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Today's
Stories
November
1 / 2, 2003
Saul Landau
Cui
Bono? The Cuba Embargo as Rip Off
October 31, 2003
Lee Ballinger
Making
a Dollar Out of 15 Cents: The Sweatshops of Sean "P. Diddy"
Combs
Wayne
Madsen
The
GOP's Racist Trifecta
Michael Donnelly
Settling for Peanuts: Democrats Trick the Greens, Treat Big Timber
Patrick
Cockburn
Baghdad
Diary: Iraqis are Naming Their New Babies "Saddam"
Elaine
Cassel
Coming
to a State Near You: The Matrix (Interstate Snoops, Not the Movie)
October 30, 2003
Forrest
Hylton
Popular
Insurrection and National Revolution in Bolivia
Eric Ruder
"We Have to Speak Out!": Marching with the Military
Families
Dave Lindorff
Big
Lies and Little Lies: The Meaning of "Mission Accomplished"
Philip
Adams
"Everyone is Running Scared": Denigrating Critics of
Israel
Sean Donahue
Howard Dean: a Hawk in a Dove's Cloak
Robert
Jensen
Big Houses & Global Justice: A Moral Level of Consumption?
Alexander
Cockburn
Paul
Krugman: Part of the Problem
October
29, 2003
Chris
Floyd
Thieves
Like Us: Cheney's Backdoor to Halliburton
Robert Fisk
Iraq Guerrillas Adopt a New Strategy: Copy the Americans
Rick Giombetti
Let
Them Eat Prozac: an Interview with David Healy
The Intelligence
Squad
Dark
Forces? The Military Steps Up Recruiting of Blacks
Elaine
Cassel
Prosecutors
as Therapists, Phantoms as Terrorists
Marie Trigona
Argentina's War on the Unemployed Workers Movement
Gary Leupp
Every
Day, One KIA: On the Iraq War Casualty Figures
October
28, 2003
Rich Gibson
The
Politics of an Inferno: Notes on Hellfire 2003
Uri Avnery
Incident
in Gaza
Diane
Christian
Wishing
Death
Robert
Fisk
Eyewitness
in Iraq: "They're Getting Better"
Toni Solo
Authentic Americans and John Negroponte
Jason
Leopold
Halliburton in Iran
Shrireen Parsons
When T-shirts are Verboten
Chris
White
9/11
in Context: a Marine Veteran's Perspective
October 27, 2003
William
A. Cook
Ministers
of War: Criminals of the Cloth
David
Lindorff
The
Times, Dupes and the Pulitzer
Elaine
Cassel
Antonin
Scalia's Contemptus Mundi
Robert
Fisk
Occupational Schizophrenia
John Chuckman
Banging Your Head into Walls
Seth Sandronsky
Snoops R Us
Bill Kauffman
George
Bush, the Anti-Family President
October
25 / 26, 2003
Robert
Pollin
The
US Economy: Another Path is Possible
Jeffrey St. Clair
Outsourcing US Guided Missile Technology to China
James
Bunn
Plotting
Pre-emptive Strikes
Saul Landau
Should Limbaugh Do Time?
Ted Honderich
Palestinian Terrorism, Morality & Germany
Thomas Nagy
Saving the Army of Peace
Christopher
Brauchli
Between Bush and a Lobotomy: Killing Endangered Species for Profit
Laura Carlsen
Latin America's Archives of Terror
Diane
Christian
Evil Acts & Evil Actors
Muqtedar Khan
Lessons from the Imperial Adventure in Iraq
John Feffer
The Tug of War on the Korea Peninsula
Brian Cloughley
Iraq War Memories are Made of Lies
Benjamin
Dangl
and Kathryn Ledebur
An Uneasy Peace in Bolivia
Karyn
Strickler
Down
with Big Brother's Spying Eyes
Noah Leavitt
Legal Globalization
John Stanton
Hitler's Ghost Haunts America
Mickey
Z.
