"Ian Rankin once explained to an interviewer (the head of the Indian Communist Party!) that crime fiction is a way of talking about social inequality. Ron Jacobs applies that same maxim to the Sixties... in his wonderfully noir trilogy of those exhilarating and troubled times. And what Rankin does for Edinburgh, Jacobs amply illuminates for the Movement. Much much more than ripping yarns (though they are that too), from a master who's been there, done that, and lived to tell a tale or two."
Friday, May 4, 2018
Friday, April 27, 2018
Tuesday, April 24, 2018
Monday, April 16, 2018
Friday, April 13, 2018
Wednesday, April 11, 2018
Friday, March 30, 2018
Sous Le Pave, Le Plage--May '68
Labels:
1960s,
1968,
anarchism,
antiwar,
book review,
capitalism,
Counterpunch,
France,
May 1968,
rebellion
Friday, March 23, 2018
Flashing for the Refugees on the Unarmed Road of Flight
A Review of Ramzy Baroud's The Last Earth: A Palestinian Story.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/03/23/flashing-for-the-refugees-on-the-unarmed-road-of-flight/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/03/23/flashing-for-the-refugees-on-the-unarmed-road-of-flight/
Friday, March 16, 2018
Trump and His Tariffs
Any benefits workers obtain in a capitalist economy are the result of struggle, not the gifts of the owners and financiers. Supporting the tariffs because of some imagined short term gain is merely buying into neoliberal capitalism’s con game.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/03/16/trump-and-his-tariffs/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/03/16/trump-and-his-tariffs/
Friday, March 9, 2018
Friday, March 2, 2018
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Monday, February 19, 2018
Friday, February 16, 2018
Friday, February 9, 2018
In the Spirit of the Tsar: FBI Informants on the Central Committee
Labels:
1960s,
1970s,
book review,
civil liberties,
COINTELPRO,
communism,
Counterpunch,
FBI,
informers,
leftist,
RCP,
RU
Friday, February 2, 2018
A History of Resistance--A Review of An African-American and Latinx History of the United States
Monday, January 29, 2018
Still Tripping....a New Essay Collection

Friday, January 26, 2018
Friday, January 19, 2018
Friday, January 12, 2018
The Vietnamese War: a Different Take
A review of Hanoi’s War: An International History of the War for Peace in Vietnam.
Friday, January 5, 2018
All You Fascists Bound to Lose
Labels:
20th century,
AK Press,
antifa,
book review,
capitalism,
fascism,
human rights,
left,
nazism
Friday, December 29, 2017
Friday, December 22, 2017
Friday, December 15, 2017
Sinking in the Swamp
The swamp is not being drained. It is becoming more toxic by
the day. It is now ebb tide at the pig farm and the sewage is in the pool where
your children go to swim.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/15/sinking-in-the-swamp/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/12/15/sinking-in-the-swamp/
Friday, December 8, 2017
Monday, December 4, 2017
Friday, December 1, 2017
Friday, November 17, 2017
Private Property Does Not Equal Freedom
A review of Negri and Hardt's 2017 title Assembly...
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/11/17/private-property-does-not-equal-freedom/
Monday, November 13, 2017
Thursday, November 2, 2017
Wednesday, November 1, 2017
Friday, October 27, 2017
Rebel Music
A look at the Liberation Music Collective's latest release....
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/27/rebel-music-2/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/27/rebel-music-2/
Friday, October 20, 2017
Stop the Idiocy! Stop the Mattis-ness!
The (revised) toll in lives was: 36, 546 US soldiers, an
estimated 1.5 million Koreans on both sides of the parallel (mostly civilians),
200,000 Chinese soldiers, and another 4000 soldiers from armies that allied
themselves with the United States. In
addition, there were more than one million wounded and/or missing.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/20/stop-the-idiocy-stop-the-mattis-ness/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/10/20/stop-the-idiocy-stop-the-mattis-ness/
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
Can NATO Still Make America Great?
The link below goes to an article I wrote for the previous print edition of Counterpunch magazine. I am sharing it in the hope that some of you who read it will then subscribe to the print version of Counterpunch. Why should you do that since you can read Counterpunch online for free? Because most of the articles in the print issues are not reprinted online is a good place to start....
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B01dj5QyuLDed0gtT1JRREhod3NjeXRFRXZxOWZiUFdJOGVz/view?usp=sharing
If you want to subscribe, here is a link to do that.....
https://store.counterpunch.org/subscribe/
Thanks,
Ron
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B01dj5QyuLDed0gtT1JRREhod3NjeXRFRXZxOWZiUFdJOGVz/view?usp=sharing
If you want to subscribe, here is a link to do that.....
https://store.counterpunch.org/subscribe/
Thanks,
Ron
Friday, October 13, 2017
Friday, October 6, 2017
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Sharpening the Contradictions from the Fifty Yard Line
When I used to watch Bart Starr, Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath throw the ball back in my earlier years, it seemed most NFL players were white. They were also assumed to be very patriotic and supportive of the US war on Vietnam and in favor of the more conservative side of US politics. Whether or not this was as universal as it seemed to be is hard to say since NFL players were not known for expressing their political views in public.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/27/sharpening-the-contradictions-from-the-fifty-yard-line/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/27/sharpening-the-contradictions-from-the-fifty-yard-line/
Monday, September 25, 2017
Friday, September 15, 2017
Friday, September 8, 2017
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Gregor Samsa's Twentieth Century Blues
Renaissance man Marc Estrin publishes the director's cut of his 2002 novel.....
