US media

Will More Police-State Arrangements Foster Democracy?

The events of January 6, 2021 in Washington D.C. were historic and will be analyzed for some time to come. Many were rattled and shaken to their core by what unfolded that day in the nation’s capital. Others were excited, relieved, and hopeful. Since then, all sorts of disinformation, confusion, and illusions have filled mainstream […]
The post Will More Police-State Arrangements Foster Democracy? first appeared on Dissident Voice.

The Trump-Biden Transition in the Wake of the Capitol Building Riot

The Capitol building riot of January 6 marked the messiest transition in recent history of ruling class power from one chief executive of the capitalist world to the next. If that history is any guide, the change of guard neither portends better treatment of working people nor a reduction of the threat of fascism. Trump […]

The “Insurrection” and Its Discontents: “American Exceptionalism” Revisited 

History is being written in the United States today. Even the most pessimistic about the prospects of American democracy have rarely ventured out this far while offering a bleak analysis of America’s future, whether in terms of political polarization at home or global standing abroad. As shocking and, certainly, telling as the images of thousands […]

Fake Lower Class Coup, Real Upper Class Bigotry, Near  Social Collapse

A nation more seriously divided than in the 1960s when movements against war and racism pulled families and communities apart and drove some to drugs, drink, and worse, approaches a greater and more threatening social dissolution. When more than 74 million people can be reduced to “white supremacists” by alleged liberals with the same ease […]

Critical Lessons From Dr. Martin Luther King For These Times

NOTE: Margaret Flowers and Askia Muhammad will co-host an inaugural special on Pacifica Radio on Wednesday, January 20 from 6:30 to 8:00 pm Eastern. It can be heard on WBAI and WPFW. The theme will be Dr. King’s triple evils and what Biden’s cabinet picks tell us about what we can expect from this administration. […]
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By “Force and Fraud”: Is This the End of the US Democracy Doctrine?   

In an interview with the British newspaper, The Times, in 2015, former US Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, vehemently denied that exporting democracy to Iraq was the main motive behind the US invasion of that Arab country 12 years earlier. Rumsfeld further alleged that “the idea that we could fashion a democracy in Iraq seemed to me […]

Three Cheers for “Baseless”

Whether Donald Trump’s behavior on January 6 actually meets the legal definition of “coup” or “insurrection,” or merely represents the umpteenth “triggering” of Democrats eager to benefit from the latest whirlwind of Trumpian chaos, remains to be seen. While this weighty matter is sorted out, perhaps we can take a moment to reflect on the […]
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Trump, Insurrections and the 25th Amendment

How strange it must have seemed for US lawmakers to be suddenly facing what was described as a “mob”, not so much storming as striding into the Capitol with angry purpose.  A terrified security force proved understaffed and overwhelmed.  Members of Congress hid.  Five people lost their lives. With the US imperium responsible for fostering […]
The post Trump, Insurrections and the 25th Amendment first appeared on Dissident Voice.

“It’s not as bad as Iwo Jima, I suppose”: The Julian Assange Extradition Verdict

The barrister-brewed humour of Edward Fitzgerald QC, one of the solid and stout figures defending a certain Julian Assange of WikiLeaks at the Old Bailey in London, was understandable.  Time had worn and wearied the parties, none more so than his client.  Fitzgerald had asked for water, but then mused that its absence could hardly […]

Who to believe about Venezuela’s election? Firsthand observation or PBS Newshour?

In early December I travelled to Venezuela to be an election observer at their national assembly election. I was part of a group of eight persons from Canada and US organized by CodePink. There were about two hundred international observers in total, including the Latin American Council of Electoral Experts.  I have previously been an official […]