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A Constitution Corrupted

Gavin O'Toole NACLA Reports
Mexico's 1917 Constitution asserted national control over all resources and launched a program of land redistribution. It established the most progressive labor legislation in the world at that time, guaranteeing a minimum wage, the right to strike and collective bargaining, an eight-hour day, an end to child labor, equal pay regardless of sex, and maternity leave. The betrayal of the constitution began early and turned into a rout in the 1980s.by neoliberals.

books

The History of U.S. Intervention and the 'Birth of The American Empire'

Terry Gross interviews author Stephen Kinzer National Public Radio's "Fresh Air,"
A democratic foreign policy or empire building as central to U.S. action abroad? It's an old debate. Author Stephen Kinzer sees the alternatives set at the turn of the 20th century, when imperium boosters Theodore Roosevelt, Henry Cabot Lodge and William Randolph Hearst squared off against Mark Twain and the Anti-Imperialist League. Here, Kinzer is queried about his analysis and his thinking on just where Trump and his malignant "America First" grandiloquence stand.

Venezuela's Economic Crisis: Does It Mean That the Left Has Failed?

Mark Weisbrot Truthout
International media has provided a constant stream of stories and editorials about the collapse of the Venezuelan economy. Shortages of food and medicine, hours-long lines, incomes eroded by triple-digit inflation have dominated press reports. Adherents to this explanation say the downward spiral will continue until the chavistas are removed from power, either through elections or through a coup (most pundits don't care which). The reality is more complicated.

After 50 Years of War, a Chance at Peace - Colombia's voters to decide fate of historic peace accords

Mario Murillo The Indypendent, Issue #217
The simple yes-or-no choice presented by the October 2 referendum does not take into account how the accord will be implemented and the profound divisions that exist after decades of civil war, militarization and politically motivated violence, and is a historic achievement. Nowhere is the resistance to any agreement with FARC more visible or vocal than in the rightwing political movement founded and led by Sen. Alvaro Uribe Vélez, Colombia's former president.

books

Viva La Revolución

Tony Wood The Guardian
This new survey of a 50-year arc of Latin America's recent history comes from the pen of one of our most esteemed Marxist historians. Reviewer Tony Wood offers this informative review.

The Brazilian Coup's Image Problem

Gianpaolo Baiocchi Boston Review
Romero Jucá, recently appointed planning minister, was recorded saying: `We have to stop this shit. We have to change the government to be able to stop this bleeding - the corruption investigation. The motives and nature of the plot to remove Rousseff are apparent in the transcript of the phone conversation between Jucá - a ally of new president Michel Temer - and Sérgio Machado, former senator who until recently was president of the state oil company, Transpetro.

Overthrowing Dilma Rousseff - It's Class War, and Their Class is Winning

Alfredo Saad Filho The Bullet
The judicial coup against President Dilma Rousseff is the culmination of the deepest political crisis in Brazil for 50 years. Dilma's second victory sparked a heated panic among the neoliberal and U.S.-aligned opposition. The fourth consecutive election of a President affiliated to the centre-left PT (Workers' Party) was bad news for the opposition, because it suggested that PT founder Lu¡s In cio Lula da Silva could return in 2018.

Public Statement on Zika Virus in Puerto Rico

Drs. Garriga-López, Lerman, Mulligan, Dietrich, et al Savage Minds - Notes and Queries in Anthropology
Call to action was written by Adriana Garriga-López, Ph.D. (Kalamazoo College), and Shir Lerman, M.A., M.P.H., PhD Candidate (University of Connecticut), with Jessica Mulligan, Ph.D. (Providence College), Alexa Dietrich, Ph.D., M.P.H. (Wagner College), Carlos E. Rodríguez-Díaz, PhD, MPHE, MCHES (University of Puerto Rico), and Ricardo Vargas-Molina, M.A. (University of Puerto Rico). The authors are members of the Society for Medical Anthropology's Zika Interest Group.
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