The Occupy movement has been an extremely exciting development. Unprecedented, in fact. There's never been anything like it that I can think of. If the bonds and associations it has established can be sustained through a long, dark period ahead -- because victory won't come quickly -- it could prove a significant moment in American history. The...Learn More

The democracy uprising in the Arab world has been a spectacular display of courage, dedication, and commitment by popular forces -- coinciding, fortuitously, with a remarkable uprising of tens of thousands in support of working people and democracy in Madison, Wisconsin, and other U.S. cities. If the trajectories of revolt in Cairo and Madison...Learn More

On Feb. 20, Kamal Abbas, Egyptian union leader and prominent figure in the Jan. 25 movement, sent a message to the "workers of Wisconsin": "We stand with you as you stood with us." Egyptian workers have long fought for fundamental rights denied by the U.S.-backed Hosni Mubarak regime. Kamal is right to invoke the solidarity that has long been the...Learn More

The Israeli-Palestinian peace talks beginning in Jerusalem proceed within a framework of assumptions that merit careful thought. One prevailing assumption is that there are two options: either a two-state settlement will be reached, or there will be a "shift to a nearly inevitable outcome of the one remaining reality -- a state 'from the sea to...Learn More

After the assassination of bin Laden I received such a deluge of requests for comment that I was unable to respond individually, and on May 4 and later I sent an unedited form response instead, not intending for it to be posted, and expecting to write it up more fully and carefully later on. But it was posted, then circulated. It can now be found,...Learn More

In the years of conscious, self-inflicted decline at home, "losses" continued to mount elsewhere. In the past decade, for the first time in 500 years, South America has taken successful steps to free itself from western domination, another serious loss. The region has moved towards integration, and has begun to address some of the terrible internal...Learn More

The world stood still 50 years ago during the last week of October, from the moment when it learned that the Soviet Union had placed nuclear-armed missiles in Cuba until the crisis was officially ended -- though unknown to the public, only officially. The image of the world standing still is the turn of phrase of Sheldon Stern, former historian at...Learn More

Significant anniversaries are solemnly commemorated -- Japan's attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, for example. Others are ignored, and we can often learn valuable lessons from them about what is likely to lie ahead. Right now, in fact. At the moment, we are failing to commemorate the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's...Learn More

[Noam Chomsky] As you all know, the U. of St Andrews was founded right about at the time of the 200th anniversary of one of the great events in the establishment of civil and human rights, the issuance of Magna Carta. Looking down the road only a few generations ahead, the millennium of Magna Carta will arrive. Whether it will be celebrated, or...Learn More

Even a single night in jail is enough to give a taste of what it means to be under the total control of some external force. And it hardly takes more than a day in Gaza to begin to appreciate what it must be like to try to survive in the world’s largest open-air prison, where a million and a half people, in the most densely populated area of the...Learn More

The May 1 U.S. attack on Osama bin Laden's compound violated multiple elementary norms of international law, beginning with the invasion of Pakistani territory. There appears to have been no attempt to apprehend the unarmed victim, as presumably could have been done by the 79 commandos facing almost no opposition. President Obama announced that...Learn More

Kennedy School of Government, November 29, 2005 TIM HUONG: Good evening. My name is Tim Huong and on behalf of the Harvard Speech and Parliamentary Debate Society I'd like to welcome you all tonight to "Israel and Palestine after Disengagement: Where Do We Go From Here?" While we as an undergraduate group are usually involved with competitions...Learn More