War of the Words
Adam Engel
Tractatus Ridiculous
Poets'
Basement
Curtis, Subiet and Albert
Website of the Weekend
Project Last Stand
October
24, 2003
Kurt Nimmo
Ashcroft's
War on Greenpeace
Lenni Brenner
The Demographics of American Jews
Jeffrey
St. Clair
Rockets,
Napalm, Torpedoes and Lies: the Attack on the USS Liberty Revisited
Sarah Weir
Cover-up of the Israeli Attack on the US Liberty
David
Krieger
WMD Found in DC: Bush is the Button
Mohammed Hakki
It's Palestine, Stupid!: Americans and the Middle East
Harry
Browne
Northern
Ireland: the Agreement that Wasn't
October
23, 2003
Diane
Christian
Ruthlessness
Kurt Nimmo
Criticizing Zionism
David Lindorff
A General Theory of Theology
Alan Maass
The Future of the Anti-War Movement
William
Blum
Imperial
Indifference
Stew Albert
A Memo
October
22, 2003
Wayne
Madsen
Religious
Insanity Runs Rampant
Ray McGovern
Holding
Leaders Accountable for Lies
Christopher
Brauchli
There's
No Civilizing the Death Penalty
Elaine
Cassel
Legislators
and Women's Bodies
Bill Glahn
RIAA
Watch: the New Morality of Capitalism
Anthony Arnove
An Interview with Tariq Ali
October 21, 2003
Uri Avnery
The
Beilin Agreement
Robert Jensen
The Fundamentalist General
David
Lindorff
War Dispatch from the NYT: God is on Our Side!
William S. Lind
Bremer is Deaf to History
Bridget
Gibson
Fatal Vision
Alan Haber
A Human Chain for Peace in Ann Arbor
Peter
Linebaugh
On the Bicentennial of the Hanging of Thomas Russell
October
20, 2003
Standard
Schaefer
Chile's
Failed Economy: an Interview with Michael Hudson
Chris
Floyd
Circus Maximus: Arnie, Enron and Bush Maul California
Mark Hand
Democrats Seek to Disappear Chomsky
& Nader
John &
Elaine Mellencamp
Peaceful
World
Elaine
Cassel
God's
General Unmuzzled
October
18 / 19, 2003
Robert
Pollin
Clintonomics:
the Hollow Boom
Gary Leupp
Israel, Syria and Stage Four in the Terror War
Saul Landau
Day of the Gropenfuhrer
Bruce Anderson
The California Recall
John Gershman
Bush in Asia: What a Difference a Decade Makes
Nelson P. Valdes
Bush, Electoral Politics and Cuba's "Illicit Sex Trade"
Kurt Nimmo
Shock Therapy and the Israeli Scenario
Tom Gorman
Al Franken and Al-Shifa
Brian
Cloughley
Public Propaganda and the Iraq War
Joanne Mariner
A New Way to Kill Tigers
Denise
Low
The Cancer of Sprawl
Mickey Z.
The Reverend of Doom
John Chuckman
US Missiles for Israeli Nukes?
George Naggiar
A Veto of Public Diplomacy
Alison
Weir
Death Threats in Berkeley
Benjamin Dangl
Bolivian Govt. Falling Apart
Ron Jacobs
The Politics of Bob Dylan
Fidel Castro
A Review of Garcia Marquez's Memoir
Adam Engel
I Hope My Corpse Gives You the Plague
Poets' Basement
Jones, Albert, Guthrie and Greeder
October
17, 2003
Stan Goff
Piss
On My Leg: Perception Control and the Stage Management of War
Newton
Garver
Bolivia
in Turmoil
Standard
Schaefer
Grocery Unions Under Attack
Ben Terrall
The Ordeal of the Lockheed 52
Ron Jacobs
First Syria, Then Iran
David
Lindorff
Michael
Moore Proclaims Mumia Guilty
October
16, 2003
Marjorie
Cohn
Bush
Gunning for Regime Change in Cuba
Gary Leupp
"Getting Better" in Iraq
Norman
Solomon
The US Press and Israel: Brand Loyalty and the Absence of Remorse
Rush Limbaugh
The 10 Most Overrated Athletes of All Time
Lenni
Brenner
I
Didn't Meet Huey Newton. He Met Me
Website of the Day
Time Tested Books
October
15, 2003
Sunil
Sharma / Josh Frank
The
General and the Governor: Two Measures of American Desperation
Forrest
Hylton
Dispatch
from the Bolivian War: "Like Animals They Kill Us"
Brian
Cloughley
Those
Phony Letters: How Bush Uses GIs to Spread Propaganda About Iraq
Ahmad
Faruqui
Lessons
of the October War
Uri Avnery
Three
Days as a Living Shield
Website
of the Day
Rank and File: the New Unity Partnership Document
JoAnn
Wypijewski
The
New Unity Partnership:
A Manifest Destiny for Labor
October 14, 2003
Eric Ridenour
Qibya
& Sharon: Anniversary of a Massacre
Elaine
Cassel
The
Disgrace That is Guantanamo
Robert
Jensen
What the "Fighting Sioux" Tells Us About White People
David Lindorff
Talking Turkey About Iraq
Patrick
Cockburn
US Troops Bulldoze Crops
VIPS
One Person Can Make a Difference
Toni Solo
The CAFTA Thumbscrews
Peter
Linebaugh
"Remember
Orr!"