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/05/gregor-samsas-twentieth-century-blues/
https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/09/05/gregor-samsas-twentieth-century-blues/
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Thursday, August 24, 2017
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Monday, July 31, 2017
Monday, July 24, 2017
Thursday, July 20, 2017
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Gonna' Have to Face It, You're Addicted to War
Labels:
20th century,
9-11,
antinuke,
antiwar,
capitalism,
Counterpunch,
military,
nuclear war,
war,
war crimes
Friday, June 23, 2017
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
Friday, June 9, 2017
Friday, May 26, 2017
The Deep State is the State
Labels:
anti-imperialism,
CIA,
corruption,
deep state,
democrats,
fascism,
FBI,
police state,
Russia,
Trumpism
Friday, May 19, 2017
Friday, May 12, 2017
McMaster’s Civilized War for Civilization
Just because a general has a new way to fight a war doesn’t mean that war should be fought. The war in Afghanistan is not being incorrectly waged. Instead, it is the war and occupation of Afghanistan that is wrong.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/05/12/mcmasters-civilized-war-for-civilization/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/05/12/mcmasters-civilized-war-for-civilization/
Monday, May 8, 2017
Thursday, May 4, 2017
Interview: US War Industry Profits from a Long War in Syria
Friday, April 28, 2017
Thursday, April 27, 2017
One Hundred Years That Shook the World
It’s as if John Reed, author of the classic piece of revolutionary journalism, Ten Days That Shook the World, woke from a decades-long sleep to tell the story of 1917 once again. Although there is less personal detail, the sweep of Miéville’s story is equal to Reed’s in its breadth while matching it in passion. It is Reed’s contention that the masses of workers, peasants and soldiers were at the front of the revolution. One hundred years later, Miéville’s telling agrees.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/27/one-hundred-years-that-shook-the-world/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/27/one-hundred-years-that-shook-the-world/
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Syria: Beyond Western Myths and Half-Truths
A book about history that is ignored by so many....not meant as an endorsement of Assad and his army but certain to be taken that way by those unwilling or unable to look at the broader picture...
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/11/syria-beyond-western-myths-and-half-truths/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/04/11/syria-beyond-western-myths-and-half-truths/
Friday, April 7, 2017
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Mad Dog, Meet Eris, Queen of Strife
This isn't reason. It is madness.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/03/28/mad-dog-meet-eris-queen-of-strife/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/03/28/mad-dog-meet-eris-queen-of-strife/
Friday, March 24, 2017
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
Monday, March 6, 2017
Islam: A Conversation on Paper
"Mourad and Anderson recently published a book titled The Mosaic of Islam: A Conversation with Perry Anderson. It is a text with a grand mission: to introduce and inform non-Muslims of the history, and philosophical underpinnings and debates that make up the Islamic religion.Despite its rather small size, the book manages to succeed in its task."
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/03/06/islam-a-conversation-on-paper/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/03/06/islam-a-conversation-on-paper/
Friday, March 3, 2017
Friday, February 24, 2017
Friday, February 17, 2017
Friday, February 10, 2017
Thursday, February 9, 2017
Fomite Interrogations
Fomite Press, which published my novels (so far) has begun a political pamphlet series. Here is their explanation of the project:
"Given the exigencies of the time, Fomite would like to step outside its normal literary publishing practice, and add to its offerings a series of bound pamphlets on urgent political, social, cultural, and organizing issues from a radical, anti-capitalist viewpoint."
The titles are interesting and provocative. My contribution to the project is titled Capitalism: Is the Problem...
Here is a link with more information and ordering details:
http://www.fomitepress.com/Tracts.html
"Given the exigencies of the time, Fomite would like to step outside its normal literary publishing practice, and add to its offerings a series of bound pamphlets on urgent political, social, cultural, and organizing issues from a radical, anti-capitalist viewpoint."
The titles are interesting and provocative. My contribution to the project is titled Capitalism: Is the Problem...
Here is a link with more information and ordering details:
http://www.fomitepress.com/Tracts.html
Friday, February 3, 2017
Trumpism's Gleichschaltung?
