Boron on Spain’s “Indignant” and the Paris Commune

Spain: The “Indignant” and the Paris Commune - español

By Atilio Boron

Translation: Machetera

Perhaps it’s one of history’s surprises that the popular uprising surging through Spain today (and which is beginning to reverberate throughout the rest of Europe) was sparked on the 140th anniversary of the Paris Commune, a heroic moment in which the fundamental demand was also that of democracy.  But a democracy conceived as a government by, for, and of the people, and not as a regime serving corporate interests of the propertied classes while the people’s interests are inexorably subordinated to the imperative of business profits.

Ted Henken rolls snake eyes

Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Long story short.  Ted Henken, the quite white chair of the Black and Hispanic Studies department at Baruch College who calls himself “El Yuma” and writes a blog under the same title, recently returned from a trip to Cuba where he had gone to interview bloggers of all persuasions, but most especially his close personal friend, “La Yoa,” (Yoani Sánchez) whose cherished interview he saved for last.

The missing Osama “lair” picture released and later scrubbed by ABC News

Not long after the White House announcement about its US Navy Seals operation in Abbottabad, ABC News released a set of pictures from what it claimed was the interior of Bin Laden’s home.  With ABC refusing to share the photos with other news conglomerates, both the NY Times and Wall Street Journal handled the photos gingerly, using language like: “Footage obtained by ABC News showed what the network said was a room inside the compound,” or “Footage obtained by ABC News showed what appeared to be blood on a floor inside the compound.”

Regarding Joaquín Pérez Becerra

Regarding Joaquín Pérez Becerra

By Iván Maiza – TeleSur – español

Translation: Machetera

The capacity of the Latin American left to go straight ahead without looking to either side, without long term plans, without observing the world in which it lives, never ceases to amaze me.  Without taking into account whose life is at stake in matters that are not strategic, nor even tactical, what matters is always the sacrifice, proving that one is not betraying the highest revolutionary values, “never bowing one’s head” like that person in the story by Osvaldo Soriano,  “A sus plantas rendido un León” [A defeated lion at their feet].*