Keyword: United States of America

TV Journalist Leads Historic Power Shift in El Salvador

Mauricio Funes, a well respected television journalist became the president-elect of El Salvador on Sunday, 15 March 2009. He will become the country's first left wing leader since it won its independence from Spain in 1821, ending 150 years of oligarchy and military dictatorship. Funes is the leader of the Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN), a social democratic political party that was formerly a Guerilla organisation fighting against a military dictatorship for El...

Global Financial Crisis: We Know Who the Culprits are, But are We Prepared to Address the Cause?

Picture: Elyce Feliz Fazila Farouk - The global financial crisis has exploded onto the scene, bringing with it job losses, home losses and family murder-suicides. This crisis may be financial, but its costs are human. The culprit, ‘capitalism’ has been named and shamed and the casino they call Wall Street, exposed. Under the disapproving gaze of the world’s ordinary people, elites appear confounded. How did they get it so wrong? Why didn’t they see the writing on the wall? What were the predictions of...

Joseph Stiglitz: Market Fundamentalism is Dead

What is the role of the U.S. in the disposition of the world's economic and environmental resources? How are financial markets best defended from economic shock? Does liberalization ensure prosperity? These issues were discussed by journalist, Naomi Klein and economists Joseph Stiglitz and Hernando de Soto, in a conversation moderated by David Harvey, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology at the Graduate Centre - City University of New York. To hear what Klein had to say, please click...

Not Even Obama Can Take On Special Interests

Feminist writer Naomi Wolf discusses the ethical challenges President Barack Obama faces in dealing with special interest groups representing intelligence, surveillance and the defense industry. "I trust his intentions are good, but he's playing with fire," she says. Wolf argues that what's needed is a massive grassroots- based democracy movement to hold Obama and the American Congress' feet to the fire to keep the pressure on so that reforms are not superficial. She contends that...

Protests Against Racist Obama Cartoon

On Thursday, 19 February 2009, hundreds of protestors gathered outside the offices of the New York Post for the second day in a row, after the newspaper published a cartoon caricaturing President Barack Obama as a chimpanzee. The cartoon depicts two white policemen with a smoking gun standing over the body of a dead chimpanzee, with one of the police officers saying to the other "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill." On the page before the...

When Utopia Crumbles: Why Revolutionary Road Was Shut Out at the Oscars

Picture: www.reelmovienews.com Kim Nicolini - It's no wonder Revolutionary Road was shut out of the Oscars. As stated in this article from the New York Times, this year the Academy is looking to stories of the “indomitability of human will” to grace with its little gold statues. All of the nominees for best picture are “films built on individual successes” that provide “a nice, big chunk of uplift.” From Slumdog Millionaire to Milk to Frost/Nixon, these are stories where the little guy can beat the big...