News Releases

  • Billionaires vs. Zohran Mamdani

    “A social-media screed by hedge-fund manager Bill Ackman (net worth: upward of $9 billion) was damn near apoplectic that activists and voters had so terribly transgressed. Ackman described himself as ‘a supporter of President Trump’ while expressing a fervent desire ‘to save the Democratic Party from itself.’ Mamdani’s policies, Ackman wrote late Wednesday night, ‘would be disastrous for NYC. Socialism has no place in the economic capital of our country.’”


  • As Israel Kills Aid-Seekers, Fasters at UN Hold News Conference

    The “Veterans & Allies Fast for Gaza” began May 22 “when six members of Veterans For Peace and allies traveled to New York City to stand at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. It has grown to over 800 people across the country and includes small groups in South Africa, Canada, Italy, Germany, Ireland, Hong Kong and Australia. Friends of Sabeel, NA has added critical behind-the-scenes support.” Fasters at the U.N. have limited themselves to “250 calories per day, considered medically to be a starvation diet and the amount reported early this year as the average available” to Palestinians…


  • Trump is “Far from a ‘Peace President’”

    In a news conference on Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the White House’s latest strikes on Iranian nuclear sites “highly successful.” But longtime anti-war activists see the strikes as a horrific decision by the Trump administration to attack a country that had not attacked the United States.


  • Nationwide Impacts of Science Funding Cuts

    The Science and Community Impacts Mapping Project (SCIMaP) has created an interactive map that reveals the projected nationwide impacts of the Trump administration’s cuts to NIH funding for crucial health research, including on cancer, diabetes, dementia and more. The White House has proposed budget cuts to NIH research of $18 billion compared to FY 2024. Those cuts are projected to cause more than $46 billion in lost economic activity, given that every dollar of NIH support translates to 2.5 dollars of economic activity. 


  • Does Mamdani’s Win Mean Voters Will “Embrace Truly Progressive Change”?

    In a statement, RootsAction said “we announced our support on the day his campaign launched in October because we knew that his platform — with such planks as freezing rent, creating free bus service, and no-cost childcare — was tailored to help working people in New York City, not the landlord lobby.”


  • War with Iran: * Media Coverage * Corruption at IAEA

    “The New York Times‘ echo of the standard Israeli and U.S. propaganda line offers an opportunity to critically examine this most recent justification for aggressive war. The premise here was that Iran is working to build a nuclear weapon, something that forms the backbone of the Israeli propaganda campaign justifying their actions. The only problem is that there is no evidence whatsoever for this position. Not only is there no evidence that Iran is building a nuclear weapon, there is no reason to think that if they did, they would be anything other than defensive weapons.”


  • Why Did the U.S. Bomb Iran Now?

    “Israel seeks to be the regional hegemon and for a long time Iran stood in its way. The real threat Iran has historically posed to Israel, rhetoric aside, has never been existential but rather strategic and ideological.“


  • Trump “Has Usurped” Congressional War Powers, “Summit of Impeachable Offenses”

    “President Trump has usurped the war power of Congress in making the United States a belligerent against Iran by systematic provision of intelligence, weapons, advisors, and military personnel in support of Israel’s criminal war of aggression. Mr. Trump tacitly acknowledged American belligerency in boasting, ‘we now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran’ and bugling for Iran’s ‘unconditional surrender.’”


  • Israel’s Gaza Killing Spree, Netanyahu’s Manipulation of Americans

    “Israel murdered this baby along with two of his siblings yesterday in Jabalia. … the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, BBC, and others! … You justified his killing with your coverage, even before he was born. Even after his murder, you did not run a story on him. You dehumanized him and his family. You dehumanized all Palestinians, most of whom were born under occupation and siege.”


