On “Returning to the scene of the crime: Bush visits New Orleans”
Thank you for keeping up with the conditions in the Gulf Coast states since Katrina. While many newspapers will occasionally report something, it has become increasingly buried and headlined with ever smaller type. For many it becomes easier to look away.
I appreciate not just your reporting, but your analysis of this hideous situation. Yours has been the most complete in gathering all elements, both the pre-hurricane events and the scientific and economic developments afterwards. The political implications and actions of the elite in relation to all this are something which you are alone in reporting.
CMS
Portland, Oregon, United States
10 March 2006
***The last line of your article states: “The response of both the Democratic and Republican parties in the six months since the disaster only underscores the fact that the social needs of the vast majority of the population are incompatible with a government whose major preoccupation is securing the interests of the wealthy elite.”
But it is more than that. In the case of New Orleans the government is not simply being neglectful. The government is not too busy securing the interests of the elite, but is attacking the working class directly.
This is an assault whose aim is to further disorient the working class in an effort to further secure power, and establish a precedent of military intervention in social disasters. That is, military rule (in the interests of the financial elite) may be on its way to the South along with the coming hurricane season. The working class of the region should confront this assault now, before the soup bowl of water and lives begins to fill, and the working class of other regions should support them in their efforts.
CG
10 March 2006
On “An exchange with readers on Iran’s nuclear programs”
Considering the willingness of the Iranian president to get nuclear weapons, I think that these weapons will lead to no step forward for the working class in Iran. The more bourgeois governments are strong—and nuclear weapons made them stronger—the less the working class has the possibility to overcome this strength.
MB
Viareggio, Italy
8 March 2006
Great article about one of those events that are only vaguely understood by people in the US. I can fit this significant puzzle piece into the historical “puzzle” of Fascist history.
PS
Texas, United States
9 March 2006
***Thank you very much for your concise account of the background of the Foibe. I have been living in Italy for the past five years and have heard this issue mentioned by both right and left without getting any really clear idea about the historical facts.
The drive by the Berlusconi government to rewrite history certainly is met by hardly any serious opposition from the principal parties of the so-called left. Little is said or done when Berlusconi makes crass claims such as “Mussolini only sent his opponents on holiday.” A recent poster campaign by Forza Italia, “Against all dictatorships,” featured a lineup of Hitler, Stalin, Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, and Osama Bin Laden(!), but Mussolini was notably absent. The coming elections will see parties from even further to the right than the Alleanza Nazionale (whose leadership claims to have renounced fascism and all things related to it) entering Berlusconi’s coalition. Forza Nuova and other groups with links to neo-Nazi groups in other parts of Europe have been accepted with barely any resistance from the allegedly moderate and respectable Christian Democrat factions. In fact, the biggest protests have been Alleanza Nazionale.
Thank you again. Your article has cast a clear light on this issue.
JR
9 March 2006
On “Stage adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984: Puppets of the police state”
Thank you for understanding the play. That was the most thorough, far-reaching review I’ve seen. I just hope the play will make a difference. Not to seem like I’m promoting myself, but here’s a link to a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle where they actually printed my wish to overthrow Capitalist Fascism. (I used both terms for the audience who may not know that they have become the same thing.)
Thanks again,
Michael Gene Sullivan, Playwright
13 March 2006
On “Graffiti computer game banned in Australia: Bi-partisan censorship campaign targets youth”
I am the PR Manager at Atari Australia. I’d just like to say thanks for your well-researched article on the banning of Getting Up. Everyone at Atari appreciates the support. I’ll be sure to forward the article to as many people as I can.
David Wildgoose
10 March 2006
On “Poland: Winter of death for impoverished”
Tragically, the same conditions for the same reasons, exist right here in the US, this “Land of Plenty.” Here in the upper Midwest, we had a comparatively mild winter in ‘05-’06. This was after several very hard winters that saw a high death toll among our poor. For the most part, government/media merely ignore this tragedy. The real horror is that the money is already there to re-establish the life-saving programs and policies that were shredded by the government. But instead of helping the very citizens who paid into this “social insurance” fund via their taxes, the government has handed billions of dollars to the wealthy, and then moved forward with Bush’s Napoleonic delusions of world conquest.
DF
Wisconsin, United States
12 March 2006
On “The death of “TJ” Hickey—the social and economic circumstances”
After reading your descriptive news report, I became very concerned that Sydney Australia is suffering from the same racism and oppression that North American Aboriginals are faced with everyday of their lives. I am a First Nations person from Vancouver, Canada and I am sure that this abuse will not stop anytime soon unless people like you broadcast it around the world. I am going to share this story with the (UCFV) university I am attending in Abbotsford BC because awareness is powerful! My prayers are with all of the Aboriginal people around the world and I will never forget that we have suffered similar histories. Thank you.
DN
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
9 March 2006
On Iran and oil
I have been subscribed to your e-mail list and enjoyed your articles more than any other news source. Recently I have read several articles in different sources indicating the new “Iranian Oil Bourse” and its effects on the US economy in the near future. In fact the real reason of the US invasion of Iran could be related to this matter rather than the nuclear plants. Unfortunately I haven’t seen any article written by your group regarding this important case. As you see, it has been a real news blackout in the US press about this important issue. I hope you print something about this important story.
AS
Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States
10 March 2006