidized education!). I live in a little apartment that is owned by my uncle, and while I do have to pay rent monthly, if I'm a few weeks late I can call him and he will gracefully wait for the check without throwing my ass out (subsidized housing!).

Once or twice a month my mother gives me charity food subsidies in the form of a little ground beef, milk, juice, and vegetables to supplement my starving-student diet of pasta, peanut butter, and cheap beer (food stamps!). I paid for my twenty-year-old little beater car myself, but a relative fronted me the lump sum at the time of the car's purchase so that I could buy it and have a way to get to and from school and work (subsidized transportation!).

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The Making of a New Left: The Rise and Fall of SDS

| Geoff Bailey (Reprinted from the Int'l Socialist Review) |

The 1960s marked, for the first time since the 1930s, the growth of a mass radicalization in the United States. Mass movements broke the conformity that characterized the 1950s, buried the McCarthyite consensus which had witch-hunted radical ideas out of American politics and gave impetus to efforts to build new radical and revolutionary socialist organizations. The achievements of these movements were immense--mass action helped to put an end to the Vietnam War and to Jim Crow segregation in the U.S. South; the women's movement transformed attitudes and eventually won abortion rights. The upsurge of the 1960s led to a broader questioning of society and a belief that massive change--even revolution--was possible in the U.S.

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Last Release: Tuesday, March 23, 2004

Anti-War Protest Reports from Youth in New York City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and San Francisco

| Left Hook Exclusive |

March 20, 2004, marked the first year anniversary of America's illegal war of aggression against the Iraqi people. Prior to the war, people across the globe organized and participated in the largest concurrent worldwide demonstrations ever to protest the impending travesty which has now killed thousands of Iraqi civilians and hundreds of U.S. soldiers. The anti-war position taken by millions has been proven undeniably correct in the past year, from non-existent WMDs, deception in the White House on war intelligence, resistance to occupation in Iraq, and utter lack of real post-war planning by the Bush administration. On March 20, 2004, many thousands marched again to illustrate their continued opposition to the war and the ongoing occupation. Several Left Hook contributors across the US give us their thoughts on these demonstrations.

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Killing Rachel Corrie Again: Making Murder Respectable

| Michael Dempsey |

In his essay, Politics and the English Language, Orwell writes that "political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind." In no case has this statement been truer than that of the Israeli- Palestinian dispute. For over a half a century, an entire people have been denied not only the right of self-determination, but the more basic right of human recognition.

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Is Ignorance Our Answer?

| Macdonald Stainsby |

After the demise of the Ba'athist Republican Guard in the streets of Baghdad came a fog in the air over the marches in the streets of the imperialist world, particularly in North America. While many of us have indeed pointed directly at the existence of a decline in enthusiasm for an anti-war movement, we have yet to spend time discussing what it is that feels different about where we are now. Worse, to avoid becoming fully demobilized-- an obviously healthy desire-- we have decided not to speak about that which we have no answer for. But these questions need to be taken up, not in the empty theorizing disconnected from practice that has characterized the flip-side of 'movement building' in the past, but in an entirely different manner. While we do this, it is important to keep an old Chinese saying on the tip of our tongues: "Those who think something cannot be done should never stand in the way of those actually doing it."

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The Movement and the Machine

| David Adam Seiden |

The deeper, latent purpose of any serious movement for global justice must be to completely dismantle the means of waging illegal wars, raising sanctions, participating in coups, and upholding blockades. Defined in these terms, the military industrial complex should clearly be the focus of the movement. Might does not make right. Severely limiting the entire Pentagon system of publically-financed war industries for private profit will be the major task of Americans in the coming years.

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Last Release: Wednesday, March 17, 2004

Anniversary of the Death of Rachel Corrie

Yesterday marked the first anniversary of the death of Rachel Corrie. She was killed by an Israeli bulldozer, which crushed her as she stood defending a Palestinian home. Reprinted below is an article written by Left Hook co-editor Adam Levenstein the day after her death. We dedicate this update of Left Hook to the memory and example of Rachel Corrie.

