Online at: http://politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/1570/1/111/

August 2005 (editorial comment and table of contents)

2005 – print

We bring a special report on the condition of the labor movement in the era of globalization by Scott Marshall. The rise of capitalist globalization in the post-Soviet era saw the convergence of ultra-right power and monopoly capital. The decisive strategy for turning back the tide is developing an internationalist dimension to the labor movement in the US. An interview with renowned Egyptian Marxist Samir Amin discusses the historic Bandung Conference of 1955, the international conference of developing countries recently liberated from European and US colonialism. Owen Williamson discusses the important elements of a Marxist, or liberationist, approach to education.

Other features include a story on the struggle to end the travel ban on visiting Cuba, key examples of US foreign policy gone amok, and an interview with Sam Pizzigati, labor journalist and progressive tax advocate.

We also present a review of recently released CD’s, book reviews, an excellent selection of poems, and more commentary.

Please send us your thoughts and comments by post or by e-mail at pa-letters@politicalaffairs.net.

In struggle,

PA Editors

Departments
04 Letters

08 Commentary
Cost of War: The Impact of War on US Communities
By Joel Wendland

Where’s the Outrage?
By Ken Sanders

The Ten Books that Shook
the World
By Anna Bates

Feeling the Heat: Is Global Climate Change Here to Stay?
By Jane Madson McCabe

Democracy and Capitalism
By Dale Scott

Someone Tell Bush That Iraq Wasn’t Responsible for 9/11 Before Another War Breaks Out
By Jason Leopold

09 Marxist IQ

11 Nobody Asked Me But…
By Don Sloan

16 Music Reviews
Recent CD’s
By Clara West

18 Book Reviews
America’s Secret War
Reviewed by Gerald Horne

Stomp and Sing
Reviewed by Michael Shepler

26 Greed and Good
Reviewed by Norman Markowitz

20 Poetry
25 Die in NC Food Plant Blaze
By Jim Cory

Children
By Mario Benedetti

Homage to the Brown Bomber
By Michael S. Harper

Rotten
By Marge Piercy

65 Fiction
Short Story: Mindstorm
By Kay Jones

Feature

28 Labor in the Era of Globalization
By Scott Marshall
Globalization poses special problems for the US labor movement. Promoting international solidarity is the key to organizing and building the labor movement as well as winning victories for workers here.

24 Greed Is Not Good: An interview with Sam Pizzigati
A major sign of growing economic inequality is the gap between the income of the wealthy and the rest of us. A proposed progressive tax on excessive income might alleviate the problem and help rebuild our communities.

34 World On Fire: Bush Defense of Unipolarity Breeds Resistance
By David Baake
US foreign policy is characterized by both armed intervention and indirect pressure to achieve its goals. Important examples of the latter provide a means of understanding both the administration’s long-term goals and key means of blocking that strategy.

36 The CIA’s New Client in Sudan
By David Baake
After declaring the Sudanese government responsible for genocide, the Bush administration has propped up the regime with money and intelligence assistance. What gives?

40 Mid-life Crisis? The Non-Aligned Movement at 50: An interview with Samir Amin
By Rémy Herrera
The internationally renowned Marxist thinker discusses the special role the Bandung Conference of 1955 played in building solidarity among developing countries. What is the condition of this movement today?

42 The Sorrows of Globalization: Capitalism and Slavery
By David Baake
Do you think slavery is a thing of the past? Think again.

44 Let My People Go: US Labor Fights Bush Travel Ban
By Joel Wendland
The Bush administration has launched a repressive crackdown on travel to Cuba by imposing harsh penalties on travelers. What happened to the human right of free movement?

48 And the Frist Shall Be Last: How Bill Frist Failed Health Care
By Phil Benjamin
Senator Bill Frist is launching his campaign for the White House. To accomplish this he is adopting positions that appeal to the ultra-right section of the Republican Party.

52 Cracking the Nest Egg: Retirement Insecurity in Alaska
By David Lawrence
Right-wing Alaskan legislators have put the retirement security of that state’s public employees at risk by taking away “defined benefit” plans and installing privatized savings accounts.

56 PROBLEMS IN MARXISM
Red Tape: Towards a Marxist Theory of Bureaucracy
By Thomas Riggins
Marxist critique of bureaucracy as a repressive tool of the state may help explain one important cause of the collapse of the Soviet Union.

60 Towards a Pedagogy of the Oppressed
By Owen Williamson
A Marxist pedagogy must be materially challenging, one that challenges the dominant ideology not only by word but also by deed.

63 Cuba and the Battle of Ideas
By W. T. Whitney Jr.
Cuba and its socialist system continue to represent an important alternative to capitalism as well as a symbol for the unity of global anti-imperialist forces.