Website
of the Day
BRIDGES
Hot Stories
Alexander Cockburn
Behold,
the Head of a Neo-Con!
Subcomandante Marcos
The
Death Train of the WTO
Norman Finkelstein
Hitchens
as Model Apostate
Steve Niva
Israel's
Assassination Policy: the Trigger for Suicide Bombings?
Dardagan,
Slobodo and Williams
CounterPunch Exclusive:
20,000 Wounded Iraqi Civilians
Steve
J.B.
Prison Bitch
Sheldon
Rampton and John Stauber
True Lies: the Use of Propaganda
in the Iraq War
Wendell
Berry
Small Destructions Add Up
CounterPunch
Wire
WMD: Who Said What When
Cindy
Corrie
A Mother's Day Talk: the Daughter
I Can't Hear From
Gore Vidal
The
Erosion of the American Dream
Francis Boyle
Impeach
Bush: A Draft Resolution
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Weekend
Edition
November 1 / 2, 2003
The Living Legacy
of Mexico City
an Interview with John Carlos
By DAVE ZIRIN
Thirty-five years ago, John Carlos became one
half of perhaps the most famous (or infamous) moment in Olympic
history. After winning the bronze medal in the 200 meter dash,
he and gold medallist Tommy Smith, raised their black glove clad
fists in a display of "black power." It was a moment
that defined the revolutionary spirit and defiance of a generation.
Now as the 35th anniversary of that moment passes with nary a
word, John Carlos talks about about those turbulent times.
DZ: Many call that period of the 1960s,
the revolt of the black athlete. Why?
JC:
I think Sports Illustrated started that phrase. I don't think
of it as the revolt of the black athlete at all. It was the revolt
of the black men. Athletics was my occupation. I didn't do what
I did as an athlete. I raised my voice in protest as a man. I
was fortunate enough to grow up in the era of Dr. King, of Paul
Robeson, of baseball players like Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella
who would come into my dad's shop on 142nd street and Lennox
in Harlem. I could see how they were treated as black athletes.
I would ask myself, why is this happening? Racism meant that
none of us could truly have our day in the sun. Without education,
housing, and employment, we would lose what I call "family
hood." If you can't give your wife or son or daughter what
they need to live, after a while you try to escape who you are.
That's why people turn to drugs and why our communities have
been destroyed. And that's why there was a revolt.
DZ: When you woke up that morning
in 1968, did you know you were going to make your historic gesture
on the medal stand or was it spontaneous?
JC:
It was in my head the whole year. We first tried to have a boycott
[to get all Black athletes to boycott the Olympics] but not everyone
was down with that plan. A lot of the athletes thought that winning
medals would supercede or protect them from racism. But even
if you won the medal it aint going to save your momma. It aint
going to save your sister or children. It might give you 15 minutes
of fame, but what about the rest of your life? I'm not saying
they didn't have the right to follow their dreams, but to me
the medal was nothing but the carrot on a stick
DZ: At the last track meet before
the Olympics, we left it that every man would do his own thing.
You had to choose which side of the fence you were on. You had
to say, "I'm for racism or I'm against racism."
JC:
We stated we were going to do something. But Tommie and I didn't
know what we were going to do until we got into the tunnel [on
the way to the race].. We had gloves, black shirts and beads.
And we decided in that tunnel that if we were going to go out
on that stand, we were going to go out barefooted.
DZ: Why Barefooted?
JC:
We wanted the world to know that in Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee,
South Central Los Angeles, Chicago, that people were still walking
back and forth in poverty without even the necessary clothes
to live. We have kids that don't have shoes even today. Its not
like the powers that be can't do it provide these things. They
can send a space ship to the moon, or send a probe to Mars, yet
they can't give shoes? They can't give health care? I'm just
not naive enough to accept that.
DZ: Why did you wear beads on the
medal stand?
JC:
The beads were for those individuals that were lynched, or killed
that no one said a prayer for, that were hung tarred. It was
for those thrown off the side of the boats in the middle passage.
All that was in my mind. We didn't come up there with any bombs.
We were trying to wake the country up and wake the world up too.
DZ: How did your life change when
you took that step onto the podium?
JC:
My life changed prior to the podium, I used to break into freight
trains by Yankee Stadium when I was young. Then I changed when
I realized I was a force in track and field. I realized I didn't
have to break into freight trains. I wanted to wake up the people
who work and run the trains so they can seize what they deserve.
It's like these supermarkets in Southern California that are
on strike. They always have extra milk and they throw it in the
river or dump it the garbage even though there are people without
milk. They say we can't give it to you so we would rather throw
it away. Something is very wrong. Realizing that changed me long
before 1968.