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Ralph Nader: Crashing the Party

| Michael Dempsey |

But even though Kerry has edged everyone else out, it appears that what transpired up to this point was a genuinely multifarious competition. Upon closer inspection, however, it becomes evident, that what really took place was an intra-party putsch, where the candidate who was clearly favored by the rank and file, Dean, was usurped by the candidate favored by the party elite, literally almost overnight.

Enter Ralph Nader.

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Rural Midwesterners Stand Up to Power Monopoly

| Carl Sack |

As American capitalism continues to expand and exhaust itself, it sacrifices the living conditions of more sectors of the working class and the remaining integrity of the environment. Corporate profits can be the only goal, and nothing else is sacred. But when the destructive force of capitalism collides with the lives of ordinary people, it can galvanize even the least political into solidarity and decisive action.

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What the CNN poll Should Have Asked after the Spanish elections

| Derek Seidman |

The day after the Spanish Socialist Party won the national elections, a CNN.com poll asked "Do the election results in Spain represent a victory for the terrorists?" This type of loaded question is not uncommon, especially in the polls of that dreaded refuge of liberal bias, CNN. When former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill came out a few months ago to say that Bush and his clique were plotting an attack on Iraq before 9/11, the CNN poll asked "Did Paul O'Neill betray George Bush?" Whether it occurred to them to ask a more sensible question (such as, "Did George Bush betray America?") is unknown.

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So, You Want A Better World

| Macdonald Stainsby |

All right, so you want a better world. What does that mean? That's a question I want to both ask and see answered. But first, a reminder of what kind of world those in power seek, fresh from today's 'editorial' pages across the globe. The same people who 'intellectually authored' (oxymoronic term) the attack on Iraq have now written further in "An End to Evil: How to Win the War on Terror", the latest tract on how to use aerial bombardments and mass slaughter in defense of 'Americans'. This screed has already alarmed many all over the world, for it outlines some new military adventures, despite the fact they are meeting with very prolonged resistance in Iraq that threatens by itself to engulf more and more of the US army's military capability.

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Last Release: Wednesday, March 09, 2004

An Anti-Civilizational War?: America and Israel on the Front Line of Colonialism

| M. Junaid Alam |

For the past five hundred years, humanity has witnessed the ascension of a civilization which acclaims the Rights of Man but kills non-white man wherever it finds him. The Western authors of social contracts and constitutions granting freedom and liberty for their kinsmen also granted themselves the freedom to take liberties with the lives and fate of the non-white world. For while it was widely understood that humans have certain inalienable rights, chaining or whipping Black 'sub-humans' and expropriating or uprooting Indian 'savages' were considered well within these rights. And so, within its own selective borders the glowing attributes of Western civilization shone brightly, but for the untamed darker sections of humanity, rifles and bayonets, later replaced by bombs and missiles, were the preferred methods of enlightenment.

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America and Africa's Brightest Hope: US Imperialism and the Defeat of Angolan Socialism

| Chad Faldt |

There are not many people defending imperialism whole-heartedly anymore. However, many scholars often take a balance-sheet approach. They argue that colonialism was not entirely bad, it brought some of the benefits of modernization and Western society to Africa. If colonialism exploited Africans on one hand, on the other they brought them schools, hospitals, and other benefits. Walter Rodney has the best answer for this approach by stating that colonialism only had one hand, it was a one-armed bandit. I believe that is important to understand the history of Africa, so that we may better oppose the arguments of those defending capitalism.

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An Open Letter to Thomas Friedman

| Shirin Vossoughi |

Dear Thomas L. Friedman,

For the last few years, I have read your column in the New York Times and become increasingly disturbed at the arrogance with which you defend U.S. hegemony, imperial occupation (of the U.S. and Israeli varieties) and what you consider the benign effects of a devastating global economic system. Until now, I have seethed in seclusion, occasionally venting to friends and family. But this Sunday's column was the last straw.

