February 20, 2024
When people talk about the food system being ‘broken,’ Eric Holt-Gimenez is quick to correct them. ¶ There’s nothing broken about the food system, says the executive director of Food First/Institute for Food and Development Policy. Over-production, hunger, wastage, slavery — it’s working exactly the way a capitalist food system should work. ¶ It’s capitalism that’s the problem….
February 20, 2024
Gerald Horne, author of well over thirty books on African American history, talks with Mimi Rosenberg of radio station WBAI on “The WBAI Morning Show.” Horne focuses on his forthcoming book, The Apocalypse of Settler Colonialism: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, and Capitalism in Seventeenth-Century North America and the Caribbean, due out in a few weeks.
February 20, 2024
Samir Amin is best known for his 1989 book, Eurocentrism, a seminal entry in critical theory on the Middle East which remains essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the political and economic problems facing the region today. Amin’s present book places the Arab Spring into the theoretical framework of Eurocentrism. It insightfully argues that the uprisings of 2011 fit into the long struggle for emancipation in the Arab Middle East that goes back a century…
February 20, 2024
What’s wrong with Africa? Political unrest, genocide, and one socio-economic disaster after another has plagued the continent since it gained independence in the 1960’s. Africa’s political and economic performance has been weak by world standards, mostly due to corrupt leadership and bad policies. Sadly, the African people have little to show for a generation of self-rule. ¶ With this bleak reality as a backdrop, Stephanie Urdang’s memoir about life as a white South African political activist gives readers a behind-the-scenes view of her frustrations and triumphs…
February 20, 2024
Eric Holt-Giménez is the Executive Director of Food First, a “people’s think tank” dedicated to ending the injustices that cause hunger. He’s also the author of the recently published A Foodie’s Guide to Capitalism: Understanding the Political Economy of What We Eat. Here, he talks to C.S. Soong, host of “Against the Grain,” a radio show emanating three times a week from Pacifica station KPFA 94.1 FM in the San Francisco Bay Area….
February 20, 2024
Monthly Review Press is offering a 40% discount on ten selected books about African and African-American history—paperback and e-book (when available)—starting February 20, and ending midnight February 27, EST. Just enter the coupon code: BlackHistory0208 to receive 40% off at checkout.
February 20, 2024
‘I’m not against immigrants. I’m against illegal ones. … Our country is already too full. We must put a limit on how many can come in. We simply can’t afford it. They’ll put too much pressure on our already squeezed public finance. It’s a simple case of supply and demand. Wages will fall if you increase the supply of workers.’ ¶ Who hasn’t heard such statements in our workplace, pubs or family meals? You disagree with them, but you might not have the facts or arguments to back up your opinion, so you keep quiet to avoid a shouting match and to keep the peace….
February 20, 2024
Helena Sheehan’s ‘Syria Wave’ moves from artistic culture to the mass culture that created and then abandoned (or was abandoned by) Syriza. The author, an Irish journalist and political activist who visits Greece frequently, offers a unique view of the Syriza phenomenon. The first of her six essays was written in 2012 and the last in 2016. Since the essays have not been revised, they convey the euphoria and heartbreak of the movement as they were occurring….
February 20, 2024
After Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials terrorized undocumented workers by raiding 7-Elevens nationwide last month, and with 800,000 federal workers’ jobs on temporary shutdown over the status of the Dreamers, now’s a good time to take a look at how U.S. immigration policies affect the workplace….
February 20, 2024
At a time when capitalism is widely considered as the only and inevitable system, there are seldom critiques that go beyond understanding the inherent faults of the capitalist system to establishing the possibility of an alternative. This book is the latest contribution by Fred Magdoff and Chris Williams in their lifelong commitment not only to elucidate the ecological crises entailed in capitalism, but to provide the basis and the possibilities for an alternate system: eco-socialism….
