When Paul Konar left his native India for the United States in 2006, he could never have imagined that less than two years later, he and several of his co-workers would be giving a lesson in Indian-style change making. Yet Konar, joined by his supporters and fellow fasters, has been on a vigil in Washington, DC for 17 days. He hasn’t eaten anything since May 14.
[Note: This essay was drawn from FPIF’s latest book, Lessons from Iraq: Avoiding the Next War, published by Paradigm Publishers.]
[Note: This essay was drawn from FPIF analyst Mark Engler’s new book, How to Rule the World: The Coming Battle Over the Global Economy, published by Nation Books.]
A central aspect of President Bush’s trip to Africa is the promotion of neoliberal trade policies and foreign direct investment as a path to “empowerment” and a “culture of self-reliance and opportunity.” The president has explicitly rejected “the paternalistic notion that treats African countries as charity cases, or a model of exploitation that seeks only to buy up their resources.”
Many Americans would be surprised to learn that among the most important constituencies backing the Bush administration’s disastrous agenda in the Middle East and promoting anti-Arab policies has been the one million-strong American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The AFT leadership has gone so far as to make a series of public statements and push through resolutions with demonstrably inaccurate assertions in its defense of administration policy. A key constituent union of the AFL-CIO, the AFT – which also represents a significant number of health care and other public service workers – gives over $5 million in contributions to congressional candidates each election cycle.
In January 2003, as anti-war activists were scrambling to prevent a U.S. invasion of Iraq war by challenging the Bush administration’s claims about Iraq having reconstituted its chemical and biological weapons capability, offensive delivery system, and nuclear weapons program, the AFT’s executive council decided to weigh in on the debate.
What’s more American than football, apple pie and Chevrolet? How about cool brand new radial tires?
For one who was raised drinking water from lead pipes, breathing the fumes of leaded gasoline,
and playing aggressively with lead soldiers, I always get a little skeptical of lead scares. Which
is why it’s better to have health and safety policy made by publicly-minded scientists and not by
the mutterings of grumpy old guys.
Investing public dollars in health care, education, mass transit, and construction for home weatherization and infrastructure all create more jobs than investing an equivalent amount in either the military or personal consumption. According to our just-released study, each billion dollars of government spending allocated to tax cuts for personal consumption generates approximately 10,800 jobs. Investing the same amount in the military creates 8,500 jobs. Investing it in health care yields 12,900 jobs; in education, 17,700 jobs; in mass transit, 19,800 jobs; and in construction for home weatherization and infrastructure, 12,800 jobs.
“When you share love’s warmth, it returns even warmer. Together we can move the world.”
This year marks the 200th anniversary of the end of the trans-Atlantic slave trade and the 175th anniversary of the first meeting of the New England Anti-Slavery Society.