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My Uncle's Declaration (Short Story)

| Siamak Vossoughi |

I felt like taking a long walk when I heard my uncle say that if the United States were to invade our country next after Iraq, that he would go and fight them there himself. I felt like taking a long walk and thinking about America and Americans and how if one of them had happened to be walking by as he had said it, they might conclude that he was a terrorist, and the thing that made me sad was that even though I didn't want anybody invading anybody and I didn't want anybody having to fight against anybody invading anybody, there was still a lot of beauty in a sixty-two-year-old man saying that he would go and fight against any invaders himself, and I figured that American wouldn't see any of it.

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Last Release: Wednesday, March 03, 2004

Democracy on the Floor

| Shemon Salam |

This article is not about names, academia, or famous people. This article is simply about a dream that we had all agreed to fight for, but now that dream is faltering. I have woken up from my sleep, away from fantasyland where I thought solidarity and integrity were the glue between reality and fantasy. This article is about a dream that once was and now is being slowly buried in the shadows of academia, stardom, and activist personalities.

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Radical Continuity: An Interview with Paul Buhle

| Derek Seidman |

There is probably no one in the world that knows more about the history of American radicalism than Paul Buhle. A former member of Students for a Democratic Society and a disciple of CLR James, Buhle founded the journal Radical America as well as the Oral History of the American Left project. He is the author/editor of nearly thirty books, including: Images of American Radicalism, Marxism in the United States, Radical Hollywood: The untold story behind America's favorite movies, The Encyclopedia of the American Left, The Immigrant Left in the United States, The New Left Revisted, Insurgent Images: The Agitprop Murals of Mike Alewitz, and the forthcoming From the Lower Eastside to Hollywood: Jews in American Popular Culture.

Buhle is currently teaching at Brown University. Left Hook's (www.lefthook.org) Derek Seidman recently caught up with him for a short interview.

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A Night of Inspiration: The Oakland Benefit for Grocery Strikers

| Javier Armas |

Sheldon Curtis, an African-American worker locked out of his Albertsons job from the Orange county area, spoke about the hardships of the strike on his family and the difficulties of paying for his house, nevertheless stressing that he believed his main obligation was to continue fighting no matter what.

The microphone was then passed to Gary, who moved the audience to tears when he spoke about a conversation he had with his son, who asked if he should drop out of college because of the financial problems that arose from the strike. Gary then started crying and said the impact of the strike has challenged his importance and social role as a father. As Gary spoke about the deep psychological effect the strike has had, he still exemplified the notion of being firm and militant about continuing the strike.

As the mic passed, a warm sensitive applause was given to Gary.

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Hated Victims, Hidden Racism: Palestinian 'Terrorism' and Israeli 'Democracy' (Part Four of Four)

| M. Junaid Alam|

At this point our terrorism expert and his cohorts appear uncomfortable: their confusion is only temporary. "Palestinians blow themselves up! They strap bombs around themselves and kill civilians; I don't see any Israeli blowing himself up." We must congratulate our most perspicacious friend: after having overseen the minor details of mass Israeli expropriations, massacres, killings, and tortures over the course of the last fifty years, he has at least noticed the difference in the methods of violence. But even in this remarkable epiphany of his he overlooks all else. He fails to note that his favorite outpost of civilization has received over $90 billion dollars from the United States since its creation, that it still receives billions of dollars in military aid, including hardware, technology, and expertise annually-and that he is paying for it. The Palestinian, on the other hand, is essentially a dispossessed former peasant...So when the Israeli army embarks on the proud mission of terrorizing the Palestinian people, it does so in the most modern tanks, the most expensive aircraft, with the deadliest missiles, and the most powerful bombs. Thus the Israeli need not "blow himself up"; he is quite content to blow the Palestinian up and leave himself entirely out of the equation.

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Reviews of Paul Buhle's Writings

Seeing that we were lucky enough to score an interview with Paul Buhle for this edition of Left Hook, we wanted to point readers towards some recent reviews of his books. Below are excerpts from three reviews, with links to the full review, covering just a few of Buhle's large and diverse body of work. We urge everyone to check out his stuff.

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