By Benjamin Dangl Published on January 22, 2018 Source: Toward Freedom A shantytown in São Paulo, Brazil, borders the much more affluent Morumbi district. Credit: Tuca Vieira / Oxfam Forida is a 22-year-old sewing machine operator in a clothing factory in Dahka, Bangladesh. She often works 12-hour days producing clothes for brands such as H&M…
By Benjamin Dangl Published on May 31, 2016 Source: Toward Freedom Last week a research wing of the International Monetary Fund came out with a reportadmitting that neoliberalism has been a failure. The report, entitled, “Neoliberalism: Oversold?” is hopefully a sign of the ideology’s death. They were only about 40 years late. As Naomi Klein tweeted…
By Benjamin Dangl Published on April 11, 2016 Source: Toward Freedom News pointing to global inequality and a lack of democracy has been dominating newspaper headlines in recent days. From the Panama Papers to controversies swirling in the US presidential primaries, a divided world is in crisis. As recent events illustrate, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The…
Published on November 19, 2014 Originally published at TeleSUR English With a $4 billion price tag, the recent US midterm election was the most expensive in the country’s history. For the first time in eight years, the Republicans gained complete control of Congress, as well as won victories in key Senate and gubernatorial races across…
by Benjamin Dangl – The Nation Published in March 23 Print Issue of The Nation Rain poured down in La Paz, Bolivia, the day Barack Obama gave his inauguration speech. But the weather didn’t stop thousands of Bolivians from marching in the streets in support of a new constitution, a document set to grant unprecedented…
By Benjamin Dangl Thursday, 18 December 2008 People in the US seeking ways to confront the economic crisis could follow the lead of South American social movements. From Argentina to Venezuela, many movements have won victories against the same systems of corporate greed and political corruption that produce economic strife across the hemisphere. These movements…
Tuesday, 18 April 2006 By Benjamin Dangl “Super dogs especial,” yelled the hot dog vendor. His stand was an island in a street packed with World Social Forum participants. Other people sold Che Guevara hats, artesian jewelry, Hugo Chavez dolls and radical buttons in six languages. Drum circles and generators roared as I sat down…
Written by Benjamin Dangl Tuesday, 24 January 2006 Maybe it had to do with the beer, or the heady mixture of languages, or the humidity, but it felt like something unique was growing out of the sweaty discussions and incessant drum circles. It wasn’t the same energy one feels at a large protest or indoor…
Conducted By Benjamin Dangl 4/14/04 Michael Hardt is a professor at Duke University and is the co-author, along with Antonio Negri, of the book Empire, which Harvard University Press described as “Looking beyond the regimes of exploitation and control that characterize today’s world order, Empire seeks an alternative paradigm – the basis for a truly…
By Benjamin Dangl, WireTap Posted on December 15, 2003 http://www.alternet.org/story/17380/ On the second floor of an old building shared by worker unions, lawyers and environmental groups, Cochabamba’s main youth activist group gathered for an organizational meeting. The walls of the room were covered with propaganda from Cuba, feminist posters from Sweden, an anti-FTAA banner, a…