  • “Impunity is Fueling Israel’s Spiraling Aggression”

    The New Statesman writes in “Impunity is fueling Israel’s spiraling aggression” that “Israel attacked Iran not out of fear but out of hubris. … This is the overwhelming lesson Israel has drawn from the past 20 months amid its intensifying onslaught on Gaza: there is no limit to what the world will let it get away with. Now, as it bombs its sixth neighbouring state or occupied territory in less than two years, there should be no doubt that impunity is the lifeblood of Israel’s far-right government, and the fuel driving its spiraling aggression. Until it runs up against firm…


  • Campaign Finance Reform?

    NANCY SNOW Executive director of Common Cause in New Hampshire and assistant professor of political science at New England College, Snow was set to attend the meeting that got underway this morning in Claremont between Bill Bradley and John McCain. (Claremont is the site of the handshake between President Clinton and then-Speaker Newt Gingrich in…

  • Mideast Peace Process?

    Today, the UN Security Council is scheduled to vote on a proposal regarding sanctions on Iraq. On Wednesday, talks begin between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syria’s foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa. These are among the analysts available for interviews: RANIA MASRI Founder of the Iraq Action Coalition, Masri said: “A year ago, UNSCOM head…

  • Perspectives On Clinton News Conference

    NASEER ARURI Professor at the University of Massachusetts, former board member of Amnesty International and author of “The Obstruction of Peace: The U.S., Israel, and the Palestinians,” Aruri is among over 1,000 who signed a petition against Yaser Arafat’s November 28 jailing of scores of political dissidents. Aruri commented today: “Clinton said he stood against…

  • Beyond Seattle: Now What?

    ROBERT WEISSMAN Editor of Multinational Monitor and co-author of “Corporate Predators: The Hunt for Mega-Profits and the Attack on Democracy,” Weissman said: “The protests in Seattle contributed significantly to the failure of the WTO negotiations, dealing a major blow to the ambitious corporate agenda of expanding the trade agency’s reach. The challenge before public interest…

  • Globalization Without Representation?

    The following analysts, many in Seattle, are available for comment on the World Trade Organization: LORI WALLACH Director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, Wallach said: “President Clinton’s PR stunt on the child labor treaty is the height of hypocrisy, given he knows that absent major WTO changes – which he has refused to demand…

  • Clinton and Protests in Seattle

    JUDITH BARISH An editor of the World Trade Observer and former communications director for the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, Barish said: “In 1994, Clinton promised not to support the establishment of the World Trade Organization unless it addressed labor standards, but that was forgotten. Now the administration is again talking up labor standards. But their…

  • WTO vs. Democracy?

    REP. DENNIS KUCINICH A letter to President Clinton initiated by Rep. Kucinich (D-Ohio) and signed by 113 House Democrats says: “The WTO infringes on the sovereignty of nations to enforce worker rights. A proposed bill to ban products made with child labor is WTO-illegal…” Speaking to World Trade Watch, a daily national radio program co-produced…

  • WTO Rules: The Record

    SEATTLE – Since its founding five years ago, the World Trade Organization has consistently settled trade disputes in favor of corporate interests, frequently deeming labor and environmental regulations “non-tariff trade barriers.” Conflicts between countries are decided by three unelected WTO officials in Geneva in secretive proceedings. With each nation challenging or threatening to challenge each…

  • Road to Seattle: Key Battles on WTO

    WASHINGTON — In the lead-up to the World Trade Organization ministerial summit in Seattle next week, U.S. trade representative Charlene Barshefsky spoke at the National Press Club today. But critics charge that she is speaking on behalf of discredited U.S. trade policies. SCOTT NOVA Director of the Citizens Trade Campaign, Nova said Tuesday afternoon: “Barshefsky…

  • Road to WTO Summit in Seattle: Why the Protests?

    JUDITH BARISH An editor of the World Trade Observer and former communications director for the California Labor Federation, AFL-CIO, Barish said: “There will be thousands of people protesting in the streets in Seattle, but not because we oppose trade and economic globalization. We want to see the rules written to protect workers and citizens as…

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