For the last three months, the village of Wukan in Guangzhou, China, has been the scene of unrest. Locals were outraged that, for years, their lands were often being sold from under them by village officials. When petitions to provincial-level authorities brought no relief, they began to stage public protests, which in turn were met by baton-wielding police, causing villagers to surround the local police station and burn several vehicles. To placate the situation, the local authorities agreed to meet with a delegation of residents—but then several of the delegates …
As President Barack Obama embarks on a high profile campaign to bolster public opinion of his health care plan, there is one man who is already convinced that Obamacare is the right move for America – Fidel Castro, the Cuban revolutionary leader and first secretary of the Cuban Communist Party. According to an Associated Press report, Castro hailed Obamacare as “a miracle” and “an important battle and a success of (Obama’s) government.” Castro went on to favorably compare President Obama’s health care plan to the one Cuba enacted a half …
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez rose to power by tapping into populist and nationalist sentiment. Blaming the problems facing his country on western superpowers, Chavez portrayed himself as a man of the people who would bring the wealth of Venezuela to the people. The pie-in-the-sky rhetoric does not jive with cold, grounded reality, however. As Hugo Chavez has nationalized foreign owned grocery stores in a protectionist wave encapsulated best by the state slogan “Food Sovereignty! All power to the people!,” supplies of food have only become lower. During Chavez’s ten year …
Residents and visitors of New York City will experience an odd phenomenon tonight. The Empire State Building, a symbol of American strength, determination and might will be colored Red and Yellow to honor the 60th anniversary of China’s communist regime taking power. Lighting the building for special occasions is not abnormal, as it has been lit to honor everything from the Fourth of July, to Caribbean tourism, to the Yankees and Mets, or to honor the film, The Wizard of Oz. But is it appropriate to honor what happened in …
As conventional wisdom reminds us: You are known by the company you keep. So what is one to make of the AFL-CIO and Jobs with Justice, two labor-movement heavyweights, allying themselves with the International Socialist Organization (ISO)? According to the ISO’s North Texas branch, last night, the AFL-CIO and Jobs with Justice met with the ISO tonight to discuss “why we need the [Employee Free Choice Act] and how we can win it.” After all, the ISO hardly seems like the type of group Big Labor would want to have …
