Articles

Issue Six

Foiling Another Palestinian “Peace Offensive”: Behind the bloodbath in Gaza

by Norman Finkelstein

Early speculation on the motive behind Israel’s slaughter in Gaza that began on 27 December 2008 and continued till 18 January 2009 centered on the upcoming elections in Israel. The jockeying for votes was no doubt a factor in this Sparta-like society consumed by “revenge and the thirst for blood,” where killing Arabs is a sure crowd-pleaser.

The Gospel of Redistribution

by Mathew Wappett

The foundations of the U.S. welfare system were laid by FDR during the waning years of the Great Depression. But, what many don’t know is that this system of welfare was directly modeled upon the Mormon Church’s welfare work in the early 20th century. According to a 2008 radio piece on NPR by Ken Verdoia, the Church “developed a very progressive social welfare system in the 1930s that became the envy of the New Deal.

Saints of the Fourth International

by Gregory Van Wagenen

On the morning of 20 August 1940, Ramon Mercader made his way from Mexico City to the small town of Coyoacan, where he was ushered into the study of Leon Trotsky.

When is Violence Justified? The Curious Case of Sgt. Hassan Akbar

by Cliff Burton

On April 28th 2005, a military judge sentenced US Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar to death for the murder of two of his fellow soldiers. Prosecutors allege that, while stationed in Kuwait, during the first days of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, Akbar stole seven grenades from a Humvee, and threw them into the tent of Army Capt. Christopher Seifert and Air Force Maj. Gregory Stone, killing both and wounding several others.

Abraham’s One Percent Doctrine and the Criminal U.S. Assault on Fallujah

by Joshua Madson

In the books of Matthew and Luke there is this radical statement from John the Baptist, “do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”1 For centuries the Jewish people had considered themselves chosen by virtue of their lineage. They claimed lineage from the great patriarch Abraham and with it the covenant right to occupy Palestine.

Between Christianity and the Libertarian Left: How Wide the Gap? Part II

by Marc Young

Now, what about this love talk, employed so much by Jesus and Paul? It is the sort of language that has so often put secular radicals off, uncomfortable with an emphasis on words that suggest the primacy of feeling or emotion. How might this Christian idea (or ideal) fit into a particularly libertarian socialist agenda? We must be careful.

Impressions of a Young Arab Generation

by Abdullah Mulhim

My first stop when traveling back from the U.S to Jerusalem was Amman, Jordan, the most Americanized city in the Arab world and the most pro-Western country in the Middle East. I stayed with my twenty year old cousin, a college student who lives by himself. Like most young Jordanians, he is generally disinterested in politics; his interests range from girls, to cars, to the most popular new movie or song. However, at night when we sat down to watch TV his first choice was not Showtime or Melody (the MTV of the Arab world), but instead Al-Jazeera; right then he was more interested and concerned about what was happening in Gaza, as the Israelis were in the middle of their three week bombing campaign.

Killing for Ideology: A Brief History of US Efforts to Establish a Free-Market Capitalist Economy in Iraq

by William Van Wagenen

On May 1, 2003 just weeks after US forces captured Baghdad, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) announced that "the Bush administration has drafted sweeping plans to remake Iraq's economy in the U.S. image,” the execution of which “is expected to be complicated and possibly contentious.”

Obama’s Election: Genuine Revolution or Successful Branding Campaign?

by Ashley Sanders

It’s inauguration time, and you know what that means: last chance to board the bandwagon headed toward happy delusion. This time around, the Dems have even saved some space for erstwhile opponents—people who can usually keep a cool head amidst all the media hoopla. From the looks of it, Adbusters saw fit to drop their bionic anti-advertising stare and reserve a seat right next to the New York Times and a bevy of other “progressive” magazines that wanted to celebrate the reality they created.

The Other Cost Of The Holocaust

by Tovah Ben David

The Palestinian Arabs have also lost possessions, homes, lives, entire families, and faith in humanity, as a result of the Holocaust’s aftermath. The simple, yet under-asked question - Why is it that the Palestinians living on their land have had to pay the price for something that Europeans did to Jews in Europe?

We Believe In Saving Lives, Not Face

by Cory Bushman

On October 24, 1970 members of Brigham Young University’s student body, including the Student Body President and Executive Vice President, wrote, endorsed and distributed a pamphlet stating their views on war. In the pamphlet it says, “Wars begin in the minds of men. When 10,000 men decide to go to war, 10,000 wars are fought. When one man for peace, then one less war rages.