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High Culture and Hard Labor

Andrew Ross The New York Times
Saadiyat Island is across a narrow sea channel from Abu Dhabi. Many luxury villas are being built as well famous museums like the Guggenheim and the Louvre. Unfortunately many of the construction workers are poorly paid and forced to live in poor facilities.

Venezuela: A Call for Peace

By NICOLÁS MADURO The New York Times
The claims that Venezuela has a deficient democracy and that current protests represent mainstream sentiment are belied by the facts. The antigovernment protests are being carried out by people in the wealthier segments of society who seek to reverse the gains of the democratic process that have benefited the vast majority of the people.

Tunisia: Change, But No Change

by Serge Halimi Le Monde Diplomatique
Tunisia has taken the most hopeful direction after its Arab Spring. But none of the entrants in the forthcoming election seems to have the valid and drastic economic plans that will be needed to fulfil the aspirations of Tunisians.

Job-Based Benefits and American Inequality

By Colin Gordon Dissent Magazine
Across this full history, the overblown promise of private coverage pushed public programs to the categorical margins. As a result, working Americans enjoy less security—in international or historical terms—against the risks of retirement or illness. The private welfare state, in this sense, is a little like a private school or a private jet—not just a different way of delivering the goods, but a reliable and deliberate mechanism for sustaining inequality.

France

Pierre Laurent Yahoo

Wanted: Foreign Investment in Cuba

Patricia Grogg and Ivet González Inter Press Service
The new foreign investment law, approved unanimously by the legislature on March 29, invites foreign investors to operate in all sectors of Cuba’s planned economy, with a few exceptions.