By Benjamin Dangl Published on September 22, 2017 Source: Toward Freedom American troops stand next to a burning oil well at the Rumayla oil fields March 27, 2003 in Rumayla, Iraq. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images) Come you masters of war You that build all the guns You that build the death planes You that…
By Benjamin Dangl Source: TeleSUR English Like a lot of Americans, each morning in elementary and high school, I had to stand up before the U.S. flag, put my hand on my heart, and pledge allegiance to the United States of America. While it was a mindless routine for most of us, the meaning behind 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 Ben Dangl Originally published on December 2, 2010 in TowardFreedom.com A classified cable from the US embassy in La Paz, Bolivia released by WikiLeaks lays bare an embassy that is biased against the Evo Morales government, underestimates the sophistication of the governing party’s grassroots base, and out of touch with the political reality of the…
By Ben Dangl Originally published on July 18, 2013 in TowardFreedom.com En español: Lo Que No Escuchó el Imperio: Espionaje de EE.UU. y Resistencia en Latinoamérica US imperialism spreads across Latin America through military bases and trade deals, corporate exploitation and debt. It also relies on a vast communications surveillance network, the recent uncovering of which…
Written by Benjamin Dangl Published by The Guardian Unlimited When rallying in the streets of Tegucigalpa for the ousted President Manuel Zelaya, Alejandra Fernandez, a 23-year-old university student told a journalist why she supported Zelaya: “He raised the minimum wage, gave out free school lunches, provided milk for the babies and pensions for the elderly,…
Written by Benjamin Dangl Monday, 29 June 2009 Worldwide condemnation has followed the coup that unseated President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras on Sunday, June 28. Nation-wide mobilizations and a general strike demanding that Zelaya be returned to power are growing in spite of increased military repression. One protester outside the government palace in Honduras told…
Written by Benjamin Dangl Thursday, 16 April 2009 After Bolivia beat the Argentine soccer team led by legendary Diego Maradona by 6 to 1, Maradona told reporters, “Every Bolivia goal was a stab in my heart.” Bolivia was expected to lose the April 1 match as Argentina is ranked as the 6th best soccer team…
By Benjamin Dangl Wednesday, 01 August 2007 Two soldiers in Paraguay stand in front of a camera. One of them holds an automatic weapon. John Lennon’s “Imagine” plays in the background. This Orwellian juxtaposition of war and peace is from a new video posted online by US soldiers stationed in Paraguay. The video footage and…
Source: The Progressive Magazine, Feb. 2009 Issue By Benjamin Dangl Five years ago, when Evo Morales was a rising political star as a congressman and coca farmer, I met him in his office in Cochabamba, Bolivia. He was drinking orange juice and sifting through the morning newspapers when I asked him about a meeting he…