When the landless peasants of the Carperos Campesino Movement moved on to the 70,000 hectare ranch in Curuguaty registered to Blas Riquelme, they would have known that they were risking their lives. Using the same successful methods as elsewhere in Latin America, perhaps most famously by the Landless Peasants Movement (MST) in Brazil – Curuguaty is close to the Brazilian border – the campesinos would occupy the land, hold it, and negotiate with the government. The methods – summarized in the slogan Occupy, Resist, Produce – were effective, but costly.

First published on ZNet, March 18, 2012

Tim Schwartz is an anthropologist with extensive experience in the foreign aid sector in Haiti. He is the author of the book, Travesty in Haiti, and of an upcoming book studying the nature and problems of the ways nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) operate in Haiti. He answered my questions over email in February and March 2012.

The key moment in many revolutions comes when police and militaries refuse to fire on crowds. But what is difficult to explain about those moments is their infrequency. Soldiers and police come from the same society as the crowds. Why do they kill them? Why are elites and authorities able to rest so comfortably in the knowledge that in the final analysis, thousands of armed men will do what they are told? I think this is one of the most important questions we can ask, and not enough of us ask it.

[This article, by Shadi Chaleshtoori and myself, was first published in The Bullet - version with links is there].

The regressive politics of the Iranian-Canadian Khevari petition

Shadi Chaleshtoori and Justin Podur

November 11, 2011

On October 12, members of the Iranian-Canadian community sent a petition to Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney expressing concern about the arrival in Canada of Mahmoud Reza Khavari, the former chairman of the largest Iranian state-owned banking institution (Bank Melli).

Activist and comedian Jesse Owens interviewed me for the #occupyto.org website, way back in ancient occupy toronto history (ie., October 26). For posterity, I am also reproducing it here. Thanks Jesse...

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I have some disagreements with Joel Olson's article, "Whiteness and the 99%", but I will start with some agreements.

I agree that "biologically speaking, there's no such thing as race."

The Occupy Wall St. Movement and the Occupy Together movements that are inspired by it actually have a simple premise: society shouldn't be run for the unrestricted benefit of the wealthiest. The immediate grievance is the 2008 banking crisis, in which the US banks engaged in fraudulent and criminal activity and were subsequently rewarded for doing so with trillions in government funds, while their victims reaped evictions and foreclosures.

There are at least 595,000 Haitians living in camps around Port au Prince (1). President Martelly has a program, called 16-6, which proposes to resettle residents of 6 large camps in 16 neighbourhoods in Port-au-Prince. In total, if the program succeeds, it will touch 5000 families, or 4% of the camp population. I spoke to the director of 16-6, Clement Belizaire. So far, 190 families have been resettled from the first camp, Place St. Pierre, in Petionville. Belizaire expects the 1500 families who live in the first two camps, Place St.

Hi everyone. I got sick yesterday and am still recovering. Still managed to get some work done (thanks to Ansel) but most of the interviews were of the background variety.

Patrick Elie is a Haitian activist who worked in the first Aristide administration. I interviewed him in Port au Prince on October 5, 2011.

Justin Podur (JP): Can we start with your analysis of the Preval administration of 2006-2011? What could he have accomplished under the circumstances? What did he accomplish?