June 29, 2009 By Reese Erlich Reese Erlich's ZSpace Page When I returned from covering the Iranian elections recently, I was surprised to find my email box filled with progressive authors, academics and bloggers bending themselves into knots about the current crisis in Iran. They cite the long history of U.S. interference in Iran and conclude that the current unrest … [Read more...] about Iran and Leftist Confusion
SOA Watch on the Honduran Coup
Resistance and Repression in HondurasAn unknown number of Hondurans have taken to the streets today in an effort to stop the coup that the military, in league with Congress and the Supreme Court, has carried out against democratically elected President Manuel "Mel" Zelaya.Due to intermitant power outages and heavy rain, independent media within Honduras has had extreme … [Read more...] about SOA Watch on the Honduran Coup
US Involvement in Honduran Coup?
Lots of speculation on the left, with some saying it is too soon to say for sure if the US had a hand or not, but that at the very least, the leader of the coup is a graduate of the US Scool of Death (School of the Americas, or SOA) and a supporter of the neo-liberal agenda. He joins many fellow graduates of the infamous SOA, who have gone on to lead coups. … [Read more...] about US Involvement in Honduran Coup?
Japanese Textbook Controversies, Nationalism, and Historical Memory: Intra- and Inter-national Conflicts (Japan Focus)
http://www.japanfocus.org/-Mark-Selden/3173 Yoshiko NOZAKI and Mark Selden Japan’s neonationalists have launched three major attacks on school textbooks over the past half century.1 Centered on the treatment of colonialism and war, the attacks surfaced in 1955, the late 1970s, and the mid-1990s. The present study examines three moments in light of Japanese … [Read more...] about Japanese Textbook Controversies, Nationalism, and Historical Memory: Intra- and Inter-national Conflicts (Japan Focus)
Lowering the Drawbridge of Fortress Japan: Citizenship, Nationality and the Rights of Children (Japan Focus)
Lowering the Drawbridge of Fortress Japan: Citizenship, Nationality and the Rights of Children David McNeill, Matsutani Minoru, Alex Martin, Kamiya Setsuko, and Hongo Jun Introduction Two decades ago, as Japan’s economic engine hurtled along at full throttle, the Justice Ministry announced a policy that seemed to signal an end to its attempt to keep the world at … [Read more...] about Lowering the Drawbridge of Fortress Japan: Citizenship, Nationality and the Rights of Children (Japan Focus)