This is a final archiving of Gloves Off and something of a goodbye to the pre-Occupy movement era. At one of UnCut's early actions in New York, in the spring of 2011, we went along as "independent educators" to talk with people on the street about debtors' justice, the decline in corporate tax rates from the end of World War II to the present, and why it makes sense to discuss collective bargaining rights for debtors.
This is also a fond farewell to a project that began the day millions of people all over the world first came out into the streets to protest the impending US war on Iraq: February 15, 2003.
Our Mission (intensively from 2003-2006) was to become a vehicle for increasing economic literacy among the activists, journalists, trade unionists, and other workers who are involved in or in solidarity with these struggles, to foster, provoke and host dialogues and debates between and among economists critical of capitalism and people in political movements for social justice.
Links to our best offerings will remain below for as long as we remember to keep paying for IGC.org's webhosting!
Also of note from the Gloves Off archive:
The Gospel of Free Trade Economist and Indian civil-rights activist Ramaa Vasudevan debunks the comparative advantage economic model at the heart of neoliberalism.
In What Sense "No Blood for Oil"? George Caffentzis examines four levels of meaning in the slogan, "No Blood for Oil: The political economy of the war in Iraq" at a talk in New York City's ABC No Rio in February 2003.
Sweatshop Reform: Damage Control or Corporate Revolution? Emma de los Indios, who has worked for many years monitoring corporate responsibility efforts takes a penetrating look at the phenomenon and asks whether there can really be capitalism with a human face.
The Upside Down World of Neoliberal Economics
In the topsy-turvy world of neoliberal economics, reality must be made to conform to the theoretical models. Ideas and unquantifiable values therefore get in the way of neoliberal thinking, so issues like instability and crisis are taboo. Political economist and social theorist Jamie Morgan exposes the private language of neoliberalism.
Reflections on the World Social Forum 2005 Paul Cooney reports on the key debate in this year's forum: Is another world possible without taking power? Also a look at rising attendance at the forum. WSF attendance at a glance shows:
2001: 10,000
2002: 40,000
2003: 70-80,000
2004: 100,000+
2005: 155,000
Pursuing the Meaning of Abu Ghraib Joe Smith looks at the scandal over torture and abuse of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison facility and asks whether it has dealt a fatal body blow to the US military adventure in Iraq.
Iraq Body Count
Iraq Body Count (IBC) records the violent civilian deaths that have resulted from the 2003 military intervention in Iraq. Its public database includes deaths caused by US-led coalition forces and paramilitary or criminal attacks by others. IBC’s documentary evidence is drawn from crosschecked media reports of violent events leading to the death of civilians, or of bodies being found, and is supplemented by the careful review and integration of hospital, morgue, NGO and official figures. This was an important check on mainstream reporting during the most intensive years of Gloves Off. For this reason, we leave it still counting on our homepage.
(All works on Gloves Off may be freely copied. Attribution is appreciated.)
Perspectives on the Global Justice Movement Sara Burke & Claudio Puty examine the direction, composition, history, and future of the global justice/anti-globalization movement in a series of articles from US, Brazilian and Italian perspectives.
In the Belly of the Beast Sara Burke & Claudio Puty This 4-part feature explores the roots and emergence of the global justice movement in the United States and includes primers on related economic issues.
A Brazilian Perspective Emir Sader—Brazilian socialistmilitant and sociologist on the World Social Forum, neoliberalism, imperialism, NGOs and the Lula government. [read also in Portuguese
Social Amnesia in the Movement Giovanni Mazzetti is one of the most influential thinkers of the Italian Left: we discuss his views on the polemics taking place in Italy between Marxists and anarchists. We also publish [for the first time in English]:
The Global Justice Movement: A New Left Barbara Epstein studies social movements and their history. In late August 2003, she spoke with Gloves Off about the potential for meaningful convergence between the global justice movement, the antiwar movement, and traditional labor organizations in the US.
Past Events From Bank Bailout to Fiscal Austerity:Organizing to Fight the Budget Cuts
March 19, 2011 | Left Forum A Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE) panel on the return to budget cutting and attacks on social spending in the United States and Europe, their effects on workers, and the need for new paradigms of collective bargaining. Panelists: David Kotz, Stephen Lerner, Colia Clark and Chris Rude.
Round-Table Wrap up on Origins of 2009 UN General Assembly Conference June 27, 2009 | Brecht Forum Founding member of the World Social Forum, François Houtart, led a discussion on the General Assembly conference and why it should be understood in the context of recent decades' Latin American liberation struggles.
