Inequality

By Juan Cole On June 16, 1976, some 20,000 students rose up to protest in the slum of Soweto on the outskirts of Johannesburg. Here is a summary of the June 18 NYT article on the repression of the protests: “Rioting continues for 3d day in Soweto, black township outside Johannesburg, with rioters, mostly young, […]

Economy

Wealth Gap Costing US in Growth (John Oliver)

contributors

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Wealth Gap (HBO)

Economy

Highway Patrol Officer aims Knockout Punches at Woman along Freeway

contributors

CNN: “A highway patrol officer was caught on camera hitting a woman with what a witness says were “knockout punches.” Aviva Shen at Thinkprogress writes: “The officer said the woman was walking barefoot along the freeway on Tuesday and refused to stop when asked. The video shows the cop tackle her, pin her down, and […]

Dissent

Not War on Poverty but War on the Poor: Washington’s Real Foreign Policy Aims

Juan Cole

By Noam Chomsky via Tomdispatch The question of how foreign policy is determined is a crucial one in world affairs. In these comments, I can only provide a few hints as to how I think the subject can be productively explored, keeping to the United States for several reasons. First, the U.S. is unmatched in […]

censorship

Ruling Hindu Tea Party wants to “Develop” India for its 1%

contributors

By Gyanendra Pandey New Delhi Through the President’s address to Parliament on June 9, 2014, the newly elected Indian Government has officially outlined its short and longer-term agenda. The emphasis, as expected, is on faster economic growth. Questions of welfare and security for the poor and disadvantaged are, however, very superficially addressed. This has to […]

Apartheid

In the Deaths of 3 Israeli Teens, Likud Policies are also Implicated

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole The kidnapping and killing of three Israeli squatter youth whose parents usurped Palestinian land has produced a paroxysm of hatred and calls for reprisals in Israel. Whoever is responsible for it, the killing of the youth was a horrid and inexcusable crime, and the heart of any parent goes out to the […]

Egypt

Can Egypt face up to its sexual assault problem?

contributors

At first, the blurry video of a celebration in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, captured by an onlooker’s cellphone, is difficult to make out. Fireworks explode nearby as the shaky camera captures a crowd of men, jostling and shouting. Then, flashes of a…

Economy

After Piketty, is the Study of Economics the Study of Rising Inequality?

contributors

By Chris Edwards, University of East Anglia The economic and political focus is increasingly on the inequality of income and wealth as they both rise in Europe and the US. At a conference on Inclusive Capitalism held near the end of May at London’s Guildhall, Christine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), […]

Apartheid

Prelude to Ethnic Cleansing? Israel Plans 3200 more Squatter homes on Palestinian Land

Juan Cole

Israel huge new settlement push raises Palestinian ire (via AFP) Israel unveiled plans for 3,200 settler homes Thursday in retaliation for the formation of a Palestinian unity government backed by Hamas and the international community, raising the Palestinians’ ire. Tenders for nearly 1,500 new settlement houses… ——- Related Video: Press TV: “Israel announces 1500 […]