As far as Bannon is concerned, a better comparison would be this: Steven Bannon is to Donald Trump what Josef Goebbels was to Hitler.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/02/03/trumpisms-gleichschaltung/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/02/03/trumpisms-gleichschaltung/
Labels:
20th century,
Bannon,
capitalism,
Counterpunch,
democrats,
election,
fascism,
Goebbels,
Lenin,
Trumpism
Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Sanctuary Status a Human Rights Issue, not Financial
If we don’t stand up for the rights of immigrants, who will be the next target of the forces now in control in Washington, D.C.?
https://vtdigger.org/2017/01/30/ron-jacobs-sanctuary-status-human-rights-issue-not-financial/
https://vtdigger.org/2017/01/30/ron-jacobs-sanctuary-status-human-rights-issue-not-financial/
Friday, January 27, 2017
A Scheme is Not a Vision
If the bedrock of Trumpism is total allegiance to his version of the American state, the bedrock of our politics should be total opposition to Trumpism.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/01/27/a-scheme-is-not-a-vision/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2017/01/27/a-scheme-is-not-a-vision/
Friday, January 20, 2017
Friday, January 13, 2017
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Friday, December 30, 2016
2016 What Have You Wrought
Darkness at the Break of noon....
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/30/2016-what-have-you-wrought/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/30/2016-what-have-you-wrought/
Friday, December 23, 2016
Friday, December 16, 2016
Bargaining for Salvation in the Devil’s Arena
According to the legend, Jes’ Grew comes and goes. Its peaks in the past one hundred years include the jazz age and the age of Rock and roll and Rhythm and Blues. One might argue that certain dance music of the current period might also be a hearkening of the Jes’ Grew infestation, but I think its insistence on mechanization renders its inclusion unlikely. However, Jes’ Grew will never die. And it gestates in festivals like Warren Haynes annual benefit show in Asheville, North Carolina. If it doesn’t save your soul, at least it makes you feel like living for another day.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/16/bargaining-for-salvation-in-the-devils-arena/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/16/bargaining-for-salvation-in-the-devils-arena/
Wednesday, December 14, 2016
Friday, December 2, 2016
Selling Racism--A Lesson From South Africa
The movement against South African apartheid was perhaps the most universal and popular movement in the western world in the 1980s. Hundreds of thousands protested in a multitude of ways—from letter-writing campaigns to shantytown occupations of city squares and college campus greens.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/02/selling-racism-a-lesson-from-pretoria/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/12/02/selling-racism-a-lesson-from-pretoria/
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Monday, November 14, 2016
Alice D. Millionaire—Owsley and the Counterculture
Labels:
1960s,
1970s,
Bear,
book review,
counterculture,
drug war,
Grateful Dead,
lsd,
Owsley
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
The Flim Flam Man
It's
so damn American. The settler class of white Europeans living away from the big
mean city get conned by a loudmouth bullshittin' big city con man who has never
made an honest buck in his life. He plays into their fears; of brown skinned foreigners,
angry black people still pissed about their ancestors being enslaved, uppity
women who misuse the rights they got, and big city banks and financiers who
just want to take their money and their land.
Promising to keep the scared people safe, the film-flam man goes back to
his rich friends, laughing to himself about how he loves the uneducated.
Friday, November 4, 2016
The Greeks, the Troika, Resistance and History
As we head into 2017, the world seems to be
heading towards even greater uncertainty.
The nationalist rejection of the EU in Britain, the uncertain meaning of
the US election and future (at this writing) results, a seeming desire by
western capitals and Russia for greater war in the Middle East, and various
artificial bubbles created and maintained by the gamblers in the financial
markets; all of these seem to point to more of the same for Greece with an ever
growing likelihood that the next burst financial bubble will take down more
than just those economies considered on the fringe of the central markets. This uncertainty alone is reason enough to
read this book.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/04/the-greeks-the-troika-resistance-and-history/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/11/04/the-greeks-the-troika-resistance-and-history/
Friday, October 28, 2016
Friday, October 21, 2016
Saturday, October 15, 2016
STFU About World War Three Already
Labels:
anti-imperialism,
antiwar,
armed struggle,
Empire,
enemies,
Iran,
iraq,
Israel,
left,
Rosa Luxembourg,
Russia,
socialism,
Syria
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Friday, October 7, 2016
Studs Terkel--Interpreter of America
A review of Alan Wieder's new biography...
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/10/07/studs-terkel-interpreter-of-america/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/10/07/studs-terkel-interpreter-of-america/
Friday, September 30, 2016
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Killing Unarmed People is Murder
Regarding police killings of unarmed individuals....
https://vtdigger.org/2016/09/21/ron-jacobs-killling-unarmed-people-murder/
https://vtdigger.org/2016/09/21/ron-jacobs-killling-unarmed-people-murder/
Friday, September 23, 2016
A Change Has Gotta' Come
"Ideally, Demand the Impossible! would be distributed for free at every rally and meeting called to discuss the issues explored therein. It is not the only book or article that provides an outline of what must be done, but it is certainly one of the most concise and evocatively written ones. Imagine a series of speeches designed to inspire and teach; to move us from frustration and apathy to the streets; that is what this book is all about."
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/09/23/a-change-has-gotta-come/
http://www.counterpunch.org/2016/09/23/a-change-has-gotta-come/
Wednesday, September 21, 2016
Friday, September 16, 2016
Friday, September 2, 2016
Friday, August 26, 2016
Sunday, August 14, 2016
Friday, August 12, 2016
Friday, August 5, 2016
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