DZ: What kind of harassment did you
face back home?
JC:
I was with Dr. King ten days before he died. He told me he was
sent a letter that said there was a bullet with his name on it.
I remember looking in his eyes to see if there was any fear,
and there was none. He didn't have any fear. He had love and
that in itself changed my life in terms how I would go into battle.
I would never have fear for my opponent, but love for the people
I was fighting for. That's why if you look at the picture [of
the raised fist] Tommy has his jacket zipped up, and [silver
medallist] Peter Norman has his jacket zipped up, but mine was
open. I was representing shift workers, blue-collar people, and
the underdogs. That's why my shirt was open. Those are the people
whose contributions to society are so important but don't get
recognized.
DZ: What kind of support did you receive
when you came home?
JC:
There was pride but only from the less fortunate. What could
they do but show their pride? But we had black businessmen, we
had black political caucuses, and they never embraced Tommie
Smith or John Carlos. When my wife took her life; 1977 and they
never said, let me help.
DZ: What role did you being outcast
have on your wife taking her own life?
JC:
It played a huge role. We were under tremendous economic stress.
I took any job I could find. I wasn't too proud. Menial jobs,
security jobs, gardener, caretaker, whatever I could do to try
to make ends meet. We had four children, and some nights I would
have to chop up our furniture and put it in the fireplace to
stay warm. I was the bad guy, the two headed dragon-spitting
fire. It meant we were alone.
DZ: Many people say athletes should
just play and not be heard. What do you say to that?
JC:
Those people should put all their millions of dollars together
and make a factory that builds athlete-robots. Athletes are human
beings. We have feelings too. How can you ask someone to live
in the world, to exist in the world, and not have something to
say about injustice?
DZ: What message do you have to the
new generation of athletes hitting the world stage?
JC:
First of all athletes black/red/brown/yellow and white need to
do some research on their history; their own personal family
They need to find out how many people in their family were maimed
in a war. They need to find out how hard their ancestors had
to work. They need to uncloud their minds with the materialism
and the money and study their history. And then they need to
speak up. You got to step up to society when it's letting all
its people down.
DZ: As you look at the world today,
do you think athletes and all people still need to speak out
and take a stand?
JC:
Yes, because so much is the same as it was in 1968 especially
in terms of race relations. I think things are just more cosmetically
disguised. Look at Mississippi, or Alabama. It hasn't changed
from back in the day. Look at the city of Memphis and you still
see blight up and down. You can still see the despair and the
dope. Look at the police rolling up and putting 29 bullets in
a person in the hallway, or sticking a plunger up a man's rectum,
or Texas where they dragged that man by the neck from the bumper
of a truck. How is that not just the same as a lynching?
DZ: Do you feel like you are being
embraced now after all these years?
JC:
I don't feel embraced, I feel like a survivor, like I survived
cancer. It's like if you are sick and no one wants to be around
you, and when you're well everyone who thought you would go down
for good doesn't even want to make eye contact. It was almost
like we were on a deserted island. That's where Tommy Smith and
John Carlos were. But we survived.
You can learn more about John Carlos
at his website, www.johncarlos.com
Dave Zirin
is the editor of the Prince George's
Post, the only African-American owned newspaper in Prince
George's County, Maryland. He can be reached at: editor@mail.pgpost.com
Weekend
Edition Features for Oct. 25 / 26, 2003
Robert
Pollin
The
US Economy: Another Path is Possible
Jeffrey St. Clair
Outsourcing US Guided Missile Technology to China
James
Bunn
Plotting
Pre-emptive Strikes
Saul Landau
Should Limbaugh Do Time?
Ted Honderich
Palestinian Terrorism, Morality & Germany
Thomas Nagy
Saving the Army of Peace
Christopher
Brauchli
Between Bush and a Lobotomy: Killing Endangered Species for Profit
Laura Carlsen
Latin America's Archives of Terror
Diane
Christian
Evil Acts & Evil Actors
Muqtedar Khan
Lessons from the Imperial Adventure in Iraq
John Feffer
The Tug of War on the Korea Peninsula
Brian Cloughley
Iraq War Memories are Made of Lies
Benjamin
Dangl
and Kathryn Ledebur
An Uneasy Peace in Bolivia
Karyn
Strickler
Down
with Big Brother's Spying Eyes
Noah Leavitt
Legal Globalization
John Stanton
Hitler's Ghost Haunts America
Mickey
Z.
War of the Words
Adam Engel
Tractatus Ridiculous
Poets'
Basement
Curtis, Subiet and Albert
Website of the Weekend
Project Last Stand
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