The Activist

// The Online Magazine of the Young Democratic Socialists //

Archive for the ‘Exogenous Views’ Category

A Report From the Socialist International Conspiracy

By Guest Author • Oct 22nd, 2008 • Category: Exogenous Views, Lead Story

This article originally was published on DSA member Barbara Ehrenreich’s blog.
Surely you have heard by now of the imminent socialist takeover of America, and if you find the prospect unlikely, ask yourself: How many socialists do you know who lost millions in the recent stock market crashes? Just as I thought—none—and that’s not only […]



McCain’s Compliment

By Guest Author • Oct 21st, 2008 • Category: Exogenous Views, Lead Story

“There is always a charge that socialism does not fit human nature. We’ve encountered that for a long time. Maybe that’s true. But can’t people be educated? Can’t people learn to cooperate with each other? Surely that must be our goal, because the alternative is redolent with war and poverty and all the ills of […]



Right-Wing Populism and the Economic Crisis

By Guest Author • Oct 17th, 2008 • Category: Exogenous Views

In the face of economic crises there is always a search for scapegoats. Particularly in the case of modern capitalism, there remains a certain level of disbelief that crises are built into the system, i.e., that capitalism generates crises (and always has!).
Because many of us would rather believe that capitalism is a rational system […]



Maimed By Cops, Charged With Felonies

By Guest Author • Oct 8th, 2008 • Category: Exogenous Views

A peaceful union march is brutally attacked by police. A union activist’s leg is horribly disfigured and nearly amputated. Maimed possibly for life, she is charged with multiple felony offenses.
The battleground is not the coalfields of Harlan County in the 1930s or 1970s; it’s not an example of anti-union violence in Colombia or the Philippines. […]



Labor on Tranquilizers, Capital on Steroids

By Guest Author • Sep 29th, 2008 • Category: Exogenous Views

Never before has the half-century decline of American labor revealed itself more clearly than in the last several weeks.
Largely relegated to the sidelines, national union officials are making little effort to interject independent working-class solutions into the current debate of how to resolve the enormous social crisis affecting millions.
“Free market” apologists dominate discussion of both […]



Protecting Revolutionary Change in Bolivia

By Guest Author • Sep 17th, 2008 • Category: Exogenous Views

Mérida, September 16, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)–
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and the leaders of 11 other South American nations held an emergency meeting of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in Santiago, Chile, Monday to form a joint strategy to deal with the violent destabilization waged by wealthy right wing separatist groups in Bolivia. The […]



The New Left in China

By Guest Author • Aug 22nd, 2008 • Category: Exogenous Views

With a dramatic change in Chinese intellectual life since the 1980s, Chinese political economist Minqi Li states that the many Chinese intellectuals are now critical of market-oriented reform and neo-liberalism because of negative social consequences. Part of an interview series by the good folks at The Real News
JAY: The view we get, from […]



Prospects for Post-Musharraf Pakistan

By Guest Author • Aug 20th, 2008 • Category: Exogenous Views

Respected journalist, activist and editor of the New Left Review, Tariq Ali, comments on Pervez Musharraf and Pakistan’s future. Published in The Independent
General Pervez Musharraf acted swiftly and ruthlessly when he seized power to become Pakistan’s fourth military dictator in October 1999. He proclaimed himself Chief Executive of Pakistan. When he lost the confidence of […]



Don’t Forget Yugoslavia

By Guest Author • Aug 17th, 2008 • Category: Exogenous Views

In his latest column for the New Statesman, John Pilger digs beneath the received wisdom for the break-up of Yugoslavia and points to a largely ignored memoir by the former chief prosecutor in The Hague - and an echo from current events in the Caucasus. Reprinted with permission.
The secrets of the crushing of Yugoslavia […]



A Statement From Georgian Progressives

By Guest Author • Aug 17th, 2008 • Category: Exogenous Views

The following is a statement from Dimitri Tskitishvili, the leader of the USYG, an organization affiliated with the YDS through IUSY, for further analysis of the conflict from YDS members [1], [2]
We, the Union of Socialist Youth of Georgia (USYG), consider it our obligation to inform international community about existing situation in Georgia. It is […]