International Politics and Economy

By Ahmet T. Kuru, San Diego State University | – The earthquake that struck Turkey on Feb. 6, 2023, is first and foremost a human tragedy, one that has taken the lives of at least 45,000 people to date. The disaster also has major implications for the country’s economy – the financial loss from the […]

Dissent

‘Radical Change Will Come’: Iranians Propose New Political System After Months Of Anti-Regime Protests

Golnaz Esfandiari

( RFE/ RL) – For months, antiestablishment protesters have called for the overthrow of Iran’s clerical regime and demanded greater social and political freedoms. Now, opposition figures and civil society groups inside Iran have shared proposals that would transform or even replace the current theocratic system with a democracy. The proposals for a post-Islamic-republic system […]

censorship

Keeping Resistance Alive during McCarthyism: Chandler Davis and Academic Freedom at the University of Michigan

Alan M. Wald

Alan Wald, Steve Batterson and Peggie Hollingsworth | University of Michigan | – Making Michigan lecture series – Keeping Resistance Alive “In 1954, Chandler Davis was called to testify before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. His fellows on the stand were his colleagues Mark Nickerson and Clement L. Markert, and his student friends Edward […]

African-Americans

Was Charles Austin Beard a Racist Historian?

Richard Drake

( Counterpunch ) – Controversy about Charles Austin Beard began in 1913 when he published An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States. He turned thirty-nine that year. Until then, his books had appeared to widespread praise within the profession and to the benign neglect of the general reading public. A highly successful […]

Arms Sales

Merger Mania in the Military-Industrial Complex: Tackling Pentagon Waste Means Battling the Big Weapons Makers and Asking More of Congress

Tomdispatch

By Julia Gledhill and William D. Hartung | – ( Tomdispatch.com ) – It’s early in the new Congress, but lawmakers are already hotly debating spending and debt levels. As they do so, they risk losing track of an important issue hiding in plain sight: massive Pentagon waste. At least in theory, combating such excess […]

Authoritarianism

‘They Deserved To Die’: Iranian Doctors Who Treated Wounded Protesters ‘Arrested, Tortured’

Golnaz Esfandiari

The authorities have killed hundreds of protesters and arrested thousands of people since the demonstrations erupted in September. ( RFE/RL ) – In late November, three Iranian doctors traveled to the country’s western Kurdistan region, the epicenter of ongoing antiestablishment protests, to help treat wounded demonstrators. But within days of their arrival, […]

African-Americans

Rep. Ilhan Omar makes her Move into the Mainstream

Minnesota Reformer

By Doug Rossinow | – ( Minnesota Reformer) – Only six months ago, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s future looked cloudy, her political base shaken. She had barely fended off a primary challenge. Her political judgments appeared questionable. Her critics appeared to have grown in number. Now House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his Republican allies have […]

Dissent

Iranian Protesters turn to TikTok to get their Message past government Censors

The Conversation

By Whitney Shylee May, The University of Texas at Austin | – Images of the protests that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Zhina Amini on Sept. 16, 2022, in Iran and reports of the government’s brutal crackdown have circulated widely on social media. This flow of information comes despite efforts by the Iranian regime […]

Authoritarianism

Iran’s Khamenei admits to holding “Tens of Thousands” of Prisoners of Conscience, Offers Amnesty if they Apologize for anti-Regime Protests

Juan Cole

Ann Arbor (Informed Comment) – The official website of Iran’s “August Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei announced Sunday that “tens of thousands” (دهها هزار) of political prisoners arrested for participating in the nationwide protests since the middle of September last fall will be granted amnesty or have their sentences much reduced. He said this move came […]